Exploring the Impact of AI Enhancement on the Sports App Community: Analyzing Human-Computer Interaction and Social Factors Using a Hybrid SEM-ANN Approach

Abstract

The iteration of AI technology has enhanced the industry competitiveness of sports apps and brought a new emotional experience to users. However, the community function of AI-enabled sports apps has not yet received sufficient attention. This study adopts the technology acceptance model framework through the human-computer interaction and social psychology perspectives, incorporating perceived interactivity (human-human interaction, human-information interaction, human-system interaction), user experience (functional experience, content experience, and emotional experience), attachment theory (emotional attachment, emotional loyalty), social identity, social trust, and satisfaction variables to construct a theoretical model. It aims to solve the problem of how AI can enhance users’ emotional interaction, community stickiness, and ultimately social interaction satisfaction in sports apps. Through literature review, theoretical analysis, and case study, the Chinese “KEEP” APP was identified as the research object, and the questionnaire was constructed with an improved test scale. The study used a cross-sectional sampling method to collect data from Chinese online platforms for three months (N = 520) and tested the hypotheses in the theoretical model through structural equation modeling and artificial neural networks. The results of the study show that (1) emotional attachment, emotional loyalty, social identity, and social trust positively and significantly affect user satisfaction; (2) emotional attachment and social identity positively and significantly affect human-human interaction; (3) perceived usefulness, social identity, and social trust significantly construct an influence loop on the internal path. Compared with existing studies, this study proposes a multidimensional innovative framework that reveals the deeper influence mechanism of AI technology in sports APP communities and makes up for the shortcomings of existing studies in terms of users’ emotional interactions and community stickiness. Through this study, sports APP developers and operators, marketers, AI technology developers, as well as sports enthusiasts, and general users can obtain specific practical suggestions to further optimize the design and functionality of sports apps, and enhance the overall user experience and satisfaction.