Health management gamification: Understanding the effects of goal difficulty, achievement incentives, and social networks on performance

Abstract

Motivating users to change their health management behaviors and improve their behavioral performance is a challenge for designers of health management platforms. Gamification has the potential to motivate individuals to manage their health. To better understand the role of gamification in health management, this study investigates the role of goal difficulty and achievement incentives in health management performance as well as the moderating effects of social network exposure and active interaction. We collected data from an online weight management platform in China to test our research hypotheses. The results show that a U-shaped relationship exists between goal difficulty and weight management performance. Moreover, achievement incentives have a positive effect on performance and partially moderate the effect of goal difficulty. In addition, social network exposure strengthens the U-shaped relationship between goal difficulty and performance, while active interaction in social networks positively moderates the relationship between achievement incentives and performance. These findings facilitate the understanding of the role of social networks in health management gamification and contribute to goal-setting theory by providing new insights and suggestions for users and designers of health management platforms.