RESEARCH ON THE SUSTAINED USAGE INTENTION OF USERS ON ONLINE FITNESS PLATFORMS: A PERSPECTIVE BASED ON THE HEALTH BELIEF MODEL (HBM)

Abstract

This study focuses on the online fitness industry, exploring the motives and sustained usage behavior of users on online fitness platforms within the online network environment. The research background is rooted in the health issues arising from insufficient physical activity in real-world society, especially exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The study uses ideas from the Flow Theory and the Health Belief Model (HBM) to build a research framework to look into how platform incentives, content quality, subjective norms, perceived usefulness, flow experiences, exercise self-efficacy, health awareness, and other things affect users' plans to keep using the platform. Through the collection of 606 valid questionnaires and employing SPSS and AMOS software for differential analysis, regression analysis, and path analysis, all research hypotheses are successfully validated. Results indicate that content quality, platform incentives, and subjective norms significantly positively influence users' perceived usefulness and flow experiences. Furthermore, perceived usefulness and flow experiences have a significant positive impact on users' sustained usage intentions, playing crucial mediating roles in users' sustained behavior. The study also reveals that exercise self-efficacy positively moderates the relationship between users' perceived usefulness and sustained usage intentions, and health awareness serves as a positive moderator in the relationship between users' flow experiences and sustained usage intentions.