Self-Quantification of Services: Cost of Real-Time Feedback

Abstract

Self-quantification (i.e., the process of tracking personal data) is increasingly becoming a prevalent feature in consumer products and services. This research aims to contribute to the understanding of self-quantification by revealing that some of its potentially negative effects can be attributed to its nature to constantly provide real-time feedback (i.e., measurement) of the activity’s progress. Despite the intuitive reasoning that more feedback is generally better, findings show that real-time (vs. delayed) feedback can undermine the experience of flow, subsequently reducing the perceived effectiveness of the service. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the holistic manner in which individuals attend to contextual information plays a crucial role in determining the effect of feedback frequency. Thus, the current research compares two forms of self-quantification with different feedback frequencies (delayed vs. real-time) to demonstrate its significance on the perception of service’s effectiveness via flow depending on the individual’s cognitive styles.