0000000000597421
AUTHOR
Kari Tuomas
Critical Experiences During the Implementation of a Self-tracking Technology
Emerging technologies have brought several new ways to track, measure and evaluate own activity. Well-being, nutrition, physical training, mood, and sleep are a few of the various measures that can be self-tracked by different technological solutions. At the same time, people are becoming more interested in themselves and their own well-being, and constant tracking of own activities is getting more and more popular both on individual level as well as in general healthcare. This study examines critical experiences that occur during the implementation phase of the innovation-decision process and their influence to adopting or rejecting a self-tracking technology. The study is qualitative in n…
How Is Gamification Perceived in Health and Wellness Technology Companies : Views from Four Companies of Different Size
Technological development has facilitated new innovations in several fields, and the emergence of novel devices as well as software products and services is constant. Health and wellness is a field where the development of technology for various purposes has truly boosted. In the growing competition, companies are constantly seeking ways to better engage people with their offered products and services. One potential and increasingly used way to do this is gamification. However, even though the number of academic studies on gamification has increased, there is still relatively little research available on the perceptions of companies regarding the use of gamification in their offerings. In t…
Adoption and Adoption Interests of Self-Tracking Technologies : Single and Multiple Technology Perspectives
During the past few decades, different forms of technology based self-tracking have become increasingly common but received little attention in academic research. In this study, we aim to address this gap by examining the adoption and adoption interests of four different self-tracking technologies: exercise, activity, sleep, and nutrition tracking. The examination is conducted from both single and multiple technology perspectives and by concentrating particularly on the potential gender and age dependencies in the adoption rates and adoption patterns of the technologies. By analysing the responses collected from 824 consumers through an online survey, the results of the study are able to re…
Ideal Types of Sport and Wellness Technology Users
A demand exists for the increasing understanding of consumers’ motives and habits related to exercising and the influence of sport and wellness technology on everyday lives. This study aims to shred light to the different types of users of sport and wellness technology by examining the influential aspects of sport and wellness technology and gamification. By thematically analyzing data from 16 indepth interviews, one group interview, and one set of observation, the study highlights the unique characteristics of the sport and wellness technology users by grouping them into ideal types that represents data as extensively as possible. An ideal type is an analytical construct to ascertain devia…
Understanding Augmented Reality Game Players : Value Co-destruction Process in Pokémon Go
We conceptualize the mobile game Pokémon Go as a service provider aiming to offer customers value propositions over an augmented reality (AR) platform, where players engage in co-creating value, such as fun, social unity and health. However, playing Pokémon Go can also ensue to value co-destruction through critical service interactions involving e.g. increased mobile costs, trespassing, accidents or assaults. Such could ensue to negative value outcomes, such as frustration, humiliation or unsafety. In order to prevent critical service interactions, it is significant to gain an understanding of value codestruction, which currently remains an unclear concept with a call for empirical studies.…
Perceived Well-being Effects During the Implementation of a Self-tracking Technology
In recent years, both individuals and the healthcare sector have become more interested to measure and improve health and well-being by using different selftracking technologies. However, the number of studies concerning the experiences that people have with these technologies is still rather limited. This study investigates the expectations and perceived short-term effects of using self-tracking technologies on users’ well-being. The focus is on the first weeks of usage i.e., the implementation phase. The study is qualitative in nature and based on thematic analysis of ten semistructured interviews. The results reveal that the perceived well-being effects of using a self-tracking technolog…
The Habits of Playing and the Reasons for Not Playing Exergames: Gender Differences in Finland
This study examines the habits of playing and the reasons for not playing digital exercise games (i.e., exergames), concentrating particularly on the gender differences between the male and female players and non-players. Exergames can be considered an important and interesting research topic as they can be used to motivate people to do more exercise and, consequently, to improve their health and well-being. The study is based on analysing an online survey sample of 3,036 Finnish consumers through contingency tables, the Pearson’s χ 2 tests of independence, and the Cramér’s V coefficients. The results of the analysis reveal 11 main reasons for not playing exergames as well as several gender…
To Gamify or Not to Gamify? : Gamification in Exercise Applications and Its Role in Impacting Exercise Motivation
Gamification and different exercise applications have become increasingly popular in recent years. The common purpose of gamification is to enhance one’s motivation and engagement to certain activities. Gamification has been commonly understood as the use of game elements in non-game context. In this paper, we propose a divide between the process and the experience of gamification. This paper is the first to propose such division and the results demonstrate its necessity. Gamification exists also in many exercise applications. The purpose of this study is to explore how the use of an exercise application affects users’ exercise motivation and behaviour by concentrating especially on the rol…