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Consumer adoption of smartphone fitness apps: an extended UTAUT2 perspective

Neeraj Dhiman (Department of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, India)
Neelika Arora (Department of HRM and OB, Central University of Jammu, Jammu, India)
Nikita Dogra (School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Faculty of Business Studies, University of Jammu, Jammu, India)
Anil Gupta (Faculty of Business Studies, University of Jammu, Jammu, India)

Journal of Indian Business Research

ISSN: 1755-4195

Article publication date: 10 December 2019

Issue publication date: 16 June 2020

2982

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of user adoption of smartphone fitness apps in context of an emerging economy.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study uses the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) as the base model along with two additional constructs, i.e. self-efficacy and personal innovativeness. The data collection was done through an online survey, wherein a total of 324 valid responses were obtained for the statistical analysis. All the hypothesized relationships were tested through partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) using an open source programming language and software environment, i.e. R Software along with plspm-package.

Findings

Significant predictors of smartphone fitness app adoption intention include effort expectancy, social influence, perceived value, habit and personal innovativeness. Further, this study confirms significant relationship between personal innovativeness and habit, self-efficacy and effort expectancy and effort expectancy and performance expectation. This study reveals that personal innovativeness is the strongest predictor of behavioural intention. Contrary to the expectations, factors like performance expectancy, facilitating conditions and hedonic motivation did not influence behavioural intention.

Practical implications

This study gives significant clues to app developers that can drastically influence the adoption of fitness apps. The findings suggest that marketers should focus on users with high personal innovativeness that can further act as role models and significantly influence their social circle. Interestingly, the findings suggest that fitness apps, as compared to other apps, should not emphasize much on the hedonic value of their offerings.

Originality/value

This study is one of the few studies to examine the adoption of smartphone fitness apps in an emerging economy context by using extended version of UTAUT2 model. Further, this study shows how new endogenous and exogenous variables (i.e. self-efficacy and personal innovativeness) contribute to better explanatory power of the UTAUT2 framework.

Keywords

Citation

Dhiman, N., Arora, N., Dogra, N. and Gupta, A. (2020), "Consumer adoption of smartphone fitness apps: an extended UTAUT2 perspective", Journal of Indian Business Research, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 363-388. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIBR-05-2018-0158

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited

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