Factors driving continued use of online health promotion competitions. Evidence from an online weight-loss community
| Pages | 802-820 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-02-2017-0047 |
| Published date | 08 October 2018 |
| Date | 08 October 2018 |
| Author | Xiaolong Song,Yi-Hung Liu,Jiahua Jin,Jianguo Zhao |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Bibliometrics,Databases,Information & knowledge management,Information & communications technology,Internet,Records management & preservation,Document management |
Factors driving continued
use of online health
promotion competitions
Evidence from an online weight-loss community
Xiaolong Song
Department of Management Science and Engineering,
Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian, China
Yi-Hung Liu
Department of Business Administration, Zhejiang University of Technology,
Zhejiang, China
Jiahua Jin
Department of Economics and Management,
University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, China, and
Jianguo Zhao
Department of Public Administration and Policy,
Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China
Abstract
Purpose –Gamification elements have been increasingly used in online weight-loss communities to help
users lose weight. The purpose of this paper is to systemically examine whether and how social interactions
influence users’continued participation in the context of online weight-loss competitions (OWCs).
Design/methodology/approach –This study empirically inv estigated sustained in volvement in
OWCs using a Cox proporti onal hazards model. Additionally , the research utilized a text-minin g technique
to identify various ty pes of social support and explored their roles in sustaining participa tion behavior
in OWCs.
Findings –Community response both within and outside OWCs positively influence users’continued
participation in OWCs. Moreover, whereas emotional support and companionship received within OWCs
have a greater impact on users’continued participation than informational support received within OWCs,
informational support received outside OWCs has a greater impact on users’continued participation than
emotional support and companionship received outside OWCs.
Originality/value –This paper highlights users’social needs in OWC engagement and provides empirical
evidence on how different types and sources of social support influence continued participation behavior in OWCs.
The research additionally provides management implications for online health community service providers.
Keywords Social support, Community response, Continued participation, Health promotion competition,
Online weight-loss community
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Obesity is a global health concern that not only threatens human health but also reduces the
quality of life and results in a heavy economic burden on healthcare systems (World Health
Organization, 2000). Various methods have been adopted for combatting obesity, but the
long-term results are often inadequate (Mauro et al., 2008). Recently, increasing numbers of
overweight and obese people have been turning to online communities that support weight
loss. These communities offer social support and knowledge exchange regarding weight
management, thereby empowering people to exert greater control over their weight
(Ballantine and Stephenson, 2011).
Online Information Review
Vol. 42 No. 6, 2018
pp. 802-820
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/OIR-02-2017-0047
Received 21 February 2017
Revised 27 October 2017
8 February 2018
20 April 2018
Accepted 7 June 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
802
OIR
42,6
Gamification utilizes game-design elements to engage users in pursuing their targeted
goals (Liu et al., 2017). With the emergence of “gamification,”game-design elements have
been increasingly used in online weight-loss contexts (Lister et al., 2014). An online
weight-loss competition (OWC) is a type of online weight-control activity that draws users
together and encourages them to attain their weight-loss goals through a virtual
competition-based system. OWCs are not merely a new type of entertainment-oriented
module, but a health-enhancement tool that may influence health behavior. For OWCs,
motivational affordances such as goals and challenges are incorporated in certain tasks to
encourage desirable weight-control behavior.
Despite the considerable interest in applying gamification designs to nongame contexts,
the use of game-design elements to help users lose weight is still in its infancy. Whether and
the extent to which OWCs benefit people seeking weight reduction remain inconclusive.
A challenge for OWCs is that successful weight loss typically requires substantial and
continualeffort (Elfhag and Rössner, 2005),but most of OWCs are “one-off”events and have a
short time limit.Moreover, the use of OWCs oftensharply declines over time, andthey exhibit
to high dropout rates, thus limiting their utility in weight control (Maloney et al., 2015).
Keeping users engaged with OWCs is therefore crucial for increasing their effectiveness as
weight-controlaids. However, strategiesto incentivize users’continued participationin OWCs
have received limited scholarly attention ( Johnson et al., 2016; Looyestyn et al., 2017).
Social interaction has been identified as a key incentive to continued participation in online
communities (Fang and Neufeld, 2009; Zhang et al., 2013; Joyce and Kraut, 2006; Wu and Liu,
2007); however, whether the roles of social interactions also apply to OWCs remains unclear.
Onlinecommunities are mostlyconversationbased. By contrast,gamification designsare often
used to engage users toward targeted goals, for which conversation may be regarded as a
lower priority. For example, a study on online role-playing games suggested that sociality and
interactivity have negligible effects on consumer loyalty (Huang and Hsieh, 2011). Some social
activities such as out-game discussionthat takes the time of a usermight even take away their
interest in gaming. Community response can be seen as one type of extrinsic reward for OWC
users, which may undermine their intrinsic motivation (Deci et al., 1999). The effects of extrinsic
incentives could decrease over time (Magni et al., 2010). This study systemically examined
whether and how social interactions influence users’continued participation in OWCs.
Social interaction elements are widely adopted in games (Liu et al., 2017). Players who
do similar tasks help each other monitor progress, set expectations, and provide
encouragement. Player–player interactions can create cohesive communities (Chang et al.,
2008) and a sense of relatedness that can provide social reinforcement (Liu et al., 2017).
In addition to OWCs, online weight-loss communities also have other social interaction
elements such as group forums and general forums. Group forums are designed for
members with common interests to interact with each other whereas general forums
are created for people to ask questions or share information with a wider audience.
These additional resources outside of OWCs enable users to hold out-game discussions.
General forums and group forums allow us to distinguish between social interactions
within OWCs and social interactions outside OWCs, which may have different strengths
from a structural perspective (Burt, 1987; Centola and Macy, 2007; Susarla et al., 2012).
Loose and weak relationships are often viewed as a vital source for obtaining information
benefits (Granovetter, 1973; Centola and Macy, 2007). Social interactions outside OWCs
are thus more likely to meet users’information ne eds. In the online h ealth context,
people gain social support through communicating with others. Social support has
various forms, such as sharing information and expressing concern, satisfying people’s
different needs. Given the different sources and forms of social support, we thu s
quantified and compared the influences of different sources and forms of support on
continued participation in OWCs.
803
Online health
promotion
competitions
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