Health and fitness online communities and product behaviour
| Published date | 11 March 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-12-2017-1710 |
| Date | 11 March 2019 |
| Pages | 188-199 |
| Author | Laurence Dessart,Maureen Duclou |
| Subject Matter | Marketing |
Health and fitness online communities
and product behaviour
Laurence Dessart
Department of Marketing, HEC-ULg Ecole de Gestion de l’Universite de Liege, Liege, Belgium and Department of Marketing,
Kedge Business School, Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France, and
Maureen Duclou
Kedge Business School, Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France
Abstract
Purpose –This paper aims to determine the impact of online community participation on attitudes and product-related behaviour in the health and
fitness sector.
Design/methodology/approach –Survey data are collected from 221 users of the social medium Instagram, members of the self-proclaimed
health and fitness community (#fitfam). Data are analysed with structural equation modelling.
Findings –The study shows that online community identification and engagement significantly increase health environment sensitivity, resulting in
heightened engagement in physical fitness and healthy product choices.
Social implications –Given the difficulty to remain engaged in pro-health behaviour and the growing impact of social media on young adults’
lives, these findings are encouraging. They show that online health and fitness communities provide a supporti ve environment in which consumers
can identify and freely engage and a fertile ground to the development of health sensitivity and product-related behaviour.
Originality/value –The study advances knowledge on the role of social media and online communities in promoting health and fitness product
behaviours and attitudes.
Keywords Social media, Community participation, Product management, Online community, Health and fitness products
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Health and fitnessproducts have experienced a “second boom”
in the past few years, which sheds a new light on the relationof
individuals to their health (Millington, 2016) and health-
related consumption. This boom, supported by the
proliferation of digital devices and technologies, results in
redefined communication codes that contribute to a growing
industry of fitness apparel, equipment, services, apps,
connected wearables and other products. A part of this second
boom can be attributed to modern media and communication
tools. While the first fitness boom in the 1970s and 1980s was
supported by mass media communication (Powers and
Greenwell, 2016), these have been replaced by social media
and mobile apps. As a result, Hollywood celebrities who used
to endorse brands now share the spotlight with social media
influencers such as bloggers, vloggers and social media
celebrities (Millington, 2016). One of the key roles of social
media is that they enable individuals to take part in “wider
online communities”(Millington, 2016, p. 1185). Indeed, if
TV advertisement and videotapes contributed to the success of
early fitness movements (Powers and Greenwell, 2016), new
media are now sustaining the fitness trend with moreand more
consumers using social applications for health and fitness
information (Kim et al., 2013) and monitoring purposes
(Millington,2014;Lowe et al., 2015).
Increased usage of social media and networked mobile
applications is thus not a stranger to the growth of the fitness
movement. Social media are used by young people to accessto
other people’s experiences of health and expert health
information (Liang and Scammon, 2011;Royal Society for
Public Health, 2017), while also allowing them to showcase
their selves and bodies and to negotiate health and fitness-
related meaning (Cavusoglu and Demirbag-Kaplan, 2017). In
particular, mobile-based social platforms such as Instagram
contribute to the proliferation of health messages (Vaterlaus
et al.,2015;Cavusoglu and Demirbag-Kaplan,2017) and mass
consciousness because of self-declared communities of interest
focussed on fitness, exercising and health and fitness products
(Holmberg et al., 2016).
Although it seems clear that social media and fitness-related
online communities play a part in the worldwidegrowth of the
health industry and the tendency towards healthier and fitter
lifestyle, thereis a dearth of research about their effect on actual
health attitudesand product-related behaviour (Vaterlaus et al.,
2015). This role is an under-researched, yet importantconcern
for several reasons. First, because of the age of the population
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on
Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
28/2 (2019) 188–199
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-12-2017-1710]
Received 20 December 2017
Revised 15 August 2018
20 September 2018
Accepted 20 September 2018
188
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