mHealth Induced Behaviour Change

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Armin Heinzl
• Subject Area: Accounting and Finance
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 492693936

Mobile health applications (mHealth) are becoming increasingly prevalent and have the potential to change users’ health behaviours. However, the benefits of mHealth are often not realized because many users stop using mHealth after a few initial interactions. To motivate mHealth usage, mHealth app developers and researchers increasingly implement social features, such as social networking spaces, leader boards or social feeds. Such social features can act as social stimuli, which provide users with information on the degree to which other users perform a focal health behaviour. Despite its valuable contributions, three overarching problems exist in mHealth literature that examines the impact of social features on mHealth usage and behaviour change. First, a lack of theoretical foundations in mHealth research makes it unclear what psychological mechanisms are triggered by social features and how social features impact mHealth usage. Second, overly simplistic mHealth use concepts and operationalizations leave it unclear how user interactions with mHealth features facilitate behaviour change. Third, extant experimental designs do not allow researchers to understand time-varying factors that can dynamically change over the course of prolonged mHealth use. Against this backdrop, this research project aims at (1) shaping a theoretical model of mHealth usage with social features that is grounded in Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), (2) designing theory-grounded mHealth prototypes with social features and evaluating their impact on mHealth usage and behaviour change, and (3) understanding and addressing time-varying changes in receptiveness to social features in mHealth usage. SCT suggests the existence of two separate psychological mechanisms that lead to behaviour change through social stimuli – social comparison and social support – which can encourage individuals to pursue goals and self-regulate behaviour. Moreover, the impact of social stimuli and individuals’ receptiveness to social stimuli can vary over time. We synthesize scattered prior research on social features in mHealth into a holistic explanation of mHealth usage for behaviour change. A preliminary explanatory model has been derived from the literature. In the course of the research project, this model will be refined and equipped with a measurement model. Theory-guided mHealth prototypes with social features will be developed and pretested. The impact of social features on mHealth usage and behaviour change will be tested in micro-randomized trials to account for time-varying factors. Finally, the tested model will be advanced towards a middle- range theory of mHealth usage with social features and resulting health behaviour change.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants