Exploring the Effect of Gamification and Privacy Concerns upon Behavioural Intention to Use Fitness Apps

This study empirically explores the influence of gamification elements and privacy concerns on users' intention to use fitness apps, based on the technology acceptance model (TAM). This research classifies gamification in fitness apps into three categories: achievement-related elements, social-related elements, and immersion-related elements. Although previous research investigated the gamification of fitness apps, few studies combined the impact of gamification with privacy concerns. Considering the significant amount of sensitive personal data collected by fitness apps, we recognize the importance of data privacy and aim to address this gap in research. To achieve this goal, we collected and analyzed data from 187 Korean fitness app users through an online questionnaire. The results confirm the highly significant influence of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and achievement-related gamification elements. Social-related gamification elements, immersion-related gamification elements, and privacy concerns however show insignificant results for the intention to use fitness apps in the Korean market. Location and time limit the generalizability of this study; however, the findings of this study nonetheless offer valuable insights for practitioners and developers to enhance the design and development of their applications.