Technostressed Out By Your Tracker?

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Issue Date
2018-09-24
Language
en
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Abstract
Activity trackers – wearable devices that track daily physical activity – have been growing in popularity over the last years. Prior research investigated the quality and reliability of activity trackers, but not much is known about possible detrimental effects on subjective well-being. While self-quantification has been found to increase performance on an activity, it decreased enjoyment of the activity. This study tried to replicate these effects with an activity tracker and the corresponding app and investigated the mediating role of technostress for both effects. The study consisted of a 7-day field experiment with three conditions (i.e. control, tracker only and tracker and app). None of the hypotheses were supported by the data, but significant negative effects of condition on technostress were found. Use of the app in addition to wearing the activity tracker yielded mixed results. The study yielded surprising but interesting findings that gave insight in the effects of activity trackers and the apps on performance, enjoyment and technostress, which led to several suggestions for future research.
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen