Exercise as a Healthy Lifestyle Choice: A Review and Avenues for Future Research

Abstract

The health benefits of exercising and the prevalent sedentary lifestyle give a strong reason for the research into the determinants of exercise behaviour. The present paper reviews several health-related behavioural theories and models that have been applied to understand the factors influencing physical activity or exercise participation and suggest avenues for future research. In particular, a review of literature provides strong empirical support for the theory of planned behaviour, yet several theoretical issues need to be resolved to aid in the development of a more comprehensive health-related model that can explain and predict exercise behaviour. The present paper highlights that there is a need to develop and empirically test a more integrative model of exercise behaviour from consumer behaviour perspective. Besides, the conceptualisation of TPB measures and sufficiency issues related to the model need to be addressed prior toto the adoption of the TPB model