Beyond hedonic enjoyment: Conceptualizing eudaimonic motivation for personal informatics technology usage

Abstract

Personal informatics technologies (PITs) have become popular tools that enable people to monitor and track themselves. By providing self-knowledge, PITs increase self-control, foster insight, and promote positive behavioral changes. The pursuit of knowledge about self, excellence, and self-growth is eudaimonic because it makes a person more capable and well informed. Considering the unique technological characteristics, research suggests that eudaimonic motivation should be considered in explaining PIT usage. However, despite increasing scholarly attention being paid to the eudaimonic nature of PITs, a systematic approach to developing a research construct that reflects a PIT user’s eudaimonic motivation is lacking in computer-human interaction research. To fill this gap, drawing on the theory of aesthetic experience, we propose a multi-dimensional construct of aesthetic experience to conceptualize eudaimonic motivation for PIT usage. Based on its conceptual definition, we develop the measures to capture the extent of a PIT user’s aesthetic experience and empirically examine the construct validity. Compared with widely examined antecedents of technology usage— perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment—this study shows that a PIT user’s aesthetic experience is a key determinant for intention to use. Notably, perceived enjoyment loses its predictive value in favor of aesthetic experience. Our findings suggest that the eudaimonic nature of a PIT should be considered in understanding technology usage.