Need for cognition among users of self-monitoring systems for physical activity: Survey study

Abstract

Background: Need for cognition (NFC) is among the most studied personality traits in psychology. Despite its apparent relevancefor engaging with technology and the use of information, it has not been studied in the context of self-monitoring systems andwearables for health. This study is the first to explore the relationship between NFC and commercial self-monitoring systemsamong healthy users.Objective: This study aims to explore the effect of NFC levels on the selection of self-monitoring systems and evaluation ofsystem features of self-monitoring and feedback, as well as perceived credibility and perceived persuasiveness. We also assessedperceived behavior change in the form of self-reported activity after adopting the system.Methods: Survey data were collected in October 2019 among university students and personnel. The invitation to respond tothe questionnaire was addressed to those who had used a digital system to monitor their physical activity for at least two months.The web-based questionnaire comprised the following 3 parts: details of system use, partially randomly ordered theoreticalmeasurement items, and user demographics. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The effect of NFC wasassessed both as 3 groups (low, moderate, and high) and as a continuous moderator variable.Results: In all, 238 valid responses to the questionnaire were obtained. Individuals with high NFC reported all tested systemfeatures with statistically significantly higher scores. The NFC also had some effect on system selection. Hypothesized relationshipswith perceived credibility gained support in a different way for individuals with low and high NFC; for those with low NFC,credibility increased the persuasiveness of the system, but this effect was absent among individuals with high NFC. For userswith high NFC, credibility was related to feedback and self-monitoring and perhaps continuously evaluated during prolongeduse instead of being a static system property. Furthermore, the relationship between perceived persuasiveness and self-reportedactivity after adopting the system had a large effect size (Cohen f2=0.355) for individuals with high NFC, a small effect size forindividuals with moderate NFC (Cohen f2=0.107), and a nonsignificant path (P=.16) for those with low NFC. We also detecteda moderating effect of NFC in two paths on perceived persuasiveness but only among women. Our research model explained59.2%, 63.9%, and 47.3% of the variance in perceived persuasiveness of the system among individuals with low, moderate, andhigh NFC, respectively.Conclusions: The system choices of individuals seem to reflect their intrinsic motivations to engage with rich data, andcommercial systems might themselves be a tailoring strategy. Important characteristics of the system, such as perceived credibility,have different roles depending on the NFC levels. Our data demonstrate that NFC as a trait that differentiates information processinghas several implications for the selection, design, and tailoring of self-monitoring systems.