Investigation of Social Predictors of Competitive Behavior in Persuasive Technology

Research has shown that Competition is one of the most powerful persuasive strategies to intrinsically motivate users in a social context towards performing a target behavior. However, in persuasive technology research, studies showing the predictors of the “persuasiveness of Competition” as a motivational strategy are scarce. Consequently, based on a sample size of 213 Canadians, we tested a model using three socially influential strategies (Social Learning, Social Comparison and Reward) as predictors of Competition. Our model accounts for 42% of the variation in Competition and reveals that Reward is the strongest predictor of Competition, followed by Social Comparison, but Social Learning is not a predictor. Moreover, it reveals that Social Comparison mediates the influence of Reward on Social Learning and Competition. Our findings provide designers of persuasive applications with insight into the possibility of implementing Reward, Social Comparison and Competition as effective co-strategies for stimulating user engagement in gamified applications.

[1]  Juho Hamari,et al.  Do Persuasive Technologies Persuade? - A Review of Empirical Studies , 2014, PERSUASIVE.

[2]  Privender Saini,et al.  Individual Differences in Persuadability in the Health Promotion Domain , 2010, PERSUASIVE.

[3]  S. Shyam Sundar,et al.  Motivational Technologies: A Theoretical Framework for Designing Preventive Health Applications , 2012, PERSUASIVE.

[4]  L. Festinger.  A Theory of Social Comparison Processes , 1954 .

[5]  Harri Oinas-Kukkonen,et al.  Persuasive Systems Design: Key Issues, Process Model, and System Features , 2009, Commun. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[6]  Marko Sarstedt,et al.  Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM): An emerging tool in business research , 2014 .

[7]  Panos Markopoulos,et al.  Means based adaptive persuasive systems , 2011, CHI.

[8]  Marc Busch,et al.  Personalized Persuasive Technology - Development and Validation of Scales for Measuring Persuadability , 2013, PERSUASIVE.

[9]  Lorenz M. Hilty,et al.  Gamification and Sustainable Consumption: Overcoming the Limitations of Persuasive Technologies , 2015, ICT Innovations for Sustainability.

[10]  Ken Kwong-Kay Wong,et al.  Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) Techniques Using SmartPLS , 2013 .

[11]  E. Deci,et al.  Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions. , 2000, Contemporary educational psychology.

[12]  Kent Larson,et al.  Persuasive Cities for Sustainable Wellbeing: Quantified Communities , 2016, MobiWIS.

[13]  Harri Oinas-Kukkonen,et al.  Comparative Analysis of Recognition and Competition as Features of Social Influence Using Twitter , 2012, PERSUASIVE.

[14]  Agnis Stibe,et al.  Socially influencing systems : persuading people to engage with publicly displayed Twitter-based systems , 2014 .

[15]  Rita Orji,et al.  Exploring the Persuasiveness of Behavior Change Support Strategies and Possible Gender Differences , 2014, BCSS@PERSUASIVE.

[16]  B. J. Fogg,et al.  Persuasive technology: using computers to change what we think and do , 2002, UBIQ.

[17]  Edward L. Deci,et al.  Competitively Contingent Rewards and Intrinsic Motivation: Can Losers Remain Motivated? , 2003 .

[18]  J. Stiglitz.  Theory of Competition, incentives and Risk , 1986 .

[19]  Chrysanne Di Marco,et al.  Towards Personality-driven Persuasive Health Games and Gamified Systems , 2017, CHI.

[20]  Maurits Kaptein,et al.  Adaptive persuasive messages in an e-commerce setting: the use of persuasion profiles , 2011, ECIS.

[21]  Lu Wang,et al.  Effect of a Virtual Coach on Athletes' Motivation , 2006, PERSUASIVE.

[22]  M. Spittle,et al.  Applying self-determination theory to understand the motivation for becoming a physical education teacher , 2009 .

[23]  N. Miller,et al.  Social Learning and Imitation , 1942 .

[24]  Agnis Stibe,et al.  Towards a Framework for Socially Influencing Systems: Meta-Analysis of Four PLS-SEM Based Studies , 2015, PERSUASIVE.

[25]  A. Bandura.  Social learning theory , 1977 .

[26]  Stephen M. Garcia,et al.  The Psychology of Competition , 2013, Perspectives on psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.