Abstract

The aim of this paper is to investigate how inertia affects users' willingness to explore the use of sports and fitness apps under the influence of status quo bias, and to explore the role of health goals in the process of exploring use based on goal setting theory. The population in this research is Chinese users who have already installed or used a sports and fitness app on their mobile device. Through an online survey technique, we collected 449 valid questionnaires by convenience sampling method. The results confirm that inertia negatively influences the users’ willingness to explore the use of sports and fitness apps and that inertia negatively influences perceived need, which, in turn, reduces the willingness to explore the use of sports and fitness apps; Furthermore, this study also verified health goal positive moderate the relationship between inertia and perceived need, as well as the relationship inertia and users’ willingness to explore the use of sports and fitness apps, revealing that health goals can effectively adjust for the effects of status quo bias in mobile fitness exercise. This study provides useful suggestions for the development and operation of sports and fitness app enterprises to help them make suitable marketing strategies according to users' needs, thus promoting the long-term development of sports and fitness app enterprises.

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