Motivation and Personality Theories in a Gamified Mobile Application for Walking

Designing mobile, persuasive, and motivational interactions for sustainable behaviour change remains a challenge. Setting daily step goals on a mobile application can initially stimulate participation, but both the number of steps walked each day and the use of mobile applications decrease over time, even when individuals report high levels of motivation. To address this issue, we propose the integration of tailored gamification as a motivational mechanism, grounded in psychological theories. Self-Determination Theory is used to promote competence, while Regulatory Focus Theory is used to support individual differences and for tailoring motivational interactions. Gamification aims at reinforcing motivation and action-taking. In this article, we explain how we designed a motivational mobile application that incorporates these gamification mechanisms, and we describe how we evaluated its use during 28 days with 37 users. Results suggest a decrease in amotivation levels, and that promotion-focused individuals find gamified elements more motivational than prevention-focused ones.