Running on a social exercise platform: Applying self-determination theory to increase motivation to participate in a sporting event

Abstract Running is one of the most popular physical activities. With the development of technologies, there have been mobile applications (e.g., Nike + Running) designed to track exercisers' running data (duration, distance, and heart rate). To increase exercisers' and potential exercise group users' (spectators) motivation to run, this study designed a mobile running application, Gatherun, based on selfdetermination theory. Gatherun is a real-time, interactive mobile application for 2 groups of users: exercisers and spectators. Exercisers can create a new race event or participate in an existing race. When exercisers are running, which is virtualized as an avatar in the system, spectators can watch exercisers' running performance and provide audio feedback. The objective of the study was to investigate how intrinsic motivations (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) affect exercisers and spectators' perceptions using real-time interactive mobile running applications. The technology acceptance model was adopted to assess both user groups' attitude and behavioral intention using the system. The results found that the social interaction between exercisers and spectators increased both groups of users' relatedness, thus indicating that the system is useful. The relatedness of using Gatherun also increased users' autonomy motivation. Perceived usefulness and attitude had positive relationships with behavioral intention for both user groups. Result differences were also found between the 2 user groups. The study can have implications on the future development of persuasive technologies to improve users' exercising habits.