Abstract
These days, many companies operate wellness programs to improve employee health and save health care costs. However, one important challenge for corporate wellness programs is that few employees participate in them in the long term. In this study, we are interested in understanding the effect of activity tracking technology such as Fitbit and Apple Watch on employees’ continued participation in their employer’s wellness programs such as walking challenges. This study also investigates how prizes for the participants of a wellness program and communications between the wellness program administrators and the participants affect employee participation in corporate wellness programs. We use the self-regulation theory (SRT) to hypothesize how those factors improve employee health, which in turn increases employee participation in future programs. To test our hypotheses, we collected multi-year data from an annual pedometer challenge program implemented by a major U.S. university. We discuss research methods and expected contributions of this research.
Recommended Citation
Lee, So-Hyun and Lee, Gwanhoo, "Does Activity Tracking Technology Increase Employee Participation in Their Employer’s Wellness Programs?: A Self-Regulation Theory Perspective" (2019). AMCIS 2019 Proceedings. 27.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2019/healthcare_it/healthcare_it/27
Does Activity Tracking Technology Increase Employee Participation in Their Employer’s Wellness Programs?: A Self-Regulation Theory Perspective
These days, many companies operate wellness programs to improve employee health and save health care costs. However, one important challenge for corporate wellness programs is that few employees participate in them in the long term. In this study, we are interested in understanding the effect of activity tracking technology such as Fitbit and Apple Watch on employees’ continued participation in their employer’s wellness programs such as walking challenges. This study also investigates how prizes for the participants of a wellness program and communications between the wellness program administrators and the participants affect employee participation in corporate wellness programs. We use the self-regulation theory (SRT) to hypothesize how those factors improve employee health, which in turn increases employee participation in future programs. To test our hypotheses, we collected multi-year data from an annual pedometer challenge program implemented by a major U.S. university. We discuss research methods and expected contributions of this research.