Using the theory of planned behavior and the technology acceptance model to analyze a university employee fitness tracker program with financial incentive

Background Employers have become interested in increasing their employees’ physical activity; however, research has shown that employee participation in wellness programs is typically low.Method The study applies Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Davis’ Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to the implementation of a wearable fitness tracker (WFT) program at a regional public university to examine if the provision of a WFT, as well as the financial incentive of Health Savings Account (HSA) dollars, makes the difference between intention and behavior to engage in more physical activity, is predictive of physical activity and improvements in health, and if health improvements are attributable to program participation.Results The TPB constructs of attitude (β = 0.69; P = 0.000) and perceived subjective norms (β = 0.24; P = 0.028), as well as HSA incentive (β = 0.48; P = 0.000), were found to be statistically significant predictors of behavioral intention to engage in the program. Perceived ease of use (β = 0.58; P = 0.014) was the only statistically significant TAM construct related to activity at six weeks. HSA motivation was statistically significant and positively related (β = 0.36; P = 0.000) to physical activity at six weeks. Perceived subjective norms had a positive and statistically significant association with improvements in health at the six-week (β = 0.19; P = 0.090) and one-year follow-up (β = 0.16; P = 0.009). At the one-year mark, the results suggest that though activity levels increased, the reported improvements in health were low-moderate (M = 4.51, SD = 1.51), with 4%−18% of improvements in health attributable to participation in the program.Conclusions Understanding what drives or deters participation in a WFT program can inform decisions about the adoption of wellness programs with financial incentives.