Introduction
In recent years, exercise-related app contents for exercise and body management are increasing (Penedo & Dahn, 2005; Lopresti, Hood, & Drummond, 2013). Modern people can check their own physical activity anytime and anywhere through the exercise app on the smartphone, and they are motivated by the fitness contents and interaction functions provided by the exercise apps (Cho, Quinlan, & Park, 2014; Casey et al., 2014). With the growing popularity of fitness apps, media communication staff part of app development companies are seeking for a way to design an app that can effectively promote behavioral change (Kaikkonen et al., 2005; Wang & Shem, 2012; Jensen et al., 2017). Therefore, designing how to organize and deliver the message content presented by the app is becoming important (Wang & Shem, 2012). In particular, exercise apps often use messages to promote behavioral changes, as the user may decide whether or not to accept the message and either start or continue to do the app-suggested behavior (Jensen et al., 2017). In other words, the effect of the media, or app in this case, depends on how the user accepts and interprets the message presented by the media.
Meanwhile, message framing has been designed for effective health promotion. Messages can be designed in two main types and are based on prospect theory. The gain message of the prospect theory mentions the advantages that the recipient gains by doing the recommended behaviors in a message. For example, it means a message such as “When you exercise, your body will be healthy.” On the other hand, the loss message is a message that represents the disadvantage of the recipient when the recipient did not make a recommended action in the message. For example, it means a message like “If you do not exercise, your health will get worse” (Gilliland et al., 2015).
According to past studies, the effects of messages changed depending on the behavioral attribute recommended by the messages. Past studies have shown that for actions aimed at health promotion, gain framing was more effective than loss framing. Studies have been conducted in relation to health message framing in previous health-related campaigns. For instance, one study reported that when exposed to messages that encourage a particular health behavior, people tended to make decisions about their behaviors in consideration of the gain or loss that may accrue from that behavior (Lim & Noh, 2017). In other words, people tended to decide their attitudes and behavior depending on the intended frame of the message. So, the gain framing shows the expected positive outcomes that users would obtain from exercises, making it easier and more positive for users to perceive the benefits, interest, flow, and attitude of health behavior.
However, few studies have been conducted on the messages given in health smartphone media, and on the consequent causal relationships between user experiences and resulting actions. According to a previous study, the target behaviors frequently presented in health smartphone messages are largely prevention and detection behaviors (Kahneman & Tversky, 2013). For example, obesity prevention or health checkups.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of gain and loss message framing on the user experience and exercise experience. The objectives were to determine whether gain or loss message framing resulted in greater benefits for 1) perceived benefit of exercise; 2) exercise interest; 3) exercise flow; and 4) exercise attitude. The specific objectives of this study are presented below.
The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of each message frame on the user experience and the exercise experience by constructing the contents by gain and loss of mobile messages in mobile fitness app.
First, we try to find out the differences in perceived benefits as an experimental variable that can be caused by fitness apps in which gain messages and loss messages are exposed. The perceived benefit in this study is that the user will recognize the benefits that he or she will receive after using the exercise app. perceived benefit is a critical factor affecting behavioral decisions by positively influencing personal belief that health issues can be prevented.
Second, we try to compare emotional and exercise experience variables when users use fitness apps with gain messages and fitness apps with loss messages. The emotional and exercise experience variables mean exercise interest, exercise flow, and exercise attitude, and we examine differences between two types of message framing. Because the fitness app, in which the gain messages is exposed, gives the user positive feedback about the exercise result and increases the expectation of the result. Therefore, this study aims to provide the theoretical and practical implications of more effective message framing and design in exercise contents.
Literature Review
Message Framing
To date, studies on message framing have focused on the development of messages for effective health promotion campaigns (Cha, 2006; Kwon & Na, 2011; Kim, 2013). When health messages are written for health promotion, message framing — how effectively the same content is composed and delivered to users — is a critical factor in terms of the persuasive effects of the messages. The theoretical foundation of message framing effects is based on prospect theory (Tversky & Kahneman, 1992). According to this theory, when exposed to messages that induce particular behaviors or alternatives in certain situations, people tend to process the messages considering the gains and losses resulting from the behaviors encouraged by the messages. Therefore, depending on the framing in which the messages are delivered, users interpret different meanings in the messages.
In prospect theory, gain-framed messages emphasize the benefits that users may accrue by engaging in the behavior suggested by the message, whereas loss-framed messages focus on the disadvantages of not engaging in certain behaviors; that is, they emphasize the losses (Kim & Hong, 2015). Hence, in the present study, gain messages suggest the benefits that users may accrue by doing the exercise proposed by the messages, while loss messages indicate the negative consequences of not doing that exercise.
Studies on gain and loss framing have focused on which framing has a greater persuasive effect, depending on various health-related themes, in which the effects of messages changed depending on the behavioral attribute recommended by the messages (Dillard & Prau, 2002). According to a previous study, the target behaviors frequently presented in health messages are largely prevention and detection behaviors. For example, it was reported that gain framing was effective for obesity prevention messages, which communicated the idea that the risks caused by being overweight could be prevented (Rothman & Salovey, 1997).
In contrast, it was found that loss framing was more effective for messages recommending users to take actions to monitor and detect diseases, such as endoscopy or self-diagnosis of cancer (Rothman, Bartels, Wlaschin, & Salovey, 2006). As such, the persuasive effects of health messages differ depending on the goal and type of framing.
On the other hand, a meta-analysis study of gain-loss framing found that the effects of messages and users’ attitudes are not always clearly distinctive (O’Keefe & Nan, 2012). Nevertheless, many studies reported that the messages in gain framing had higher persuasive effects in terms of preventive behavior, which helps personal health management and maintenance (Rothman, Salovey, Antone, Keough, & Martin, 1993).
Perceived Benefit
Perceived benefit refers to the desirable outcomes and benefits perceived by individuals, meaning personal perception of the efficiency of the recommended behavior (Jo, Shin, Yoo, & Roh, 2012). In a study on the effects of health messages, perceived benefit is a critical factor affecting behavioral decisions by positively influencing personal belief that health issues can be prevented. In addition, perceived benefit can be regarded as the psychological outcomes that users expect, because users are affected by surrounding stimuli before making a decision in relation to intended behavior (Steward, Schneider, Pizarro, & Salovey, 2003).
Messages can be one of the surrounding stimuli that users receive, in which health promotional behavior is also affected by framing the mode of messages for users. In particular, gain framing was found to have higher persuasive effects on health targeting activities than loss framing. For example, some people exercise to prevent obesity. If these people receive a hopeful message (e.g., they will be beautiful when they exercise) through the fitness app every day, they will believe that they will be healthy through exercise and imagine positive results. Therefore, since gain framing shows the expected positive outcomes that users would obtain from exercises, it was predicted to be easier for users to perceive the benefits of health behavior. Thus, we proposed the following research hypothesis 1.
Exercise Interest
Exercise interest refers to the degree of attention or interest in the outcomes of exercise behavior that users would obtain (Choi, Lee, Choi, & Kim, 2007). In terms of communication, interest is the first step in inducing users to become involved in contents, so that it is highly important to create interest in health promotional behavior, which has the possibility of inducing a positive attitude in users towards health behavior and making better health-related choices (Kim, Oh, Chung, & Kim, 2013). For example, we postulated that a fitness app that presents gain-framed messages would give users positive feedback in terms of exercise outcomes and increase their expectations for behavioral outcomes, which would maintain their psychological interest in future exercise behaviors. Therefore, we established research hypothesis 2 as follows.
Exercise Flow
While in the flow state, people experience pleasure and self-satisfaction from their behaviors by focusing all of their consciousness and physical organs on a single goal (Park & Kim, 2006). In the previous studies, it was found that the gain-framed messages emphasizing the positive effect on the target behavior had a positive influence on the flow reaction of the acceptor. In one study, the types of documentary messages were divided into a gain message with a hopeful content and a loss message with a depressed content. In other words, when delivering new knowledge, the difference in the receivers’ response between positive and negative messages is compared. As a result, it was revealed that the recipients exposed to the gain message with hopeful content showed a higher degree of attention, flow, interest, and knowledge acquisition (Park, 2010). So, it can be seen that the gain message leads not only to the user’s flow state to the message itself but also to the goal action of acquiring the knowledge presented as part of the message.
In addition, in a previous study on the persuasive effects of exercise messages, the effect of message persuasion on the gain frame was larger than that of the loss frame regardless of gender. In this study, it used message attention and behavioral commitment variables to measure the persuasive effects of messages, and it was found that the commitment to exercise-related behaviors was higher in the gain-framed message (Li, Cheng, & Fung, 2014). For example, fitness app users tend to be more convinced of gain-framed messages in athletic situations. In other words, the gain-framed messages expressing the benefit to the person by exercising bring motivation and concentration to people to work harder. Therefore, the gain message, which contains the positive benefits of the exercise in the fitness app, will increase the user’s flow to the exercise. So, we established research hypothesis 3 as follows.
Exercise Attitude
Exercise attitude refers to the positive will and conviction that users have in relation to exercise behavior itself(Ajzen & Fishbein, 2000). In the results of a previous study on health message framing and exercise attitude, it was found that positively framed messages motivated regular exercise and formed a positive behavioral intention more than negatively framed messages(Jones, Sinclair, & Courneya, 2003). In another study, which sent either gain- or loss-framed messages encouraging regular exercise to students who took no exercise, gain framing had a larger persuasive effect on exercise, which is a preventive health behavior(Parrott, Tennant, Olejnik, & Poudevigne, 2008). As such, those studies that applied prospect theory to both the exercise and physical activity areas, and then investigated the persuasive effects of the message, commonly concluded that gain-framed messages had a relatively higher persuasive power than loss-framed messages. For example, gain framing presenting the future outcomes of exercise in a positive manner can be a more effective message strategy for forming a positive will and attitude toward exercise. Thus, based on such discussion, this study established study hypothesis 4 as follows.
Methods
Research Design and Data Analysis
The overall experimental design of this study involved an independent sample with random assignment of participants to two groups according to the message frame treatment of the fitness app. The study was conducted using the playtest method. This method is a combination of a survey method and laboratory environment that can systematically and comprehensively measure the experiences and perceptions of experiment participants while including traditional usability test methods.
According to the playtest methodology, the researchers created two different versions of the app in advance: one version was characterized by gain messages and the other by loss messages. Depending on the group to which they were independently assigned, participants used the fitness app whose exercise messages corresponded to either gain or loss messages and then filled out the questionnaires. Participants then performed a sit-up exercise and completed self-report post-questionnaires. To investigate the difference in effects of the fitness app’s gain and loss messages on user experiences and exercise experiences, ANCOVA was performed measuring the exercise involvement of participants as covariance(Wankel, 1985). The user experience variable—perceived benefit—as well as the exercise experience variables—exercise interest, exercise flow, and exercise attitude—were used as dependent variables. Exercise involvement was set as covariance to more clearly ascertain the difference in experience, depending on the message given by the fitness app. Since users’ previous recognition and attitudes toward exercise, termed “exercise involvement” and referring to their personal relationship with exercise, might have an impact as an exogenous variable of the dependent variables, it was considered necessary to control for exercise involvement.
Participants and Setting
This study was conducted in the digital game laboratory of “H” University for undergraduates of “H” University in Gangwon-do, South Korea. A total of 100 students, 50 males and 50 females, were volunteered to participate in the experiment for about two weeks and they performed only once. Participants were recruited online and offline. Recruitment of participants was conducted through media communication classes of undergraduates, school community website, and one-on-one messages at the school’s Facebook page. The reason why we recruited college students was because they had a high rate of fitness app use in their 20s at the time of the research, and they were also the top 20 students who have ever used fitness apps.
The number of participants in the experiment was randomly assigned to each of the groups exposed to the gain message or loss message of the fitness app.
Prior to starting the experiment, the participants were informed of the experimental procedures and precautions from the researchers at certain places outside the laboratory. In this process, participants who agreed to the experiment were included in the experiment, and those who did not were excluded from the experiment. We also excluded participants who voluntarily abandoned the experiment during the experiment. Participants were asked to complete a pre-questionnaire after signing a consent form with sufficient understanding of the experimental procedures. The pre-questionnaire items were demographic characteristics (age, gender, experience of exercise app use, average weekly exercise) and exercise involvement, which is the degree of personal relevance to exercise. Participants complete the pre-questionnaire and then move on to the experiment stage.
The equipment used for the fitness app experiment was a 7-inch Google Nexus 7 tablet for exercise apps, and Morning Glory’s Natural Wood cradle was used as a tablet mount. Also, the Sean Lee Wonder Core Series 1 sports equipment was used to help participants perform sit-ups smoothly along with the use of fitness app. The reason for choosing a type of exercise is that too extreme an exercise can affect the measurement of message effectiveness because it is difficult for users to read messages from the exercise app. Therefore, sit-ups with proper athletic strength were selected. The fitness app developed for this experiment is “Enjoy Your Fitness”, produced by Hallym Health Communication Research Institute. The fitness app is made up of two versions of this study’s main experimental treatment, message type, to expose different messages to both gain and loss messages. “Enjoy Your Fitness” is based on Android KitKat version 4.4.2 and is a mobile fitness application that can be used by participants during actual sit - up exercise.
Procedure
The overall experimental procedure is summarized as follows. The experiment was conducted independently by one person in a soundproofed laboratory to ensure consistency and minimize external distractions. Sit-ups were chosen as the exercise task due to their simplicity, safety, and accessibility, ensuring that all participants could perform the exercise without specialized equipment or extensive training. First, after agreeing to participate, each participant filled out the research participation agreement and completed the pre-questionnaire. This initial phase took approximately five minutes. When the participant was ready to begin, they opened the “Enjoy Your Fitness” app and watched a two-minute example workout video, which demonstrated the proper sit-up technique and highlighted the long-term benefits of sit-ups. After viewing the video, participants were instructed to set three sets of personal exercise goals in the app. Once goal setting was completed, the sit-up exercise began.
The exercise session comprised three sets of 10 sit-ups, with each participant receiving either gain-framed or loss-framed messages depending on their assigned group. These messages appeared on the screen at the end of each set. In total, the gain message group was exposed to three gain messages, while the loss message group received three loss messages during the exercise. Participants used the fitness app for approximately 15 minutes, including goal setting and exercise execution. After completing the exercise session, they responded to the post-questionnaire, which took around 10 minutes to complete. Therefore, the total participation time was approximately 30 minutes, including the pre-questionnaire (5 minutes), exercise session (15 minutes), and post-questionnaire (10 minutes). All 100 participants completed the experiment and the post-questionnaire, regardless of the message type they were exposed to.
Stimulus
The message manipulation in this experiment consisted of contents emphasizing the benefits or losses that participants could get from exercising. The manipulation of gain and loss messages used in this study was verified by Cohen (2010) and Meyerowitz & Chaiken (1987). First, the gain-framed messages were presented as an emphasis on the benefits of the sit-up exercise: “Your belly is decreasing now as you exercise”; “Your body is getting more beautiful now as you exercise”; “You are more flexible and healthier now as you exercise!” The loss-framed messages emphasized the negative effects of not exercising: “If you do not exercise, your belly grows”; “If you do not exercise, your body will be out of shape”; “If you do not exercise, you will lose flexibility and lose health!”
Operational Definition and Measurements
The operational definitions of the variables used in this study and the items in the questionnaire used to measure the variables were designed based on the theoretical background and hypotheses presented in previous studies. Table 1 shows the operational definitions and some examples of the pre-questionnaire measurement items for exercise involvement and the post-questionnaire measurement items for perceived benefits, exercise interest, and exercise. The items for each variable were measured with a survey using a 5-point Likert scale. In addition, the number of questionnaire items and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient are also presented in Table 1.
Results
The demographic characteristics of the participants were collected during the pre-questionnaire, their age, fitness app experience, and weekly average exercise were measured. The average age of the participants was 22.08, 49% of the participants had previous experienced with fitness apps, and the average exercise time per week was about 1 hour and 28 minutes.
Research H1 related to user experiences depending on the message given by the fitness app. It predicted that users who are exposed to gain messages in a fitness app will have higher perceived benefits in the exercise process than those exposed to loss messages. The ANCOVA results are shown in Table 2; significant differences resulted between the gain message and the loss message for perceived benefit (p < 0.01, η2= .149). As a result of the a posteriori test of the difference in perceived benefit between groups, the perceived benefit of the user is higher for the gain message (gain M=4.00, loss M=3.43). On the other hand, the effect size of message on perceived benefit was F (1,97) = 16.97. Here, η2 = .149 indicates a moderate effect size, suggesting that gain-framed messages have a meaningful and practical impact on how users perceive exercise benefits. Therefore, research H1 was supported.
Next, research H2, H3, and H4 were tested for the exercise experience variable. In research H2, users who use fitness apps with gain messages are expected to be more interested in exercise. According to the ANCOVA results, a significant difference was found between the gain and loss messages for exercise interest (p <0.01, η2 = .155). In the a posteriori test of the difference in exercise interest between groups, the exercise interest of the user exposed to gain messages is higher (gain M=3.91, loss M=3.32). The effect size of message on perceived benefit was F (1,97) = 17.74. Here, η2 = .155 also represents a moderate effect size, showing that gain-framed messages substantially enhance user interest in exercise, making it more appealing and engaging. Therefore, research H2 was supported.
Research H3 postulated that users who use fitness apps with gain messages would have a higher exercise flow than those exposed to loss messages. According to the ANCOVA results, there was a significant difference between the gain and loss messages of exercise flow (p < 0.01, η2= .148); the user’s flow in exercise appears to be higher with the gain messages (gain M=3.85, loss M=3.26). The effect size of message on perceived benefit was F (1,97) = 16.81. Here, η2 = .148 suggests another moderate effect size, reflecting that gain-framed messages meaningfully improve users’ immersion and focus during exercise sessions. Therefore, research H3 was supported.
Finally, research H4 assumed that fitness app users exposed to gain messages will show a higher level of exercise attitude. ANCOVA results demonstrated that the attitude toward exercise was significantly different between the users exposed to gain messages and those exposed to loss messages (p <0.01, η2 = .211); the user’s exercise attitude appears to be more positive with the gain message framing (gain M=4.29, loss M=3.53). The effect size of message on perceived benefit was F (1,97) = 28.88. Here, η2 = .211 indicates a large effect size, signifying that gain-framed messages have a particularly strong and substantial impact on users’ attitudes toward exercise, making them more favorable and positive. Therefore, research H4 was also supported.
These findings consistently demonstrate that gain-framed messages outperform loss-framed messages across all variables—perceived benefit, exercise interest, exercise flow, and exercise attitude. The reported effect sizes (η2) reveal moderate impacts for perceived benefit, interest, and flow (η2 values of .149, .155, and .148, respectively) and a large impact for exercise attitude (η2 = .211). These values provide practical insights, as moderate effect sizes suggest meaningful and applicable improvements in user experiences, while the large effect size for exercise attitude highlights the substantial influence of gain-framed messages in shaping exercise-related perceptions and behaviors.
Discussion
The present study verified the exercise experiences and attitude differences of users depending on the messages given by a mobile fitness app created by the researchers. The effects of either gain- or loss-framed messages on perceived benefit, exercise interest, exercise flow, and exercise attitude were analyzed. The results showed that the group exposed to the gain-framed messages exhibited higher levels of perceived benefit, exercise interest, and exercise flow than the group exposed to the loss-framed messages. The exercise attitude of users was also found to be more positive when exposed to gain-framed messages. Past studies have suggested that a gain framed messages were emphasizes the benefits of smoking cessation is more effective than a loss framed messages(Steward et al., 2003). And Gain frame messages have been reported to be more effective as a message that motivates the rehabilitation exercise of stroke patients(Choi et al., 2007). In another study, the students were sent a message urging them to regular exercise divided into gain and loss frames. As a result, the gain frame message showed a greater persuasion effect on the health behavior of exercise(Parrott et al., 2008). These results of this study were consistent with the results of past studies and extend these findings to persuade health behavior. In particular, in previous studies, the effect of message was considered as a single dependent variable, such as message acceptance or attention, whereas in this study, the effect of message was measured by cognitive and psychological aspects such as perceived benefits, interests, It is different from the existing research. Therefore, in fitness apps whose goal is health promotion, when a gain-framed message is presented rather than a loss-framed message, the psychological experience of the user and the effects from the exercise experience are more positive. Ultimately, the purpose of fitness apps is to allow users to manage their own habits and to continue to increase their desire to exercise. Thus, messages that emphasize the benefits of exercise prove to be a more effective in motivating users to exercise in the context of fitness apps.
This study has several practical implications. First, it will be a practical help for the message design and development of future fitness apps. Even in the case of messages conveying the same idea, this study can aid in the understanding of how to construct a message and transmit health content, especially in a fitness situation, to optimize effectiveness in eliciting a user’s exercise behavior. Second, Positive messages and gain-framed messages seem to have a higher persuasive effect on users. If users gain awareness that their interest and intention to perform the exercise will be enhanced and that the exercise will give good results through a fitness app’s gain message, the user will perform the exercise regularly. In the long term, it is expected that message framing will improve the individual’s overall health and prevent disease.
Finally, the study results show that framing and delivering content through new media like apps that is tailored to the user’s situation and purpose is also important in terms of health communication effectiveness. In this study, we investigated what kind of message framing had more positive effects for users in an exercise context. In particular, it is significant that in the field of health fitness apps, the influence and persuasion effect of gain- and loss-framed messages are measured and compared in terms of user experience. It is also meaningful to suggest a direction for message design in exercise-related apps or games with similar purpose or similar media characteristics.
Future studies need to develop and validate various and specific messages for fitness situations in addition to gain and loss messages. In addition, sophisticated experimentation is required, such as controlling the various interactive features of the app that can affect the user’s experience of motion to measure more robust message effectiveness. Furthermore, to get a more accurate measure of the user experience, various analyses, such as physiological measurements, as well as questionnaire measurements, need to be applied together. In addition, in this study, participants used their fitness apps once and measured their user experience and athletic experience by self-report questionnaire. However, this methodology has limitations in examining individual experiences and behavior changes. Therefore, in future studies, it is necessary to strengthen the research design and periodically measure and examine the behavioral changes of the experimental participants according to the messages. Also, observation and interviews will be needed to see if positive attitudes toward exercise are generated through fitness apps. In this study, we examined the perceived benefit, interest, flow, and attitude of sit-up exercises, but further study is needed to see whether these results show the same contextual outcomes in other exercise behaviors.
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