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The relationship between personality and the perceived acceptability towards different persuasive technology strategies in the context of mobile stress management applications in University students

Senger, Judith (2020) The relationship between personality and the perceived acceptability towards different persuasive technology strategies in the context of mobile stress management applications in University students.

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Abstract:BACKGROUND: Stress is remarkably high in today’s society and especially among University students which can have a negative impact on everyday life and health. eHealth is steadily rising and interventions have a potential effectiveness in the self-management of stress. However, current mobile applications are not fully effective as they rarely take individual characteristics into account and, thus, the adherence is low. Therefore, this research aims at examining the perceived acceptability of three persuasive strategies and aims at investigating whether differences exist between the Big-5 personality traits. METHODS: In total, 95 University students took part in an online cross-sectional survey and were recruited in form of a non-probability, convenience sampling method. The Ten-Item-Personality Inventory was used to collect information about the personality traits of the participants. The Perceived Acceptability Scale was used in combination with storyboards to examine the acceptability of the persuasive strategies of praise, competition and self-monitoring. Spearman’s Rho was conducted using IBM SPSS statistics to test for significant differences between the variables of perceived acceptability of the three strategies and the personality traits. RESULTS: Generally, the results revealed that the persuasive strategy of competition was least accepted (M=17; SD=8,4), followed by the strategy of praise (M=24; SD=9,3), and lastly by the strategy of self-monitoring (M=28; SD=8,6). Significant results have been detected for the relationship between personality and perceived acceptability, more specifically for the personality trait of openness and the strategy of praise (rs= .210, p = .041). All other results were not significant. CONCLUSION: The results revealed that more precise research is needed regarding the effectiveness of persuasive strategies for dealing with stress. In addition, it is expected that personality traits are not the only decisive factor, but that individual preferences in terms of motivation and self-esteem could play an important role in making applications more persuasive. If more meaningful conclusions can be drawn from further recommended research, the results can be used for practical implications to improve several eTechnological domains.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology BSc (56604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/82251
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