Investigation of Behavioral Intentions According to Unified Technology Acceptance and Use Theory 2 (Utaut-2) of Wearable Technologies in Sports: Example of the Heart Monitor

Abstract

The modern world encourages individuals to be conscious of sports routines for a healthy life, by means of popularized approaches to sports and health. Health and sports industries, which are affected by developing technology, reshape accordingly the wearable technologies. The heart rate monitors used in those industries adapt for the different parts of the body and can measure by taking heart rate inputs from different parts of the body through wearable technologies such as skin patches, body bands, smart shoes or smart clothes. These devices can also monitor the consuming calories and performance tracking over the measured heart rate and time. This generates a numerical output of intentional reactions during body activity. Various factors which are affecting the use of heart rate monitors originate from the Technology Acceptance Theories. Approaches and attitudes of individuals affect their purchasing and usage levels towards these products. It has become possible to mention an increasing market share due to the widespread use of the wearable technologies. The industry, which is associated with sports and activity, falls within the scope of sports marketing. And wearable technologies in sports marketing have been in the Turkish market for the last 10 years. An increasing number of users experience over the heart rate monitors and their behavioral intentions about the product are shaped in the next process. The athletes which are the target audience, within the framework of sports marketing and the behavioural intentions of these individuals create one of the important determinants of marketing. The question that needs to be answered is which behavioural intention variable has an impact on a sectoral basis. It is aimed to contribute to the sports marketing literature in Turkey regarding the wearable technologies in sports marketing by the answer to the question is replied in the light of the findings in this study. In the literature review, especially in Turkish literature, it has been done that a limited number of researches on wearable technologies carried out in sports marketing. A study named Using Smartwatches for Fitness and Health Monitoring: The UTAUT2 Combined With Threat Appraisal As Moderators, which is among the studies on this subject, was carried out on individuals who are users or nonusers the heart rate monitors. The screening question was determined as 'Have you heard of smartwatches before?'. Individuals who answered "No" were not included in the survey. However, the participants consisted of individuals who use heart rate monitors and do sports in our study. Contrary to the research conducted in Malaysia, this research was conducted on the basis of behavioral intent regarding the users of the heart rate monitor and did not include the subheadings of perceived vulnerability and perceived severity in the survey questions. Although the study conducted in Malaysia focused on both sports and health fields, it was aimed to measure the behavioral intentions of individuals who only do sports and use heart rate monitors in this study. The perceived vulnerability and perceived severity which are the survey questions of the Malaysian study under the sub-headings about health issues. Thus, these sub-headings were not included in this survey questions because health issues were not included in this research. The survey research, which is one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. Informations collected from the respondents by the survey. The survey was conducted through the SurveyMonkey which is online survey platform in order to reach people easier, considering the pandemic conditions. After determinated the questions of the scale, communicated with a gym to find the participants for the study. After the survey was conducted to the trainers and members of the gym, other gym trainers and members were reached through the snowball sampling technique, which is one of the non-probability sampling techniques. The key point in the snowball sampling technique is that the participants have social bonds. Thus, the number of samples increases thanks to the participants interacting with their social environment.