Investigation Of Social Predictors Of Competitive Behavior In Persuasive Technology

Research has shown that Competition is one of the most powerful persuasive strategies to intrinsically motivate users in a social context towards performing a target behavior. However, in persuasive technology research, studies showing the predictors of the "persuasiveness of Competition" as a motivational strategy are scarce. Consequently, based on a sample size of 213 Canadians, we tested a model using three socially influential strategies (Social Learning, Social Comparison and Reward) as predictors of Competition. Our model accounts for 42% of the variation in Competition and reveals that Reward is the strongest predictor of Competition, followed by Social Comparison, but Social Learning is not a predictor. Moreover, it reveals that Social Comparison mediates the influence of Reward on Social Learning and Competition. Our findings provide designers of persuasive applications with insight into the possibility of implementing Reward, Social Comparison and Competition as effective cost-rategies for stimulating user engagement in gamified applications.