Personalizing mHealth Persuasive Interventions for Physical Activity: The Impact of Personality on the Determinants of Physical Activity

Behaviour changes and persuasive mobile health (mHealth) technologies have shown success in motivating people to be more active and engage in physical activity. Research has demonstrated that persuasive interventions perform better if they are theory-driven and personalized. Thus, various research has addressed personalizing mHealth technologies based on different aspects. However, the literature lacks studies on the moderating effect of personality traits on the determinants of physical activity as identified by the Health Belief Model. To fill this gap, we conducted a large-scale study of 430 participants’ physical activity behaviour, associated determinants, and individuals’ personality traits. We developed a general model showing how the determinants impact physical activity and a personality-based model exploring the moderating effect of personality. Then, we explored the differences between the two models, as well as between distinct personalities within the personality-based model. Our findings show that people of distinct personalities respond differently to the behaviour change determinants. Based on the results, the paper provides recommendations for designing personalized persuasive mHealth interventions for promoting physical activity.