Customer Well-Being Through Customer Engagement: Examining Mobile Fitness Applications Through the Lens of Self-Determination Theory

Abstract

 

In the current digital health landscape, mobile fitness applications have emerged as a pivotal medium for health promotion and consumer interaction. While such platforms have proliferated rapidly, the mechanisms by which sustained post-adoption engagement shapes user well-being remain insufficiently examined. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) as its theoretical anchor, this investigation empirically explores how customer engagement, conceptualised across three interrelated psychological dimensions: enthusiastic participation, conscious attention, and social connection, affects the well-being of fitness application users in India. Survey data were collected from 400 users and analysed using PLS-SEM. The results demonstrate that customer engagement has a significant positive impact on customer well-being. The study enriches the scholarly literature on digital health engagement and provides developers and marketing practitioners with actionable design principles that prioritise psychological need satisfaction, sustained engagement, and improved user well-being.