Realising the potential of digital health communities: a study of the role of social factors in community engagement

Health and fitness communities in the digital age are of strategic importance to global health and wellbeing. Despite this, information systems (IS) research on digital health and fitness communities has not kept pace with societal needs. Using partial least squares analysis, this study examines a number of social factors to predict members’ continuance intention (CI) in digital health and fitness communities. The findings confirm that the social presence (SP) of the community, as perceived by a member, influences their sense of belonging (SB) to it. SP and SB influence the member’s emotional engagement (EE) and appreciation of being recognised (AR) by the community. Subsequently, EE and AR are found to influence CI to stick with the community. In addition, the social influence (SI) of one’s social circles influences AR and CI. Departing from the dominant approaches, this study advances IS research on digital communities by conceptualising and testing a model to predict CI according to social relational theories. The study offers new theoretical foundations, which are appropriate to digital communities, upon which future studies can be based. Further, the findings offer practical insights for improving engagement in digital health and fitness communities.