Gamification's role in fostering user engagement with healthy food-based digital content

Though digital platforms (e.g., social media) are often used to promote unhealthy, calorie-dense foods, the dynamics characterizing consumers' engagement with healthy nutrition-based content (e.g., as stimulated trough gamification) on these platforms remains tenuous, warranting further exploration. Addressing this gap, we deploy a qualitative field study and two experiments to show that challenge, a gamification mechanic that relies on rewarding incremental behavioral (e.g., food choice) improvements, shapes consumers' enjoyment of, and engagement with, digital healthy food-based content. Study 1 (n = 95) shows that challenge induces consumer enjoyment, boosting their engagement with healthy food-related digital content. Study 2 (n = 94) corroborates these findings by revealing a serial mediation effect of gamification-based challenge on consumers' enjoyment of, and engagement with, healthy food-based content. Extending Study 1, we also identify engagement's positive effect on consumers' app reuse intent. Moreover, we identify a moderating role of consumers' stage of change-based action (i.e., readiness to act on their health), which strengthens the association of gamification-based challenge/enjoyment. Overall, the findings substantiate gamification's role in boosting consumers' engagement with digital healthy food-based content. We conclude by deriving pertinent implications from our analyses.