Analysing consumer psychological journey in fitness app use: a systematic bibliometric review

The study analyses the academic literature on fitness applications (fitness apps) using bibliometric techniques to evaluate the consumer journey through a psychological lens. The purpose of this study is to identify the key theoretical frameworks and psychological constructs that explain the different stages of consumers’ journeys in the use of fitness applications. The study is based on a thematic analysis of peer-reviewed publications indexed in major academic databases (Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed) between 2010 and 2025. Bibliometric analysis was conducted using RStudio-based Biblioshiny for the thematic and Sankey maps, and VOS viewer for keyword co-occurrence analysis. The analysis identifies four stages of consumer journey in fitness applications (apps). The first stage, adoption stage, is focused on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) and other technology based psychological frameworks. The second stage, motivation drivers towards engagement stage includes drivers such as social media-based motivation to engage customers and is rooted in the theoretical foundation of Theory of Planned Behaviour, Self-Efficacy and Social Comparison Theory. The third stage, engagement stage, focused on behaviour change in users governed by personalization and user experience. The fourth stage, continuous intention stage focussed on performance measurement of satisfaction and outcomes of continued usage. This stage is dominated by Self-Determination theory. This novel study redefines fitness app usage as a dynamic multi-stage psychological process through a multi-step bibliometric–interpretive approach and shows the transition towards experiential dimension of usage of fitness apps from utility-driven behaviours.