Health and fitness online communities and product behaviour

This study seeks to determine the impact of participating in health and fitness community on social media on individual’s health attitudes and health and fitness product-related behaviour. Survey data are collected from 221 users of the social medium Instagram, members of the self-proclaimed health and fitness community (#fitfam) and analysed with structural equation modelling. The study shows that community identification and engagement significantly contribute to increasing health environment sensitivity, resulting in heightened engagement in physical fitness and healthy product choices. Given the difficulty to remain engaged in pro-health behaviour and the growing impact of social media on young adult’s lives, these findings are encouraging. They show that online health and fitness communities provide a supportive environment in which consumers can identify and freely engage, and a fertile ground to the development of health sensitivity and product-related behaviour. The study contributes to health product promotion and advances the role of social media and online communities in this process