When and why consumers prefer human-free behavior tracking products

Despite disliking behavior tracking for marketing, consumers actively adopt technological behavior tracking products. Our research examines the psychological factors driving this adoption and the conditions under which it occurs. We theorize that consumers prefer technological (versus human-based) tracking, because human-free tracking reduces concerns about negative judgment. However, we propose that this preference is weakened, and even reversed, when immediate judgment concerns are less salient than the need for feedback from relevant humans such as when consumers pursue performance (versus personal) goals. Across four preregistered studies (n = 2,601), we found that consumers generally prefer technological (versus human) tracking due to lower negative judgment concerns (Studies 1 and 2A). Consumers’ gender, goal satisfaction, and self-efficacy influenced this effect (Study 2B). However, preference for technological tracking was reversed when consumers pursued performance goals (e.g., training for a public dance competition) versus personal goals (e.g., training to lose weight) (Study 3).