Self-quantification, with the promise of motivating consumers to engage in health behaviors through measuring their performance, is a popular trend amongst consumers. Despite the economic impact of self-tracking technologies, consumers’ experiences with self-tracking devices and corresponding consequences for firms remain understudied. Six studies examine how the popular marketing tactic of anthropomorphization influences (a) consumers’ favorability towards wearable tracking devices, (b) their health motivation, and (c) their health behavior (number of steps taken) over time. The authors uncover a novel dynamic effect of anthropomorphism, such that with use, the initially positive evaluations of anthropomorphized (vs. non-anthropomorphized) devices decrease, and (contrary to prior literature), anthropomorphized devices are not favored. Importantly, health motivation and health behaviors are also reduced over time with the use of an anthropomorphized (vs. non-anthropomorphized) wearable device. This decrease occurs because anthropomorphized devices reduce the wearers’ perceived autonomy, which in turn, reduces their health motivation and health behavior. However, customizing the anthropomorphized device (by setting a customized goal or by monitoring a greater number of health-related indicators) can mitigate its negative effects. These findings provide novel insights to marketing scholars and managers, by suggesting that anthropomorphism can be a successful short-term selling strategy, but over time, it can have unintended consequences for both firms and consumers.

自我量化，承诺通过衡量他们的表现来激励消费者参与健康行为，是消费者中的一种流行趋势。尽管自我跟踪技术对经济产生了影响，但消费者对自我跟踪设备的体验以及对公司的相应影响仍未得到充分研究。六项研究探讨了流行的拟人化营销策略如何影响 (a) 消费者对可穿戴跟踪设备的喜爱程度，(b) 他们的健康动机，以及 (c) 随着时间的推移他们的健康行为（所走的步数）。作者发现了拟人化的一种新颖的动态效果，例如使用，最初对拟人化（相对于非拟人化）设备的正面评价减少，并且（与之前的文献相反），拟人化设备不受青睐。重要的是，随着使用拟人化（相对于非拟人化）可穿戴设备，健康动机和健康行为也会随着时间的推移而减少。这种减少的发生是因为拟人化设备降低了佩戴者的感知自主性，这反过来又降低了他们的健康动机和健康行为。然而，定制拟人化设备（通过设定定制目标或通过监测更多的健康相关指标）可以减轻其负面影响。这些发现表明拟人化可以成为一种成功的短期销售策略，但随着时间的推移，这些发现为营销学者和管理人员提供了新颖的见解，