If this, then habit: exploring context-aware implementation intentions on smartphones

Abstract

Implementation intentions, 'if-then' plans where 'if's are contextual cues and 'then's are specific goal-related behaviours, hold much promise as an effective behaviour change technique to support habit formation. Nevertheless, they have been underused in digital behaviour change interventions. To address this gap, we outline a novel design of an implementation intention intervention that exploits the context-aware functionality of smartphones to extend the scope of these goal constructs. The results of a probe study and qualitative data from an elicitation survey are presented, from which we derive a set of key design recommendations and pointers for future research.