消费领域的量化自我:研究述评与展望

Quantified Self in the Field of Consumption: A Literature Review and Prospects

量化自我是指消费者对自我数据进行收集并经由数据获得自我知识的过程。量化自我能增强消费者的自我精准管控和行为理性,驱动消费者行为方式的转变。数据驱动的量化自我时代正在来临,全新的商业逻辑正在被建立起来。消费者的行为正从非标准化向精准化转变。鉴于此,越来越多学者开始围绕量化自我展开研究,在清晰界定量化自我概念的基础上,分析量化自我的参与动机与阶段性过程,关注量化自我带来的消费者精准化消费方式转变。本文系统回顾了量化自我相关研究,阐释了量化自我的概念与本质,从量化自我的类型与效用、动机与过程等方面对相关研究进行了述评,整理提炼了量化自我在消费领域的应用现状,并在此基础上明确了量化自我研究尚需解决的问题和未来的研究方向。

The positive pursuit of healthy lifestyle and the development of technology both promote consumers to use related tracking tools to collect, manage, and reflect self data to better understand their behavior, and interact with the environment. From individual physical function and state to consumption behavior and habits, data is gradually infiltrating consumers＇ lives, affecting consumers＇ original knowledge production modes and cognitive framework. In light of this, scholars begin to pay attention to quantified cognition and behavior of consumers, and put forward the concept of quantified self. On the basis of the definition of quantified self, existing studies have explored the types and effects of quantified self, analyzing the participation motivation and periodical process of quantified self, and paying close attention to the changes in consumers＇ precise consumption styles brought by it. Through a systematic review of related literature, this paper analyzes the essence of quantified self, making it clear that quantified self is the process in which consumers collect self data and acquire their own knowledge through the quantified data. During the process, consumers can realize the transformation from cognitive mode based on practical experience to cognitive mode based on quantified data. According to different driving modes and utility orientation of objects while participating in quantified self, quantified self can be divided into four types, namely stimulating- system-driven quantified self, defensive-system-driven quantified self, stimulating-user-dominated quantified self, and defensive-user-dominated quantified self. As previously unknown aspects of life become precisely monitored, quantified self drives consumers to re-examine and think about themselves, so as to enhance the precise control of consumers on their own, as well as make consumers＇ decision- making more rational, and enable consumers to optimize and change their behavior in a data-driven way. The optimization of self behavior and improvement of ability, the self control and self regulation, or the exploration of knowledge and the pursuit of self enjoyment drive consumers to participate in quantified self. However, the development of information technology and the formation of social platforms have promoted the flow of data among community members, making quantified self more collective and more social. Consumers may participate in quantified self for gaining membership in a particular community or show their personalities in the community. From the perspective of self control and self optimization motivation, related studies have divided the stages of quantified self. Most studies emphasize that quantified self is a process of tracking, reflection and action, but ignore the maintenance stage behind reflection and action. With the implementation and popularization of quantified self, new business logic is being established. Consumers are increasingly satisfying their personalized and precise needs based on the analysis of self quantified data and intervention of self behavior. Consumers have more decision- making rationality and autonomy than before; enterprises can carry out the customer segmentation and the precise marketing by consumers＇ quantified data, as well as better design, develop new products and monitor product performance, managing customer relationship effectively. However, quantified self is a long-term process for consumers to form self knowledge and behavioral habits based on quantified data, and the continuous participation of consumers is a key issue that needs to be considered in the application of quantified self in the consumer field. Analysis of quantified self in academia is still at the initial stage, so future research should improve and explore the connotation of related concepts from multiple perspectives, exploring the internal and influencing mechanisms of quantified self, paying attention to consumers＇ continuous participation in quantified self, analyzing consumers＇ psychological effects under different feedback types and presentation modes of quantified data, and exploring the paths of enterprises＇ practice and consumers＇ education under the background of quantified self.