Ranking Persuasive System Design Strategies for mHealth Apps Using Fuzzy AHP

Authors

  • Mario Pezer University of Mostar, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Marko Odak University of Mostar, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Željko Marušić University of Mostar, Faculty of Science and Education, Bosnia and Herzegovina

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54820/entrenova-2025-0051

Keywords:

mHealth, Fuzzy AHP, Persuasive System Design, Multi-criteria Decision Making

Abstract

The development of mobile health (mHealth) applications has revolutionized health and fitness management by providing users with innovative digital tools to monitor and improve their well-being. These apps integrate features such as step counting, health tracking, and activity monitoring, making them valuable for personalized health interventions. However, ensuring effective user engagement remains a critical challenge. Persuasive System Design (PSD) strategies are essential for influencing user behaviour, improving adherence to health interventions, and enhancing app usability. Despite extensive research on PSD strategies, a structured framework that prioritizes the most effective strategies for mHealth apps is lacking. This study aims to address this gap by utilizing the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (Fuzzy AHP) to identify and rank the most influential PSD strategies for health and fitness mobile applications. By gathering expert opinions from product managers, this research will develop a structured Top 10 PSD Strategies Model that offers product designers a prioritized framework for implementing persuasive techniques. The findings will help improve user retention, engagement, and overall app success.

Author Biographies

  • Mario Pezer, University of Mostar, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Mario Pezer is a lecturer in the Department of Information and Communication Sciences at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Mostar. His academic interests include open-source software, digitalization, and project management. Throughout his career, he has authored several research papers presented at conferences and published in journals, with a focus on open-source software. He also serves as a lecturer for Agile Project Management at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Mostar. The author can be contacted at: mario.pezer@ff.sum.ba

  • Marko Odak, University of Mostar, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Marko Odak is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Mostar, where he has served as Vice-Dean for Science since 2022. Previously, he held the positions of Vice-Dean for Education, Head of the Department of Information Sciences, and Secretary of the Department of Information Sciences. He teaches a range of courses across undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels. His academic interests focus on information and communication sciences, e-learning, and technological trends in education. Professor Odak leads the scientific research project "Information Analysis and Data Processing in the Field of Information Security" (2023), funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Science. He also led the project "Comparison of the Perceptions of the Quality of Information Conveyed Through Voice Signals and Computer-Synthesized Speech" (2018), supported by the same institution. The author can be contacted at: marko.odak@ff.sum.ba

  • Željko Marušić, University of Mostar, Faculty of Science and Education, Bosnia and Herzegovina

    Željko Marušić is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Science and Education at the University of Mostar. In 2019, he obtained a PhD in computer science, specializing in artificial intelligence, from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Split. During his academic career, he published more than 10 scientific papers in international peer-reviewed conferences and journals. Among the articles, the work titled "Deep Learning Approach on Aerial Imagery in Supporting Land Search and Rescue Missions" published in the prestigious International Journal of Computer Vision stands out. Participated in several training courses, workshops, and international projects. His academic interests focus on computer vision, artificial intelligence, programming, and computer systems overall. The author can be contacted at: zeljko.marusic@fpmoz.sum.ba

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Published

2026-02-21

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 1 (2025)

Section

Industrial Organization

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Mario Pezer, Marko Odak, Željko Marušić

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Ranking Persuasive System Design Strategies for mHealth Apps Using Fuzzy AHP. (2026). ENTRENOVA - ENTerprise REsearch InNOVAtion Journal, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.54820/entrenova-2025-0051