Exploring the Salient Beliefs Underlying Esports Participation Among Chinese Young adults-A Qualitative Study Informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior

Esports has gained widespread popularity in China, captivating millions of young adults. Despite the rapid growth, esports continues to evoke controversy over the effects of participation on a range of individual outcomes. Nevertheless, participation continues to increase, suggesting that esports may provide perceived benefits or value that outweigh concerns about its potential negative effects. Consequently, there is a need to further understand esports participation behavior. Previous studies primarily employed quantitative designs to understand esports participation intention. However, these studies offer limited understanding of how players themselves perceive and interpret esports participation. Accordingly, using a qualitative approach, this study aims to explore the salient beliefs underlying esports participation in line with the theory of planned behavior. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 esports players (male = 13, female = 5) aged between 18 and 35 years to explore their behavioral beliefs, normative beliefs, and control beliefs regarding esports participation. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. Our findings show that esports participation is perceived by players as having adverse physical effects, dual psychological outcomes, and addictive potential, thus shaping their neutral attitudes toward esports. When emphasizing the psychological benefits (e.g., stress relief, social needs fulfillment) and viewing esports from a macro perspective (e.g., the economic value of esports industry), players may develop more positive attitudes. Furthermore, peers are perceived to support players’ participation in esports, whereas parents are perceived to hold unfavorable attitudes toward such participation, possibly due to underlying social bias against esports in the Chinese context. Such social bias may exert pressure on some players, thereby eliciting adverse affective responses (e.g., guilt). Additionally, four facilitators (e.g., in-game rewards) and five barriers (e.g., hardware constraints) to esports participation were identified. Importantly, our findings suggest that the paradoxical outcomes of esports participation may be rooted in the competitive nature of esports. Finally, we highlight the importance of balanced and healthy participation in esports, and propose some feasible intervention strategies to reduce the risk of addiction in esports.