Examination of e-sports attitudes and participation among faculty of sports sciences students (A case study of Selçuk University)

SUMMARY REPUBLIC OF TURKEY SELCUK UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES INSTITUTE Examination of E-Sports Attitudes and Participation Among Faculty of Sports Sciences Students (A Case Study of Selçuk University) Oğuzhan KAYA Department of Sports Management MASTER'S THESIS / KONYA-2025 This study aimed to determine the attitudes of students in the Faculty of Sport Sciences toward e-sports and their motivations for participating in e-sports. It also examined whether these attitudes and motivations differed based on demographic variables and whether there was a significant relationship between attitudes toward e-sports and participation motivation. A descriptive survey and relational screening model were employed to examine the current state. The sample consisted of 338 undergraduate students (174 females, 164 males) enrolled in various departments (Physical Education and Sports Teaching, Sports Management, Coaching Education, and Recreation) and grade levels (1st through 4th year) within the Faculty of Sport Sciences at Selçuk University. Data collection instruments included the E-Sports Attitude Scale (Savaş & Turan, 2023), the E-Sports Participation Motivation Scale (Öz & Üstün, 2019), and a Personal Information Form developed by the researcher. Normality of the data was assessed using skewness and kurtosis values. Given that the data were normally distributed, independent samples t-tests were used for pairwise comparisons and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) for multiple comparisons. Tukey HSD and LSD tests were used for post hoc analyses in cases of homogeneity of variance, while Tamhane's T2 test was applied when variance assumptions were violated. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients were used to analyze the relationships between variables. The significance level for all statistical analyses was set at .05. Findings indicated that students' attitudes toward e-sports were at a moderate level across the cognitive, affective, and behavioral subdimensions, as well as in the overall scale. Significant differences in attitude scores were found based on gender, academic department, father's educational level, parental employment status (except in the affective dimension), monthly income level, and daily gaming time. No significant differences were found based on age, mother's educational level, or parents' marital status. Similarly, students demonstrated moderate levels of motivation to participate in e-sports across the subdimensions of Taxonomic Domain, Competence, Relational Self, Competition and Achievement, and Leisure Time Evaluation, as well as in the overall motivation scale. Participation motivation scores significantly varied by gender, academic department, father's education level (except for the relational self dimension), parental employment status (except for the competition and achievement dimension), monthly income level, and daily gaming time. No significant differences were identified based on age, mother's education level, or parents' marital status. A strong, positive, and statistically significant correlation was found between students' attitudes toward e-sports and their motivation to participate. These findings suggest that more positive attitudes toward e-sports are associated with higher participation motivation, and vice versa. Keywords: E-sports; Attitude; Participation motivation; Sport sciences students.