Understanding College Students’ Motivation In Virtual Reality-Based Exercise: An Expectancy-Value Approach

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With technology advances, virtual reality (VR)-based exercise has been widely used in clinical and rehabilitation training applications. Given the fact that numerous Kinesiologists have investigated the potential benefits of VR-based exercise among college students, it is needed to understand college students’ motivation in VR-based exercise in order to promote their health and well-being. PURPOSE: To investigate college students’ motivation in VR-based exercise and exercise intention from the expectancy-value model perspective (Eccles et al., 1983), which includes expectancy-related beliefs and three task-values (i.e., attainment value, intrinsic value, and utility value). METHODS: Participants were 72 college students (Mage = 20.72, SD = 1.66; Male = 54.2%) from a public university in the U.S. Among them, 94.4% of the participants reported “never” or “rarely” played VR-based exercise before. They played the VirZoom Arcade (stationary bike game) requiring moderate-to-vigorous pedaling and leaning their body to the left and right for at least 5 minutes. After attending the VR-based exercise session, participants completed VR-based expectancy-value questionnaires adopted from previous studies, which was developed for measuring students’ motivation and intention for future participation in VR-based exercise. RESULTS: The correlation analysis indicated the positive associations among the study variables. A multiple regression analysis revealed a statistically significant effect, F(3,68) = 30.162, p <.001, R2 = 57.1%. The utility value (β = .409), attainment value (β = .296), and intrinsic value (β = .269) were three significant predictors of students’ intention for future participation in VR-based exercise, but the expectancy-related belief was not a significant predictor of students’ intention for future participation in VR-based exercise. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicated that VR-based exercise is useful, important, and interesting that can enhance college students’ intention to participate in VR-based exercise in the future. VR technology could be considered as an efficient motivational tool to promote exercise, but further research is needed to examine the effects of VR-based exercise on college students’ health outcomes using an experimental research design.