FACTORS INFLUENCING THE INTENTION TO

PLAY ESPORTS GAMES AMONG STUDENTS IN

PUNCAK ALAM

MUHAMAD HAKIMI BIN HAMZAN

2017267524

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

WITH HONOURS (INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS)
FACULTY OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA
PUNCAK ALAM

JANUARY 2020
 DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL WORK

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

WITH HONOURS (INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS)
FACULTY OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

"DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL WORK"

I, Muhamad Hakimi Bin Hamzan, I/C Number: 930703036159

Hereby, declare that:

• This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any
degree, locally or overseas, and is not being concurrently submitted
for this degree or any other degrees.

• This project-paper is the result of my independent work and

investigation, except where otherwise stated.

• All verbatim extracts have been distinguished by quotation marks and

sources of my information have been specifically acknowledged.

Signature: ________________ Date: ___________________

ii
 LETTER OF SUBMISSION

16 January 2020,

Miss Nuryusmawati Binti Mohd Yusof,

UiTM Kampus Puncak Alam,

42300, Bandar Puncak Alam,

Selangor.

Dear Madam,

SUBMISSION OF PROJECT PAPER

Attached is the project paper entitle “FACTORS INFLUENCING THE INTENTION TO

PLAY ESPORTS GAMES AMONG STUDENTS IN PUNCAK ALAM” to fulfil the
requirement as needed by the faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely

-----------------------------------

MUHAMAD HAKIMI BIN HAMZAN

(2017267524)

Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) International Business

Universiti Teknologi Mara, Puncak Alam

iii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praises and thanks belong to

Allah for the guidance and wisdom in completing this thesis. Hundreds of gratitude goes to my

academic advisor, Miss Nuryusmawati Binti Mohd Yusof for her endless support guiding me

step by step in this project. Her insights and criticism help me to improve the quality of my

work to a great feat. Many thanks to Dr Faizah Mashahadi for her criticism which enabled me

to do further correction. Many thanks to all the friends that help me in my inquiries. Last but

not least, a gratitude to my family that help me indirectly throughout this journey.

iv
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE………………………………………………………………………………...………… i
DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL WORK………………………………………….....……....……… ii
LETTER OF SUBMISSION……………………………………………………………..…………… iii
ACKNOWLEDGMENT……………………………………………………………………………… iv
TABLE OF CONTENT…………………………………………………………………………..…… v
LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………………….…..…. vii
LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………..….... viii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study……………………………...................................……. 1
1.1.1 Introduction of esports………………............................................…. 2
1.1.2 History of esports…………………………………...................….. 3-5
1.1.3 Esports scene in Malaysia………………………………................ 5-6
1.2 Problem Statement........................................................................................... 7
1.3 Research Questions.......................................................................................... 8
1.4 Research Objectives......................................................................................... 8

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Overview of esports participation.................................................................... 9
2.2 Overview of independent variable................................................................. 10
2.2.1 Hedonic Motivation..................................................................... 10-11
2.2.2 Habit............................................................................................ 11-12
2.2.3 Price Value................................................................................... 12-13
2.2.4 Effort Expectancy........................................................................ 13-14
2.2.5 Social Influence........................................................................... 14-15
2.2.6 Flow.................................................................................................. 15
2.3 Overview of dependent variable (Esports gameplay intention).................... 16

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction................................................................................................... 17
3.2 Theoretical Framework................................................................................. 17
3.3 Research Hypothesis..................................................................................... 18
3.4 Research Design............................................................................................ 18
3.4.1 Questionnaire Development........................................................ 19-21

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 3.4.2 Target Population............................................................................. 21
3.4.3 Sampling Technique and Sample Size............................................. 21
3.5 Construct Measurement................................................................................. 22
3.5.1 Data Collection Procedure................................................................ 22
3.6 Data Analysis Technique............................................................................... 23
3.6.1 Reliability Analysis........................................................................... 23
3.6.2 Pearson Correlation Analysis............................................................ 23
3.6.3 Multiple Regression Analysis........................................................... 23

CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 Demographic profile................................................................................. 24-28
4.2 Reliability analysis......................................................................................... 29
4.3 Descriptive analysis.................................................................................. 30-33
4.4 Correlation analysis.................................................................................. 34-35
4.5 Regression analysis................................................................................... 36-38
4.6 Hypothesis Testing........................................................................................ 38

CHAPTER 5 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Discussion on finding............................................................................... 39-43
5.2 Suggestion................................................................................................ 44-45
5.3 Future research............................................................................................... 45

REFERENCE .................................................................................................................................46-49
APPENDIX .....................................................................................................................................50-68

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 LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 : Questionnaire Development.................................................................................. 19-21

Table 2.1: Gender........................................................................................................................ 24
Table 2.2: Age..............................................................................................................................24
Table 2.3: Marital Status............................................................................................................. 25
Table 2.4: Education level........................................................................................................... 25
Table 2.5: Income level ...............................................................................................................26
Table 2.6: Esports game of choice.............................................................................................. 27
Table 2.7: Frequency of playing................................................................................................. 28
Table 3.1: Cronbach’s Alpha table .............................................................................................29
Table 3.2: Descriptive: Hedonic motivation............................................................................... 30
Table 3.3: Descriptive: Habit...................................................................................................... 30
Table 3.4: Descriptive: Price value............................................................................................. 31
Table 3.5: Descriptive: Effort expectancy.................................................................................. 31
Table 3.6: Descriptive: Social influence..................................................................................... 32
Table 3.7: Descriptive: Flow ......................................................................................................32
Table 3.8: Descriptive: Intention to play esports games............................................................. 33
Table 4.1: Strength of association............................................................................................... 34
Table 4.2: Correlation................................................................................................................. 34
Table 5.1: Model summary......................................................................................................... 36
Table 5.2: ANOVA table............................................................................................................ 37
Table 5.3: Coefficient table......................................................................................................... 37
Table 6: Hypothesis testing...................................................................................................... 38

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Theoretical framework............................................................................................... 17

Figure 2: Last question for the “No” respondents..................................................................... 39

viii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of study

Esports is creeping into our lives without the parents noticing. Esports affect if not all but

most of us. We see younger generation with devices in their hands to the adults trying to beat

the score of Candy Crush game to be the number 1. Esports in simple term is actually gaming.

Not gaming in the conventional sense but with the intention of winning rewards like money or

even just in-game points. Back in the time before esports, playing video game is regarded as

damaging activities that actually waste time (Jonasson & Thiborg, 2010). It is refreshing to see

the change in perception of gaming up till now.

The question is “what motivate these gamers to participate in eSports?”. What is actually

the factors that influence the intention to play esports games? These questions mostly apply to

younger generations because the bulk of gamers came from teens, as my understanding. Young

adult, is reported to have at least one device (smartphone), that they can use to participate in

esports game or even just to get used to a new game system (Bányai, Griffiths, Király &

Demetrovics, 2018).

Many youngsters found pleasure in playing this type of games especially games with

shorter span of time between matches. For example, in Mobile Legend, youngsters were eager

to play with their friends since it is the new trend and also because of the mechanics of the

games which is relatively easy (Jang & Byon, 2019). To succeed in a match, you only need to

complete the main goal of the game which is to take down the opponent’s main tower (Sun,

2017). It is not that that hard to learn the mechanics of the game and once you grasp it, it’s only

a matter of teamwork when you want to win the game. As of now, we can assume that there

are at least three factors which influence the intention to play esports games, which are 1. The

simplicity of the games to learn and play it, 2. Social influences and 3. Playing for pleasure.

1
 But that is not all, most of mainstream games nowadays implement a freemium model

(Samuel, 2017), which is where new users can try to experience the game for free and if they

like the game, they can then purchase additional element in the game which enhance their game

experiences. With these additional elements, they are more immersed in the game which then

become their habits daily (Jang and Byon, 2019). With that being said, three more underlying

factors which could influence the intention to play esports games and they are 1. Low cost of

playing games, 2. Feeling of complete immersion when playing games and 3. The adoption of

gaming activities as habitual routine. Jang and Byon (2019) hypothesize six factors that could

influence the intention to play esports games and they are hedonic motivation, habit, price

value, effort expectancy, social influence and flow. Thus, we are adapting their framework in

our thesis and we shall proceed as such.

1.1.1 Introduction of esports

The term eSports has a lot of definition that could be interpreted in different ways. We

will go through these definitions briefly. Hamari & Sjöblom (2017) define the components of

eSports that include the input of players, the output of game system and the use of electronic

systems. Lee, An, & Lee (2014) define esports as “recreational activity involving competition

using mental and physical abilities in a virtual online environment similar to the reality‟ and

includes “various competitions and leagues involving network games‟. Bányai, Griffiths,

Király & Demetrovics (2018) defined the components of esports that include the element of

competition (winner and loser) and organized events governed by rules. Carbonie, Guo &

Cahalane (2018) termed eSports as ‘professional gaming’, using electronic systems. Jang &

Byon (2019) interpret esports as competitive sport that happened in virtual life that are

2
facilitated using technology. Based on said definitions, we aspire to create one definition that

would satisfy all the previous definitions. Thus, for the purpose of this thesis, we define esports

as competitive organized video gaming which use technologies like internet and computer for

the sake of rewards.

1.1.2 History of esports

Esports “can be traced back to the earliest days of computer gaming” (Taylor, 2012).

The popularization of esports industries only started within a decade ago. Wagner (2006) noted

that the birth of esports started with gaming community established in Korea late 1990s with

the game StarCraft along with the easy accessibility of internet. With the establishment of good

gaming community in Korea, this community are then imitated by other country like United

States.

Lee & Schoenstedt (2011) said that the development of eSports can be found to two

timeline which are: (a) arcade and (b) Internet eras. From the year 1980 to 1990, video gaming

competitions bring out astounding performances in games such as Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man,

Donkey Kong, Jr., Centipede, and Burger Time. The 1990s seen the rise of the Internet and

local area network (LAN) technology, allowing people to connect online while replacing

consoles (Griffiths, Davies, & Chappell, 2003). This is a huge game changing tech because it

allows everything to be done online including gaming activities (Brown, Billings, Murphy &

Puesan, 2017).

But then, after the arcade era, Ramsey (2015) noted that esports quickly became a

legitimate sport with associations and governing bodies rising to help grow esports. Countries

like United States and South Korea has started to established governing entity to help

3
standardized the rules of esports games which are actually controlled by video game developers

(Jenny, Manning, Keiper, & Orlich, 2016).

Warr (2014) estimated that during 2013 up to 70 million people spectated esports.

O’Neill (2014) found that, in 2013, consumers spent almost 12 billion min on Twitch.TV

watching eSports. These statistics surely attract the eyes of the stakeholders. Esports industry

is nothing small to look upon based on these numbers. Casselman (2015) noted that, more than

205 million people globally watched or participated in eSports during 2014. Esports mostly go

hand in hand with online platform like Twitch.TV and YouTube. The number of participants

whether they played the game or merely spectating, increasing every year and it is not going

down. In fact, Newzoo (2017) estimated that the global esport audience has reached 385

million, and that 45% of them participate in esports games, 23% just spectate esports matches,

and 32% both participate and spectate esports activities.

So how did esports gained so much tractions so quick? Olson (2010) noted that

contemporary video games grew in social circle. People are drawn to activities that their close

friends or families participate into. This also applies to esports gaming activities. Video games

slowly changes becoming more social entertainment. (Lobel, Engels, Stone, Burk & Granic,

2017). Sun (2017) remarked that the population of playing electronic sports has grew currently,

and the most famous one is League of Legends (LOL). Even though Defense of the Ancient 2

(DOTA2) has a higher prize pool, but LOL still holds the highest number of game players

between the two games. DOTA2 is the most sponsored gaming platform right this second with

a very high prize pool reaching millions of dollars (Esports earning, 2019). From my

observation, many of these games have become part of younger generations’ culture without

anyone realising. Games like Call of Duty, Fortnite and PUBG have become trend at this point.

4
 Since the rise of esports, young ones try to pick up the mantle going from amateur to

professional in their respective game of choice. But it is extremely hard if amateur gamers want

to go professional. First thing they have to find is sponsorship, because gaining a sponsorship

is central and sponsorship eliminates monetary barriers (Rovell 2016). The cost of entering

professional games is too high for average person. Although, Newzoo Esports (2019) reported

that sport industry investors, sport event publishers, tournament organizers and sport teams are

trying to tap this growingly esports market.

1.1.3 Esports scene in Malaysia

What about the esports scene in Malaysia? Statistics by the Malaysia Digital Economy

Corporation shows that there are 14 million gamers in the country (Lim, 2019). Malaysia is not

far behind and slowly catching the pace. Back in 2016, Malaysian team, Fnatic succeeded in

bringing back 1.4 million USD by winning the fourth place in the DOTA2 International

tournament ("Malaysian gaming team Fnatic wins RM5.6mil in Dota 2 tournament", 2016).

That was the mark of the first esports scene by Malaysian teams. In 2018, also a huge success

when one of DOTA2 major tournament called KL Major was held in Stadium Axiata Arena

for three days which saw fans camping out for more than 12 hours every day.

Although, Lim (2018) noted that esports in Malaysia is still in its growing phase and

any success could help the stakeholders. The rise of esports slowly but surely growing in its

own pace and its growth has caught the attention of both the corporate and public sectors (Toh,

2019). Even the Malaysian Youth Minister Syed Saddiq is encouraging the youth to make a

name for the country by competing in eSports. This can be supported with evidence from RM20

million funds injected into Malaysia esports scene for the year 2020 (Teoh, 2019).

5
 Moreover, 2019 SEA Games has put esports in one of the lists of discipline for medal.

The Manila games will be the first of its kind featuring e-Sports as a medal event in the

competition (Teoh, 2019). Sharmila (2019) said that Malaysia sent esports teams to the 2019

SEA Games for titles such as Tekken 7, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, Dota 2 and Hearthstone.

As the SEA Games for esports concludes, Malaysia managed to bring back gold medal for

Hearthstone as titled in New Straits Times’ article “Academician becomes Malaysia's first

eSports champion in the Sea Games” (NST Sport, 2019). Which is very surprising because the

champion is a PHD holder working as an assistant professor at Heriot-Watt University

Malaysia in Putrajaya. An inspiring quote when he said that “If you focus only on electronic

games, you will not be successful. I am a PhD holder, and I am a living proof that one can excel

both in eSports and studies” This might be the stepping stone for the Malaysian parents to keep

an eye out because if kids push through, they can excel both in studies and games.

6
1.2 Problem Statement

According to my observation, a lot of students are getting into the trend of esports gaming,

sometimes just to past the time or even just for fun. The Esports Ecosystem reports by Business

Insider quoted that “The pop-culturization of esports has helped power the explosions in esports

investment and revenue” (Reyes, 2019). Esports industry is no longer considered a small

industry because it looks like every company is getting their hands into the industry for the

profit. Eports Earning (2019) reported that the highest prize pool in esports tournaments

reached up to 30 Million USD in a single event. This number is astounding because who would

have thought that we could make money from playing games or even making it a career.

Number of people spectating esports events reach up to millions yearly. So, the idea of making

a business or profits out of playing video games doesn’t seem so far-fetched anymore. That

might be the reason why, students particularly are interested in esports gaming. It is not only

just for fun but also for the potential of making it big in esports scene might have attract their

interest.

In light of this, there is quite a gap in the academic circles pertaining to esports. Sure, there

are a lot of studies on video gaming particularly but studies on esports are still somewhat scarce.

Esports and video gaming are two different things because esports add the element of

competition, rewards and others. With these additional elements, the previous studies on video

gaming might be affected. This thesis is trying to hopefully improve the gaps in academics

studies related to esports industry.

7
1.3 Research Question

➢ What is the correlation between Effort expectancy, Social influence, Hedonic

motivation, Price value, Habit and Flow towards esports Gameplay intention? (RQ1)

➢ Which of the factors among Effort expectancy, Social influence, Hedonic motivation,

Price value, Habit and Flow are the most influential towards esports Gameplay

intention? (RQ2)

1.4 Research Objective

➢ To determine the correlation between Effort expectancy, Social influence, Hedonic

motivation, Price value, Habit and Flow towards esports Gameplay intention. (RO1)

➢ To determine which of the independent variables (Effort expectancy, Social influence,

Hedonic motivation, Price value, Habit and Flow) are most influential towards esports

Gameplay intention. (RO2)

➢ To give suggestions upon factors that influence esports Gameplay intention. (RO3)

8
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Chapter Overview

The objective of this literature review is to investigate how many scholarly researches have

been done prior to this one. The question to be asked are 1. What are the factors that influence

esports gameplay intentions? and 2. Which among these factors are the most influential? The

whole purpose of this literature review is to analyse the factors that influence the intention to

play esports games. With proper collection of scholarly researches, we hope to formulate initial

theoretical framework that could help us in this study.

2.1 Overview of eSport Participation

A lot of technology enables users to automate their life daily. One of these techs is smartphone.

Who could have believed that such a tiny thing would be so significant in our daily life? That’s

where eSports come in. To pass the time, people enjoy competitive gaming with their friends

(Sun, 2017). These competitive gaming don’t only pertain to smartphones but originated from

computer. The question here is what motivates them to participate in eSports related activity.

We hope to find out whether they are motivated by hedonic motivation, habit, price value,

effort expectancy, social influence or flow. With adequate research, we can better understand

of why something happened. And with this information, we can enhance our quality of life in

the future.

9
2.2 Independent Variables

Overview of Independent Variables

This thesis is a continuation from previous research. We wanted to see what influence people’s

intention for eSports gameplaying. Previous scholar research about this particular topic is

somewhat scarce. We found it best if we stick with one scholarly article that satisfy all our

needs. Thus, all six independent variables were adapted from Jang and Byon (2019) because

of its suitability from our research. These six variables present factors that influence esports

gameplay intention.

2.2.1 Hedonic motivation

Hedonic motivation can be traced back to the time of early Western philosophy which means

people usually pursue pleasure and avoid pain (Higgins, 2006). Jang and Byon (2019) interpret

hedonic motivation as the pleasure related to esports gameplay. Does doing something

pleasurable motivate you to repeat the same activities over and over again. That’s the question

they asked. How does this relate to esports? There is some truth to this. We are prone to things

that we find pleasure in. Some people find joy in eating, some like to read books and some like

to take a stroll in the car with the windows down. Different people different taste and we tend

to avoid pain, things we found difficult. But times change, the era of technology came around

and we found pleasure in our phones and laptops (Sun, 2017). The question is does playing

online competitive game is pleasurable? If it pleasurable then do we play them more often? Wu

and Liu (2007) found that the strongest predictors that influence the intention of playing online

game is because of enjoyment of gaming itself. They then implied that the enjoyment of online

gaming will lead to the behaviour of playing the game itself. Hsiao & Chiou (2012)

10
hypothesized that perceived enjoyment could lead to the behaviour of playing massive

multiplayer online game (MMOG). They found that perceived enjoyment is a significant

predictor and the most influential factor that leads to the behaviour of playing MMOG.

Limperos & Schmierbach (2016) found that enjoyment is the strongest factors that leads to the

intention of playing exercise games (exergames). Exergames are much like traditional sports

because they also used the physical part of our body incorporated with the technology.

Chinomona (2013) found that perceived enjoyment is the stronger predictor that leads to the

continuance of mobile gaming among students in two university (Vaal University of

Technology and North West University) in South Africa. Lee (2009) found that perceived

enjoyment is the most influential factor that affect the intention of playing online games. Chen,

Lu and Wang (2016) found that perceived enjoyment is a significant predictor that influence

the intention to play social networking games. Merikivi, Tuunainen and Nguyen (2016) found

that perceived enjoyment significantly influences that intention to continue playing mobile

game. As said before, hedonic motivation is related to “how pleasurable an activity is” and

perceived enjoyment is also part of hedonic motivation. With most of the scholarly journals’

findings, we expect that hedonic motivation will also be a significant factor in this study. Thus,

in this thesis, we will assume hedonic motivation as one of the factors that influence eSports

gameplay intention.

2.2.2 Habit

The American Journal of Psychology defines a “habit, from the standpoint of psychology, as a

more or less fixed way of thinking, willing, or feeling acquired through previous repetition of

a mental experience" (Andrews, 1903). Jang and Byon (2019) interpret habit as the extent to

11
which people tend to perform behaviors automatically because of learning. In practical terms,

habit is a routine of behaviour that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously.

Danner, Aarts and Vries (2008) suggest that “People are creature of habit”. Is this true? What

is the frequency of an activity that must be repeated in order for it to be incorporated as habit?

In the case of esports gaming, do we play esports game frequent enough till it become our

habit? These only pertain if we spend a massive amount of time doing something until it

becomes automatic. For example, during free time, a person will use their phone to play a game

just to past the time. Repeated behavior of playing a game during free time will associate with

positive behavior. In time, this activity will be done without any thinking. That is the basis of

original framework by Venkatesh, Thong and Xu (2012) which suggest that habit will influence

the intention to use technology. They found that habit has a significant impact on the continued

use of technology. Jang and Byon (2019) then adapted habit into their framework, but found

that habit has non-significant relationship with the intention to play esports games. Their

finding contradicts with Venkatesh et, al (2012). So, we would like to find out whether habit

plays a significant role to the esports gaming activity. Thus, in this thesis, we assume that habit

play a role influencing the intention to play esports games.

2.2.3 Price value

In this thesis, price value is related to when we feel the price that we paid for something is

worth it or not. Does paying for something have more satisfaction than the ones that are free?

This is where the freemium model in esports came to question. These big gaming organizations

is clever enough to let people taste some features of their games and when the consumers want

more they will have to eventually pay for these enhancements. This is what Samuel (2017)

12
called freemium model. So, it doesn’t matter if something is expensive or cheap, but when the

consumers found it worthy enough then maybe they will still pay for them. Venkatesh et, al

(2012) found that price value positively related to the consumers’ intention to consume

technology. The nature of technologies is that they are always being updated. Newer

technologies become expensive while older one become much cheaper. So, Venkatesh et, al

(2012) opined the importance of cost in the consumers’ decision making when using

technologies. They suggested that the industries manufacturing technologies took into account

the final cost of technologies for the consumers. Jang and Byon (2019) found that price value

is a significant predictor that influence the intention to play esports games. Meaning that, when

participating in esports gaming activity, gamers also pay attention to the cost of gaming itself.

In light of that, we assume that price value influences the intention to play esports games.

2.2.4 Effort expectancy

Esports game is quite challenging like any other games such as sports or board games. They

require coordination and understanding of the game efficiently. But esports games are much

easier to access than traditional sports like volleyball or soccer. Traditional sports require many

constraints which esports games don’t apply to. They require location, equipment, players and

more. Esports games nowadays use the internet to match your opponents on the spot. So, to

play esports games, you only need a computer and internet (Jang & Byon, 2019). Jang and

Byon define effort expectancy as the ease with which esports games can be learned and played.

For example, if the effort to do something is difficult to learn and apply, they might be tempted

to discard the thing all together. That’s why most popular esports games nowadays include

tutorials to play their games which are relatively easy to understand in order to lessen the

13
burden of the consumers learning difficult concept. Merikivi et al., (2016) noted that effort

expectancy has been shown to positively relate to intention on playing mobile games.

Chinomona (2013) found that perceived mobile gaming ease of play is a significant predictor

that leads to the attitude towards mobile gaming intention but nor more than perceived

enjoyment of mobile gaming. Erturkoglu et, al (2015) found that usability is one of the

significant factors that leads to the intention of playing social mobile games. Usability can be

interpreted as effort expectancy because usability is actually testing the ease of playing games

among users. Thus, we assume that effort expectancy influences the intention to play esports

games.

2.2.5 Social influence

According to Jang and Byon (2019), beginners gamers were likely to become esports

consumers because of social influence. Social influence plays a big role in society due to the

pop culture we are familiar with. If the trend right now is to play Fortnite (shooting mobile

games) then people might be influenced to play it with friends. Following the definition from

Venkatesh et al., (2012), social influence is defined as, “the degree to which an individual

perceives that important others believe he or she should use the new system” Chen, Kuan, Lee

and Huang (2011) provided evidence suggesting that social influences attract consumers to

play mobile games. Ferguson and Olson (2012) did research on the motives for video games

participation among children. They found that children are influenced by social related factors

in the case of video gaming. In contrast, Erturkoglu et, al (2015) found that social factor does

not have significant relationship with the intention of playing social mobile. Wei and Lu (2014)

conducted a study titled “Why do people play social mobile games?” They tested three

14
variables that could influence people’s participation in social mobile games. One of them is

individual gratification which in our case could be interpreted as social influence. They found

that individual gratification plays the most important factors that lead to social mobile games

participation. So, it is imperative for us to also consider that social influence might factor into

the esports gameplay intention among people.

2.2.6 Flow

Flow is related to the experiences and immersion to the said experience. For example, the

emergence of ground breaking Virtual Reality (VR) technology that make the consumers to be

completely immersed in the virtual world using senses like hearing, seeing and touch (Zyda,

2005). Jang and Byon (2019) describe flow as "the feeling of being completely absorbed in the

playing of an esports game. They found that flow is the most influential variable that influence

the intention to play esports games. Meanwhile, Shin and Shin (2011) quoted that “Flow is the

mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing and

is characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process

of the activity”. They studied the reason why people play social network games. They found

that flow directly and positively influenced consumers’ intention to play social network games.

Lee (2009) found that flow experience is the second most significant predictor that influence

the intention to play online games. Johnson, Gardner and Sweetser (2016) studied the

motivations for video gameplay but specific to the time spent playing. However, they found

that flow is not associated with time spent playing. The question is “Is it possible to be

completely immersed in a game making the consumers play the game over and over again?”

Thus, we assume that flow influences the intention to play esports games.

15
2.3 Overview of dependent Variable (Esports gameplay intention)

Dependable variable in this particular thesis is to see what exactly influences esports game play

intention. Ajzen (2005) suggest that intention is generally good determinant of subsequent

behaviour. If a factor arises that leads to consumer doing the intended thing, then the factor

itself should be studied. For example, fitness is positively related to sports participation

(Guedes & Netto, 2013). Thus, we wanted to see whether the previous independent variables

(effort expectancy, social influence, hedonic motivation, price value, habit and flow) influence

the intention for esports gameplaying.

16
CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction

Research methodology focus on the way this study conducted. We first construct the theoretical

framework and then make up the hypothesis. Research methodology also indicate the sampling

design, questionnaire development and data analysis.

3.2 Theoretical Framework

What motivates people to participate in esports gaming. These are the main question of this

study. We developed our theoretical framework based on the journal by Jang and Byon (2019).

There are six variables that we’d like to study and they are IV1. Effort expectancy, IV2. Social

influence, IV3. Hedonic motivation, IV4. Price value, IV5. Habit and IV6. Flow. We wanted

to see if these six variables actually influence people’s intention to esports gaming activities.

Apart from that, we wanted to see which of these variables are the most significant factor. Thus,

theoretical framework is as follows:

Figure 1

17
3.3 Research Hypothesis

Hypothesis 1
There is a positive correlation between effort expectancy and the intention to play esports
games

Hypothesis 2
There is a positive correlation between social influence and the intention to play esports games

Hypothesis 3
There is a positive correlation between hedonic motivation and the intention to play esports
games

Hypothesis 4
There is a positive correlation between price value and the intention to play esports games

Hypothesis 5
There is a positive correlation between habit and the intention to play esports games

Hypothesis 6
There is a positive correlation between flow and the intention to play esports games

3.4 Research Design

Research design indicates the source of data collection and how the data is collected.

Questionnaire development is also presented in this section along with sampling technique and

target population. Quantitative approach is used in this study. Quantitative approach has long

been used to evaluate the relationship between dependent variables and its predictors. Borland

(2001) stated that the purpose of the quantitative research is to predict and describe.

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3.4.1 Questionnaire Development

Variables Questions Sources

Intention to play 1. I am willing to play esports Erturkoglu, Zhang & Mao

esports game games (2015)

2. I will give esports games a try Erturkoglu, et al (2015)

3. I will take initiative to play

esports games Erturkoglu, et al (2015)

4. I am more likely to play esports Erturkoglu, et al (2015)

games in the near future

Hedonic 1. Playing my favorite esports Jang & Byon (2019)

motivation game provides me with a lot of

enjoyment

2. I am pleased (happy) when I Jang & Byon (2019)

play my favorite esports game

3. I enjoy playing an esports game Jang & Byon (2019)

because it is exciting

Habit 1. Playing my favorite esports Jang & Byon (2019)

game has become a habit for

me Jang & Byon (2019)

2. I cannot stop playing my

favorite esports game Jang & Byon (2019)

3. I must play my esports game Jang & Byon (2019)

4. Playing my favorite esports

game has become natural to me

19
Price value 1. The cost to play the esports Jang & Byon (2019)

game is reasonable

2. Playing the esports game is a Jang & Byon (2019)

good value for the money

3. At the current cost, the esports Jang & Byon (2019)

game provides a good value

Effort expectancy 1. Learning how to play the esports Jang & Byon (2019)

game is easy for me

2. I cannot clearly understand how Jang & Byon (2019)

to use the user interface design

in the game to play it

3. I find the esports game easy to Jang & Byon (2019)

play Jang & Byon (2019)

4. It is easy for me to become

skillful at playing the game

Social influence 1. People who are important to me Jang & Byon (2019)

think that I should play the

esports game

2. People who influence my Jang & Byon (2019)

behavior (e.g. friends or

colleagues) think that I should

play the esports game Jang & Byon (2019)

3. People whose opinions I value

influence me to play esports

game

20
 Flow 1. During my playing of an esports Jang & Byon (2019)

game, I was absorbed intensely

in the activity

2. I strongly feel that I am inside a Jang & Byon (2019)

different world when playing

my favorite esports game

3. Playing an esports game allow Jang & Byon (2019)

me to escape from the real world

Table 1

3.4.2 Target Population

The purpose of this research is to determine the factors that influence esports gameplay

intention among students of Puncak Alam. What exactly influences the students of Puncak

Alam to participate in esports gaming activities? That’s the answer to the question that we seek.

According Sekaran & Bougie (2016), population refers to a group of people or things that

researcher is examining. Thus, our target population is the students in the area of Puncak Alam.

3.4.3 Sampling Technique and Sample Size

Sekaran & Bougie (2016) suggest that to achieve acceptable number of participants, the figures

must be between 30 to 500 respondents. The questionnaires are designed and distributed to the

students of Puncak Alam. We targeted at least 100 respondents to achieve an acceptable level

of confidence. Sampling technique that we use are convenience sampling because we distribute

the questionnaire through the link of google form using social media and online platform such

as Whatsapp, gaming forum and Facebook groups.

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3.5 Construct Measurement

The questionnaire is constructed in English. Questionnaire are divided accordingly into part A,

part B, and part C. Part A questions are about the respondents’ demographic profile, Part B

questions are about independent variable (hedonic motivation, habit, price value, effort

expectancy, social influence and flow) and part C questions are about dependent variable

(intention to play esports games).

For part A, we asked about demographic profile to categorize them into respective groups. An

ordinal scale and nominal scale are used in this section. Questions such as educational level,

esports game of choice and age are in the ordinal scale. Questions like gender are separated in

the nominal scales. This section has a total of 8 questions. But respondents’ answer will depict

the direction this section. Question 1 – 4 asked about gender, age marital status and education

level. Question 5 asked this question “Have you heard of esports?”. Respondents that answer

Yes will be directed to the subsequent question of “esports games of choice and frequency of

playing”. Respondents that answer No will be asked “Why haven’t they heard/played/learned

of esports?” Then their participation in the survey ended. Part B and C are the main purpose of

this research, which is to examine the relationship between independent variables and

dependent variables.

3.5.1 Data Collection Procedure

Respondents participating in this study answer the survey via google form. Once they have

done so. The data will be kept online in our google account.

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3.6 Data Analysis Technique

The data is then transferred to The Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS) for analysis.

We tested reliability of the items, correlation of the variables and the regression of the variables.

3.6.1 Reliability Analysis

Reliability analysis is done using the Cronbach’s Alpha. To test the reliability and validity of

the items, Sekaran & Bougie (2016) suggests using Cronbach’s Alpha because it is one of the

most well tested tools used by most researcher. Good Cronbach’s Alpha indicates the item is a

good fit to the data.

3.6.2 Pearson Correlation Analysis

In this study, we use Pearson Correlation to measure relationship between hedonic motivation,

habit, price value, effort expectancy, social influence and flow with the intention for esports

gameplaying. Pearson correlation show the strength of the relationship between two variables

and also whether they have negative or positive relationship. This analysis will answer our

research objective 1 (RO1)

3.6.3 Regression Analysis

According to Sekaran & Bougie (2016), regression analysis is used to distinguish the strength

of the relationship between variables, to determine which variable is the most influential. This

analysis will answer our research objective 2 (RO2).

23
CHAPTER 4 DATA ANALYSIS

4.1 Demographic profile

Demographic profile describes the characteristics of the respondents participating. They

consist of gender, age, marital status, education level, income level, esports games of choice

and frequency of playing.

Gender

Cumulative
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Percent
Valid Male 76 65.5 65.5 65.5
Female 40 34.5 34.5 100.0
Total 116 100.0 100.0
Table 2.1

According to table 2.1, total respondents participating are 116 students residing in the city of

Puncak Alam. The percentages of male respondents are 65.5%, representing 76 respondents.

Meanwhile, the percentages of female respondents are 34.5% representing 40 respondents.

Age
Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid 14 years old and below 3 2.6 2.6 2.6
18 years old – 20 years 12 10.3 10.3 12.9
old
21 years old – 25 years 75 64.7 64.7 77.6
old
26 years old – 30 years 23 19.8 19.8 97.4
old
31 years old and above 3 2.6 2.6 100.0
Total 116 100.0 100.0
Table 2.2

Table 2.2 represents the age of respondents participating. 3 respondents aged 14 years old and

below participating in the questionnairre representing 2.6%. 12 respondents aged 18 years old

24
to 20 years old participating in the questionnairre representing 10.3%. 75 respondents aged

21 years old to 25 years old participating in the questionnairre representing 64.7% which also

indicates the highest percentage of respondents. 23 respondents aged 26 years old – 30 years

old participating in the questionnairre representing 19.8%. Lastly, 3 respondents aged 31 years

old and above participating in the questionnairre representing 2.6%.

Marital status
Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid Single 105 90.5 90.5 90.5
Married 11 9.5 9.5 100.0
Total 116 100.0 100.0
Table 2.3

Table 2.3 represents the marital status of respondents participating. 105 respondents

participating in the questionnaire are single while 11 respondents are married which represent

90.5% and 9.5% respectively.

Education level
Frequenc Valid Cumulative
y Percent Percent Percent
Valid UPSR 3 2.6 2.6 2.6
SPM 7 6.0 6.0 8.6
Matriculation/Diploma/ 27 23.3 23.3 31.9
Foundation/
STPM 3 2.6 2.6 34.5
Degree 70 60.3 60.3 94.8
Master 6 5.2 5.2 100.0
Total 116 100.0 100.0
Table 2.4

Table 2.4 represents the education level of the respondents. 3 respondents, each from the

educational background of UPSR and the educational background of STPM equals 2.6% each.

25
7 respondents from SPM educational background and 6 respondents from Master educational

background participated in the questionairre represent 6% and 5.2% respectively. The highest

percentage of respondents came from the Degree educational level equal to 60.3% or a total of

70 respondents. The second highest percentage of respondents representing 23.3% or 27

respondents came from Matriculation/Diploma/Foundation/ educational level.

Income level
Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid Less than 25 21.6 21.6 21.6
RM1500
RM1501 - 6 5.2 5.2 26.7
RM2000
RM2001 - 21 18.1 18.1 44.8
RM3000
RM3000 and 7 6.0 6.0 50.9
above
Not applicable 57 49.1 49.1 100.0
Total 116 100.0 100.0
Table 2.5

Table 2.5 indicates the income level of participants. This particular question asked whether the

participants had any income generated every month and 57 respondents answered ‘not

applicable’ which represents 49.2%. 25 respondents have an income level of ‘less than

RM1500’ which represents 21.6%. 6 respondents representing 5.2% have an income level of

‘RM1501 - RM2000’. Next, 21 respondents participating have an income level of ‘RM2001 -

RM3000’ representing 18.1%. Lastly, 7 respondents participating in the research have an

income of ‘RM3000 and above’.

26
 Esports games of choice
Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid DOTA 2 13 11.2 11.2 11.2
Mobile Legend 29 25.0 25.0 36.2
Counter Strike 6 5.2 5.2 41.4
GO
PUBG 23 19.8 19.8 61.2
Fortnite 5 4.3 4.3 65.5
LOL 7 6.0 6.0 71.6
FIFA 11 9.5 9.5 81.0
PES 8 6.9 6.9 87.9
Tekken 8 6.9 6.9 94.8
Hearthstone 1 .9 .9 95.7
Others 5 4.3 4.3 100.0
Total 116 100.0 100.0
Table 2.6

Table 2.6 depict a familiar game of choice chosen by respondents. Question asked the

following question “kindly pick esports games that you are familiar with”. There are 10 choice

of esports games and if they choose others, they will have to fill up the blank space with an

esports games of their own choice. As of now, 5 respondents which represent 4.3% answered

‘others’ in this question, choose the following games: 1.Naruto Ninja Storm 2.Magic: Arena

3.Call of duty 4.Rainbow 6 Siege and 6.Clash Of Clan. The highest percentage of familiar

game choice in this question is Mobile Legend with the percentage of 25% or 29 respondents.

Shooting game Counter Strike GO, PUBG and Fortnite represent 5.2% (6 respondents), 19.8%

(23 respondents) and 4.3% (5 respondents) respectively. Soccer game FIFA and PES represent

9.5% (11 respondents) and 6.9% (8 respondents). Multiplayer battle online arena game DOTA

2 and LOL represent 11.2% (13 respondents) and 6% (7 respondents) respectively. Fighting

game Tekken represents 6.9% or 8 respondents while the lowest percentage belong to

Hearthstone with only 1 respondent with 0.9%.

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 Frequency of playing
Valid Cumulative
Frequency Percent Percent Percent
Valid At least once a day 41 35.3 35.3 35.3
At least once a 37 31.9 31.9 67.2
week
At least once a 17 14.7 14.7 81.9
month
At least once a year 21 18.1 18.1 100.0
Total 116 100.0 100.0
Table 2.7

Table 2.7 shows the frequency of playing for the participant. The participant are asked “how

often do they play esports games”. 41 respondents answered playing esports games at least

once a day which equals 35.3%. 37 respondents answered playing esports games at least once

a week which represent 31.9%. 17 respondents or 14.7% answered at least once a month for

their frequency of playing. Lastly, 21 respondents or 18.1% answered that they play esports

games at least once a year.

28
4.2 Reliability Analysis

Reliability refers to the degree of consistency between multiple variables. In order to ensure

that the item was reliable and valid, reliability test was conducted. Cronbach’s Alpha was used

to measure the strength of reliability and consistency.

Variables Number of Item deleted Cronbach’s

questions Alpha
Hedonic motivation 3 - .931
Habit 4 - .924
Price Value 3 - .944
Effort expectancy 4 - .954
Social influence 3 - .815
Flow 3 - .816
Intention to play esports games 4 - .955
Table 3.1

Table 3.1 shows the summary table of Cronbach’s Alpha for each variable. The value of

Cronbach’s Alpha for all variables is above 0.7. All the items are best kept because even if you

delete some of the items, they will not affect the values significantly. The highest value of

Cronbach’s Alpha for independent variable is 0.95 which belong to effort expectancy.

29
4.3 Descriptive analysis of the items

Descriptive: Hedonic motivation

N Min. Max. Mean

Playing my favorite esports game provides me with a lot of 116 1 5 4.20
enjoyment
I am happy when I play my favorite esports game 116 1 5 4.19

I enjoy playing esports games because it is exciting 116 1 5 4.22

Table 3.2

Based on the descriptive statistic for hedonic motivation, all the items show the minimum

Likert scale that the respondents answered is 1 while the maximum is 5. It shows that the

highest mean is the item “I enjoy playing esports games because it is exciting” at 4.22. The

lowest mean is at 4.19 representing the item ‘‘I am happy when I play my favorite esports

game’’.

Descriptive: Habit

N Min. Max. Mean

Playing my favorite esports game has become a habit for me 116 1 5 3.56
I cannot stop playing my favorite esports game 116 1 5 2.84
I must play my esports games 116 1 5 2.77
Playing my favorite esports game has become natural to me 116 1 5 3.51
Table 3.3

Based on the descriptive statistic for habit, all the items show the minimum Likert scale that

the respondents answered is 1 while the maximum is 5. It shows that the highest mean is the

item “Playing my favorite esports game has become a habit for me” at 3.56. The lowest mean

is at 2.77 representing the item ‘‘I must play my esports games’’.

30
Descriptive: Price value

N Min. Max. Mean

The cost to play esports games is reasonable 116 1 5 3.81
Playing the esports games is a good value for the money 116 1 5 3.63
At the current cost, the esports games provide good value 116 1 5 3.75
Table 3.4

Based on the descriptive statistic for price value, all the items show the minimum Likert scale

that the respondents answered is 1 while the maximum is 5. It shows that the highest mean is

the item “The cost to play esports games is reasonable” at 3.81. The lowest mean is at 3.63

representing the item “Playing the esports games is a good value for the money”.

Descriptive: Effort expectancy

N Min. Max. Mean

Learning how to play esports games is easy for me 116 1 5 3.95
I clearly understand how to use esports games’ user 116 1 5 4.03
interface
I find esports games easy to play 116 1 5 3.97
It is easy for me to become skilful at playing esports games 116 1 5 3.77
Table 3.5

Based on the descriptive statistic for effort expectancy, all the items show the minimum Likert

scale that the respondents answered is 1 while the maximum is 5. It shows that the highest

mean is the item “I clearly understand how to use esports games’ user interface” at 4.03. The

lowest mean is at 3.77 representing the item “It is easy for me to become skilful at playing

esports games”.

31
 Descriptive: Social influence

N Min. Max. Mean

People that are important to me think that I should play esports 116 1 5 2.86
games
People who influence my behaviour (e.g. friends or colleagues) think 116 1 5 3.28
that I should play esports games
People whose opinions I value influence me to play esports games 116 1 5 3.22
Table 3.6

Based on the descriptive statistic for social influence, all the items show the minimum Likert

scale that the respondents answered is 1 while the maximum is 5. It shows that the highest

mean is the item “People who influence my behaviour (e.g. friends or colleagues) think that I

should play esports games” at 3.28. The lowest mean is at 2.86 representing the item “People

that are important to me think that I should play esports games”.

Descriptive: Flow

N Min. Max. Mean

During my playing of esports games, I was absorbed intensely in the 116 1 5 3.94
activity
I strongly feel that I am inside a different world when playing my 116 1 5 3.45
favorite esports game
Playing esports games allow me to escape from the real world 116 1 5 3.55
Table 3.7

Based on the descriptive statistic for flow, all the items show the minimum Likert scale that

the respondents answered is 1 while the maximum is 5. It also shows that the highest mean is

the item “During my playing of esports games, I was absorbed intensely in the activity” at 3.94.

The lowest mean is at 3.45 representing the item “I strongly feel that I am inside a different

world when playing my favorite esports game”.

32
Descriptive: Intention to play esports games

N Min. Max. Mean

I am willing to play esports games 116 1 5 4.03

I will give esports games a try 116 1 5 4.15

I will take initiative to play esports games 116 1 5 3.91
I am more likely to play esports games in the near future 116 1 5 3.83

Table 3.8

Based on the descriptive statistic for intention to play esports games, all the items show the

minimum Likert scale that the respondents answered is 1 while the maximum is 5. It shows

that the highest mean is the item “I will give esports games a try” at 4.15. The lowest mean is

at 3.83 representing the item “I am more likely to play esports games in the near future”.

33
4.4 Correlation analysis

Correlation Analysis is to determine the relationship of strength between independent variables

and dependent variables. It also finds out positive or negative relationship between the

variables.

Coefficient Range Strength of association

± 0.81 to ± 1.00 Very Strong
± 0.61 to ± 0.80 Strong
±0.41 to ± 0.60 Moderately Strong
± 0.21 to ± 0.40 Weak
± 0.00 to ± 0.20 Very Weak
Table 4.1

Correlations
Hedonic Habit Price Effort Social Flow Intention
motivation Value expectancy Influence
Intention Pearson .747** .678** .753** .807** .665** .744** 1
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000
N 116 116 116 116 116 116 116
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Table 4.2

Table 4.2 shows the correlation values for all the variables studied in this research. The result

shows that all the independent variables (hedonic motivation, habit, price value, effort

expectancy, social influence and flow) and dependent variable (intention) have strong

relationship with each other when looked at the double asterisks (*). All the independent

variables (hedonic motivation, habit, price value, effort expectancy, social influence and flow)

34
indicate a positive relationship with dependent variable (Intention to play esports game). For

the independent variable hedonic motivation, the correlation value with intention (DV) is 0.747

which is a strong correlation while the significant value of 0.000 below (p<0.05). For the

independent variable habit, the correlation value with intention (DV) is 0.678 which is a strong

correlation while the significant value is also 0.000 which is below (p<0.05). For the

independent variable price value, the correlation value with intention (DV) is 0.753 which is a

strong correlation while the significant value is also 0.000 which is below (p<0.05). For the

independent variable effort expectancy, the correlation value with intention (DV) is 0.807

which is a strong correlation. Meanwhile, the significant value is also 0.000 which is below

(p<0.05). For the independent variable social influence, the correlation value with intention

(DV) is 0.665, a strong correlation while the significant value is also 0.000 which is below

(p<0.05). For the independent variable flow, the correlation value with intention (DV) is 0.744

which is a strong correlation and also the highest value of correlation among the independent

variables. Meanwhile, the significant value is also 0.000 which is below (p<0.05).

35
4.5 Regression analysis

The regression analysis identifies the strength of the relationship between independent

variables with dependent variables. At the same time, regression analysis also provides the

most influential predictors among the independent variables.

Model Summary
Adjusted R Std. Error of
Model R R Square Square the Estimate
1 .899a .809 .799 .46064
a. Predictors: (Constant), flow, habit, price_value,
hedonic_motivation, social_influence, effort_expectancy
Table 5.1

Coefficient of determination (R2) indicates the percentage of variance in the dependent variable

that is explained by the variation in the independent variables. Looking at table 5.1, the R value

represents the simple correlation and is 0.899 which indicates a high degree of correlation. The

R2 of 0.809 indicates that all the independent variables (flow, habit, price value, hedonic

motivation, social influence and effort expectancy) explains 80.9% of the variance in

dependent variable (the intention to play esports games). The other 19.1% of in the dependent

variables is not explained by the independent variables meaning that there are other

independent variables that are not studied and could further be used to strengthen the regression

equation in the future.

36
 ANOVAa
Sum of
Model Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 98.015 6 16.336 76.986 .000b
Residual 23.129 109 .192
Total 121.144 115
a. Dependent Variable: intention
b. Predictors: (Constant), flow, habit, price_value, hedonic_motivation,
social_influence, effort_expectancy
Table 5.2

Table 5.2 shows ANOVA which reports how well the regression equation fits the data (i.e.,

predicts the dependent variable) and is shown below. The overall regression model is

significant. F(6,109) = 77, p<0.001, R2 = 0.81

Coefficient
Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta Sig.
1 (Constant) .008 .211 .971
Hedonic motivation .144 .077 .126 .064
Habit .165 .055 .186 .003
Price value .141 .063 .152 .027
Effort expectancy .338 .067 .352 .000
Social influence .003 .072 .003 .966
Flow .270 .066 .254 .000
Table 5.3

Based on table 5.3, it shows the significant (p) value and standardized coefficient beta. The

significance (p) value must less than 0.05 for the variable to be significant. Hedonic motivation

variable is found not to be significant because of the p value 0.64 which is more than 0.05.

37
Habit variable is found to be significant because of the p value 0.03 which is less than 0.05.

Price value variable is found to be significant because of the p value 0.27 which is less than

0.05. Effort expectancy variable is found to be significant because of the p value 0.00 which is

less than 0.05. Social influence variable is found not to be significant because of the p value

0.966 which is more than 0.05. Flow variable is found to be significant because of the p value

0.00 which is less than 0.05.

4.6 Hypothesis Testing

Hypothesis Support
Hypothesis 1 Yes
There is a positive correlation between effort expectancy and the
intention to play esports games

Hypothesis 2 Yes
There is a positive correlation between social influence and the
intention to play esports games

Hypothesis 3 Yes
There is a positive correlation between hedonic motivation and the
intention to play esports games

Hypothesis 4 Yes
There is a positive correlation between price value and the intention to
play esports games

Hypothesis 5 Yes
There is a positive correlation between habit and the intention to play
esports games

Hypothesis 6 Yes
There is a positive correlation between flow and the intention to play
esports games

Table 6

38
CHAPTER 5 FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Discussion on the findings

The purpose of this study is to determine the factors influencing the intention to play

esports games among the students of Puncak Alam. We have collected a total sample of 130

respondents during our questionnaire survey. One of the questions in the demographic profile

is “Have you heard of esports?” 16 respondents answered no, then we asked them for the reason

why they haven’t learned/heard/played esports. It is not befitting to ask them questions about

the factors that leads to the participation of esports gaming. The other 114 respondents

answered yes, then we asked them the follow up questions about the independent variables.

The first analysis consists of the demographic profile of the participants. The actual

total respondents participating are 130 respondents which consists of 116 participants that have

heard/played/learned of esports while 14 consists of the ‘no’ response. These responses are

excluded from the analysis because their answer to the independent variables would mostly be

speculations.

Figure 2

Out of the 14 respondents who answered ‘no’, 10 of them are female and 4 of them are

male. Which is not surprising because the females might have other goals in life rather than

39
playing or participating in esports game. This is consistent with the respondents who answered

‘yes’ since the ‘yes’ respondents are also largely male. Most of the respondents answered ‘no’

are aged 21 years old to 25 years old and single. The highest number of reason that they cited

was that they have no interest in gaming.

Out of the 116 respondents who have answered yes, most of them are male which is

consistent with the population in Jang and Byon (2019) and Erturkoglu, Zhang & Mao (2015),

although the respondents in Shin and Shin (2011) had almost the same amount of female and

male participants. The age of respondents is dominated by participants aged 21 years old to 25

years old which is mostly the time when they are doing further education after SPM and

experimenting with things. Even though 105 of the respondents are still single, out of 116

participants, 59 of them already had income flowing in even though not much. Interestingly 6

of the respondents already had Master in their education level which could indicate that even

though they are excellent in their studies, they still participate in esports games.

For the esports game titles that we asked, for your information, 1. Strategy games like

Hearthstone, 2. shooting games like Counter Strike Go, PUBG and Fortnite, 3. multiplayer

online battle arena games like DOTA2, Mobile Legend and LOL, 4. football games such as

FIFA and PES, 5. fighting game such as Tekken are all popular titles in their respective genre,

as of my understanding. But 5 of the respondents still chose other games when it comes to their

game of choice. This indicates even though these popular titles are there on the market, there

are lot more games that are still climbing the ladder to popularity even though slowly

succeeding.

Second analysis is the Cronbach’s Alpha or the reliability analysis which is testing the

degree of consistency and reliability among multiple variables. All the variable shows high

reliability value of more than 0.70. The highest Cronbach’s Alpha belongs to the variable effort

40
expectancy of 0.95. This is consistent with Jang and Byon (2019), Chinomona (2013) but

inconsistent with Lee (2009), Shin and Shin (2011) and Erturkoglu et, al (2015). Surprisingly,

our Cronbach’s alpha for independent variable price value differs from Jang and Byon (2109)

since their second highest variable for reliability belong to social influence. Overall, our

variables (hedonic motivation, habit, price value, effort expectancy, social influence, flow and

intention to play esports games) are already statistically significant without needing to delete

any item.

Next analysis is the descriptive analysis which is testing the mean of all items in the

independent variables (hedonic motivation, habit, price value, effort expectancy, social

influence and flow) and dependent variable (intention to play esports games). For our test, all

the items must have a mean of 2.5 and above since our Likert scale is from 1 to 5. Two items

from habit variable “I cannot stop playing my favorite esports game” and “I must play my

esports games” plus one item from social influence “People that are important to me think that

I should play esports games” have an average score of 2.84, 2.77 & 2.86 respectively. For the

habit variable, these two questions might be interpreted as a sign of addiction if they agreed

with this. These two questions itself asked if the respondents can’t stop playing games. People

don’t want to be seen as an addict of playing games. People’s perception of an addict is different

than people’s perception of athlete. From the social influence variable, most of the means are

scored 3 and above except for the item “People that are important to me think that I should play

esports games”. This might mean that respondents’ social circle might not agree with the

gaming activity of the respondents.

Fourth analysis is the Pearson’s correlation which is testing the strength between

independent variables and dependent variables while also finding out if they have negative or

positive relationship with each other. All independent variables (hedonic motivation, habit,

price value, effort expectancy, social influence and flow) have strong relationship with

41
dependent variable (intention to play esports games). Our finding is consistent with Jang and

Byon’s (2019) results, although our correlation result is significantly greater than theirs. For

example, all correlation values in our research are above 0.6 while their correlation values start

from 0.2 to 0.5 only. Jang and Byon actually adapted item ‘flow’ from Shin and Shin (2011).

The variable ‘flow’ in our finding showed strong correlation with the intention to play esports

games meanwhile the ‘flow’ items from Shin and Shin (2011) have a weak correlation.

Fifth analysis is the regression analysis which is testing the most influential predictors

among the six independent variables. Regression analysis also depicts whether the independent

variables actually explained the variance in the dependent variables. Our result indicates that

the independent variables actually explained 80.9% of the variance in the dependent variables.

There are other factors that are still not studied and could become the basis for future research.

The overall regression model is significant. The coefficient table is where everything matters

because this table shows which predictors actually influence the dependent variable. Four

independent variables (effort expectancy, flow, habit and price value) actually play a role

influencing the intention to play esports games. This differs a bit from Jang and Byon’s (2011)

finding where their significant factors are flow, hedonic motivation, effort expectancy and price

value. The only two independent variables (effort expectancy and flow) are the only consistent

determinants for the intention to play esports games between our finding and Jang and Byon’s

(2019) finding. Past literature such as Erturkoglu et, al (2015), Shin and Shin (2011), Hsiao

and Chiou (2012), Chinomona (2013) and Lee (2009) found that hedonic motivation is the

most influential factors that affect the intention to participate in games. We expect that hedonic

motivation will have an effect on the intention to play games, surprisingly in our study, hedonic

motivation is not found to be a significant predictor for the dependent variable.

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With the findings, we are able to answer both research questions as followed:

➢ What is the correlation between Effort expectancy, Social influence, Hedonic

motivation, Price value, Habit and Flow towards esports Gameplay intention? (RQ1)

➢ Which of the factors among Effort expectancy, Social influence, Hedonic motivation,

Price value, Habit and Flow are the most influential towards esports Gameplay

intention? (RQ2)

At the same time, we are able to give recommendation as the intended research objective 3:

➢ To give suggestion upon the factors that influence esports Gameplay intention. (R03)

With the correlation analysis, we are able to find out the relationship between the

independent variables with dependent variable. All of independent variables have a strong

positive correlation with dependent variable when looked at their Cronbach’s Alpha value.

With the regression analysis, we found out that, out of the six supposedly influencing factors,

only four actually influence the intention to play esports games and they are effort expectancy,

flow, habit and price value. Effort expectancy is the most influential determinants for the

intention to play esports games. All hypothesis (H1-H6) are supported looking at table 6.

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5.2 Suggestions

Out of the four influencing factors, effort expectancy indicates the highest Beta value

meaning the most influential predictors. Effort expectancy means the degree of simplicity to

learn and play the esports games. The younger generation are closer to the technologies more

than the older generation because they grew up in technological era. Using their smartphone

every day to browse through internet, social media and playing games are the hallmark of this

generation. Playing game just to past the time does not seem strange anymore to them. The

game developers should take this factor into accounts because Venkatesth et., al (2012) said

that if a technology is easy enough to learn, then they are more motivated to consume it. Even

if they wanted to make complicated games, they should always add tutorial to the game.

According to my experience, youngsters nowadays tend to always choose the simplest route in

their decision making. The question burring in my mind when I attempt to make a decision is

whether the activity is simple and easy enough to learn or not. If the activity is quite a time

consuming, I may have to forgo the activity itself. I assume this thinking resonate with the

younger generation nowadays.

Flow is the second most influential factor affecting the intention to play esports games.

This is consistent with the advancing age of technology making the experience of gaming

become more immersed. Besides, many people use esports gaming as an escape from problems

in their daily life. This information is good for the game developers. They should invent more

interactive games and tech like the Virtual Reality technology that will make the players more

immersed. Games that can bring people together in a virtual world while competing to be the

best. Games that can increase people’s alertness and critical thinking would be good for the

children during their early stages.

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 The third influential factor that affect the intention to play esports games is habit,

suggesting that if a person repeats the same activity over extended period of time, he or she are

more likely to adopt that activity as their habit. The question is whether gaming habit is a good

enough routine to be adopted in their life. There is fine line between a habit and addiction.

Because addiction is sometimes associated with negative things. They should really consider

whether gaming activity is good enough habit to be adopted in their daily routine.

Price value is the least influential factor that affect the intention to play esports games.

This goes to say that, we also take into account the cost of something before making our

decision whether to purchase it or participate into the activity or not. Money don’t come easy

for some people, if benefits of an activity outweigh more than the cost, we might participate in

it. The same goes to game developer, they should find the middle ground between the game-

making cost and profit retained of their game product/services so as not to push the consumer

away.

5.3 Future research

A larger population for future research is recommended so as to present the whole

community rather than just speculating what a person will do. With larger population, we can

also understand why something happened and solve problems accordingly. There are still

19.1% of the variance in the dependent variables remained unexplained. Future research should

try to include this 19.1% to further enhance the research findings.

45
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APPENDIX

Turnitin Originality Report

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Questionnaire

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Respondent that answered “No” will be asked the following question:

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Respondent that answered “Yes” will be asked the following questions:

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Section B and C asked about IV and DV

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Slide Presentation

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