A10: Analyzing Perceptual Differences Toward Esports Among Students Across Various Educational Levels of America
Authors: Luo Xianhua , Chen Li , Yang Yong , Deng Hui 
Published: February 2024

Purpose: Electronic sports (Esports) draw increasing attention in the world and become popular across institutions of American higher education. Scholars in Esports research have explored various findings and discussions related to education, marketing and promotion, organization and management, and sociology and psychology of sport. However, the perceptual differences of Esports participants remain unknown across educational levels across American institutions. The purposes of this study were to examine the perceptual differences toward Esports across educational levels in the United States. Methods: A total of 397 voluntary participates with various education levels took part in a reginal survey in the east coast of United States. The participants included the students from high schools (n = 135), 2-year colleges (n = 90), 4-year colleges (n = 132), and graduate schools (n = 40). A validated and reliable instrument of Profile for Perception of Esports (PEP; Chen et al., 2021) was utilized as the survey instrument. PEP includes 22 items categorized as five factors (Attraction, Socialization, Economics, Technicity, Constraints). After approval by the institutional review board (IRB), the survey was conducted among three selected high schools, two community colleges, and three 4-year universities including graduate schools or programs. The valid data was analyzed by using SPSS 28.00. Reliability, ANOVAs, and Post hoc Scheff tests were utilized to interpret the data. Results: The Cronbach’s Alpha of the PEP was 0.842 in this study. ANOVAs indicated significant differences in the factor of Attraction (F = 2.61, p < 0.05), Technicity (F = 4.28, p < 0.01), and Socialization (F = 2.52, p < 0.05). Post hoc Scheff tests further explored that the high school group scored significantly higher than the Graduate school group (M = 4.58 vs. M = 3.85) on the factor of Technicity. The 2-year college group rated substantially higher on the factor of Attraction compared to the high school student group (p < .05, M = 4.86 vs. M = 4.59), undergraduate group (p < .05, M = 4.86 vs. M = 4.62), and graduate school group (M = 4.86 vs. M = 4.09). In addition, the 2-year college group scored considerably higher than the graduate study group (p < .05, M = 5.03 vs. M = 4.34) on the factor of Socialization. Conclusion: The research indicated that Esports participants in lower education level students perceived higher than the participants in higher educational levels in Attraction, Socialization, and Technicity of Esports. This could be attributed to the fact that the students at lower educational level might have spent more time participating in electronic sports or digital game activities. In comparison, the participants at higher educational levels perhaps spent more time on their academic work and further career development. Future research on this direction could examine perceptual differences of Esports among the participants across K-12 schools or be compared in international settings.