Understanding continuance intention to play exergames during the COVID-19 pandemic: hedonic and utilitarian aspects

ABSTRACTRationale/purpose Exergame (such as Nintendo Ring Fit Adventure) plays an important role in keeping users to have the physical activities at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of hedonic and utilitarian aspects on continuous playing exergames.Design/methodology/approach A structured questionnaire and descriptive statistical methods were used to examine H1 to H8. A hierarchical regression analysis was performed to examine the constructs that may influence user intentions to play exergames.Findings The results showed that perceived enjoyment, perceived playfulness, performance feedback, and perceived challenge were correlated with continuous usage intention for exergames. Additionally, the findings also asserted that perceived exercise benefits (performance achievement) strengthen the relationship between hedonic (utilitarian) aspects and continuous usage intention by exergame players.Research Contribution The study concluded with some implications for theory about the motivation of continuance intentions, and may be valuable as reference and resource for the health-related or game and exercise industries.KEYWORDS: Uses and gratification theoryCOVID-19exergameperceived enjoymentperceived exercise benefits Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was partially supported by Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, R.O.C. under grant MOST 109-2410-H-003-138.