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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Psychol.

Sec. Sport Psychology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1678503

This article is part of the Research TopicMotivations For Physical Activity - Volume IVView all 13 articles

Expectancy-Value Theory Applied to Korean Physical Activity Contexts: A Meta-Analysis

Provisionally accepted
Jihyun  SongJihyun Song1Wonseok  ChoiWonseok Choi2*
  • 1University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, United States
  • 2Keimyung University, Dalseo-gu, Republic of Korea

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Introduction: Recognizing expectancy-value theory as an influential framework for explaining the mechanism of motivation, relevant research has increased in physical activity contexts. This theory assumes that individuals' motivation is situated and context-specific, shaped by the culture in which they live. Guided by expectancy-value theory, the purpose of this study was to synthesize the determinants and outcomes of motivation in Korean physical activity contexts through a meta-analytic approach. Methods: Following the PRISMA statement, this study performed a comprehensive literature search in five electronic databases by May 21, 2025. After extracting and collecting data from the included studies, a meta-analysis was carried out in the R software with the heterogeneity test, publication bias assessment, and subgroup analysis. Results: The findings demonstrated moderate-to-strong effects of the relationships between expectancy-value theory-based motivation and its determinants and outcomes, suggesting that individuals' motivation was shaped by different internal and external factors, such as motivational constructs, social-contextual influences, and task difficulty, and contributed to affective experiences and behavioral engagement. Self-perceptions were likely to serve as a determinant of expectancy beliefs and an outcome of task values. Conclusion: These findings suggest both cross-cultural patterns and distinct mechanisms of expectancy-value theory-based motivation in physical activity contexts.

Keywords: Motivation, expectancy beliefs, Task values, physical activity, Meta-analysis

Received: 02 Aug 2025; Accepted: 02 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Song and Choi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Wonseok Choi, Keimyung University, Dalseo-gu, Republic of Korea

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