ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Sport Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicWinning by Design: Technology-Integrated Learning, Performance, and Recovery in Team SportsView all 6 articles
Research on Adolescents'Digital Sports Participation Behavior Based on the UTAUT2 Model: The Mediating Role of Virtual-Real Integration
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shenyang Sport University, Shenyang, China
- 2Department of Physical Education, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China
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This study constructs a theoretical model based on the Unified Use of Technology 4 (UTAUT2) and Acceptance Theory to explore key factors influencing adolescents' digital sports participation behavior and its underlying mechanisms.Centering on virtual-real integration as the core mediating variable, the research examines how five antecedent variables—performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and hedonic motivation—affect adolescents' active sports participation and deep sports participation through this mediating variable.Findings confirm that virtual-real integration serves as the critical behavioral mechanism linking technology acceptance to meaningful sports participation. Structural equation modeling analysis of 417 adolescent participants revealed:The core variables of UTAUT2 demonstrate universal explanatory power in adolescent digital sports contexts, though their influence pathways diverge. Performance expectancy's effect on deep participation is fully mediated by virtual-real integration. Facilitating conditions has no direct effect on either participation behavior, with its influence entirely mediated through virtual-real integration.Virtual-real integration plays a crucial mediating role between technology acceptance and sports participation behaviors, serving as the bridge connecting intention to use and deep participation.The model explains 50.7%, 51.5%, and 43.1% of the variance in virtual-real integration, active participation, and deep participation respectively, indicating strong explanatory power.By introducing the behavioral integration construct of virtual-real integration, this study extends the theoretical boundaries of the UTAUT2 model, providing theoretical explanations and empirical evidence for understanding the intrinsic transformation process from technology acceptance to deep sports participation among adolescents. The findings offer crucial insights for digital sports technology designers, educators, and policymakers: prioritize designing features that foster the integration of virtual and real-world experiences; leverage community influence to establish blended online-offline sports communities; and support integrated behaviors by improving accessibility conditions—thereby effectively promoting technology-integrated sports activities among adolescents.
Keywords: adolescents, Digital Sports Participation, Structural Equation Modeling, UTAUT2, Virtual-real integration
Received: 09 Nov 2025; Accepted: 10 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Wu and Zhang. 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: Bowen Zhang
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