Motivational factors for the consumption of esports as entertainment

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study is to discover what factors function as motivators or demotivators for the consumption of esports as entertainment. It addresses the research question “what are possible motivators or demotivators to consumption of esports as entertainment?” The central litterature to this study include the studies by Curley et al (2016), Hamari & Sjöblom (2017) and Jalonen (2019) as well as earlier research regarding motivation, consumer motivation and sports motivation. This explorative study was carried out by conducting semi-structured interviews with eight respondents. The transcript-ed data was analysed thematicaly using analysis software and the findings were matched with the theoretical frameworks provided by the litterature. The findings of this study show five categories of motivators and one category of demotivators; these categories constitute a total of 25 motivational items and four demotivational items. The findings match reasonably with the theoretical frameworks with some exeptions. This study pre-sents managerial implications brought up by the results regarding managing an esports organization and motivating its members, and brings up the limitations present in the study as well as further research opportunities.