Students' Continuance Intention Toward Programming Games: Hedonic and Utilitarian Aspects

In recent years, programming games have attracted many researchers' attention, since they not only allow students to learn programming through games, but also help them develop skills in critical thinking and problem-solving. However, only a few studies investigated students' continuance intention toward programming games. Scholars do not know much, therefore, about this issue, let alone formulate effective strategies for such games' development and application. To remedy the deficiency, we developed a research model comprising perceived enjoyment and learning climate (i.e. hedonic factors) as well as perceived usefulness and learning opportunity (i.e. utilitarian factors). Our research findings indicated that (1) through satisfaction as an intermediary, learning climate (a hedonic factor) exerted an indirect yet significant influence on the subjects' continuance intention toward the programming game; (2) learning opportunity (a utilitarian factor) had a direct and significant influence on the subjects' continuance intention toward the programming game. The two findings imply that the subjects felt satisfied and continued using the programming game when they regard learning through it as enjoyable. Besides, the learning opportunity offered by the programming game also directly affected the subjects' continuance intention toward the game.