Sports Value Consciousness Moderates the Effect of Exercise Behavior on Sport Activity Loyalty: A Moderated Mediation Model with Sports YouTube Engagement

This study aims to address a lack of research on sports value consciousness among Korean university students by examining the moderated mediating effect of sports value consciousness on the relationship between university students’ sports YouTube engagement and their sport activity loyalty. A total of 231 Korean university students were recruited for this study. The analytical model was validated using the SPSS PROCESS Macro (Model no. 8). Exercise behavior was found to have a significant positive effect on both sports YouTube engagement and sport activity loyalty, while sports YouTube engagement had a significant positive effect on sport activity loyalty. Furthermore, the interaction between exercise behavior and sports value consciousness had a significant positive effect on sport activity loyalty at a low to moderate level. Results suggest that, for Korean university students, sports value consciousness is more important at a low to moderate level of sport activity loyalty than at a high level. The importance of sports value consciousness is highlighted in the context of the development of sports media and the sociological aspects of sports engagement among university students.