Students' attitude towards the use of educational video games to develop competencies

The use of educational video games (EVGs) is gaining momentum as a means to motivate and to engage students in their learning process. Nevertheless, previous research is taking for granted that students have a positive attitude towards EVGs and did not ensure a proper understanding of students' characteristics that might influence their attitude towards them. Therefore, this study's main goal is to explore four students' characteristics (perceived relevance, perceived confidence, media affinity, and perceived self-efficacy) that influence students' attitude towards the use of EVGs to develop competencies. Using the fsQCA method to analyze data gathered on a sample of 128 undergraduate students we delve into different configurations underlying students' positive and negative attitude towards the use of EVGs. Main results suggest three configurations leading to a positive attitude with perceived, relevance being a necessary and sufficient condition for students' positive attitude towards the use of EVGs to develop their competencies. Four configurations were found to condition a negative attitude suggesting that equifinality can be considered when explaining students' attitude towards the use of EVGs to develop competencies. Implications for teachers, limitations of the study, and future research lines are addressed at the end of the paper. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.