Understanding Student Participation in University Sports: The Role of Participation Type in Shaping Motivation, Autonomy, and Routine Adherence

Abstract

The present research question looked at the possibility of finding out how the nature of participation in sport, i.e. voluntary competitive team participation or mandatory wellness program participation, is linked to differences in motivational regulation, perceived autonomy and routine adherence among undergraduates in an Indian university context. The study adopted a 2 × 3 between-subjects factorial design, which was quantitative, comparative, and cross-sectional in nature. The study was conducted across two institutions of higher education in Ahmedabad, with N = 300 undergraduate students engaged in basketball, football and volleyball. Motivational regulation was measured with an 18-item sport motivation scale, autonomy was validated by an 8-item subscale measuring perceived volition and freedom from pressure, and routine adherence was assessed by a 10-item self-made scale. Multivariate analysis of variance, two-way ANOVAs, Pearson correlations, and independent samples t-tests were used. Findings showed that voluntary members of teams were much more likely to report higher motivational regulation, autonomy, and routine adherence than mandatory wellness participants in all three sports, and the type of participation emerged as the strongest predictor in all analyses. There were no significant differences in the sport type on any variable, and no interaction effects were significant. The comparison of the two universities on the institutional level did not find any significant differences, indicating that the effects can be explained by the participation structure and are not attributed to institution-specific factors. The results confirm the Self-Determination Theory hypothesis that autonomy-supportive contexts of participation promote greater quality of motivation and behavioural engagement. The counterintuitive adherence finding, that voluntary participants demonstrated greater behavioural consistency than mandatory participants, suggests that internalised, identity-based engagement drives routine adherence more effectively than external structural monitoring. Implications for the redesign of mandatory wellness programs in Indian higher education are also discussed.