The impact of digital educational games on student’s motivation for learning: The mediating effect of learning engagement and the moderating effect of the digital environment

The utilization of digital educational infrastructure in schools has propelled digital educational games to the forefront of educational innovation. Despite an abundance of empirical studies on the relationship between digital educational games and student’s motivation for learning, a consensus has yet to be reached. This study aims to bridge existing research gaps by adopting a mixed-methods approach grounded in behaviorist learning theory and contextual cognitive theory. A detailed questionnaire was disseminated to students from three distinct university in Thailand. After the exclusion of invalid responses, a robust sample of 434 valid responses was curated and utilized for analysis. Utilizing SPSS and MPLUS software, empirical analyses were conducted to explore the impact of digital educational games on student’s motivation for learning. Research results indicate that: First, digital educational games positively influence student’s motivation for learning; Second, learning engagement serves as a mediator between digital educational games and student’s motivation for learning; Third, the digital environment moderates the relationship between digital educational games and student’s learning engagement. Notably, the positive impact of digital educational games on student learning engagement is amplified in a more immersive digital environment. This study contributes to behaviorist theory and social cognition theory by elucidating how digital educational games affect student’s motivation for learning through their engagement and by highlighting the moderating role of the digital environment. Practically, these findings underscore the significance of digital educational games and the digital environments in schools to enhance student’s motivation for learning.