Keeping the balance: the impact of an instructional edutainment-based video series on students’ motivation and performance

Given the global challenge of accounting educators to improve students’ learning effectiveness, this study investigates the impact of an edutainment-based video series on students’ motivation and performance in a higher education accounting course. Drawing on the concept of edutainment, i.e. the combination of education and entertainment, we developed an animated video series to teach the fundamentals of financial accounting and embedded it into the teaching concept of an introductory accounting class at a large German University. Using both survey methodology and a field experiment comparing exam results across two student cohorts, we analysed whether this teaching concept is associated with higher student motivation and higher exam performance, respectively. Our findings indicate that the animated video series significantly increases motivation and performance. This study provides insights for educators looking to improve students’ learning through digital learning methods, contributing to the ongoing research on digital teaching tools and edutainment in accounting education.