Devoted or addicted?Modeling gaming addiction in eSports

eSports is enjoyed by many gamers worldwide; however, gaming addiction poses a serious challenge for eSports users and society. This study employs social learning theory (SLT) as an overarching theory to examine how eSports consumption can lead to addiction and identify users who are at higher risk of developing addictive behavior. We employed a face-to-face survey of 230 Brazilian eSports users to develop and test a model of gaming addiction in eSports, which was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The findings revealed positive and significant relationships between eSports athlete role model influence and user devotion, user devotion and gaming addiction, and gaming addiction and guilt. Furthermore, the relationship between eSports athletes role model influence and guilt is sequentially mediated by user devotion and gaming addiction, and users with lower (higher) levels of competitiveness are more (less) at risk of addiction. This is the first study to provide a consumer psychology perspective on user behavior that offers novel insights into the interplay between eSports athletes role model influence, user devotion, and competitiveness in driving addictive behavior. Importantly, the findings reveal the significant role of competitiveness in buffering against gaming addiction. Theoretically, our model, underpinned by SLT, demonstrates that the social environment, personal factors, and gaming addiction itself are reciprocally related to each other in determining addictive behavior. This conceptualization implies that interventions targeting one factor impact all other factors as gaming addiction is continually evolving in response to changes in the environment and the user.