From digital play to intercultural belonging
International students’ e-sports participation and social integration in Chinese universities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32674/rgwxm862Keywords:
International students, E-sports communities, Intercultural belonging, Identity negotiation, Adaptive Cross-cultural EngagementAbstract
As digital communities increasingly shape university social life, e-sports has become an overlooked site where international students may enter peer networks and negotiate belonging. This study examines how international students in Chinese universities participate in e-sports communities, develop intercultural relationships, and negotiate identity across digital and campus spaces. Based on semistructured interviews with twelve international students, thematic analysis revealed three interconnected processes that were synthesized as adaptive cross-cultural engagement (ACE): collaborative participation through digital play, interpersonal recognition through collaborative usefulness, and negotiated visibility. Drawing on communities of practice, sense of belonging, and identity negotiation theory as sensitizing lenses, the ACE emerged from the analysis rather than from a predefined framework. It explains how e-sports participation can develop into social integration when access becomes meaningful recognition and cultural difference remains visible within shared practice. This movement remained conditional, as language barriers, unequal feedback, and exclusion could interrupt the transition from participation to belonging.
References
Allen, K., Slaten, C., Hong, S., Lan, M., Craig, H., May, F., & Counted, V. (2024).Belonging in higher education: A twenty-year systematic review. Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 21(5).
Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497–529.
Berg, M. (2025). Refugee integration in Germany: The interplay of othering, digital exclusion, and identity negotiation. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 26(2), 23.
Berry, J. W. (1997). Immigration, acculturation, and adaptation. Applied Psychology, 46(1), 5–34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1464-0597.1997.tb01087.x
Barr, M. (2017). Video games can develop graduate skills in higher education students: A randomized trial. Computers & Education, 113, 86–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2017.05.016.
Cohen, E., & Viola, J. (2022). The role of pedagogy and the curriculum in university students' sense of belonging. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 19(4).
Dost, G. (2024). Students’ perspectives on the ‘STEM belonging’ concept at A-level, undergraduate, and postgraduate levels. International Journal of STEM Education, 11, 12.
Dost, G., & Mazzoli Smith, L. (2023). Understanding higher education students’ sense of belonging: A qualitative meta-ethnographic analysis. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 47(6), 822–849.
Gul, O., & Yurtsizoglu, Z. (2025). Development and validation of the scale for analyzing the consumption behaviors of e-sports players. SAGE Open, 1–21.
Hamari, J., & Sjöblom, M. (2017). What is eSports and why do people watch it? Internet Research, 27(2), 211–232.
Haq, S. U., & Kwok, R. Y.-K. (2024). Encountering “the other” in religious social media: A cross-cultural analysis. Social Media + Society, 1–16.
Hassan, S. (2025). Female Arab international students negotiate their identities. Journal of International Students, 15(3), 203–220.
Hagerty, B. M. K., & Patusky, K. (1995). Developing a measure of sense of belonging. Nursing Research, 44(1), 9–13. https://doi.org/10.1097/00006199-199501000-00003
Ivanova, P., Sun, Y., Li, W., & Bista, K. (2025). International students’ loneliness and social engagement: Narratives from the United States and Japan. Journal of International Students, 15(4), 1–20.
Jin, R., & Gong, Q. (2026). From TikTok exodus to RedNote rituals: A transcultural communication analysis of the “Cat Tax” phenomenon. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/17513057.2026.2647142
Karakaya, Y. E., Ayçiçek, S. D., Gelbal, S., Devecioğlu, S., Maviş Sevim, F. Ö., Yenen, E. T., & Dikmen, M. (2026). Development and psychometric evaluation of the E-sports Attitude Scale. International Journal of Assessment Tools in Education, 13(1), 308–329. https://doi.org/10.21449/ijate.1662535
Kelly, M. L., Nieuwoudt, J., Willis, R., & Lee, M. F. (2024). Belonging, enjoyment, motivation, and retention: University students’ sense of belonging before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 28(1), 92–111.
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge University Press.
Lee, S. H. (2025). From national borders to digital frontiers: Comparing the impacts of social media use on transnational identity negotiation in South Korea and Taiwan. Journal of East Asian Studies, 25, 68–97.
Liu, G. L. (2025). Digital empowerment for rural migrant students in China: Identity, investment, and digital literacies beyond the classroom. ReCALL, 37(2), 215–231.
Luguterah, A. W. (2025). Geopolitical implications of e-sports. Games and Culture, 1–27.
Liang, W., Shamshudeen, R. I., Syed, M. A. M., & Hui, S. (2025). Reverse generative learning: intergenerational learning for global readiness in higher education. Journal of International Students, 15(12), 119-140.
Liang, W., Li, J., Wei, J., Min, Y., & Lam, A. T. Z. (2025). Interdisciplinary situational teaching for postgraduate connotative development: An integrated perspective of scaffolding theory and symbolic interactionism. Journal of International Students, 15(10), 153-176.
Mariano, J. S., & Cordova, S. G. V. (2022). E-sports online learning module amidst COVID-19 pandemic. Interactive Learning Environments, 1–11.
Mohamad, D., & Manning, K. D. (2024). What does it mean to ‘belong’? A narrative literature review of ‘belongingness’ among international higher education students. Journal of International Students, 14(1), 21–37.
Park, S.-H., & Mahony, D. F. (2024). Challenges of e-sports based on big data and qualitative analyses: How should e-sports develop in the future? South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation, 46(1), 1–21.
Ribeiro, T., Calapez, A., Almeida, V., & Matsuoka, H. (2023). Understanding the role of sport values on social capital and word-of-mouth on the internet: A case study of esports games. Simulation & Gaming, 54(6), 645–679.
Strayhorn, T. L. (2018). College students' sense of belonging: A key to educational success for all students (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Tang, Y., Zhang, X., & Zan, S. (2024). Exploring e-sports fans’ motivation for watching live streams based on self-determination theory. Scientific Reports, 14, 13858.
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In W. G. Austin & S. Worchel (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Brooks/Cole.
Ting-Toomey, S. (2005). Identity negotiation theory: Crossing cultural boundaries. In W. B. Gudykunst (Ed.), Theorizing about intercultural communication (pp. 211–233). Sage.
Ting-Toomey, S. (1993). Communicative resourcefulness: An identity negotiation perspective. In R. L. Wiseman & J. Koester (Eds.), Intercultural communication competence (pp. 72–111). Sage.
Vander Tavares, V. (2024). Feeling excluded: International students’ experience of equity, diversity, and inclusion. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 25(14), 1733–1750.
Wong, B. (2024). Exploring the spatial belonging of students in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 49(3), 546–558.
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge University Press.
Yao, M. (2025). The study of the effects of digital media applications in cross-cultural communication in the construction of cultural identity. Acta Psychologica, 258, 105247.
Zhang, H., Abbott, N., Waldeck, D., & Holliman, A. (2025). Social interaction, sense of belonging, and psychological wellbeing: A study of Chinese international students in UK higher education. Frontiers in Education, 10, 1677348.
Zhang, L., & Shen, T. (2025). Identity negotiation on the LIHKG platform: A grounded theory study of Mainland Chinese immigrants’ adaptation to Hong Kong society. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1643942.
Zhang, Q., & Mohamad, D. B. (2025). Mapping identity dynamics in heritage tourism: A bibliometric and theoretical review. Cogent Social Sciences, 11(1), 2598726.
Zhong, Y., Guo, K., & Chu, S. K. W. (2024). Affordances and constraints of integrating esports into higher education from the perspectives of students and teachers: An ecological systems approach. Education and Information Technologies, 29, 16777–16811.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Baicheng Cheng, Jiaqi Li, Hui Shen
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
