The impact of short videos on young people’s willingness to engage in martial arts: establishing and testing a conditional process model

Short videos, as a widely used form of social media among adolescents, currently lack validated methods to ascertain whether viewing these videos fosters a corresponding willingness to learn. This study addresses this research gap by proposing and empirically testing a novel “Video Emotional Stimulation (S) - Flow Experience (O) - Willingness to Learn Martial Arts (R)” model based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework. Our key contribution lies in conceptualizing video emotional stimulation along three dimensions—valence, arousal, and dominance—and examining how these dimensions influence adolescents’ willingness to learn martial arts through the mediating role of flow experience and the moderating effect of perceived usefulness. Using short videos featuring martial arts influencer Ling Yun as stimuli, we conducted a mixed-methods study with surveys from 519 adolescents and follow-up interviews. Data were analyzed through path analysis, mediation effect tests, and hierarchical regression. Results confirm that all three dimensions of video emotional stimulation positively affect youths’ willingness to engage in martial arts, with flow experience serving as a partial mediator and perceived usefulness strengthening this relationship. This study extends the application of the S-O-R model to cultural learning contexts and provides a theoretical framework for understanding how short video content influences adolescent behavioral intentions. The findings have significant practical implications for educators, cultural communicators, and policymakers, demonstrating how short videos can serve as effective tools for promoting traditional culture, facilitating youth engagement, and fostering multicultural exchange and understanding. By establishing this conditional process model, we provide a methodological approach that can be applied to various learning contexts beyond martial arts, contributing to the broader understanding of how digital media influences youth behavior and cultural transmission.