Motivation Mechanism of College Teachers’ Exercise Behavior: Empirical Evidence of Self-Determination Theory

Based on the framework of self-determination theory, this study takes 460 college teachers as the research object, and uses multiple linear regression analysis to explore the motivation mechanism of teachers’ exercise behavior. The study found that : at the level of motivation structure, college teachers have the highest recognition of health motivation, followed by fun motivation, and social motivation is relatively the lowest, reflecting that the group’s exercise motivation has a clear “practical priority” tendency; at the level of motivation function, health motivation mainly undertakes the function of starting and maintaining exercise behavior, and has a significant predictive power for exercise frequency, which essentially solves the problem of “whether to participate in exercise”. Ability motivation, as the key internal driving force of exercise behavior, significantly predicts the duration and intensity of exercise, and affects the quality of exercise by meeting the individual’s competency needs. The study reveals the functional differentiation of different motivation types in the promotion of exercise behavior, and provides a theoretical basis for improving the exercise behavior and quality of college teachers.