Perceived autonomy support and exercise persistence intention among university students in app-supported campus running: positive–negative dual-path mechanisms and the boundary roles of individual and peer resources

Objective In some Chinese universities, campus running is an institutionally organized extracurricular program in which prescribed running tasks are monitored through exercise apps. This study examined the association between perceived autonomy support (PAS) and exercise persistence intention (EPI), testing a positive pathway through basic psychological need satisfaction (BPNS), exercise empowerment (EE), and exercise identity (EI), a negative pathway through perceived threat to freedom (PTF), psychological reactance (PR), and exercise procrastination (EP), and the moderating roles of exercise self-efficacy (ESE) and peer exercise climate (PEC). Methods A questionnaire survey yielded 1,636 valid responses from full-time students at universities operating app-supported campus running programs in Shandong, Hubei, and Liaoning, China. All participants had participated in these programs during the most recent semester. SPSS 31.0 and Amos 31.0 were used for descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, common method bias testing, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. Bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples tested direct, sequential indirect, and moderating effects, and PROCESS Model 1 was used for simple slope analyses. Results PAS was significantly and positively associated with university students’ EPI (effect = 0.308, SE = 0.047, 95% CI [0.2163, 0.3986]). BPNS, EE, and EI formed a significant positive sequential mediation pathway (effect = 0.010, SE = 0.003, 95% CI [0.0051, 0.0166]), whereas PTF, PR, and EP formed a significant negative resistance sequential mediation pathway (effect = 0.003, SE = 0.001, 95% CI [0.0012, 0.0045]). In addition, ESE (effect = 0.007, SE = 0.004, 95% CI [0.0001, 0.0144]) and PEC (effect = 0.008, SE = 0.004, 95% CI [0.0005, 0.0151]) both significantly moderated the relationship between PAS and EPI. Conclusion In universities operating app-supported campus running programs, perceived autonomy support (PAS) was positively associated with exercise persistence intention (EPI) through distinct positive and negative psychological pathways, with exercise self-efficacy (ESE) and peer exercise climate (PEC) serving as moderators. These findings suggest that autonomy-supportive implementation may support stronger EPI in this institutional context. Given the cross-sectional design and the focus on intention rather than behavior, the findings should not be interpreted as evidence of sustained exercise participation.