Introduction. Campus recreation programs play a key role in students’ academic success and personal development. The main purpose of this exploratory study was to explore the moderating effect of campus recreation participation on the relationship between education satisfaction and self-esteem.
Material and methods. In this research, which adopted positivist paradigm, a quantitative method was used. The suitability of the measurement model was tested with confirmatory factor analysis, and hierarchical regression analysis was used in testing the moderator effect. The research data were obtained from 454 tourism students through the questionnaire form.
Results. In the findings of the study, the evidence of the moderator role of campus recreation participation was determined in the relation between education satisfaction and self-esteem. It was concluded that the level of relationship between students’ education satisfaction and self-esteem differs according to whether they participate in campus recreation activities or not.
Conclusion. The research findings revealed that participating in campus recreation activities increases students’ self-esteem and protects self-esteem in the event of education dissatisfaction. The present findings reveal that campus recreation participation should be given importance both in terms of student engagement, retention and personal development of students.
