Linking Travel Motivation and Loyalty in Sporting Events: The Mediating Roles of Event Involvement and Experience, and the Moderating Role of Spectator Type

Abstract

Sporting events are an important kind of travel attraction and hedonic service offering.This study examines the effects of travel motives and purpose on event loyalty through the mediating roles of event involvement and experience as well as the moderating role of spectator type. Based on a sample of event tourists at a major sporting event, the findings show a full mediation of event involvement and a partial mediation of event experience. Yet, the mediating effect of event involvement is moderated by spectator type in that the travel motives effect is significant for on-site paid and off-site spectators, but not for on-site complimentary spectators. In addition, the relationship between travel purpose and event involvement is more salient for on-site paid and off-site spectators than for complimentary spectators. This article concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for theory and practice, the study's limitations, and future directions of research.

What will prevail within citybreak travel, motivation or demotivation?: Case study of Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Serbia

“…Tourism motivation and limitations have been vastly researched by many authors (Crawford & Godbey, 1987;Crompton, 1979;Dann, 1981;Mayo and Jarvis, 1981;Pearce, 1982;Pearce, 1991;Pearce, 2005;Pearce & Caltabiano, 1983) and is still a popular research topic (Božić et al, 2016;Božić et al, 2017a;Božić et al, 2017b;Huang et al, 2001;Jang et al, 2002;Jiang, 2015;Leong et al, 2015;Lesjak et al, 2015;Li et al, 2015;Wong & Tang, 2016). Research is mainly directed towards grasping tourism behaviour that can be described as vital component in the decision making process when choosing a destination and nature of vacation (Dann, 1977;Pearce, 2014;Sirakaya & Woodside, 2005), further argued and researched the level of satisfaction that is derived from tourism experience (Correia et al, 2013;Caber & Albayrak 2016;Dann, 1981;Dunn & Iso-Ahola, 1991;Ryan, 2002;Yoon & Uysal, 2005).…”

Determinants of Behavioral Intentions in the Context of Sport Tourism with the Aim of Sustaining Sporting Destinations

“…Destination marketing organizations should attempt to develop effective and attractive tourism marketing strategies to arouse potential tourists' interests and persuade tourists to visit to a destination [4]. The majority of scholars suggest hosting sporting events provides tourists, especially sports fans, an array of enjoyable and memorable experiences [5]. Sporting events are referred to as hedonic services that offer many tangible and intangible benefits to host countries and regions [6].…”

“…Sporting events are referred to as hedonic services that offer many tangible and intangible benefits to host countries and regions [6]. Notably, it has been reported small-scale sporting events can attract many domestic tourists and improve destination image almost as effectively as mega sporting events [5]. For this reason, small local communities not able to host large-scale sporting events should consider small-scale recurring sporting events a cost-effective means of attracting tourists.…”

“…However, small-scale recurring sporting events have not been well studied. Wong and Tang [5] found small-scale sporting events receive relatively little attention in sport or event tourism literature and argued that such events could lead to loyalty. Hence, it would appear studies on small-scale recurring sporting events add a new perspective to sport tourism literature.…”

El efecto de la motivación de viaje sobre la satisfacción del turista a través de las dimensiones de la imagen de destino: El caso del turismo urbano de ocio a Monterrey, México.

“…La motivación del turista ha encontrado interés en la investigación del comportamiento del consumidor por su capacidad determinante sobre otras variables relacionadas al consumo turístico. Diversos trabajos han aportado evidencia de la influencia de las motivaciones del turista sobre: la percepción de la factibilidad de viaje (Kim y Chalip, 2004); las actitudes del turista hacia el destino y la elección de éste (Nyaupane, Paris, y Teye, 2011;Bansalt y Eiselt, 2004;Anderson, Juaneda, y Sastre, 2009) y el grado de involucramiento del turista en su experiencia en el destino (Kim K. , 2008;Mehmetoglu y Normann, 2013;Chen, Li, y Chen, 2013;Wong y Tang, 2016). En este cúmulo de investigaciones destacan aquellas que sitúan a la motivación de viaje como antecedente de la satisfacción del turista (Yoon y Uysal, 2005;Smith, Costello, y Muenchen, 2010;Correia, Kozak, y Ferradeira, 2013;Devesa, Laguna, y Palacios, 2010;Lee T. H., 2009;Meng, Tepanon, y Uysal, 2008) y aquellas que evidencian su papel determinante sobre la imagen percibida del destino (Lubbe, 1998;Baloglu y McCleary, 1999;San Martín y Rodríguez, 2008;Stabler, 1988;Chon, 1989).…”