Specialization versus diversification in the event portfolios of amateur athletes

Abstract

This study explores the personal event portfolios of amateur athletes, differentiating between those who pursue a specialized career within one sport and those who diversify within multiple sports. The impetus for this paper was the observation made in previously published research that many sport-event tourists participate in multiple sports. The twin objectives of the study are to better understand highly involved participants and to draw implications that could contribute to the events' and the country's competitiveness in sport event tourism. The study also addresses the question of whether or not these portfolio choices emerge as involvement increasesin other words, do highly involved amateur athletes tend to specialize in one sport, as suggest by recreation specialization theory? A total of 6691 participants were surveyed online in five events (cross-country run, Nordic ski, halfmarathon run, open-water swim, and road cycling), out of which 2329 were identified as pursuing a portfolio strategy. The major contributions of this paper include identification of a large number of significant differences between "specialized" and "diversified" portfolios. Planning and marketing implications that can potentially enhance the attractiveness of individual and collectively marketed events are also discussed. ARTICLE HISTORY

What Encourages Physically Inactive People to Start Running? An Analysis of Motivations to Participate in Parkrun and City Trail in Poland

“…Parkrun or City Trail are accessible for everyone, regardless of socioeconomic class. Runners with a high social status will probably increase their distance of choice to participate in ultramarathons in the future, will travel to take part in popular or prestigious marathons, or will change the discipline they engage in, for example, by shifting to triathlon (29). It may be rather difficult to encourage some people to do physical exercise at all, let alone engaging in regular physical activity, such as persuading some members of the lower socioeconomic classes to take up running.…”

Event portfolio management: An emerging transdisciplinary field of theory and praxis

“…More recent theoretical refinements leading to highly targeted events have been based on adaptation of serious leisure ( Stebbins, 1992 , 2001 ), leisure involvement ( Kyle, Absher, Norman, Hammitt, & Jodice, 2007 ; Kyle & Chick, 2002 ), together with social-worlds theory ( Unruh, 1980 ) in generating the event travel career trajectory ( Buning & Gibson, 2016 ; Getz & Andersson, 2010 ). Specific advice has been given to events and destinations, based on empirical research, on how their portfolios might enhance competitiveness through inclusion of iconic destination events, as well as by refining their experience propositions to maximize attractiveness to niche segments such as the highly-involved foodie ( Getz, Andersson, Robinson, & Vujicic, 2014 ) or amateur athlete seeking personal development through meeting challenges ( Andersson & Getz, 2020 ; Buning & Gibson, 2016 ).…”

From curious to connoisseur: a longitudinal segmentation of attendees at a Chinese wine festival

“…Theoretical frameworks in leisure, recreation and tourism that provide relevant insight include serious leisure, recreational specialization and event-tourist career trajectory. These frameworks each entail evolving stages reflecting more sophisticated levels of personal involvement in specific leisure and recreational activities (Andersson and Getz, 2020; Tsaur and Liang, 2008). Moreover, the three frameworks imply a desire to acquire increased competencies in knowledge, skills and personal development.…”

“…Recreational participants array from general-interest and low-involvement to specialized-interest and high-involvement. When moving toward specialization, participants’ identities are increasingly defined by a particular activity, which discourages venturing into other leisure activities (Andersson and Getz, 2020, as cited in Bryan, 2000). Viewed as an aspect of serious leisure, recreational specialization can be understood as a psychological process involving a gradual narrowing of interests regarding complex leisure activities that enable participants to be specialized (Stebbins, 2014).…”