Search results

The purpose of this paper was to provide a discussion on using sport events for community development through the lenses of community development theories and perceived event impacts.

The nature of the paper was not based on a specific methodology or design, rather on a review of relevant studies that aim to support strategies of how to develop a community through the hosting of sport events utilizing community development theories.

The review revealed that the profile of the community could influence the use of asset or needs-based community theory to achieve community development goals associated with hosting certain size of sport events.

The combination of community development theories with the literature in sport event impacts and legacies provides a novel approach to the discussion of community development through sport events.

Mass participation sport events, such as running events, have the potential to foster social capital among event participants. The purpose of this study is to investigate the interrelationships among sport event participation, social capital and various (behavioral, psychological, informational and negative) outcomes.

Following Putnam's social capital approach, a research model was developed and tested using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling, based on survey data from 301 runners with varied running histories and event experiences.

Results showed a limited impact of sport event participation on participants' social capital, indicating that the temporary interactions within the event timeframe were insufficient to generate sustainable social capital among event participants. Nevertheless, significant relationships were found between social capital and behavioral, psychological and informational outcomes of social capital, suggesting that social capital can be converted to a range of benefits for participants and the event community.

Event marketers and sponsors should take strategic actions to enhance participants' social experience and cultivate social capital, which may help them gain support from the event community irrespective of past experiences with participation.

This study extends Putnam's social capital framework into mass participation sport event context. As an initial effort to quantitatively test the linkage among event participation, social capital and various outcomes, this study offers empirical insights into the role of sport event participation in generating long-term social benefits for event participants.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to investigate if the three service quality dimensions (service environment, interaction and outcome quality), proposed by Brady and Cronin (2001), influence the development of event loyalty, among runners of the “‘Alexander the Great’ International Marathon”, and to test if running loyalty moderates the relationship between event quality and event loyalty.

In all, 368 runners participated in the study and filled the Sport Event Quality Questionnaire (Theodorakis et al., 2015) and an adjusted version of the Leisure Involvement Questionnaire (Kyle et al., 2010).

The results indicated that only the service environment and outcome dimensions contributed significantly to the prediction of event loyalty, while, and in contrast to other sport services, interaction quality was not shown to be an important determinant for the development of event loyalty. Furthermore, running involvement was shown to play a moderating role in the relationship between event quality and event loyalty. Service quality is more important for the development of event loyalty among low- than high-involved runners. The theoretical and applied implications of these results are discussed.

The study provided results on how high- and low-involved runners perceive event quality, and for which of these groups the event quality is an important antecedent for the development of event loyalty.

Investigating the moderating role of involvement on the relationship between service quality and loyalty has also applied value. While committed runners have been traditionally seen as a key target group for event marketing professionals, the majority of runners in city marathons today are more leisure oriented. The increase in the number of leisure runners is actually the reason for the rapid growth of city marathons in the last few years. Meeting the needs of these leisure runners and increasing their loyalty levels is therefore a key task for marathon marketers today.

This study contributes to the literature, as for the first time it explores the moderating role of involvement on the relationship between service quality and loyalty in the context of a sport event.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how residents in Qatar, the host country of the 2022 World Cup, interact, socialize and acculturate in order to create a more harmonic society, a critical factor for the event delivery and preparations.

Data were collected from Qatari nationals and expatriates residing in the country of Qatar using a survey. A stratified random sampling approach was applied using as sampling framework all households having a mailing address with the country’s electric company. In total, 2,398 Qataris were contacted and 1,020 completed the survey. From the expatriate population, 1,852 were contacted and 1,134 completed the survey.

The results showed Qatari nationals were favorable toward Arab and Asian expatriates but not as favorable as Arab and Asian expatriates were toward them. Both groups of residents showed high quality of life (QOL) perceptions, with the locals having slightly higher QOL. Finally, Asian expatriates were more open to socializing with the locals and Arab expatriates.

The results of the study shed light into the acculturation process in host societies of mega sport events such as the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

This is the first study that examined a mega event’s host country resident’s cultural interactions to identify potential issues that can arise and interfere with the event experience of the 2022 World Cup in a very diverse society.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between sport team authenticity, fan identity and citizenship behaviors, and how the link between sport team authenticity and fan identity is moderated by sponsor philanthropy.

A web survey was distributed to baseball fans in an online community in South Korea. A total of 383 valid answered questionnaires were collected and tested with confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

The findings suggested interrelationships between sport teams’ brand authenticity and fan identity and between fan identity and citizenship behavior. This work also confirms the moderating effect of a title sponsor’s philanthropic activities on the relationship between sport team authenticity and fan identity.

A sport team’s effort to maintain authenticity would intensify fan identity levels. Action plans that relate to team’s authenticity among fans are necessary. For example, the team could create a plan for the players to give back to the community by volunteering in community projects with the support of the sponsor. Building a team’s authentic culture with well-integrated philanthropy programs of a title sponsor would benefit the team in sustaining competitive advantages in a market.

The findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating the role of title sponsor’s philanthropic behavior on the sport industry. The relative importance of the team’s authenticity (congruency and fan orientation) for fan identity was increased when the perception of the sponsor’s philanthropy was high.

Situational involvement (SI) and enduring involvement (EI) are important predictors of spectator sports tourist behaviours. For this study, onsite and web surveys were utilised to help understand how SI and EI levels, with both event and destination, may vary according to the primary and secondary trip purpose of a spectator sports tourist. Results revealed differences between the two groups only within certain aspects of SI and EI with the destination.

Sports events are tourist attractions and their image components can relate to the destination image concept and structure. This study examined sports event images held by active and passive sports tourists at four marathon races in Germany. Some differences in the perception of event images were found for active and passive sports tourists as well as for different types of destinations. For active sports tourists, emotional, physical and organisational image associations were clustered closer. For passive sports tourists, social and historical image associations were clustered closer. The type of destination elicited different event images among active and passive sports tourists.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) that a host city can experience to utilize these for future strategy planning and event leveraging.

Five phone interviews were conducted with administrators of the Athens Olympic Games. Respondents were asked four questions relating to the SWOT of hosting the Olympic Games. Responses collected were transcribed and analyzed using a content analysis.

Findings suggest that the strengths lie in having certain infrastructures in place, volunteers, a strong economy and good political standing. Weaknesses stem from a lack of infrastructure, the size of the country, uncertain political and economic stability. Opportunities included the growth of the tourism industry, business developments, increase in the quality of life, the use of legacies post‐event, and the improvement and development of infrastructures. Threats included the cost of the event, pollution, relying on the event to rejuvenate the economy and the displacement of residents.

The SWOT analysis conducted in this paper laid the foundation for strategic planning for future host cities' organizers while taking into consideration the weaknesses and problems that have been experienced by the organization of former Olympic Games host cities. Moreover, the SWOT analysis conducted in this paper goes one step further by incorporating Chalip's leveraging model in order to identify what strengths and weaknesses need to be addressed in order for a host city to leverage the opportunities and threats of hosting a sport event.

The purpose of this study is to explore how event volunteers, athletes and onsite spectators perceive the impact of sport event sponsorship on future purchase intentions of the event sponsor brand.

The research problem was based on propositions by Novais and Arcodia (2013) and proposes relationships between sponsor–event fit, brand attitude, perceived brand quality and sponsor brand purchase intentions. Data were collected from 352 Greek sport event consumers from the 2013 Classic Marathon event, in Athens, Greece, using onsite surveys targeting non-sponsor brand consumer spectators, volunteers and athletes.

The results reveal that sponsor–event fit indirectly influenced sponsor brand purchase intentions via brand attitude and brand quality across all three groups. However, the fit did not directly influence perceived brand quality of the sponsor across all three groups and directly influenced purchase intentions of the athlete group.

Because of the duration of the event (one day), the sample sizes were not very large. In addition, the study was delimited on one sponsor from a single sport event. Therefore, the findings need to be tested with larger samples and additional sponsors and events to arrive to more robust conclusion about the purchase intention formation and its antecedents across multiple sport event consumer groups.

This study explores the power of sponsor–event fit among non-consumers of the sponsor brand and how the “interface” of event consumption through the lenses of three groups, namely, volunteer, spectator and athlete, influences brand attitude, perceived brand quality and sponsor brand purchase intentions.

This study examines the impact of sport-induced emotions on spectators' purchase intentions towards event sponsors. Spectators who experience positive emotions evoked by a home team victory are found to exhibit stronger purchase intentions towards sponsors regardless of the sponsor's ability to improve spectator emotions. Those who experience negative emotions following home team defeat show heightened purchase intentions towards sponsors perceived capable of improving their negative feelings. Purchase intention decreases when sponsors cannot assist in upwardly managing the negative feelings of spectators. Theoretical and managerial implications for sponsors of spectator sports are provided.