The Antecedents of Tourists’ Behavioral Intentions at Sporting Events: The Case of South Korea

Yunduk Jeong,Suk-Kyu Kim,Andrew Yu

doi:10.3390/su12010333

Yunduk Jeong, Suk-Kyu Kim + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su12010333

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Abstract

Mega-sporting events can bring diverse benefits to the hosting areas, such as job creation and image improvement. However, only a handful of studies have explored the antecedents of destination image—which plays a crucial role in eliciting certain tourist behaviors—and personal involvement. To fill this gap, this study evaluates the relationships among personal involvement, destination image, place attachment, and behavioral intentions in the context of sporting event tourism to provide destination managers useful information for sustainable sports tourism development. We gathered information from 374 international tourists at the FINA (Fédération Internationale de Natation—International Swimming Federation) World Masters Championships Gwangju 2019 in South Korea. We used structural equation modeling was used along with maximum likelihood estimation to examine the predicted relationships. The findings show the positive impacts of (a) personal involvement on destination image, (b) destination image on place attachment, and (c) place attachment on behavioral intentions. Furthermore, (d) place attachment dictated the relationship between destination image and behavioral intentions. The findings confirm the significant role personal involvement plays in the improvement of a destination’s image. To ensure sustainable sports tourism, destination managers are advised to pay close attention to research findings on destination image in the development of their plans.

Highlights

As many countries and regions are facing heavy competition attracting tourists, the intentions of the tourists to revisit and their engagement in word-of-mouth (WOM) remains a key focus in the tourism industry to achieve sustainable success of a destination or an organization [1]
Exploring the effects of place attachment on destination image and behavioral intentions could be a new perspective in understanding future tourist behaviors. To address these gaps in the available literature, this study examines the structural relationships among personal involvement, destination image, place attachment, and behavioral intentions with an emphasis on the mediating effect of place attachment between destination image and behavioral intentions in the context of sporting event tourism
Non-significant paths emerged for destination image to behavioral intentions, thereby rejecting Hypothesis 3

Summary

Introduction

As many countries and regions are facing heavy competition attracting tourists, the intentions of the tourists to revisit and their engagement in word-of-mouth (WOM) remains a key focus in the tourism industry to achieve sustainable success of a destination or an organization [1]. For this reason, a major challenge for destination marketers and tourism researchers is to assess and understand the behavioral intentions of tourists [2]. It is imperative for sustainable tourism development that destination marketers understand what factors drive tourist intentions to recommend and revisit

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