Constructing an International Marathon Participants’ Behavioral Model in Taiwan.

Abstract

This purpose of this study was to construct a participative behaviour model for sports tourists. The subject of the study was marathon runners’ from the International Taroko Gorge Marathon and the reserachers’ used purposive sampling as the sampling method. A total of 446 surveys were issued, and 363 valid surveys were returned. The effective rate was 81.3%. All collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modelling. The results were as follow. Firstly, the participative behaviour model constructed in this study fitted in well in statistics. Secondly, sports tourism attraction and sports event images have a significant influence and effect on the participative motivation of sports tourists. Finally, participative motivation and participative satisfaction have significant influences and an effect on the loyalty of sports tourists. In conclusion, the sports tourism attraction and sports event image have a significant influence on the participative motivation of sports tourists and enhance the willingness to recommend and repeat participation in the sports event. Based on the above results, this study provided some practical suggestion for related sports event units and suggest directions for future research initiatives.

Keywords

• Loyalty
• participative motivation
• satisfaction
• sports event image
• sport tourism attraction