Spectators’ contribution to the environmental dimension of sustainable event sports tourism
Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The need to take responsibility for protection of the natural environment is a contemporary \nissue of growing importance and urgency across industries worldwide. Sports tourism, as \nthe subject area where the sports and tourism industries meet, has seen an increase in \nboth practitioner and academic initiatives to measure and manage impacts on the \nenvironment. This is especially relevant, given the fact that event sports tourism has \nbecome the highest profile product within sports tourism. Within the sport, tourism and \nsports tourism literature, there are several studies that discuss the role of the industry \n(mainly from a supply-side perspective) to manage environmental consequences. It is, \nhowever, argued that industry initiatives alone will not suffice to bring about long term \nchange in the relationship between event sports tourism and the environment. There \nneeds to be an understanding of the consumers of event sports tourism products and their \nattitudes and behaviour regarding environmentally responsible practices. This study \ncombines knowledge from other subject areas, namely Environmental Psychology, \nEnvironmental Education and Consumer Behaviour to explore environmentally responsible \nconsumption within the event sports tourism context. The aim of this research study is to \nidentify the factors that could have the greatest possibility to influence sport event \nspectators’ propensity to display environmentally responsible behavoiur. To this purpose, a \nproposed theoretical model was developed, depicting the most relevant and significant \nfactors driving such behaviour among sport event spectators. The model was based on the \nTheory of Planned Behaviour, a well-known and tested model in behavioural studies. \nMixed method research methodology was applied, combining qualitative and quantitative \ntechniques. Firstly, a two-round Delphi survey was conducted to collect the opinions of \nexperts on the most relevant factors that could possibly influence the environmental \nbehaviour of spectators. These opinions were used to verify the proposed theoretical \nmodel. Secondly, structural equation modelling was used to simultaneously test the effect \nof the various factors on the behavioural intentions of spectators. A spectator survey was \nconducted across a series of 10 different cycling events across South Africa. The final \nsample included a total of 1034 spectators. Upon completion of the data analysis at measurement model level, a refined structural \nmodel was presented. The research revealed that the refined structural model displayed \nadequate, but not good fit with the empirical data. Three of the relationships proved to be \nsignificant, namely the relationship between Situational Intention and Future Intention; \nbetween Sport Motivation and Situational Intention; and between Situational Intention and \nPlace Attachment. The findings have a number of managerial implications. Firstly, \nspectators with a positive Situational Intention are more likely to display the desired \nbehaviour in future; making it imperative for event managers to focus on identifying such \nindividuals, as they will be the ones supporting future initiatives toward greening the event. \nThe findings suggest that these individuals will most likely be those individuals attending \nbecause of their affiliation with, or love for the sport. Secondly, event owners have to \nrealise the importance of implementing an environmental management system in a visible \nmanner, as the results suggest that, within the sport spectating context, these facilities will \nact as the ‘norm’ and be the main indication to spectators of what the desired behaviour is. \nThirdly, environmental communication should be placed within the right message frame. \nEncouraging people through rewards alone may not necessarily prove to be effective, as \nfindings suggest that such gains may not motivate a sport spectator. Furthermore, event \nowners could also communicate in such a way as to establish an association between the \nspectator’s participation in responsible activities, with greater pride in the event or setting. \nThe study findings are restricted by a number of limitations. Firstly, two of the main \npredictors of the Theory of Planned Behaviour had to be removed from the model due to \nmeasurement concerns and the model as such could therefore not be validated. At the \nsame time, the chosen model and statistical analysis technique presented a theoretical \nlimitation as only a small number of variables could be included in the model. As indicated \nin the literature, a vast range of factors have been linked to environmentally responsible \nbehaviour, and many other variables could have been included to improve the predictive \npower of the main predictor variables in the model. Secondly, despite efforts to empirically \nrefine the measurement models, problems were noted with the properties of some of the \nscales. Thirdly, the data collection setting proved problematic, given the fact that \nparticipants in some instances hurried through the questions or returned incomplete \nquestionnaires, leading to missing data in the data set. Overall, the study contributes to the growing number of tourism studies focusing on \nenvironmentally responsible behaviour of tourists by providing insights into a growing \nniche segment, namely event sports tourism. It also makes a contribution to sport-focused \nenvironmental sustainability literature, as only one study could be found that tested \naspects of one of the models of environmental behaviour in a sport spectating context.
Author: E. Kruger
Language: English
Topic: Sport and Mega-Event Impacts
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W991234200