Managing Mass Sport Participation: Adding a Personal Performance Perspective to Remodel Antecedents and Consequences of Participant Sport Event Satisfaction

The current study was an investigation of the role of personal performance, an internal assessment of time goal achievement, on participants' event satisfaction that would contribute to positive outcomes. Multiattribute online surveys were distributed to participants at two distance participant sport events held in the Southeast and Northeast United States (N = 3,476 and 4,828). A multidimensional Participant Sport Event Attribute and Service Delivery (PSEASD) scale was developed to capture a spectrum of service touch points encountered during the event experience. Empirical results using covariance-based structural equation modeling was used to test and support a proposed model revealing that personal performance was a stronger positive determinant of event satisfaction than traditional service quality and perceived value. A significant negative interaction effect between service quality and personal performance was also revealed. Collectively, the model explained 41% of variance in event satisfaction, and 26% of behavioral intentions. Based on the findings, we suggest managing personal performance expectations is important to holistically manage and promote overall event satisfaction in a participant sport event setting.