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Mega-sporting events reportedly can offer many tangible and intangible benefits to the host country and regions, such as job creation, image improvement, local pride enhancement, social overhead capital investment and tourism business development. However, a paucity of studies in the literature have developed integrative models or have explored domestic tourist behavior in a general, or the sports tourism, context. To address this gap, the present study investigates the relationships between event quality, personal involvement, destination image and destination loyalty in the context of event sports tourism in order to provide sporting destination managers with valuable information for sustainable sports tourism development.

The authors collected information from 365 domestic tourists who attended the 100th National Sports Festival held in Seoul, South Korea, in 2019. Construct validity of the measurement scale was verified by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), factor loadings, average variance (AVE) extracted and construct reliability (CR). Reliability of the measurement scale was verified by Cronbach's alpha analysis. The authors utilized structural equation modeling (SEM) with maximum likelihood estimation to analyze the predicted relationships.

The findings display the positive impacts of (1) event quality on destination image, (2) personal involvement on destination image, (3) personal involvement on destination loyalty and (4) destination image on destination loyalty. The findings indicate the key roles for event quality and personal involvement in improving destination image and the important roles of personal involvement and destination image in building destination loyalty.

The present study (1) contributes to the recent debate in the sports tourism literature over the relationship between the destination image and destination loyalty and (2) shows that there is no mediating role of the destination image on the relationship between the event quality and destination loyalty, and personal involvement and destination loyalty.

The purpose of this paper is to explore structural relationships between quality, destination image, perceived value, tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty with emphasis on the mediating effect of tourist satisfaction on relations between destination image and destination loyalty, and between perceived value and destination loyalty in the context of small-scale sporting events.

Construct validity of the measurement scale was verified by confirmatory factor analysis, factor loadings, average variance extracted, construct reliability and correlation analysis. Reliability of the measurement scale was verified by Cronbach’s α analysis. A structural equation modeling test with maximum likelihood estimation was used to test structural relationships between variables in the proposed model using the responses of 311 participants.

Results showed significant and powerful impacts of: event quality, destination image and perceived value on tourist satisfaction; destination image, perceived value, and tourist satisfaction on destination loyalty and demonstrated; and tourist satisfaction fully mediates relationships between destination image and destination loyalty, and between perceived value and destination loyalty.

The study shows: it is meaningful to include quality and value in tourism destination image-satisfaction-loyalty models; provides empirical evidence that tourist satisfaction fully mediates the relation between perceived value and destination loyalty; and confirms small-scale as well as large-scale sporting events should be viewed as important aspects of marketing strategies aimed at improving quality, image, value, satisfaction and loyalty.

Based on a stimulus–organism–response theory, the purpose of this study is to empirically examine structural equation model linking personal involvement, positive emotions, tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty among sport tourists to a mega sport event. Moreover, moderating effects of place attachment on the relation between the aforementioned variables were investigated.

The validities and reliabilities of the measures were investigated through confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha and correlation analysis. A structural equation modelling with maximum likelihood estimation was tested to analyze the relationships among the research variables using 383 participants.

The results revealed positive associations among stimulus (personal involvement), organism (positive emotions) and response (tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty). Moreover, the authors found moderating effect of place attachment on the relationships between personal involvement and positive emotions, personal involvement and tourist satisfaction and tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty.

This study holds the potential to aid destination managers in acquiring a more profound comprehension of how personal involvement contributes to elicit positive emotions, keep tourists satisfied and build destination loyalty as well as demonstrating the moderating roles of place attachment. However, generalizing the findings to alternative contexts presents a formidable challenge. Enhancing the applicability of these findings could be achieved through prospective research endeavors that explore visitors in diverse cities spanning various continents.

The study contributed to the literature by providing empirical evidence that personal involvement evokes positive emotions while also plays significant role in improving satisfaction and loyalty. Given the importance of experiences in sport tourism, this study also confirmed the role of positive emotions on tourist satisfaction and destination loyalty. Additionally, this study examined the moderating effect of place attachment, which has not been investigated in sport tourism context.

Although much of the research has examined the positive relationship between memorable tourism experiences (MTEs) and tourist satisfaction, little research has attempted to analyze the double mediating effects of cognitive and affective responses and the moderating effects of tourism motivation on the relationship. To address these gaps, this study developed a theoretical framework including MTEs, cognitive response, affective response, tourism motivation and tourist satisfaction with golf tourism using a stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory.

The author collected data from domestic and international tourists that attended amateur golf tournaments for non-commercial purposes as amateur athletes in Jeju and Gunsan, South Korea, in 2022. Construct validity of the measurement scale was verified by confirmatory factor analysis, factor loadings, average variance extracted and construct reliability. The reliability of the measurement scale was verified by Cronbach's analysis. The current study utilizes structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation to analyze the positive relationships and double mediating effects. Jamovi statistical software was also used to conduct a moderation analysis.

The findings displayed the significant impacts of MTEs on cognitive response, affective response, and tourist satisfaction, and the positive impacts of cognitive response and affective response on tourist satisfaction. Moreover, cognitive and affective responses were found to partially mediate the aforementioned relationships and golf tourism motivation moderated the aforementioned paths.

The current study shows that there is a double mediating role of the cognitive and affective responses and moderating role of tourism motivation on the relationship between MTEs and tourist satisfaction and explores golf tourists who participate in an amateur golf tournament for non-commercial purposes as amateur athletes, which has largely been ignored in golf tourism research.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the structural relationships between destination image, tourist satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty, with an emphasis on the mediating effect of tourist satisfaction on the relation between destination image and loyalty in the context of a small-scale recurring sporting event held in Asia.

Validity and reliability of the measurement scale were proved through a confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach’s α analyses and correlation analyses. A structural equation modeling test with maximum likelihood estimation was conducted to test the relationships among the research variables using 440 participants.

The results revealed destination image had a direct influence on tourist satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty, and that tourist satisfaction had a direct influence on attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty. Moreover, tourist satisfaction was found to partially mediate relationships between destination image and attitudinal loyalty, and between destination image and behavioral loyalty.

First, destination marketers and organizers of a small event should provide tourists with an international or domestic newsletter of the small event. Second, destination marketers should place well-educated employees at popular hotels and restaurants and the event organizers should arrange that trained volunteers be positioned at stadiums, to enable tourists to find the locations of interest, which would help develop a positive image of the destination. Third, marketers and organizers should actively use social media to improve destination images and promote sporting events.

The authors offer a new perspective of tourist satisfaction as a mediating effect. Existing studies show tourist satisfaction fully mediates on the relation between destination image and loyalty, but the present study shows tourist satisfaction partially mediates this relation. In this respect, the term “sporting event” should be regarded important when attempting to understand tourist psychology and behavior because the level of tourist satisfaction can be affected by a term like “sporting event” in the mediating effect context.

While existing research has predominantly focused on the positive relationships between service quality and outcome variables, there has been limited investigation into the influence of food service quality on these variables or the moderating role of stadium atmosphere in the realm of sports marketing. This study aims to fill these gaps by examining the structural relationships between baseball stadium food quality, timeliness, satisfaction, and behavioral intention with an emphasis on the moderating effect of stadium atmosphere.

The data were collected from spectators attending baseball games. This study established the validity of the measurement scale through confirmatory factor analysis, factor loadings, average variance extracted, and construct reliability using Cronbach’s alpha. In addition, this study employed structural equation modeling with maximum likelihood estimation to examine positive relationships and mediating effects and used Jamovi statistical software to conduct moderation analysis.

The findings demonstrate the significant impacts of food quality on satisfaction and behavioral intention, the positive effects of timeliness on satisfaction and behavioral intention, and the notable influence of satisfaction on behavioral intention. Additionally, this study found that satisfaction partially mediates the aforementioned relationships and that stadium atmosphere moderates these pathways.

This study contributes to the literature by addressing the impact of food service quality on outcome variables within sports marketing, an area that has received limited attention. Specifically, it examines how food quality and timeliness influence consumer satisfaction and behavioral intention. Furthermore, the study highlights the moderating role of stadium atmosphere, demonstrating its potential to enhance the relationship between food quality and consumer outcomes. These findings expand our understanding of consumer behavior in sports settings, offering practical strategies for team officials to enhance fan experiences. By diversifying menu options, optimizing concession operations, and collaborating with local vendors, team officials can significantly improve food service quality and create a more engaging stadium atmosphere.