An Empirical Examination of Event Attendance Motives, Host City Evaluation, and Behavioral Intentions at Rio 2016
(A2019-9683)

AUTHORS

Yangyang Jiang, The University of Nottingham Ningbo China; Ning (Chris) Chen, University of Canterbury

KEYWORDS

event attendance motives; host city evaluation; behavioral intentions

ABSTRACT

This study examines the event attendance motives and the underlying mechanism through which event attendance motives influence positive word-of-mouth (PWOM) and revisit intentions. It also investigates how event attendance motives differ by gender. A self-completed survey administered in English among visitors to the 2016 Olympic Games generated 230 valid responses. Partial least squares based structural equation modelling was applied to test research hypotheses. The results show that event attendance motives of aesthetics and escape positively influence host city evaluation. Host city evaluation positively influences PWOM and revisit intentions. Host city evaluation mediates the relationship between event attendance motives (aesthetics and escape) and behavioral intentions (PWOM and revisit intentions). Male Olympic tourists show significantly lower means in the motives of social bond and escape when compared with female Olympic tourists.