Abstract

As COVID-19 compels the event industry to embrace a digital transformation with innovative and safer ways of organizing events, investigating event attendees’ emotional responses and behavioral intention toward virtual sporting events becomes extremely important for event stakeholders. However, there is little empirical research on what factors lead to event participants’ hedonic benefit, which is a crucial determinant of satisfaction and revisit intention in the context of virtual sporting events. Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) model, this study therefore develops and examines a conceptually comprehensive model on the interrelationship between mobile app attributes, hedonic benefit, satisfaction with event experience, and revisit intention in the context of a virtual race event. Results identified user interface attractiveness and perceived usefulness as significant determinants of hedonic benefit which, in turn, affect satisfaction with event experience and revisit intention. Further, the results revealed that hedonic benefit mediates the relationships. The findings of this study provide significant theoretical and managerial implications for both researchers and practitioners who are interested in the use of mobile apps in virtual race events.

摘要

由于 COVID-19 迫使赛事行业以创新和更安全的方式组织赛事来拥抱数字化转型，因此调查赛事参与者对虚拟体育赛事的情绪反应和行为意图对于赛事利益相关者来说变得极为重要。然而，关于哪些因素导致事件参与者的享乐利益的实证研究很少，这是虚拟体育赛事背景下满意度和重访意图的关键决定因素。因此，本研究基于刺激-有机体-响应 (SOR) 模型，开发并检验了一个概念上全面的模型，该模型涉及移动应用程序属性、享乐利益、对赛事体验的满意度以及在虚拟赛事背景下的重访意图之间的相互关系. 结果表明，用户界面的吸引力和感知有用性是享乐利益的重要决定因素，这反过来又会影响对事件体验的满意度和重访意图。此外，结果表明，享乐利益介导了这些关系。本研究的结果为对在虚拟赛事中使用移动应用程序感兴趣的研究人员和从业人员提供了重要的理论和管理启示。