Verifying the effectiveness of sports event policies for a city’s sustainable growth: Focusing on the multiple effects

Abstract

This article presents empirical evidence that suggests that there are multiple effects of local government sports event hosting policies. This study is predicated on the notion that the attraction of sports events is a feature of city‐level policies. The empirical analysis used a multiple effects model, and the research employed a dual model approach: (a) a sponsorship effect model and (b) a tourism effect model. A questionnaire was administered online, and 383 cases were used for data processing. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were performed using SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 25.0. (a) In the “business model,” it was confirmed that event satisfaction affected sustainable purchase intention only through the sponsor’s social image. (b) The “tourism model” confirmed that event satisfaction affected the intention to engage in positive word of mouth to recommend the destination through both forming a psychological attachment and experiencing emotional satisfaction. Among the event satisfaction factors, service satisfaction was identified as more important than facility satisfaction. As shown by the above results, satisfaction with sports events had simultaneous effects on the persistence of the sponsorship effects model and the persistence of tourism effects. The study concluded that attractive sports events promoted sustainable urban growth. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.