Motivations For Participating In Charity-Affiliated Sporting Events

Roger Bennett, Wendy Mousley, Paul Kitchin, Rehnuma Ali-Choudhury

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Organisers of charity-affiliated sporting occasions have to attract participants, and thus need to understand the reasons why people want to take part. This paper examines the motives that influence participation in mass sporting events with charity connections. Five hundred and seventy-nine members of the public who reported that they had previously taken part in one or more charity-related sporting events completed a questionnaire designed to establish their reasons for participation, the number of events they had attended, and their willingness to increase their financial contribution to an event based on its charity-credentials. The results identified ten motives that seemingly determined participation. Four of these dominated the sample members’ responses, namely motivations that arose from (i) personal involvement with the good cause(s) supported by an occasion, (ii) opportunities to lead a healthy lifestyle provided by the event, (iii) an individual’s involvement with the sport in question, and (iv) the desire to mix socially with other attendees. The research also found that a person’s propensity towards being seriousminded exerted a moderating effect on the impacts on decisions to participate of three of these motives. A regression analysis revealed that individuals were more inclined to be willing to pay a higher fee to enter an event of this nature if it was regarded as high in status, if the participant was heavily involved with the good cause(s) covered by the occasion, and if the person was intent on pursuing a healthy lifestyle. People who felt a ‘duty to participate’ and who wanted to experience ‘fun and enjoyment’ were more likely than others to participate frequently in charity-related sporting events.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)155-178
JournalJournal of Customer Behaviour
Volume6
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 2007

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Keywords

  • Nonprofit marketing
  • donor behaviour
  • fundraising
  • charity-affiliated sporting events.

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