BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS Motivational factors that influence peoples’ behavioral intentions to participate in sport events in the future Stavros Triantafyllidis & Kyriaki Kaplanidou Department of Tourism, Recreation and Sport Management University of Florida People during their leisure time participate in several types of sport events. Specifically, Marathons are one type of small-scale sport event that has had a remarkable growth in the past decade (Ridinger, Funk, Jordan, & Kaplanidou, 2012). This study explored the motivational factors that influence peoples’ behavioral intentions to participate in running related sport events (e.g., Marathon) in the future. Based on the literature (Frederick & Ryan, 1993; Ryan, Frederick, Lepes, Rubio, & Sheldon, 1997), we found and defined the motivational factors. They are: Intrinsic Motivational Factors: Enjoyment, Challenge, Competition, and Self-Esteem (Fullagar & Pavlidis, 2012; Kilpatrick, Hebert, & Bartholomew, 2010; Filo, Funk, & O’Brien, 2011). Extrinsic Motivational Factors: Weight Management, Appearance, Social Recognition, Stress Management, Positive Health, ill-Health Avoidance, Health Pressure and Strength & Endurance (Allen, 2003; Kilpatrick et al., 2010; Funk et al., 2011). Additionally this study examined the influence of satisfaction and commitment on peoples’ behavioral intentions for future sport event participation given their predictive power in other studies (Kilpatrick et al., 2010; Allen, 2003; Funk et al. 2011; Ridinger et al., 2012). Event: 5 points of Life Marathon, Gainesville, February 2015. Data Collection & Subjects: A Web-Survey sent to 910 active sport event participants, 171 respondents, 106 completed responses and 65 incomplete. Response rate (11.65%). Measurement and Scales used in questionnaire: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivational Factors / Satisfaction & Commitment (Independent Variables): We used the Exercise Motivation Inventory-2 (EMI-2) which was originally developed by Markland and Ingledew (1997). The EMI-2 fitted our study because is examining a large range of exercise participation motives, which is related with the sport event participation (Markland & Ingledew, 1997). Each variable was measured with 3 items that were evaluated on 7 point scales where 1=Strongly Disagree and 7=Strongly Agree. Behavioral Intentions (Dependent Variable): It was measured with 1 item: “How likely is it that you attend as an active participant another sport event in the next 12 months?”, and 1 was “Very unlikely” and 7 was “Very likely”. Data Analysis: Hypotheses were tested using Multiple Linear Regression analysis. We tested the influence of the intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors, satisfaction and commitment on the behavioral intentions of the people to participate in running sport events over the next 12 months. Motivational factors: Based on our results, the motivational factors that have significant effect on peoples’ behavioral intentions, were the competition (intrinsic) and the appearance (extrinsic). The most influential Motivational factor was Competition. Theoretically, this result can be supported by Kilpatrick et al. (2010) who found that people are motivated by performance and ego-related factors, such as Competition. It is critical to mention that Appearance had an inverse effect on active participants’ behavioral intentions to participate in running related events in the future. In other words, people will not participate in a sport event because it improves their appearance or makes them look more attractive. Theoretically, this is in contrast with Frederick & Ryan (1993) who found that people participate in sports for their appearance. Practically, is highly recommended to sport event managers and marketers to focus on increasing the competition in the running events in order to attract more active participants. Lastly, there was not a significant effect of Satisfaction and Commitment on behavioral Intentions for Running events. SUMMARY METHOD & ANALYSIS DISCUSSION RESULTS Results: Figure 1 shows the results of the Multiple Linear Regression and the influence of each factor on the Behavioral Intentions to run related sport events. POSITIVE HEALTH BEHAVIORAL INTENTIONS ENJOYMENT COMPETITION STRENGTH & ENDURANCE SELF-ESTEEM SOCIAL RECOGNITION STRESS MANAGEMENT WEIGHT MANAGEMENT APPEARANCE HEALTH PRESSURE CHALLENGE SATISFACTION COMMITMENT 0.146 H1 0.008 H2 H3 0.247* H4 0.066 H5 -0.310* H6 0.173 H7 0.037 H8 -0.144 H9 0.204 ILL-HEALTH AVOIDANCE H10 0.031 H11 -0.102 H12 0.026 H13 -0.072 H14 0.088 This study examined the factors that influence peoples’ behavioral intentions to participate in running sport events in the future. The following Research Questions guided the study: What are the most important motivational factors that influence peoples’ behavioral intentions to participate in running sport events in the future? Does satisfaction and commitment with the Marathon and running influence peoples’ behavioral intentions to participate in running sport events in the future? HYPOTHESES The Hypotheses of our study can be seen in Figure 1. PURPOSE OF STUDY Allen, J. (2003). Social motivation in youth sport. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 25(4), 551-567. Funk, D., Jordan, J., Ridinger, L., & Kaplanidou, K. (2011). Capacity of mass participant sport events for the development of activity commitment and future exercise intention. Leisure Sciences, 33(3), 250-268. Kilpatrick, M., Hebert, E., & Bartholomew, J. (2010). College students' motivation for physical activity: Differentiating men's and women's motives for sport participation and exercise. Journal of American College Health, 54(2). Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/JACH.54.2.87-94. Markland, D., & Ingledew, D. (1997). The measurement of exercise motives: Factorial validity and invariance across gender of a revised exercise motivations inventory. British Health of Health Psychology, 2, 361-376. Ridinger, L., Funk, D., Jordan, J. & Kaplanidou, K. (2012). Marathons for the masses: Exploring the Role of Negotiation-efficacy and involvement on running commitment. Journal of Leisure Research, 44(2), 155-178. SELECTED REFERENCES Adjusted R-squared: .124 *p < .05