Sports Tourism Sustainability in Times after COVID-19: Analysis of the Behavior of Participatory Event Consumers

Abstract

People mostly engage in sports to participate in tourism activities, and it is therefore worthy of deep consideration why people are so enthusiastic and what their internal motivation is, especially in the context of the normalization of COVID-19 prevention. Consequently, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between self-expressiveness and subjective well-being from the perspective of consumers in participatory sports events. Methods: We developed a self-expressive model for consumers in participatory sports events based on the eudaimonistic identity theory, taking samples of non-local individuals who participated in the Fuzhou International Marathon in 2021. Results: (1) Self-expressive model assumes that a consumer’s participation in sports activities is symbolic of their identity and status. (2) Consumers self-expressiveness relies on perceived difficulty of the activity, effort perception, importance perception, and potential for self-realization. (3) Self-expressiveness moderates the relationship between hedonic enjoyment and subjective well-being. As self-expressiveness is highly related to hedonic enjoyment, it plays an important role in personal happiness. Conclusions: (1) Sporting event managers should attach great importance to the formulation and implementation of self-expressive activities to enhance the events, encourage consumers to participate in competitions of medium difficulty, and absorb competitive alternatives or activities of different difficulty levels. (2) They should highlight the realization of the “ideal self” and pay attention to the skill-level training of consumers. (3) They should plan diversified target plans (entertainment, experience, or learning skills) to respond to consumers with different target orientations.