Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

2019

Abstract

Traditionally, winter sports have very limited accessibility and popularity in China. In addition to the growing economy in China and increased affordability by Chinese consumers, obtaining the hosting rights for the 2022 Beijing/Zhangjiakou Winter Olympic Games has brought a heightened opportunity for China to build up facilities and related infrastructures, develop and provide programs, promote interests and participation, and advance business operations of winter sports. Although more people are participating in winter sports today, especially in skiing, many of the newly constructed facilities are often operated in financial deficit and relying on governmental subsidy. Understanding the reasons that cause and channel winter-sport participation would help sport managers to improve program functions and services in an effort to meet or exceed consumer expectations. The purpose of this study was to examine push (i.e., socio-motivation) and pull (i.e., external motivation) factors influencing the level of participation of leisure skiing in China. Based on a comprehensive review of literature (e.g., Alexandris, 2009; Driver, 1983; Zhang et al., 2001) and conducting a test of content validity by a panel of experts, the Scale of Ski Motivation (SSM) measuring socio-motivations of ski participation was developed that had 33 items in a Likert 7-point scale and under seven factors, including nature, egotistic, family, social, exercise, risk, and escape factors. Measuring the ski resort pull factors was based on an adaptation of Nabitz’s (2014) customer preference scale on a ski resort’s offerings, which were of nine factors including condition of slopes, sceneries, equipment, waiting time, accessibility, recreational facilities, safety issues, cost, and training course feature. In addition to the push and pull factors, sociodemographic and skiing resort attendance frequency variables were also included in the survey form. Research respondents (N = 326) were attendees at a major ski resort located in Beijing. Conducting factor analyses and multiple repression analyses, two pull factors, nature and family, were found to be significantly (p < .05) influencing the level of participation of leisure skiing. To a varying extent, five pull factors including accessibility, sceneries, condition of slopes, training course feature, and cost were also found to be significantly (p < .05) influencing the level of attendance at the ski resort when sociodemographic backgrounds of participants were taken into consideration. Discussions are centered on the theoretical and managerial implications on procedures of pushing and pulling consumers to ski resorts at large and increasing winter-sport participating in China.

About the Authors

Xinghua Wang, Northeastern University, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China

James J. Zhang (adviser), University of Georgia, Athens, GA

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

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