The Influence of Demographics on Perceived Sport Event Impacts: 2017 Canadian Women’s Curling Championship

Abstract

This study examines the perceived event impacts of attendees at the 2017 Scotties Tournament of Hearts (a national women’s curling event), that was held in St. Catharines, Ontario. Drawing on the recommendations of previous literature, the study investigates the perceived event impacts on attendees of a national sport event – the 2017 Canadian Women’s Curling Championships – by multiple socio-demographic characteristics. Multiple theoretical lenses are applied to understand the perceptions of the respondents. Utilizing a previously developed social impact scale model (Kim, Mun Jun, Walker, & Drane, 2015), a survey was completed by event attendees. In total, a sample size of 239 was used to conduct the study. Following reliability and validity tests on the model, MANOVA tests were completed to explore statistically significant impact factors and the influence that age, income levels, education levels, sport affinity, and residency (local and non-local) had on perceived event impacts. Results indicate that age and sport affinity (demographic variables) have a statistically significant influence on the overall perceived event impact.

The study examines the influence of socio-demographic characteristics on perceived impacts at a non-mega sport event. Further, the research provides insight into an approach for conducting sport event impact research in that researchers need to further explore how event characteristics themselves (e.g., total participants, scale or geographic location) can influence perceived impact. Thus, the study suggests that a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to event impact research is not realistic. As a result, future research will need to explore the influence of socio-demographic factors and the way in which event characteristics can impact the exchange process that occurs, informing their perceived impact.