Examining Sport Tourists’ Information-Processing Strategies for Smartphone Apps Acceptance
Abstract
The evolution of the smartphone continues. The rapid rise in the number of
applications (apps) means that sport consumers can now truly enjoy a 24/7 experience
during which they are able to communicate, socialize, entertain, and make purchases.
Smartphone apps are also commonly used in marketing strategies in the sport and
tourism industry, but there has been very little academic research on sport consumers’
technology acceptance processes. Specifically, several questions must be answered, such
as how sport consumers use information processing and decision making in order to
accept new and existing technology, and how an individual’s involvement level
influences the process. The purpose of this study was to: (1) gain an understanding of
sport tourists’ information processing as it relates to the use of smartphone apps; (2)
examine the effects of different types of advertising messages on sport tourists’
smartphone apps acceptance; and (3) investigate the potential moderating role of sport
tourists’ levels of involvement with sporting events on the relationship between
persuasive messaging and perceptions of the use of smartphone apps.
This research proposes a new conceptual model, integrating three theoretical
frameworks: the elaboration likelihood model, technology acceptance model, and
involvement theory. To test the proposed hypotheses, a 2 (argument quality: strong vs.
weak) x 2 (source credibility: high vs. low) analysis of variance and partial least squares
structural equation modelling were employed through an online experiment. Two roleplaying
scenarios were used to measure respondents’ degrees of involvement.
Additionally, four advertising messages with different manipulation conditions and
manipulation checks were successfully conducted. A total of 333 participants were
recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk).
The results show that both argument quality (i.e., the central route) and source
credibility (i.e., the peripheral route) effectively persuaded sport consumers to accept
information presented in a smartphone app. Other results indicate that persuasive
messages in the smartphone app were able to extensively affect sport consumers’
perceptions of that app and their behavioral intention to use the app to consume sports.
The findings provide both theoretical and practical implications for sport teams and
event managers in terms of creating effective mobile advertising strategies.
Citation
Yoon, Sukjoon (2018). Examining Sport Tourists’ Information-Processing Strategies for Smartphone Apps Acceptance. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A & M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /174535.