Evaluating the perceived social impacts of hosting large-scale sport tourism events: scale development and validation

Abstract

Resident perceptions of social impacts resulting from hosting large-scale sport tourism events have become important factors for obtaining community-wide event support. However, perception studies have been limited due to the lack of valid and reliable instrumentation to measure both positive and negative impacts. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a multidimensional scale to evaluate the perceived social impacts of a large-scale sport tourism event. A questionnaire was developed and tested among host community residents (N = 1567) for the F1 Korean GP in South Korea. The analyses resulted in a six-factor model with 23 items to assess perceived social impacts: (1) economic benefits; (2) community pride; (3) community development; (4) economic costs; (5) traffic problems; and (6) security risks. This study revealed the multi-dimensional nature of perceived social impacts and contributed to a better understanding of how local residents view the impacts associated with a large-scale sport tourism event.