Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Marketing of risky sports: From intention to action

  • Published:
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

High-risk sports, such as skydiving, parachuting, and hang gliding, have become increasingly popular in recent years. This article uses expectancy-value theory to integrate previous research on risky behavior and risky sports. The model that is developed relates the expected benefits of risky sports to several antecedents; specifically, thrill and adventure seeking, arousal avoidance, role relaxation, and age. Two samples are drawn to represent the general population, as well as people just joining risky-sports clubs. In the general population, the intention to engage in risky sports is related to the ability to arouse curiosity. Other motives, specifically thrill and adventure seeking, become more salient as an individual moves closer to actually engaging in a risky sport.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ajzen, Icek and Martin Fishbein. 1977. “Attitude-Behavior Relations: A Theoretical Analysis and Review of Empirical Research.”Psychological Bulletin 84 (September): 888–918.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnett, Jeffrey. 1992. “Reckless Behavior in Adolescence: A Developmental Perspective.”Developmental Review 12:339–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnould, Eric J. and Linda L. Price. 1993. “River Magic: Extraordinary Experience and the Extended Service Encounter.”Journal of Consumer Research 20 (June): 24–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bagozzi, Richard P. and Paul R. Warshaw. 1990. “Trying to Consume.”Journal of Consumer Research 17 (September): 127–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bearden, William O. and Randall L. Rose (1990) “Attention to Social Comparison Information: An Individual Difference Factor Affecting Consumer Conformity.”Journal of Consumer Research 16 (March): 461–471.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beatty, Sharon E. and Lynn R. Kahle. 1988. “Alternative Hierarchies of the Attitude-Behavior Relationship: The Impact of Brand Commitment and Habit.”Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 16 (Summer): 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brannigan, A. and A. A. McDougall. 1983. “Peril and Pleasure in the Maintenance of a High Risky Sport: A Study of Hang-Gliding.”Journal of Sport Behavior 6 (1): 37–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bromiley, Philip and Shawn P. Curley. 1992. “Individual Differences in Risk Taking.” InRisk-Taking Behavior. Ed. Frank Yates. Chichester, England: Wiley, 87–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnkrant, Robert E. and Thomas J. Page, Jr. 1982. “An Examination of the Behavioral Convergent, Discriminant, and Predictive Validity of Fishbein’s Intention Model.”Journal of Marketing Research 19 (November): 550–561.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burns, William J., Sarah E. Hampson, Herbert H. Severson, and Paul Slovic 1993. “Alcohol-Related Risk Taking Among Teenagers: An Investigation of Contribution Factors and a Discussion of How Marketing Principles Can Help.” InAdvances in Consumer Research, Vol. 20. Eds. Leigh McAlister and Michael L. Rothchild. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 183–187.

    Google Scholar 

  • Celsi, Richard L., Randall L. Rose and Thomas W. Leigh. 1993. “An Exploration of High Risk Leisure Consumption Through Skydiving.”Journal of Consumer Research 20 (June): 1–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cronin, Christopher. 1991. “Sensation Seeking Among Mountain Climbers.”Personality and Individual Differences 12 (6): 653–654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fazio, R. H. 1990. “Multiple Processes by Which Attitudes Guide Behavior: The MODE Model as an Integrative Framework.” InAdvances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 11. Ed. M. P. Zanna. San Diego: Academic Press, 75–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fishbein, Martin and Icek Ajzen. 1975.Belief, Attitude, Intention, and Behavior. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • — and Susan Middlestadt. 1995. “Noncognitive Effects on Attitude Formation and Change: Fact or Artifact?”Journal of Consumer Psychology 4 (2): 181–202.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haugtvedt, Curtis P. and the Consumer Psychology Seminar. 1997. “Beyond Fact or Artifact: An Assessment of Fishbein and Middlestadt’s Perspectives on Attitude Change Processes.”Journal of Consumer Psychology 6 (1): 99–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirschman, Elizabeth and Morris B. Holbrook. 1982. “Hedonic Consumption: Emerging Concepts, Methods, and Propositions.”Journal of Marketing 46 (Summer): 92–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hymbaugh, Karen and James Garrett. 1974. “Sensation Seeking Among Skydivers.”Perceptual and Motor Skills 38: 118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jöreskog, Karl G. and Dag Sörbom. 1993.PRELIS 2 User’s Reference Guide. Chicago: Scientific Software International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahle, Lynn R. 1983.Social Values and Social Change: Adaptation to Life in America. New York: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1995. “Role-Relaxed Consumers: A Trend for the Nineties.”Journal of Advertising Research 35 (2): 66–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • — and Aviv Shoham. 1995. “Role-Relaxed Consumers: Empirical Evidence.”Journal of Advertising Research 35 (3): 59–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, John H. 1991. “Arousal Seeking in Risk Sport Participants.”Personality and Individual Differences 12 (6): 613–616.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • — and Sven Svebak. 1989. “Motivational Aspects of Preference for, and Participation in, ‘Risk’ and ‘Safe’ Sports.”Personality and Individual Differences 10 (7): 797–800.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lavidge, Robert J. and Gary A. Steiner. 1961. “A Model for Predictive Measurements of Advertising Effectiveness.”Journal of Marketing 24 (October): 59–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murgatroyd, Stephen, Cyril Rushton, Michael Apter, and Colette Ray. 1978. “The Development of the Telic Dominance Scale.”Journal of Personality Assessment 42 (5): 519–528.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nunnally, J. 1978.Psychometric Theory. 2nd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Guinn, Thomas C. and Ronald J. Faber. 1991. “Mass Communication and Consumer Behavior.” InHandbook of Consumer Behavior. Eds. Thomas S. Robertson and Harold H. Kassarjian. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 349–400.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ottati, V., Martin Fishbein, and Susan E. Middlestadt. 1988. “Determinants of Voters’ Beliefs About the Candidates’ Stands on the Issues: The Role of Evaluative Bias Heuristics and the Candidates’ Expressed Message.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 55 (4): 517–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palmgreen, Philip and J. D. Rayburn. 1982. “Gratifications Sought and Media Exposure: An Expectancy Value Model.”Communication Research 9: 561–580.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pomazal, Richard J. and J. D. Brown. 1977. “Understanding Drug Use Motivations: A New Look at a Current Problem.”Journal of Health and Social Behavior 18 (June): 212–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Price, Linda L., Eric J. Arnould, and Patrick Tierney. 1995. “Going to Extremes: Managing Service Encounters and Assessing Provider Performance.”Journal of Marketing 59 (2): 83–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rayburn, J. D. and Philip Palmgreen. 1984. “Merging Uses and Gratifications and Expectancy Value Theory.”Communication Research 11: 537–562.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, Paul. 1994. “Risk.”Psychology Today, 27 (6): 50–3, 83–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, Everett M. 1962.Diffusion of Innovations. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheppard, Blair, Jon Hartwick, and Paul R. Warshaw (1988). “The Theory of Reasoned Action: A Meta-Analysis of Past Research With Recommendations for Modifications and Future Research.”Journal of Consumer Research 15 (December): 325–343.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Svebak, Sven and John H. Kerr. 1989. “The Role of Impulsivity in Preference for Sports.”Personality and Individual Differences 10 (1): 51–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • — and Stephen Murgatroyd. 1985. “Metamotivational Dominance: A Multimethod Validation of Reversal Theory Constructs.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 48 (1): 107–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • — and Johann Stoyva 1980. “High Arousal Can Be Pleasant and Exciting.”Biofeedback and Self-Regulation 5 (4): 439–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • U.S. News and World Report. 1997. “Extreme Sports: Why Americans Are Risking Life and Limb.U.S. News and World Report 122 (June 30): 50–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warshaw, Paul R. 1980. “Predicting Purchase and Other Behaviors From Generally and Contextually Specific Intentions.”Journal of Marketing Research 17 (February): 26–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zuckerman, Marvin. 1983a.Biological Bases of Sensation Seeking, Impulsivity and Anxiety. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • — 1983b. “Sensation Seeking and Sports”Personality and individual Differences 4 (3): 285–293.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • —, M. S. Buchsbaum, and D. L. Murphy. 1980. “Sensation Seeking and Its Biological Correlates.”Psychological Bulletin 88: 187–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Israel

    Aviv Shoham

  2. University of Mississippi, Mississippi, USA

    Gregory M. Rose

  3. University of Oregon, Oregon, USA

    Lynn R. Kahle

Authors
  1. Aviv Shoham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gregory M. Rose
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Lynn R. Kahle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Aviv Shoham (Ph.D., University of Oregon) is a lecturer of marketing, Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management, Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. He has published or has forthcoming articles in journals such as theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Advertising Research, theJournal of International Marketing, theJournal of Global Marketing, theJournal of International Consumer Marketing, and other marketing journals. He is also a frequent contributor to several marketing conferences.

Gregory M. Rose (Ph.D., University of Oregon) is an assistant professor of management and marketing at the University of Mississippi. His research has been published or is forthcoming in theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Business Research, theJournal of Global Marketing, theJournal of Business Ethics, theJournal of Applied Social Psychology, Advances in Consumer Research, and other journals and proceedings.

Lynn R. Kahle is the James Warsaw professor and department chair of marketing at the University of Oregon. Topics of his research include social adaptation, values, and sports marketing. His articles have appeared in journals such as theJournal of Consumer Research, theJournal of Marketing, Sport Marketing Quarterly, Public Opinion Quarterly, theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, andChild Development. His books includeSocial Values and Social Change, Marketing Management, andValues, Lifestyles, and Psychographics.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Shoham, A., Rose, G.M. & Kahle, L.R. Marketing of risky sports: From intention to action. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 26, 307–321 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070398264004

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0092070398264004

Keywords

Search

Navigation