Date of Degree

5-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

Program

Business Administration

Advisor

Annette Craven

Advisor

Scott Roberts

Advisor

Randall Griffiths

Abstract

Golf has a multi-billion dollar impact on the U.S. economy. Golf course revenues have flattened since the industry peaked in 2005. Many golf courses have closed as fewer and fewer golfers continue to play. Golf course managers must develop effective marketing plans to retain customers. This means developing effective systems to retain golfers who have a large variety of playing and equipment options. Determining what factors are related to the reasons a golfer continues to play would help in the development of needed programs. Commitment to golf could be one of the factors related to the purchase intention and participation frequency of consumers. The sport commitment model was developed to help understand what motivates people to continue playing a sport or activity. The sport commitment model has also been used recently to determine if commitment to a sport has any relationship to purchase intention and participation frequency. Many different sports and activities have been tested using the sport commitment model, but golf has yet to be tested. Golf could be different than other sports due to the social nature of playing with a group of people and the financial investment required to play. This research was conducted to test the factors of the sport commitment model in a golf environment to determine if commitment to golf has any relationship to purchase intention and participation frequency. The data indicate that golf is like other sports in the factors of enjoyment, personal investment, valuable opportunities, other priorities, social constraints, social support, desire to excel, and their relationship to commitment. Purchase intention and participation frequency are not related to commitment to golf. This could indicate that the level of commitment to golf provides no indication about the purchase intention or participation frequency of golfers. Further research is needed to confirm the findings in this research.

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