Developing and Validating a Venue Stimuli-Local Image Fit Scale

Abstract

Few studies in sport marketing have examined the formative role of venue stimuli in affecting sport spectators. As such, the fi eld currently lacks methodological direction for dealing with venue stimuli as a means to understand the sport spectator experience. Research is needed to inform academics and practitioners about the appropriate use and potential outcomes of venue stimuli, particularly as they relate to destination image and local place. Given the notable lack of investigation on this topic, this study was exploratory in nature, with the purposes of developing and validating a sport venue stimuli and local image fi t (SIF) scale. The development process of the SIF scale comprised the six stages of scale development recommended by previous scholars. Th e scale developed in this study provides a reliable and valid instrument designed to assess the extent to which sensory stimuli in the sport venue are congruent with local image, thus offering practitioners and academics a means to understand how inimitable elements of the local culture enrich the venue experience when they become intertwined with spectators’ sensory experience.