The Role of Expectations, Confirmation, and Perceived Performance in Olympic Games Attitudes: A Cross-National Longitudinal Study

Abstract

The Olympic Games (OG) is a mega-event on many dimensions, including participants, audience, expenditures, and national rivalries. As such, it creates branding opportunities for the Games themselves, host countries, athletes, and corporate sponsors. This study explores the impact of expectations and their confirmation on attitudes and evaluations of the OG as a sport mega-event and as a destination from the perspective of domestic (i.e., Canadian) and foreign (i.e., American) residents in the context of the XXI Winter Olympic Games. Data were collected from national samples using an on-line commercial panel two months prior to and two months after the OG. Hypotheses testing indicated the role of expectations which have direct positive influence on the perceptions of performance. Expectations and perceived performance are found to be directly influencing the evaluations of the OG. The study showed that the attitudes towards the OG as a destination and as an event differ among people with different levels of individual association. The results provide input to how what people take into the mega-event can impact successful mega-event attitude outcomes.