Social Participation, Identification and Perceived Impacts as Antecedents to Quality of Life and Support for Sporting Events at the Valencian Community, Spain

According to the impact that sporting events have where they take place, this study aims to analyze the influence of citizens’ participation in sporting events and their identification with the place of residence, their perception of the impacts generated by the events and their support for holding them. Moreover, it also analyzes the influence of the perceived impacts from the event on satisfaction with the quality of life and their support for holding the sporting events. The study was conducted with a sample of 2,049 residents of the three provincial capitals of the Valencian Community (Spain), selected by stratified random sampling, through a questionnaire completed both in person and online. The results confirm the influence of both residents’ participation in the organization and identification with their place of residence on the perceived positive impacts. Likewise, the perception of positive and negative impacts on the events predicts the degree of satisfaction with the quality of life and support for the event. In addition, satisfaction with quality of life was also a strong predictor of event support. Thus, this study highlights the need to involve residents in the planning of sporting events to improve their perception of the positive impacts, which will lead to greater satisfaction with their quality of life and greater support for future sporting events. Finally, some implications are extracted related to the need of sporting event policies that favor the involvement of citizens in its organization to promote the positive impacts of the organization of those events.