Determinants of Student Attendance: An In-Depth Analysis

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Determinants of Student Attendance:

The Factors that Contribute to Students Staying for the Entirety of Sporting Events in
Intercollegiate Athletics

Joey Cutting
James Madison University

Determinants of Student Attendance: An In-Depth Analysis

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Abstract
The goal of this study is to review past research of student motivators for sporting event
attendance, with the focus on highlighting the factors that keep students at sporting event venues
throughout the completion of home contests. Using exploratory research techniques, this study is
seeking to assist collegiate sport marketers by diving into the psychology of todays students at
James Madison University. Hoping to uncover some insights into specific motivators that drive
students to sporting events, this study has high hopes of shedding light on how to persuade
students to stay through the entirety of all sporting events, with the focus being on football and
mens/womens basketball at JMU and other mid-major Division I schools in the Southeastern
United States. By doing an in-depth analysis of the factors that sport marketers cannot control in
terms of attendance, this study provides awareness about the things that they should be focusing
on in their marketing strategies and departmental budgets.

Determinants of Student Attendance: An In-Depth Analysis

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Determinants of Student Attendance: The Factors that Contribute to Students Staying for
the Entirety of Sporting Events in Intercollegiate Athletics
For the past several years, college athletics administrators and coaches have lamented the
decline of student attendance at sporting events. Everything from a lack of internet access in
stadiums to ticket prices to quality of opponents has been posited as reasons even the biggest
football schools have seen their attendance numbers decline. An increasing number of athletic
departments are pondering the steps necessary to keep their own student fan bases engaged amid
a growing trend of apathy (Axon, 2015). More students are coming to games late or leaving early
- if they're coming at all (Steinbech, 2013). The quintessential university experience in the
United States is often thought to include energetic school spirit associated with university
athletics. An enthusiastic sports culture is seen as helping to establish a cohesive, family-like
community within a university. Because this is such an important component of the passion for
universities and student engagement, solving the mystery of student attendance and late-game
retention is vital to the livelihood of collegiate athletics departments. In addition to late-game
retention of students boosting school spirit, it also can bolster the money-making efforts of
Division I football and basketball.
Even though students at some schools receive free tickets to all home sporting events,
they can be a huge slice of the pie in terms of revenue generation. Relying on students to
purchase concessions, merchandise, and other in-venue items, their consumer dollars spent can
make-or-break departmental budgets. The more time a consumer spends inside a place of
business, the more likely he/she is to continue spending money in that setting. Having students
stay towards the end games is crucial in making it possible for them to spend more money inside
the event. Even though collegiate athletics technically are not for profit organizations, they

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need every dollar available to be spent in their favors. The revenue generation from students can
be minimal, but it is a crucial deciding factor in the long-term success of athletics departments.
Another key component of student attendance for the entirety of sporting events is the massive
contribution it has to the team at hands success.
Students are the fuel to the fire of a passionate crowd. Creating so much energy,
enthusiasm, and infectious spirit across stadiums, they can be the biggest factor in producing a
world-class event. This biggest goal of athletics departments is setting the student-athletes,
teams, and coaches up for success. Having a loud, engaged, and passionate crowd is one of the
easiest ways to set sports teams up for success. Student-athletes sign up to play Division I sports
for many reasons, with one being the setting that comes with them. Athletes live to play in front
of massive crowds; the energy from the crowd can further push student-athletes to work their
hardest and play their best. By providing the proper atmosphere, collegiate athletics marketing
teams are fulfilling their promises to universities. In a way, having a large crowd throughout the
entirety of sporting events provides a massive contribution to overall team triumph. With team
ranking/record being one of the biggest determinants of fan attendance, this a crucial factor in
having departmental efforts come back around full-circle.
In order help uncover some specifics to solving the issue of retention of students
throughout the completion of home contests, much analysis needs to be undertaken. Firstly,
motivational theories need to be analyzed in order to see how they can relate, contribute, or
diminish student attendance. Focusing on two different theories, the hope is to further understand
how students make decisions regarding fan loyalty and sporting event attendance. Secondly,
analyzing the factors that build the customer service of a collegiate sporting event could generate
some ideas of how to retain students once they commit to attending. Taking a customer service

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approach to encourage late-game attendance, there are some interesting factors to take into
consideration. Comparing sport to the service industry, there are numerous dimensions that need
to be fulfilled in order to provide an ideal experience for a sport consumer. Taking into
consideration consumer pleasure, health and fitness, human skills, human excellence, human
sustenance, and human curative, sport managers need to strategize their staffing efforts in order
to help discover ways to create re-patronage from the vast majority of their consumer bases
(Chelladurai, 1992). Service quality can be perceived in many ways, but it consistently comes
down to the feeling that the service gives to the consumer. This is one of the biggest reasons for
intent to return for future purchase. Diving into the dynamics of sport tourism, satisfaction is
simply caused by the quality of the events provided. By providing an escape for sport
consumers, sport marketers and managers have to seek to provide prevalent consumer
motivations in specific sports (Wann et al, 2008). By finding ways to strategize these efforts
towards the populations of students at colleges and universities, sporting event operators can
contribute to the overall satisfaction and intent to stay of student sport consumers. Also, by
analyzing numerous constraints against student attendance at sporting events, insight can be
gained into how to provide an even more appealing platform that will persuade students to
attend, participate, and remain in venues until the full completion of home contests.
Motivational Theory
American advertising creative director William Bernbach once said, Advertising is
fundamentally persuasion and persuasion happens to be not a science, but an art, (Persuasion
Quotes, 2015). In order to pull from a universitys student target market, it is up to collegiate
sport marketers to discover, multiply, and enlighten the motivational factors that drive college
students to attend sporting events. Unfortunately, getting students into the stadium is only half of

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the battle. A critical part of the collegiate sport marketing process is simple: to retain the students
at sporting events until full completion of the matches. Historically, numerous motivational
factors have contributed to student attendance and retention at sport venues. Ranging from
environmental elements to campus culture, there are multiple factors of why students decide to
remain or leave collegiate sport venues before the conclusion of home games. Diving into
motivational theories, it can be seen how they contribute to sporting event attendance and lategame student retention.
Vrooms Expectancy Theory
Victor Vrooms Expectancy Theory is one of the most widely accepted theories of
motivation to explain how and why people make decisions. It assumes that behavior results from
conscious choices among alternatives whose purpose it is to maximize pleasure and to minimize
pain. The theory states that effort, performance and motivation are linked in a person's
motivation. He uses the variables Expectancy, Instrumentality and Valence to account for this
(YourCoach 2013). Expectancy refers to employees different expectations and levels of
confidence about what they are capable of doing, or the belief that effort will lead to first order
outcomes. Instrumentality refers to the perception of employees whether they will actually
receive what they desire, even if it has been promised by a manager, or the perceived link
between first order and second order outcomes. Valence refers to emotional orientations which
people hold with respect to rewards, or the value the person attaches to first and second order
outcomes (De Sousa, 2015). In relation to student attendance and retention in venue for the
entirety of sporting events, one can see how Vrooms Expectancy Theory can be applied.

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Vrooms Theory can be applicable to student motivation for attendance and retention at
sporting event venues. Students are constantly seeking fun, engaging, and pleasurable activities
that can boost their social lives, personal spirits, and voices on college campuses. Depending on
the other social activities that are taking place concurrently, sporting events easily have the
biggest influence on creating an ideal atmosphere that students are looking to be a part of.
Student effort to attend, stay, and continue to come to sporting events in the future all depends on
the motivation for them to participate in a game in the first place. In terms of expectancy,
students can expect to meet new people, share common interests, and build more passion for
their school while at a sporting event. They can be confident that positive social outcomes will
present themselves if they attend and stay for the entirety of sporting events. Athletics marketing
teams play a key role in the instrumentality components of student motivation by setting the
stage for the fulfillment of the promised experiences of sporting events. If the games do not
exceed social expectations for students, the late-game retention of them will be next to
impossible. Finally, valence of student motivation can be increased by having events that
guarantee each student will be benefited from attending the game. By making the students feel
that there are multiple rewards for attending, they will be sub-consciously motivated to
continue to attend. With this positive reinforcement through the use of student valence, athletics
departments can create a system of student motivation that will condition them to continue
fueling their desires to be fully involved with sporting event consumption.
Reinforcement Theory
The Reinforcement Theory of Motivation was proposed by BF Skinner and his
associates. It states that individuals behavior is a function of its consequences. It is based on
law of effect; an individuals behavior with positive consequences tends to be repeated, but an

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individuals behavior with negative consequences tends not to be repeated (Management Study
Guide, 2015). Focusing totally on what happens to an individual when he/she takes some action,
it shows that the external environment of the organization must be designed effectively and
positively so as to motivate that person. In relation to student retention for the entirety of
sporting events, this is completely true. The setting of the venue has to be organized in such a
way that will motivate students to attend and remain in the stadium until the full completion of
the event.
A job of athletics marketing departments should be to create an atmosphere that is
appealing enough to create positive consequences. Once experiencing these consequences, the
attendees should be motivated enough to be positively reinforced to remain in the stadium for the
entirety of the event, as well as return to the venue for future consumption. Once a student
experiences the benefits of late-game sporting event attendance, he/she can be conditioned to
repeat that behavior repeatedly in the future. Once that conditioned student tells his/her friends to
be a part of the reinforcement process (staying until completion of home contests), the
contagiousness of the positive consequences can take hold of an even larger group of students.
Once accomplishing this, athletic departments hope that the behavior of the students will
continue to grow and increase tenfold. While creating these positive reinforcements, it should
also be of utmost priority to prevent any negative consequences from being exposed to the
student fan base. Any negative consequences associated with late-game student retention will not
be repeated, thus hurting the amount of students staying until the end of matches. Be completely
eliminating any negative associations between the game, venue, atmosphere, experience, fans,
and students, athletic marketing departments are greatening their chances of setting new
traditions. Once the culture is changed for the better due to the expulsion of negative

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consequences, students will be positively reinforced to remain in the venue until the game has
fully come to a close.
Factors Impacting Sport Attendance
Sportscape
To put it simply, the servicescape is the physical surroundings of service encounters.
This leads individuals to either approach (stay/explore, spend money, return) or avoid places of
service (Wakefield & Sloan, 1995). The sportscape refers to service extensions and the
physical surroundings of a sports event (Lambrecht et al, 2008). This includes various stadium
factors such as parking, cleanliness, crowding, food service, fan control, team loyalty, and
overall comfortability. The culture of a universitys campus is also a critical factor in student
attendance.
Culture/Tradition
Regarding sport attendance, no significant differences have been found between
consumer groups on the importance of event accessibility or event attractiveness factors.
Significant differences have been revealed, however, in the importance of the event factors such
that the events family appeal, entertainment, and promotions are not as important to Consumers
of Color as they are to Caucasian consumers. The findings of this study reiterate the need for
contemporary sport marketing activities to be respective of and responsive to a) salient social and
cultural nuances of consumers with whom the sport exchange relationship is sought, b) the
cultural context in which the sport exchange relationship takes place, and c) the manner in which
sport marketing practices communicate salient cultural meaning (Armstrong, 2008).

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At James Madison University, there is a tradition of students leaving the premises
immediately after all halftime performances and promotions for all sports. Though it is
misunderstood why this takes place, it is pertinent to find some avenues to retain a portion of
these students for the entirety of home matches. Although it is a current part of JMUs culture,
diving deeper into the issue can help reveal some techniques of how to influence students to stay
for longer periods of time. One of those methods is by appealing to numerous demographics.
Demographics
Demographics affect the importance of different marketing motivators. Marketers should
consider their potential targets for sporting events to develop cost-efficient marketing strategies
(Snipes & Ingram, 2007). Six strategies can be used to increase sporting event attendance: 1)
increase the value of the event; 2) increase student involvement with the sports program; 3)
increase the event publicity and exposure through media strategies; 4) broaden the target market
to include the community (not just those within the school); 5) increase the fun factor of the
event by including things such as a team mascot, cheering and dance squads, bands, and crowd
participation games; and 6) increase promotional activities to include contests, prizes, and
giveaways (Snipes & Ingram, 2007).
Marketers should consider the type of sport being promoted and their potential targets for
the sporting event to develop cost-efficient marketing strategies. Respondents consistently rate
the schedule and the facility as the top motivators for sport attendance. The least important
factors amongst many demographics are corporate sponsorships, special prizes and giveaways,
and the school band (Snipes & Ingram, 2007). Although special prizes and giveaways appear to
be more important to the younger, college-age population, they are not as important as the

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quality of the facility or the admission price. Previous research results indicate that there are
demographic differences in the perceived importance of the admission price, food quality, food
price, special prizes and giveaways, audience participation games, corporate sponsorships,
school spirit activities, cheering squads halftime entertainment, winning record, and the game
schedule (Snipes & Ingram, 2007).
Marketers targeting males may want to focus more on food quality and special prizes and
giveaways in addition to admission price. Conversely, marketers targeting females may want to
consider more entertainment options (Swanson et al, 2003). Marketers targeting those with lower
education may want to focus on the admission price as well as participation games, corporate
sponsorships, school spirit activities, and cheering. Marketers targeting younger attendees (under
the age of 25) may focus more on promotional and entertainment items such as special prizes and
giveaways, participation games, and halftime entertainment (Snipes, 2007). Students social
attachment to collegiate sports teams also impact attendance.
Team Attachment
It is revealed that the level of individual team identification accounts for a significant
proportion of unique variance in personal well-being. Therefore, it appears that private
involvement with a college sport team is more strongly associated with college students social
well-being than is public involvement (Laverie & Arnett, 2000). The potential benefits to wellbeing that college students may gain from their associations with school teams does not appear
simply to be a function of game attendance. Rather, it involves the degree to which the student
feels a psychological connection to a team (Wann, D. et al, 2008). The more attachment a person
feels to a team, the more important that identity becomes to their sense of self. It is finalized that

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sports marketers need to take actions that enhance student fans situational involvement, enduring
involvement, and attachment in order to ensure retention in late-game scenarios (Laverie &
Arnett, 2000).
Psychological Influence
Eustress, self-esteem benefits, escape, entertainment, economic factors, aesthetic
qualities, group affiliation, and family needs are eight psychological factors that motivate fan
behavior (Wann et al, 2008). It is suggested that there are twelve motivation constructs for
collegiate sports spectators. These include: risk-taking, stress-reduction, aggression, affiliation,
social facilitation, self-esteem, competition, achievement, skill mastery, aesthetics, value
development, and self-actualization (Trail & James, 2002). Collegiate football fans are motivated
by 1) a desire for a unique, self-expressive experience, 2) internalization, and 3) camaraderie
(Bernthal & Graham, 2003). Students feel a need to attend because they believe they are
expected to attend, they are receiving a reward, or they are avoiding punishment. Community is
revealed to be a relatively stronger motivator for collegiate versus minor league baseball fans. In
conclusion, within a particular sport, fan attendance motivation is partially dependent upon the
sport setting under consideration (Bernthal & Graham, 2003). The most powerful form of
marketing, word of mouth, has a huge influence on the culture of staying for the entirety of home
sports games.
Word of Mouth
Studies show that there are four individual psychological motivations on college
students verbal recommendations and patronage behaviors towards sporting events. These
include: team identification, eustress, group affiliation, and self-esteem enhancement (Swanson

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et al, 2003). Finding the differences in these influences on women versus men, nearly all factors
examined can be classified into one of four broad categories: gamer attractiveness,
demographics, individual preferences, and economic considerations. Focusing on the importance
of word-of-mouth publicity, research shows that there is a dearth of research investigating gender
differences in sport spectator contexts (Swanson et al, 2003). Ultimately, finding ways to
increase team identification among a greater number of fans should result in higher levels of
attendance and incidences of positive word-of-mouth behaviors.
Constraints Impacting Sport Attendance
Constraints are factors that are perceived or experienced by individuals to limit the
formation of leisure preferences and inhibit or prohibit participant and enjoyment (Trail, G. et al,
2008). Intrapersonal constraints relate to individual psychological states. Interpersonal
constraints may be created by relationships (or lack thereof) with others. Structural constraints
typify interfering factors between leisure preferences and participation. There are numerous
constraints that affect and prevent students from staying throughout the entirety of sporting
events (Funk, 2009). By gaining context into the minds of students, marketers can find ways to
lessen the impact of constraints and retain students in-venue for longer periods of time during
game days.
Venue Aspects
Leisure service operators need to create and maintain a high quality servicescape that
motivates customers to stay in the arena for longer periods of time (Wakefield & Blodgett,
1996). Layout accessibility, aesthetics, electronic equipment, seating comfort, and cleanliness all
need to be analyzed when seeking to provide an ideal sport experience for consumers.

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Concessions stands need to be efficiently-run with quality food, drinks, and service provided.
Being the one of the biggest factors towards athletic departments revenues, this venue aspect
constraint has to be of utmost priority. If not, then consumers will go elsewhere for the food and
drinks that they wish to consume outside of venue lines.
Restrooms have to be presentable, clean, and operating fluidly. Without this necessary
amenity, the majority of the crowd will automatically leave the premises to go enjoy the game on
television near an ideal restroom. Seating is a constraint that must be comfortable and spacious
enough to ensure consumer satisfaction. If a sport fan feels at all uncomfortable, cramped, or
unnatural at the venue, he or she will find a way to watch the game elsewhere before the
conclusion of the game. Studies show that the most significant factors affecting spectators
pleasure at games is the feeling of being cramped or crowded due to limited access and space in
the stadium (Kelley & Turley, 1999).
The professionalism of the staff is absolutely vital to the successful operation and
customer service of a sporting event. If negative impressions are made by staff members,
consumers will face undesirable feelings towards the game experience itself. Being the most
important service attribute of sports, this constraint has to be minimized upon inception into the
sport organization (Kelley & Turley, 1999). Staff professionalism can contribute to the
successful or unsuccessful venture of consumer parking. Whether it is for students, families,
teachers and faculty, or community members, parking has to be run efficiently and safely. If
anyone feels that he or she is in risk of personal or vehicular danger, he or she will avoid all
game day activities in the future. Without valid parking procedures, sport managers are enabling
the destruction of their organizations first impression with patrons.

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An accessible stadium is also a key a part of the sport marketing process. Efficient
entrances, crowd control, and ticketing procedures enable consumers to maximize their time in
stadiums, thus contributing to the servicescape of sporting events. With proper accessibility,
patrons are more likely to stay at the stadium for longer periods of time and then return for future
patronage (Chang, 2000). A key part of todays customer service is overall consumer
connectivity while at the stadium. Due to the constant barrage of data, information, social media
updates, and worldwide mobile coverage, sport consumers need to be able connect with the rest
of the world at all times while at the venue. If not, they will find somewhere else to go that has a
stronger Wi-Fi connection. Student fans are also wanting to stay up-to-date about other sport
happenings across the country, so if they cannot access the information that they need/want to,
they will almost positively leave games prior to the conclusion of the event (Wakefield &
Blodgett, 1996).
Non-Venue Aspects
In todays world, there is a constant barrage of content that cause distractions from the
focus of collegiate athletics. Fans have other interests, including alternative sport entertainment,
work and school commitments, and saving money. With the plethora of sport content available
today, students and fans are always wanting to watch and listen to the biggest teams and players
with the most societal prowess. The pull to watch the nationally-renowned games prevent some
fans from wanting to attend home sporting events, regardless of the cost to attend those games.
Even though it is unpreventable, external sports entertainment will always be a constraint on fan
appeal for home collegiate sporting event attendance.

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An uncontrollable constraint athletic departments face is the lack of sports team success.
The easiest way to sell a team or a game experience is by having one that wins consistently
and in an exciting way. Without an appealing product that will provide entertainment for
students throughout entire games, there is minimal chance that a significant portion of the target
market will remain in the stadium. (Guerra, 2015). Stadium location is also uncontrollable, as
athletic departments are often dealt with unfortunate circumstances in terms of this.
National constraints of sports marketers include external games that are on the radio,
television, and online streaming sites. Many people would much rather watch or listen to a game
in the comfort of their home or at their favorite sports pub. Unfortunately, athletic departments
cannot control the media, and the interest in staying tuned to other national sports news will
never be contained. In addition to this constraint, game time, ticket pricing, individual interest in
the team or sport, and team record all come into play when spectators decide on whether to
attend a sporting event or not.
Method
Research Design
In order to build off of past literature, further analysis is necessary to shed light on the
factors at hand. The exploratory nature of this study warrants the use of mixed methods research.
Using this type of research design, this study is seeking to answer the following question: how
can athletics marketers appeal to the motivational patterns of students in order to increase the
likelihood of them attending home collegiate sporting events and staying at the events until their
full completions?

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Qualitative Procedure/ Instrumentation
Qualitative research will initially be conducted in order to develop a questionnaire. This
will be done by conducting a series of interviews involving various higher-up administrators for
James Madison University Athletics. These interviews are hoping to reveal specific motives and
constraints for student attendance and late-game retention at sporting events on campus. The
interviews will concentrate on individual perceptions, with the expectation of opinions to vary
across participants. The semi-structure format of the interviews will allow the researchers to
understand behavior and perceptions within an existing framework (Funk, 2008). The hope is to
have a top-down approach to seeing the opinions of the JMU athletics marketing staff based on
their previous individual experiences. With the subjects approval, each will be asked two simple
questions: 1) to describe any student motivations or reasons that they believe students will want
to attend and stay for the entirety of sporting events, and 2) to describe any student concerns or
perceived constraints that they believe will prevent students from attending and staying for the
entirety of sporting events.
Qualitative Sample Selection
In order to form the quantitative questionnaire, a sample size of twenty four JMU
Athletics Marketing and Development administrators will be interviewed by JMU Sport and
Recreation Management practicum students. This will give those students some invaluable
experience in assisting with a research initiative. With 54 percent of the sample being male and
46 percent being female, the median age of the sample is 33 years of age of the JMU Athletics
Marketing and Development office. Cultural origins of all 24 interviewees are relatively similar,
with only one participant not being Caucasian. Because of the various professional backgrounds

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of the interviewed staff, hopefully the qualitative data will present a well-rounded platform to
form a worthwhile questionnaire.
Quantitative Procedure/ Instrumentation
Survey items will then be generated to measure six constructs: three motives and three
perceived constraints of attendance and late-game retention based on the data found in the
qualitative research. Compiling the feedback, four items per dimension will be selected and
randomly placed into a questionnaire. Respondents will be asked to rate their degree of
agreement with each of the 24 items regarding student attendance on a 7-point Likert Scale
(Funk, 2008). After analyzing the data from the Likert scale, reviewers will choose the most
important validity factors relevant to the research question. Once discovering the 18 most
reliable and valid items on the scale, the final draft of the questionnaire will be deployed to
uncover more quantitative research.
Quantitative Sample Selection
A snowball sampling technique will be utilized to find potential participants. The final
draft of the questionnaire will be sent to the parents of all the student-athletes at James Madison
University. It will be distributed and collected via a paper questionnaire and email with an
attached questionnaire. The email sent to the student-athlete parents will contain the
questionnaire as well as instructions for the parents to have their son/daughter at JMU fill out the
same questionnaire. After this has been performed, the student-athletes will be directed to give
the questionnaire to ten of their non-student-athlete friends that attend sporting events. Finally,
those participants will be instructed to find five friends who rarely attend sporting events or who
never stay for the entirety of the events and have them fill out the same questionnaire. With there

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being 430 student-athletes at JMU, that gives a starting sample size of about 900 parents. If the
student-athletes give the questionnaire to ten friends, that adds on 4300 students. If those
students then give the questionnaire to five of their friends who have no interest in attending
sporting events or staying until the full completion of games, then the sample size has the
potential of being near 20,000 students, or the entire amount of student enrollment at JMU.
Understanding that there will be some overlap, it is impractical to think that the questionnaire
will reach the entire student body. Also contained in the questionnaire will be a separate section
to analyze the participants various demographics in order to further enlighten the study. By
gaining insight into who the JMU students are as people, the athletics marketing team can find
ways to appeal to their interests on personal scientific levels. At the end of data collection, the
hope is to have a significant portion of the student body comment on ways to successfully appeal
towards their attendance at sporting events and retention at those events throughout the entirety
of them.
Data Collection
Using descriptive statistics, the hope is to compile data accurately by describing it fully.
An easy way to do that would be by plotting the data on a histogram using one of many
statistical analysis software programs. Being able to describe the responses from the
questionnaire will give an idea of what the data looks like when compared to each other. Data
can also be tracked by using descriptive statistics. Finding the measures of central tendency and
dispersion can shed some light on data commonalities and averages. Seeing how much the data
differs by seeing its spread, evidence can be formed that will help answer the initial research
question of how athletics marketers can appeal to the motivational patterns of students in order

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to increase the likelihood of them attending home collegiate sporting events and staying at the
events until their full completions.

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