Determinants of the Engagement of Virtual Runs' Participants in the Co-creation of Customer Value during the Pandemic

Waśkowski Zygmunt, Jasiulewicz Anna. Determinants of the Engagement of Virtual Runs’ Participants in the Co-creation of Customer Value during the Pandemic. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2022;12(5):231-242. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2022.12.05.017

https://apcz.umk.pl/JEHS/article/view/JEHS.2022.12.05.017

https://zenodo.org/record/6573902

The journal has had 40 points in Ministry of Education and Science of Poland parametric evaluation. Annex to the announcement of the Minister of Education and Science of December 1, 2021. No. 32343.

Has a Journal's Unique Identifier: 201159. Scientific disciplines assigned: Physical Culture Sciences (Field of Medical sciences and health sciences); Health Sciences (Field of Medical Sciences and Health Sciences).

Punkty Ministerialne z 2019 - aktualny rok 40 punktów. Załącznik do komunikatu Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z dnia 1 grudnia 2021 r. Lp. 32343. Posiada Unikatowy Identyfikator Czasopisma: 201159.

Przypisane dyscypliny naukowe:Nauki o kulturze fizycznej (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu); Nauki o zdrowiu (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu).

 © The Authors 2022;

This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland

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provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.

Received: 04.04.2022. Revised: 20.05.2022. Accepted: 23.05.2022.

Determinants of the Engagement of Virtual Runs’ Participants in the Co-creation of Customer Value during the Pandemic

Zygmunt Waśkowski, Institute of Marketing, Poznań University of Economics and Business, POLAND, zygmunt.waskowski@ue.poznan.pl, ORCID: 0000-0003-0793-3578

Anna Jasiulewicz, Institute of Management, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, POLAND, anna_jasiulewicz@sggw.edu.pl. ORCID: 0000-0001-6190-5231

Abstract

The sports events market has radically changed during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. The global crisis on this market, caused by cancelling the majority of the sports events, forces the organisers to seek alternative solutions. One solution may be the idea of organising virtual runs, as a replacement of the traditional ones. The article relies on the customer engagement concept, in the framework of the Service Dominant Logic theory, popular in the literature of the subject. So far, in the area of sport management and marketing this problem has been analysed from the perspective of the spectators. The innovative value of this article consists in the fact that it deals with this problem from the point of view of the active participants of these events. The study focuses on the research question of the determinants and motivating factors which stimulate  consumers to engage in the co-creation of customer value, even though the product they are offered is merely a substitute for the one they are used to. The research focuses on the virtual runs and its subject are the runners participating in the Białystok Virtual Half-Marathon. There are two equivalent objectives of the study: (a) the identification and the assessment of the determinants of the runners’ engagement, and (b) the segmentation of the virtual run participants on the basis of the diagnosed determinants of their involvement.

The article is based on the results of the survey conducted in 2020 on a sample of 419 runners, by means of the CAWI method. The respondents were asked to assess 17 factors related to the customer engagement in the co-creation of value, with reference to the virtual run in which they participated. The Białystok Virtual Half-Marathon, the second biggest virtual run organised in 2020 in Poland, was used as a point of reference for this survey. This run was an alternative proposal prepared by the organiser in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the ban on the organisation of real runs in the whole country.

The research findings allowed for expanding the theoretical knowledge of the concept of the  customer value co-creation and the consumers’ engagement in this process. The research resulted in distinguishing four meta-factors determining the runners’ engagement and  establishing the strength of their influence on the customer value co-creation. The research also revealed the runners’ motivation for participating in the virtual run. The runners’ involvement was determined by the hedonistic and social factors, though the structure and the strength of their impact varied in relation to the respondents’ demographics. All in all, four segments of runners were distinguished.

Managers in charge of organising sports events will learn from this article what motivates participants of such events, organised in the virtual form. The established factors differentiating the runners’ behaviours may turn out to be helpful for the segmentation of the potential participants, with a view to effectively encouraging them to join the event. The two types of factors determining the runners’ engagement revealed by the research, the hedonistic and the social factor, may serve as a basis for creating the marketing communication strategy and as a clue as to what elements should be included in the offer of the customer value creation made by the organisers of virtual runs, or other virtual sports events.

Key words: Customer engagement, value for customer, customer behavior, value co-creation.