When It Comes to Screen Golf and Baseball, What Do Participants Think?

Screen golf and baseball activities have been popular as virtual game content and sport activities, but no one has cogently explained why they are attractive to Korean urban society. Our research team analyzed the decision-making process for participating in screen golf and baseball through a widely used technology acceptance model (TAM) to explain the relationship between perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, personal attitude, and individual intention. Structural equation modeling (SEM) verified five hypotheses established through a literature review, and 400 effective samples obtained through online surveys provided material for analysis. As a result of the analysis, perceived usefulness was the most important variable leading to participation in virtual reality sports. Based on this finding, we could conclude that the successful popularization of virtual reality sports depends on the development of applications sophisticated enough to provide practical usefulness to participants, such as physical posture correction and an improvement in personal athletic skills.

Decision-Making in Virtual Reality Sports Games Explained via the Lens of Extended Planned Behavior Theory.

This study aims to determine whether the effect of interactivity on participation in virtual sports has risen because of the COVID-19 pandemic and if there is a difference in decision-making. The significance of social factors may be highlighted even more as a rationale for using virtual reality (VR) sports apps throughout the prolonged COVID-19 epidemic. A model was built based on the literature to describe the intention to participate in VR sports, and eight associated hypotheses were established. A sample of 301 submissions from a user poll on Korea's cycling information sharing website was used for our analysis. SPSS 23.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) and AMOS 18.0 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) were used to validate Hypotheses 1-8 using a multigroup structural equation model (SEM) analysis and multigroup analysis. Although some hypotheses were not validated, the impact of perceived interaction presented as an extra variable altered based on the group participating before and after the COVID-19 epidemic, and the study's goal was achieved. Given that information technology has evolved by overcoming physical space and socio-cultural constraints to create a society that connects people, the importance of online interaction, such as networking and competition between users, will be emphasized in the VR sports field in the future.

Influential Factors for Sustainable Intention to Visit a National Park during COVID-19: The Extended Theory of Planned Behavior with Perception of Risk and Coping Behavior.

Despite the danger of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, visits to natural tourism destinations such as national parks are continuing, though people are using less congested trails or minimizing personal contact. Given the danger from COVID-19, the purpose of our study was to use an expanded theory of planned behavior to analyze whether tourists intend to continue to visit national parks. Another purpose for our study was to compare an extant research model based on the theory of planned behavior with the extended model we developed. Frequency analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and other statistical techniques, such as correlation analysis, parsimonious fit index, and squared multiple correlations were employed according to the appropriate objectives. Additionally, the number of 351 participants joined the survey. Our study found that perception of risk of COVID-19 negatively affected attitude and perceived behavioral control in both models. Moreover, the perceived behavioral control had a positive effect on coping behavior. Given the analytical results, our study presents not only theoretical implications for understanding the behavior of those who visit national parks, but also practical implications for operation and management of national parks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Does Risk Awareness of COVID-19 Affect Visits to National Parks? Analyzing the Tourist Decision-Making Process Using the Theory of Planned Behavior.

This study aimed to determine whether risk awareness of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) affects visits to national parks. We analyzed the tourist decision-making process during the current pandemic using the theory of planned behavior as a framework, adding variables relevant to the pandemic, such as risk perception and risk reduction behavior, to the model. Based on a literature review, we developed a research model describing the impact relationship between risk perception, the theory of planned behavior, and risk reduction behavior and tested nine hypotheses. Results of a survey of 555 visitors to two national parks supported eight of the nine hypotheses. Although the results are limited, they reaffirm the usefulness of the theory of planned behavior in explaining tourism behavior. This work is significant in that we would be able to extend the scope of subsequent research beyond a discussion of the direct effects on optimistic perceptions (bias) and risk reduction behavior as well as visit intention, by explaining the probability even in unprecedented crises such as COVID-19. Humans may be negotiating the constraints (COVID-19) or embodied tourism need through the personal bias. Furthermore, we discuss the theoretical implications of the results for tourism behavior research.