International cross-cultural perspectives on the participants’ motivations in the Jogja Marathon

Resumo

The purpose of this study is to identify socio-psychological, cultural and physical motivations among domestic and foreign participants in a marathon event staged in the vicinity of a World Heritage Site in the City of Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia. The study also aims to investigate the differences in motivation between the two types of participants. It emphasizes the importance of gaining international cross-cultural perspectives in motivations, as the marathon is organized to be part of the city’s strategies to attract visitors. It is expected that better knowledge of the participants' motivations and needs can help organizers develop marketing strategies that will boost attendance and loyalty. This research uses a descriptive-explorative method with a quantitative approach in which primary data were obtained from domestic and foreign participants and field observations. This study gives empirical support to socio-psychological motives that serve as push factors, cultural motives from the destination as pull factors and physical motives that are based on self-determination theory. On the cross-cultural perspectives of these motivations, only cultural motivations differed significantly between the two types of participants. This study then presents managerial implications on facilitating foreign participants to engage better in the cultural festivities, which is found to be one of the main motives to participate.