Investigation of the volitional, non-volitional, emotional, motivational and automatic processes in determining golfers’ intention : Impact of screen golf

Purpose – This study was designed with the aim to examine the formation of golfers’ intentions to play golf on traditional golf courses by considering the moderating impact of their outcome beliefs regarding the playing of screen golf. Other goals in this research were to test the mediating impact of desires and to identify the relative importance of study variables in generating intention within the proposed conceptual framework. The Model of Goal-directed Behavior (MGB) was utilized to make a precise prediction of golfers’ intentions. Design/methodology/approach – The dataset was developed by distributing surveys in person at screen-golf cafés. A structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to evaluate the fit of the proposed model and assess the hypothesized relationships. Tests for metric invariance were used to examine the moderating impact of outcome beliefs. Findings – Results from the SEM revealed that the proposed model predicted golfers’ intentions well, explaining significant amounts of variance. Desire acted as a significant mediator in the proposed conceptual framework. Compared to other study variables, both positive anticipated emotions and subjective norms had superior ability in generating golfers’ intentions to play real golf. Moreover, results from the test for metric invariance indicated that the intensity of golfers’ perceived benefits of playing screen golf affected their decision formation as a moderator, decreasing their intention to play real golf. Originality/value – Research considering the impact of screen golf on golfers’ decision-making processes is rare in the golf industry. Filling this gap, the present study successfully demonstrated that golfers’ decision formation is sufficiently explained by the MGB, and their perceived outcomes from playing screen golf represent a possible threat to the traditional golf industry.