This study aims to investigate how specific gameful elements – enjoyment, absorption, creative thinking, activation, dominance and absence of negative affect – shape attendees’ perceptions of hedonic and utilitarian values and their subsequent engagement in event tourism contexts.
Guided by the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) framework, a quantitative survey was conducted with 375 respondents via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Participants with previous experience attending gamified events completed validated scales assessing gameful experiences, perceived values and engagement. Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) was used to test the hypothesized relationships.
The analysis indicates that gameful experience increases both hedonic and utilitarian values, which subsequently enhance attendee engagement. The utilitarian pathway is stronger than the hedonic pathway, implying that functional benefits may play a salient role in sustaining engagement in event tourism. At the dimension level, enjoyment and dominance show the strongest effects. Overall, the results clarify how gameful design translates into deeper involvement through value-based psychological mechanisms.
Although the study offers empirical insights into the cognitive and emotional pathways of gamification in event tourism, it relies on self-reported data from a single online panel and may not fully capture long-term behavioral outcomes. Future research should explore longitudinal effects and diverse event contexts.
Event organizers and tourism marketers can strategically use gameful design to enrich both emotional satisfaction and functional value for attendees, thereby boosting engagement and enhancing the memorability of events. Moreover, integrating gameful elements into event tourism can foster more interactive, enjoyable and inclusive experiences that encourage community participation and emotional connection among diverse audiences.
Integrating gameful elements into event tourism supports more interactive, enjoyable and inclusive experiences, fostering community participation and emotional connection among diverse audiences.
This study advances SOR-based theorizing on gamified event tourism by explaining, in live physical event settings, how gameful experience translates into engagement through dual-value pathways (hedonic and utilitarian). By revealing an asymmetric pattern in which utilitarian value is more strongly related to engagement than hedonic value, the study refines when and why functional benefits can dominate engagement formation in contemporary event experiences.
