Predicting the Sustainability of Pickleball Competitions as a New Sport from the Behavioral Intention of Pickleball Players

This study focused on predicting the behavioral intentions of pickleball players. It analyzed the predictability of pickleball players’ behavioral beliefs on their attitudes, normative beliefs on subjective norms, control beliefs on perceived behavioral control, attitudes on behavioral intentions, subjective norms on behavioral intentions, and perceived behavioral control on behavioral intentions. The subjects were pickleball players, and purposive sampling was adopted for the questionnaire survey. A total of 226 valid questionnaires were collected. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling. The results show that behavioral beliefs had a significant impact on attitudes; normative beliefs had a significant impact on subjective norms; control beliefs had a significant impact on perceived behavioral control; attitudes had no significant impact on behavioral intentions; subjective norms had a significant impact on behavioral intentions; and perceived behavioral control had a significant impact on behavioral intentions. In the future, researchers are suggested to extensively collect empirical data from players of different levels in pickleball competitions through interviews or on-site observations, and the analyses based on relevant theories can be conducive to the predictive analysis of the behavioral intentions of pickleball players, and practical suggestions are proposed regarding the sustainability of pickleball competitions.