INVESTIGATION OF THE EFFECT OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ CURIOSITY-EXPLORATION TENDENCY AND SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE LEVELS ON THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARDS SPORTS TOURISM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18623/rvd.v22.n7.4209Keywords:
University Student, Sports Tourism, Social Media, Curiosity and DiscoveryAbstract
The aim of the research is to examine the effects of university students' curiosity-exploration tendency and social media usage level on their attitudes towards sports tourism. The universe of the research consists of Bitlis Eren University (BEU) students. The sample of the research consists of 437 students (159 male and 278 female) who were randomly selected with the purposive sampling method and agreed to participate in the research voluntarily. In the research, “Personal Information Form” was used as the data collection tool, “Attitude Towards Sports Tourism Scale” was used to determine the attitudes of the participants towards sports tourism, “Social Media Usage Scale” was used to determine the social media usage levels of the participants, and “Curiosity and Exploration Scale-II” was used to determine the curiosity levels of individuals. SPSS 23.0 statistical analysis program was used to analyze the data obtained in the research. Pearson Correlation and Regression tests were applied for research analyzes. The research was approved by the BEU Social and Human Sciences Research Ethics Board with the decision numbered 2024/03-3 and E.6338. In the research, it was determined that there was a statistically significant positive relationship between the curiosity-exploration level of the participants and the social media usage level (p<0.05). However, it was also determined that the curiosity-exploration level had a statistically significant and positive effect on the attitude towards sports tourism (p<0.05). It was determined that the social media usage level did not have a statistically significant effect on the attitude towards sports tourism (p>0.05). As a result, it is possible to say that the attitude towards sports tourism is mostly related to the intrinsic curiosity and exploration searches of individuals, and that the effect of social media is limited on this attitude.
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