BUILDING LOYALTY THROUGH QUALITY: PERCEIVED VALUE AS MEDIATOR AMONG GEN Z PARTICIPANTS IN RUNNING EVENTS

Abstract

This study investigates the mediating role of perceived value in the relationships between service quality, programme quality, and loyalty intention among Generation Z (Gen Z) participants in certified running events in Malaysia. Grounded in the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, the study positions perceived value as the central evaluative mechanism through which service quality and programme quality shape participants’ loyalty intention. A quantitative cross-sectional design was employed using data collected from 553 Gen Z respondents aged 18–25 who had participated in the certified running event between 2023 until 2025. Data were gathered using a structured questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS version 26 and PROCESS Macro Model 4 with 5,000 bootstrap resamples. The findings indicate that both programme quality and service quality significantly predict perceived value, and perceived value significantly predicts loyalty intention. The indirect effects of both quality dimensions on loyalty intention were significant, while the direct effects were non-significant, indicating full mediation. The results further show that programme quality exerts a stronger influence on perceived value than service quality, suggesting that Gen Z participants place greater emphasis on experiential and engagement-related aspects of running events than on operational delivery alone. These findings contribute to event and consumer-behaviour literature by demonstrating that loyalty intention among young participants is formed primarily through value appraisal rather than direct quality perceptions, extending the S-O-R framework into a youth-focused participatory sport event context. Practically, event organizers should prioritize programme design elements such as atmosphere, fairness, and memorability that strengthen participants perceived value, alongside maintaining sound operational service delivery. The study’s originality lies in its focus on Gen Z participants in certified Malaysian running events, its analytical separation of service quality from programme quality, and its positioning of perceived value rather than satisfaction as the primary loyalty mechanism in this context.