How sports event scenarios shape urban image and influence audience conative tendency

This study investigates how large-scale sports events influence urban image construction and audience behavioral responses through the logical chain of "scene cognition-emotional identification-conative tendency." Drawing on empirical data from the 2025 Wuxi Marathon (valid sample N = 438), the event scenario is conceptualized across four dimensions: role participation, environmental perception, activity evaluation, and cultural identification. Integrating the cognition-affection-conation (C-A-C) model, a research framework was constructed that incorporates emotional mediation and motivational moderation. Results from structural equation modeling indicate that: (1) scene cognition significantly enhances both event-related and city-related emotional identification, though the magnitude of effects varies across dimensions; (2) emotional identification mediates the relationship between scene cognition and conative tendency, with city-related emotional identification exerting the strongest effect; (3) participation motivation positively moderates the link between scene cognition and conative tendency. Theoretically, this research extends the applicability of scene theory to the study of sports events and advances the use of the C-A-C model; practically, it offers managerial implications for event organizers and urban policymakers in scenario construction, brand building, and audience cultivation.