The purpose of this study was to apply the Revised Theory of Planned Behavior and EVENTQUAL models to explore (1) event qualities that significantly impact guests’ satisfaction with a university event that they attend, (2) significant factors influencing university loyalty as a result of an event, and (3) willingness to make a charitable donation to a university as a result of attending an event. An online survey was sent to attendees of an annual Cal Poly auction event between 2002 and 2016 that directly benefits Cal Poly students. The data were used to test a series of hypotheses to determine the fit of a proposed theoretical model.
Although the study was limited by a small sample size of 74 subjects, it resulted in the creation of a revised event fundraising model. Student involvement proved to be the only quality significantly predicting a guest’s overall satisfaction with the event, explaining 12% of the variance. The combination of overall event satisfaction with a subset of the revised theory of planned behavior variables (attitude, descriptive norm, and moral norm) explained 51% of the variance in predicting university loyalty. Finally, intention to donate was best predicted as a combination of prescriptive norm, attitude, and university loyalty, accounting for 57% of the variance.
Overall, the revised model is applicable in aspects of university event planning including event branding, marketing, and the involvement of students at the event. Of serious note is the statistically significant attitude variable. If an event planner can utilize a university event to shift the guests’ attitudes towards the event and university, this can greatly enhance not only intention to donate at one particular event, but the loyalty these people feel to the university or program.
","abstract_html":"<p>The purpose of this study was to apply the Revised Theory of Planned Behavior and EVENTQUAL models to explore (1) event qualities that significantly impact guests’ satisfaction with a university event that they attend, (2) significant factors influencing university loyalty as a result of an event, and (3) willingness to make a charitable donation to a university as a result of attending an event. An online survey was sent to attendees of an annual Cal Poly auction event between 2002 and 2016 that directly benefits Cal Poly students. The data were used to test a series of hypotheses to determine the fit of a proposed theoretical model.</p> <p>Although the study was limited by a small sample size of 74 subjects, it resulted in the creation of a revised event fundraising model. Student involvement proved to be the only quality significantly predicting a guest’s overall satisfaction with the event, explaining 12% of the variance. The combination of overall event satisfaction with a subset of the revised theory of planned behavior variables (attitude, descriptive norm, and moral norm) explained 51% of the variance in predicting university loyalty. Finally, intention to donate was best predicted as a combination of prescriptive norm, attitude, and university loyalty, accounting for 57% of the variance.</p> <p>Overall, the revised model is applicable in aspects of university event planning including event branding, marketing, and the involvement of students at the event. Of serious note is the statistically significant attitude variable. If an event planner can utilize a university event to shift the guests’ attitudes towards the event and university, this can greatly enhance not only intention to donate at one particular event, but the loyalty these people feel to the university or program.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Hobbs, Megan Elizabeth"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"MS in Agriculture - Recreation, Parks and Tourism Management","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Bill Hendricks"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-12-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-12-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:32:37Z","subjects":["theory of planned behavior","university events","donor","fundraising","eventqual","Leisure Studies","Nonprofit Administration and Management","Organizational Behavior and Theory","Organization Development","Recreation Business"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["10.15368/theses.2016.135"],"render_values":[{"text":"10.15368/theses.2016.135","href":"https://doi.org/10.15368/theses.2016.135","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/1666","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Bill Hendricks"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Hobbs, Megan Elizabeth"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2016-11-21T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["MS in Agriculture - Recreation, Parks and Tourism Management"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["theory of planned behavior","university events","donor","fundraising","eventqual","Leisure Studies","Nonprofit Administration and Management","Organizational Behavior and Theory","Organization Development","Recreation Business"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/1666","10.15368/theses.2016.135"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The purpose of this study was to apply the Revised Theory of Planned Behavior and EVENTQUAL models to explore (1) event qualities that significantly impact guests’ satisfaction with a university event that they attend, (2) significant factors influencing university loyalty as a result of an event, and (3) willingness to make a charitable donation to a university as a result of attending an event. An online survey was sent to attendees of an annual Cal Poly auction event between 2002 and 2016 that directly benefits Cal Poly students. The data were used to test a series of hypotheses to determine the fit of a proposed theoretical model.
Although the study was limited by a small sample size of 74 subjects, it resulted in the creation of a revised event fundraising model. Student involvement proved to be the only quality significantly predicting a guest’s overall satisfaction with the event, explaining 12% of the variance. The combination of overall event satisfaction with a subset of the revised theory of planned behavior variables (attitude, descriptive norm, and moral norm) explained 51% of the variance in predicting university loyalty. Finally, intention to donate was best predicted as a combination of prescriptive norm, attitude, and university loyalty, accounting for 57% of the variance.
Overall, the revised model is applicable in aspects of university event planning including event branding, marketing, and the involvement of students at the event. Of serious note is the statistically significant attitude variable. If an event planner can utilize a university event to shift the guests’ attitudes towards the event and university, this can greatly enhance not only intention to donate at one particular event, but the loyalty these people feel to the university or program.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["University Fundraising Through Special Events: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Bill Hendricks"],"dc:creator":["Hobbs, Megan Elizabeth"],"dc:date.available":["2016-11-21T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["The purpose of this study was to apply the Revised Theory of Planned Behavior and EVENTQUAL models to explore (1) event qualities that significantly impact guests’ satisfaction with a university event that they attend, (2) significant factors influencing university loyalty as a result of an event, and (3) willingness to make a charitable donation to a university as a result of attending an event. An online survey was sent to attendees of an annual Cal Poly auction event between 2002 and 2016 that directly benefits Cal Poly students. The data were used to test a series of hypotheses to determine the fit of a proposed theoretical model.
Although the study was limited by a small sample size of 74 subjects, it resulted in the creation of a revised event fundraising model. Student involvement proved to be the only quality significantly predicting a guest’s overall satisfaction with the event, explaining 12% of the variance. The combination of overall event satisfaction with a subset of the revised theory of planned behavior variables (attitude, descriptive norm, and moral norm) explained 51% of the variance in predicting university loyalty. Finally, intention to donate was best predicted as a combination of prescriptive norm, attitude, and university loyalty, accounting for 57% of the variance.
Overall, the revised model is applicable in aspects of university event planning including event branding, marketing, and the involvement of students at the event. Of serious note is the statistically significant attitude variable. If an event planner can utilize a university event to shift the guests’ attitudes towards the event and university, this can greatly enhance not only intention to donate at one particular event, but the loyalty these people feel to the university or program.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/1666","10.15368/theses.2016.135"],"dc:subject":["theory of planned behavior","university events","donor","fundraising","eventqual","Leisure Studies","Nonprofit Administration and Management","Organizational Behavior and Theory","Organization Development","Recreation Business"],"dc:title":["University Fundraising Through Special Events: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior"],"thesis:degree_name":["MS in Agriculture - Recreation, Parks and Tourism Management"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:32:37Z"}