The goals and motivation of urban style dancers for entering a competition : a case study of Juste Debout Bilbao 2017

The thesis was implemented in a close collaboration with Finnish Street Dance Federation. The purpose of the thesis was to study the goals and motivation of competitors of Juste Debout Bilbao 2017, an urban dance event produced by the Federation. This knowledge will help the Federation to design events that fully involve participants by relating to their motivation as well as to adapt communications to fit the needs and preferences of specific segments of consumers. The background section of the thesis familiarizes readers with urban dance and the subcultures within it and introduces the Juste Debout brand. The theoretical research section begins by describing the basic concepts of consumer behavior and explaining the motivational process and continues with a summary of existing researches and theories applicable to the field of sport motivation. The study was conducted by using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. Qualitative research was employed to derive a list of goals and motivations the dancers had for competing in Juste Debout Bilbao 2017 and was executed in a form of semi-structured interviews. Quantitative research was utilized to find out what type of motivation and goals are the most common amongst the competitors of Juste Debout Bilbao 2017 and to examine whether characteristics such as gender, age, and the level of dancing experience make any impact on the goals and motivations of the contestants. Quantitative research was implemented in a form of questionnaire that was made available for every competitor of Juste Debout Bilbao 2017 to participate in. As a result of this study, the research questions were answered and the goals achieved. Numerous relationships between demographic and personal characteristics and the goals and motivations of the competitors have been discovered. On the basis of the research findings the number of recommendations to Finnish Street Dance Federation was developed. These recommendations are aimed to support the sustainable development and growth of the organization