Jong et al. (2021) analyzed how social media use affects work performance. The study mentions that social media can be used to meet people with similar interests, to connect with friends you know, and to meet new friends. In order to better represent the content of social media marketing, scholars have proposed social media marketing activities (Chen and Lin, 2019; Wibowo et al., 2020). Kim and Ko (2012) defined social media marketing activities as activities that aim to promote the understanding of goods on social media. Seo and Park (2018) analyzed the impact of social media marketing activities on user response and brand equity in the aviation industry. The study defines social media marketing activities as a type of advertising on an online platform. In summary, this study defines social media marketing activities as a variety of martial arts marketing activities that involve interacting, collaborating, or sharing content through social media. Ruangkanjanases et al. (2020a) investigated the factors influencing the intention to continue using social media. The study showed that usage satisfaction and perceived usefulness had a positive effect on intention to continue using. Chen et al. (2012) explored several factors that influence the intention to continue using Web 2.0, and found that all the social factors influence the intention to continue using Web 2.0.

TPB evolved from the theory of reasoned action, which describes and predicts human behavior (Ajzen, 1991). It advocates that attitudes, subjective norms, and perceptual behavioral control act as independent variables that jointly influence behavioral intentions and further influence behavior. Attitude stands for an individual’s negative or positive evaluation of a specific person, event, object, or behavior (Azjen, 1980), and the psychological tendency to express approval or disapproval of a specific behavior (Chen and Hung, 2016). In this study, attitudes toward martial arts were defined as positive or negative evaluations of the marketing and promotional content of the community by martial arts members. The subjective norms are the social pressure experienced by an individual (Ajzen, 1991). Individuals are usually willing to act under the expectations of those who they consider important (Ruangkanjanases et al., 2020b; Chen et al., 2021). In this study, subjective norms were defined as the extent to which members of the martial arts community support their participation in social media by those who they consider important. Behavioral intention is the likelihood of engaging in a specific behavior (Fishbein et al., 1980), and the personal negative or positive feelings about performing the specific behavior (Davis, 1989). In this study, the intention to participate in martial arts was defined as the likelihood that members of the martial arts community would engage in the marketing and promotion of the content.

Sun and Wang (2019) investigated the relationship between social media marketing on product attitudes, subjective norms, and purchase intention. The results indicate that social media marketing positively and significantly affects attitudes and subjective norms towards products. Similar results were found in Cheunkamon et al. (2020). Based on the above studies, this study proposes hypotheses H1 and H2.

In the study of product purchase intention, product attachment is defined as the intensity of the connection between consumers and brands (Park et al., 2014). Based on the above study, this study defines martial arts attachment as the strength of emotional attachment to martial arts of social media members. VanMeter et al. (2018) examined how marketers can increase consumer attachment to brands through social media marketing. The results indicate that social media marketing affects consumers’ attachment to the brand. Based on the above study, this study proposes hypothesis H3 as follows.

User experience is the personal perception and responses in the process of using a service (Jang and Han, 2022), the extent to which users have an emotional and cognitive impact (Röttger et al., 2017; Wibowo et al., 2020). This study defines user experience as the extent to which users perceive the martial arts community to be enjoyable and easy to use. Chang and Lin (2015) used customers of creative companies in Taiwan as the target population and showed that customer experience positively influences attitudes and subjective norms. Anshu et al. (2022) used online shopping consumers as the experimental subjects, and the results indicated that shopping attitude would be positively and significantly affected. In summary, this study proposes hypotheses H4 and H5 that user experience will influence attitudes toward martial arts and subjective norms.

Tsai (2016) investigated the relationship between travel experience, place attachment, and behavioral intention to consume local food among Taiwanese travelers. The results showed that the local travel experience positively influenced their local attachment. Vada et al. (2019) analyzed whether travel experience and hedonic well-being could influence travelers’ place attachment. The results showed that travel experience affects their place attachment. Based on the above study, hypothesis H6 is proposed in this study.

Kim and Kim (2021) investigated the effect of attitude and subjective norms on members’ intention to continue participating in a fencing club in South Korea. The results indicated that attitudes and subjective norms had a positive and significant effect on the intention to continue participation. Similar results have been found in some other studies (Huang et al., 2022). Based on the above studies, this study proposes hypotheses H7 and H8.

Jin et al. (2020) investigated the decision-making process of travelers’ participation in Guilin, China, and they also investigated the effect of place attachment and impression of tourist places on revisit intention. Prior research found that place attachment had a positive and significant effect on revisit intention (Jin et al., 2020). Petravičiūtė et al. (2021) used Lithuanian online visitors as the target population, and this study also investigated the effect of luxury brand attachment on purchase intention and found that luxury brand attachment affects purchase intention. Based on the above study, this study proposes hypothesis H9 as follows.

The main purpose of this study is to determine the intention to participate in martial arts. The social media marketing activities and user experience are the independent variables, and martial arts attachment, attitudes toward martial arts, and subjective norms are the mediating variables to investigate their effects on the intention to participate in martial arts. The structure of this study was developed from the literature review as shown in Figure 1.

This study investigated the factors influencing the intention to participate in martial arts, and the target population was the members of the martial arts group in WeChat, China. An online electronic questionnaire was distributed for data-gathering. A total of 462 questionnaires were collected during the period of 1 May 2022, to 5 May 2022. After removing the invalid questionnaires, the total of valid ones was 451. Based on the proposed formula for sample size requirements in Petravičiūtė et al. (2021), the total number of people interested in martial arts was 384 with a statistical confidence level of 95% and a confidence interval of 5%.

This study’s structural framework includes six constructs and the scales. The scales consisted of two sections. Section one collected demographic data, including gender, age, and education level. Section two employed a nominal five-point Likert scale (ranging from 1 “strongly disagree” to 5 “strongly agree”) to collect participants’ opinions on the six variables. Participants answered the survey questions according to their self-perception. Professional scholars were invited to review and comment on the questionnaire items after the scale design. The scales and measurement items are shown as Table 1.

This study used the questionnaire survey method. The validated samples were analyzed by SPSS 23.0, and descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were examined. The data analysis methods included (1) Frequency distribution: the frequency distribution and percentage of gender, age, and educational level of the sample; (2) Construct validity analysis: The standardized factor loading of confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the reliability of the questions and constructs. The average variance extracted was used to examine the convergent validity of all constructs. The square roots of average variance extracted were used to compare the correlation coefficients between the constructs to check the discriminant validity between the constructs; (3) Structural equation model testing: including the model fit testing and the hypotheses testing between the constructs through path analysis.

The target population of this study was members of the Chinese WeChat martial arts community. There were 451 valid samples. In terms of gender, most of the members were male, with a total of 267 participants accounting for 59.2%. In terms of age, most of the members were 31–40 years old, with a total of 268 participants accounting for 59.4%. In terms of education level, the majority were university students, with a total of 222 participants accounting for 49.2%, as shown in Table 2.

Cronbach’s alpha is a widely used measure of the reliability of a survey instrument, which is acceptable at a range of 0.7 or above (Nunnally, 1994). As shown in Table 3, the standardized factor loadings of each scale in this study were greater than 0.6, and the reliability of all constructs was greater than 0.7. And, the values of Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability of all constructs are greater than 0.7. It can be concluded that all constructs in this study have met reliability. Moreover, all average variance extracted were greater than the value of 0.5 suggested by Hair et al. (1998).

This study adopted bootstrapping method to evaluate the 95% confidence intervals of the correlations of different constructs as a basis for judgement (Torkzadeh et al., 2003), and none of the 95% confidence intervals include 1, indicating the acceptance of discriminant validity between the constructs (as shown in Table 4). Therefore, the results demonstrate that the proposed model has the sufficient discriminant validity.

After empirical analysis, the results of this study verified that social media marketing activities have positive and significant effects on attitudes toward martial arts, subjective norms, and martial arts attachment. These three direct effects were found to be consistent with previous studies VanMeter et al. (2018), Sun and Wang (2019), and Bi et al. (2021), respectively. In other words, the content of various martial arts promotion and marketing activities shared through the interaction of the martial arts social media groups will positively affect the evaluation of martial arts by the group members. The extent to which members consider important people support their participation in social media activities, and the strength of their emotional connection to the marketing and promotional content of the community.

Second, the results also validated that user experience had a positive and significant effect on subjective norms, martial arts attachment, and attitudes toward martial arts. The first two direct effects were found to be consistent with the results of previous studies Chang and Lin (2015) and Vada et al. (2019), respectively. That is the users’ enjoyment and ease of use of the martial arts community. Such a high level of emotional awareness positively influences the extent to which members consider important people to support their participation in social media activities. Members’ emotional connection to the marketing and promotional content of the community is strengthened.

Furthermore, the results validated that attitudes toward martial arts, subjective norms, and martial arts attachment all had positive and significant effects on the intention to participate in martial arts. These three direct effects were found to be consistent with the results of previous research on the TPB, Kim and Kim (2021), Huang et al. (2022), and attachment-related research, Jin et al. (2020), respectively. In other words, martial arts group members’ evaluation of martial arts, the extent to which members consider important people to support their participation in social media activities, and the strength of their emotional connection to the marketing and promotional content of the community positively influenced their intention to participate in martial arts.

We propose practical suggestions based on direct hypotheses of social media marketing activities to improve their effectiveness as follows. First, social content should incorporate interesting or entertaining topics (Wibowo et al., 2020). For example, the social media operators should consider to combine the hottest martial arts movie episodes and martial arts stars into videos or commentaries, and ask members what they think and whether they want to see a sequel. Second, the social media operators should try to ask open-ended questions that stimulate dialogue. For example, what kind of martial arts sport interests you most. Third, organize activities with simple topics with social media users. For example, the social media operators could invite members to vote for martial arts stars so that members can easily participate. Fourth, the social media operators should induce members to invite their friends to group events and give them extra incentives. For example, by referring friends or inviting them to join a martial arts group through an invitation code. When participating in community or physical martial arts competitions or performances, you can get a discount on tickets or receive a participation ticket.

Based on the direct hypothesis findings of user experience and research which points out user experience of social media can be enhanced through videos, pictures, and emotional sharing (Koetz, 2018), this study proposes the following practical suggestions to enhance the user experience of the martial arts community. First, the live streaming of martial arts competitions, teaching and performances gives group members the opportunity to comment and interact directly with the host in real time. In addition, this will also increase the curiosity of the members about the content of the live broadcast, thus increasing their experience and participation. Second, enhance the photo experience of martial arts community members. For example, create highly visually appealing martial arts or interesting martial arts storyline GIFs. Third, create content that touches the emotions of martial arts community members. For example, the growth stories of famous martial arts stars and athletes or their difficult training process.

This study has some limitations. First, the study was conducted with a sample of Chinese WeChat martial arts group members, and no comparative or differential analysis of other social media was conducted. For example, Weibo, Little Red Book, and Douyin. In other words, the future study must include members of different social media martial arts groups. In addition, the status of martial arts community members may affect their willingness to fill out the questionnaire, e.g., group administrators and members who are more frequently involved in group activities are more willing to fill out the questionnaire. This may affect the validity of the results. Moreover, other factors that affect the intention to participate in martial arts can be included in the future. This will further improve the model to understand the effect of other factors and social media on participation intention. Lastly, this study was conducted only on Chinese martial arts community users. In the future, we can explore the participation of people in different countries and explore the intention to participate in martial arts from a national and regional perspective.