Flow as the mediating mechanism in marathon events: connecting event quality, motivation, and self-efficacy to perceived value and performance

Objective The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationships between key antecedent variables (event quality, motivation, and self-efficacy) and outcome variables (runners' perceived value and performance) through flow. Methods Data were collected from 542 valid responses at the 2025 Beijing BCEG Miyun Marathon on-site. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and item parceling were employed to examine the proposed relationships in this study. Results The results indicated that event quality, motivation, and self-efficacy significantly enhanced runners' flow, which, in turn, positively mediated the associations between event quality and perceived value and between self-efficacy and perceived performance. Conclusion The findings confirmed that an evidence-based psychological framework can guide event organizers in designing optimal experiences that foster flow, thereby increasing participants' perceived economic and hedonic value. This research contributes to the sport management literature by refining the concept of flow in recreational contexts, distinguishing its experiential dimensions from its antecedents, and offering practical implications for the sustainable development of the mass-participation sporting events industry.