Organizers' irregular behavior and marathon participation: Mechanisms of decline and recovery in willingness to participate.

This study examines how irregular behavior by marathon organizers impacts participants' willingness to participate and identifies effective mitigation strategies. A mixed-methods approach was used: Study 1 employed grounded theory and survey data (N = 808) to develop and validate a scale assessing such behaviors; Study 2 conducted an experiment (N = 180) to test corrective actions. Results show that irregular conduct undermines participation, while social media announcements are the most effective recovery tool. These findings enrich understanding of organizational behavior in events, offer a validated tool to assess irregular conduct, and highlight the importance of crisis communication in sustaining participation and trust.