Development and validation of the motivation scale for disability sport consumption

•Spectators of discussions with practitioners and an extensive literature review identified 12 possible motives related to spectatorship of wheelchair basketball.•EFA and CFA analyses identified 9 significant motives related to spectator attendance.•Spectators of wheelchair basketball are motivated by traditional factors (i.e. drama) as well as disability specific motives (inspiration) > inspiration and supercrip image are separate motives which influence attendance.While there is a growing body of knowledge on disability sport consumer behavior (Byon, Carroll, Cottingham, Grady, & Allen, 2011; Byon, Cottingham, & Carroll, 2010), these studies used scales explicitly designed for non-disability sport contexts, showing only reasonable model fit and not examining factors specific to the disability sport consumer experience. This publication represents the first attempt to identify specific disability sport motives and develop a scale, the Motivation Scale for Disability Sport Consumption (MSDSC). Newly identified disability sport motives include inspiration, supercrip image and disability cultural education. These were examined in conjunction with factors from Trail and James (2001) and Trail (2010). Data were collected at the 2011 collegiate wheelchair basketball championships; results were collected to conduct exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Results indicated that a 9-factor model was most appropriate. Significant motives included physical attraction, drama, escape, inspiration, physical skill, social interaction, violence, and supercrip image. The model fit was improved over the Byon studies and was comparable to relevant non-adaptive motive studies (Lee, Trail, & Anderson, 2009; Trail & James, 2001; Robinson, Trail, & Kwon, 2004). This scale represents a tool for practitioners and academics to effectively examine spectators of disability sport.