Hyung-Hoon Kim *, Doyeon Won ** and Heetae Cho ***
(*) Department of Taekwondo, Honam University, Gwnagju, Republic of Korea
(**) Department of Health, Kinesiology, and Sport, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, USA
(***) Department of Sport Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea
Citation
Kim, H., Won, D., Cho, H. (2026). Cognitive evaluation and decision making in public golf course choice: A multi-attribute utility theory approach. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 57(4), 356-374. doi:10.7352/IJSP.2026.57.356
Abstract
Despite the rapid growth of public (non-membership) golf courses in Korea, limited research has examined how golfers psychologically evaluate and prioritize course-related attributes when making participation decisions. Understanding these cognitive and perceptual processes is particularly important in a competitive environment where golfers are required to make trade-offs among multiple choice attributes. Data were collected from 350 golfers recruited at seven driving ranges across Korea. Using conjoint analysis, participants evaluated 12 hypothetical public golf course profiles that systematically varied across four attributes: course condition, travel distance, green fees, and booking availability. Results indicated that perceived course condition was the most influential factor in golfers’ choice judgments, followed by travel distance, price, and booking availability. Importantly, the findings suggest that when engaging in multi-attribute trade-offs, golfers tend to make stronger psychological trade-offs between course condition and travel distance, reflecting differential attribute weighting under constrained decision contexts. Furthermore, individual-level conjoint utilities revealed three psychologically distinct preference profiles: (a) everything-count, (b) distance-bounded, and sport-oriented clusters. The findings provide implications for capturing psychologically meaningful preference patterns at the individual and group levels and for understanding participants’ decision-making processes.
Keywords: Multi-attribute utility theory, Preference structures, Cognitive tra- de-offs; decision making; sport participation