Introduction: A deep exploration of the formation of irresponsible behaviors among sports tourists is important for understanding tourist behavior and protecting tourist attractions and ensuring their long-term sustainability and quality. Accordingly, this study investigated the lived experience of sports tourists regarding irresponsible behaviors using the Broken Windows Theory.



Methods: The present applied study employed a qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological approach to interpret sports tourists’ lived experiences, meanings, and perceptions of irresponsible behaviors. Participants were sports tourists with direct or observed experience of irresponsible behaviors at sports tourism destinations. Participants were selected through initial screening, purposive sampling, and snowball sampling, and interviews continued until saturation. Interviews began with 10 participants and reached saturation with 18 participants.



Results: Analysis of participants’ experiences identified six main themes: environmentally irresponsible behavior, rule violation with signals of indifference, cultural-social irresponsible behavior, normalization of safety deficiencies, economically irresponsible behavior, and unethical behavior. Findings indicated that observing initial disorders, weak supervision, neglect of violations, and environmental deficiencies may signal the absence of social control and facilitate the normalization of undesirable behaviors.



Conclusion: The findings indicate that seemingly minor disorders at sports tourism destinations, through interaction with tourists’ perceptions and others’ behaviors, can contribute to the spread and consolidation of irresponsible behaviors. Therefore, early identification and intervention against signs of disorder, strengthened supervision, and simultaneous attention to environmental, social, economic, ethical, and safety dimensions can effectively support the sustainable management of sports tourism destinations over time and prevent the escalation of minor disorders into broader patterns of irresponsible behavior.