Abstract
Introduction: China faces severe population aging, and institutional elderly sports service is critical for healthy aging. Objective: This study targets fourteen elderly institutions in Kunming to explore sports service management bottlenecks. Methods: Mixed-method design including seventy-eight semi-structured interviews and 580 valid questionnaires. Structural Equation Model (SEM) with Smart PLS 4.0 was adopted to test four-dimensional environmental factors (government, economy, society, technology). Results: Significant gaps exist between public, public-built-private and fully private institutions. Social environment (β=0.36) and government policy (β=0.30) are the top positive driving factors, while technology application is the primary weakness. Unbalanced fiscal allocation, insufficient cross-department collaboration and industry integration barriers restrict service quality. Conclusions: A "classified policy + four-dimensional synergy" development model is constructed. Differentiated governance, industrial integration and age-friendly intelligent transformation are proposed to optimize sports services for elderly institutions in southwest ethnic regions.