Attitude toward the website scale development in professional sports: a research note

Abstract

Purpose

Sports’ team websites are the front door to their relationship management programs with teams’ fan bases. As such, consumer attitudes toward these websites are a vital and important measure for the success of a team's CRM program. The purpose of this paper is to present the conceptualization and development of a four‐item unidimensional measure of attitude toward the Website.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected via a pen and paper survey at a professional hockey event in the USA. The confirmatory factor analysis was conducted using generalized structural component analysis GeSCA www.sem‐gesca.org/. The scale's face, convergent, predictive and discriminant validity are all empirically demonstrated via regression and correlation.

Findings

The measure is shown to meet the four criteria for validation for positivist research in information systems set by Straub, Boudreau and Gefen in 2004. The internal consistency is assessed by Cronbach's alpha (0.917) as is the unidimensionality, which was assessed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The study develops a four item measure, attitude toward the website, that addresses both the affective and cognitive components of attitudes. The scale is shown to have predictive and discriminant validity.

Research limitations/implications

Data were collected via a convenience sample at one professional sporting event and represents the fan base and the attitude toward that team's website. The significant implication is that it provides researchers with a unidimensional measure of attitude toward the website. The scale is parsimonious and will benefit researchers exploring the impact of attitudes toward websites on a variety of constructs such as brands, sales and site visits.

Originality/value

The paper is important because it provides a new measure of attitude toward the website and because it demonstrates the use of generalized structural component analysis.

Citation

Nicholls, J., Schimmel, K., Manna, D., Schnurr, N. and Clinton, S. (2013), "Attitude toward the website scale development in professional sports: a research note", Sport, Business and Management, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 118-126. https://doi.org/10.1108/20426781311325050