Using cultural factors to explore sport consumption behaviors of ethnic minority groups: The case of Asians in the United States

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the remarkable economic power and rapid growth of the Asian population in the USA, relatively little attention has been paid to this group in the sport management literature compared to African-Americans and Hispanics. In addition, sport management scholars have paid limited attention to two important cultural factors: ethnic identity and acculturation. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

This study attempted to examine a comprehensive sport consumption model for Asians by testing theoretical relationships between these two cultural factors (ethnic identity and acculturation), fan identification, and sport consumption behavior.

Findings

The structural equation modeling results indicated that ethnic identity indirectly affected consumption of sport products reflecting attributes of a native country, e.g. ethnic player popular sports in a native country through identification with the sport products. In contrast acculturation indirectly affected consumption of sport products reflecting attributes of a host country, e.g. popular sports in a host country.

Originality/value

The results of this study provide implications on how sport marketers should effectively design sport products based on the Asians’ levels of acculturation and ethnic identity.

Citation

Ha, J.-P., Hums, M. and Greenwell, T.C. (2016), "Using cultural factors to explore sport consumption behaviors of ethnic minority groups: The case of Asians in the United States", International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 130-152. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSMS-04-2016-009