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Article
Publication date: 30 October 2020

New jerseys: exploring the influence of NBA team jersey sponsorships on teams and sponsors

Sara Shoffner, Mark Slavich and Gi-Yong Koo

In 2017, the National Basketball Association (NBA) became the first major professional North American sport league to adopt jersey sponsorship. While professional leagues…

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Abstract

Purpose

In 2017, the National Basketball Association (NBA) became the first major professional North American sport league to adopt jersey sponsorship. While professional leagues across the globe have allowed this practice for decades, the NBA's decision marked what may be the start of a new trend in North American sport sponsorship. With this in mind, the current study sought to assess the impact of fans' perceptions of these sponsorships on sponsor- and team-related outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

An online sample of 301 NBA fans across the United States was conducted through Amazon's MTurk.

Findings

Results exhibited the importance of sponsorship authenticity, which maintained the strongest influence on sponsor- and team-related outcomes. Brand–team fit, sponsorship familiarity and sponsorship identification were also assessed, with mixed results for each factor.

Originality/value

Results of these findings related to sponsorship authenticity and consequent practical and theoretical implications are discussed, and areas for future research are provided.

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSMS-10-2019-0111
ISSN: 1464-6668

Keywords

  • Authenticity
  • Sponsorship
  • Apparel
  • Congruity theory

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Article
Publication date: 14 July 2020

Drivers of soccer fan loyalty: Australian evidence on the influence of team brand image, fan engagement, satisfaction and enduring involvement

Jin Ho Yun, Philip J. Rosenberger and Kristi Sweeney

The purpose of the paper is to contribute to the extant sport marketing literature by positing fan engagement, team brand image and cumulative fan satisfaction with the…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to contribute to the extant sport marketing literature by positing fan engagement, team brand image and cumulative fan satisfaction with the team as factors influencing attitudinal and behavioural soccer (football) fan loyalty, with enduring involvement with the team as a moderator.

Design/methodology/approach

A convenience sample of Australian A-League soccer fans completed a paper-and-pencil, self-administered survey to evaluate their team on the focal constructs. A total of 207 participants were recruited from a major Australian east-coast university.

Findings

Using partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), the study found that fan engagement influences both team brand image and cumulative fan satisfaction, while team brand image also influences cumulative fan satisfaction, and both of these constructs influence attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty. The moderating role of enduring involvement was also found for two relationships: team brand image → attitudinal loyalty and team brand image → behavioural loyalty, along with a mediating role of attitudinal loyalty.

Originality/value

This study increases our understanding of the reasons why soccer fans are committed to and exhibit fan-related behaviours for a team, thus contributing to the sports-marketing literature on the relationships amongst fan engagement, team brand image, cumulative fan satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty and behavioural loyalty, along with the moderating role of enduring involvement. The findings also assist sports-marketing practitioners to formulate more effective, fan-centric marketing-communication strategies leading to a larger loyal fan base.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-07-2019-0444
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

  • Team brand image
  • Fan engagement
  • Satisfaction
  • Enduring involvement
  • Fan loyalty
  • Soccer
  • Football

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Article
Publication date: 9 September 2013

Sport team loyalty: integrating relationship marketing and a hierarchy of effects

Rodoula H. Tsiotsou

Given its importance in the brand management of sport teams, the present research initiative primarily concerns the investigation of the formation process of sport team…

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Abstract

Purpose

Given its importance in the brand management of sport teams, the present research initiative primarily concerns the investigation of the formation process of sport team loyalty. By integrating a hierarchy of effects model into a relational perspective, the study aims to investigate the role of sport consumers' involvement, self-expression, trust and attachment with a sport team in building loyal relationships. A conceptual model is proposed and tested in the context of professional soccer teams.

Design/methodology/approach

The data of the study comes from 287 consumers of a South East European country. The fit of the model is tested using structural equation modeling and the statistical program LISREL.

Findings

The results confirm that: all the hypothesized constructs constitute either direct or indirect determinants of sport team loyalty; a hierarchy of effects approach, cognition-affect-conation, can explain how strong consumers-team relationships can be developed; and team attachment acts as a partial mediator in the relationship between the cognitive components of the model (team involvement, trust and self-expression) and team loyalty.

Practical implications

The findings provide several implications to marketing managers of sport teams in how to go about and develop loyal sport fans.

Originality/value

No previous investigation has integrated relationship marketing with a hierarchy of effects in order to explain loyalty to a sport team.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 27 no. 6
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-01-2012-0002
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

  • Team loyalty
  • Sport team trust
  • Sport team attachment
  • Team self-expression
  • Team involvement
  • Sports
  • Relationship marketing

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Article
Publication date: 1 July 2004

The role of perceived fit in fans' evaluation of sports brand extensions

Dimitra Papadimitriou, Artemisia Apostolopoulou and Ilias Loukas

This study is one of the first efforts in sports marketing literature to assess sports fans' evaluation of brand extensions introduced by a professional sports team. Using…

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Abstract

This study is one of the first efforts in sports marketing literature to assess sports fans' evaluation of brand extensions introduced by a professional sports team. Using measures of perceived fit between the parent brand and the extensions, it is hypothesised that increased fit will result in more positive fan evaluations and higher intention to purchase the team's extension. Results from correlation and regression analyses provide support for this hypothesis.

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSMS-06-01-2004-B006
ISSN: 1464-6668

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Article
Publication date: 29 June 2012

Developing a scale for measuring the personality of sport teams

Rodoula Tsiotsou

The purpose of the study is to develop a reliable measure of sport team personality that incorporates the relevant dimensions/traits consumers attribute to their sport teams.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to develop a reliable measure of sport team personality that incorporates the relevant dimensions/traits consumers attribute to their sport teams.

Design/methodology/approach

Initially, content analysis of sport teams' web sites and magazines were used to identify the items of the scale. Following this a survey research method was used to gather data from consumers. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on a sample of 301 consumers.

Findings

The analyses of the data resulted in a sport team personality scale consisting of five dimensions: competitiveness, prestige, morality, authenticity, and credibility

Practical implications

Sport brand managers can use the scale for benchmarking purposes and for examining how their sport teams/brands are perceived by sport consumers in terms of the five dimensions identified in this research.

Originality/value

The study expands the concept of brand personality to sport services and provides insights into the main dimensions of sport brands' personality. This is the first study that develops a valid and reliable instrument for measuring the personality of sport teams.

Details

Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 26 no. 4
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/08876041211237541
ISSN: 0887-6045

Keywords

  • Brand personality
  • Sport team personality
  • Sport brands
  • Brand image
  • Brands
  • Sports
  • Personality measurement

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Article
Publication date: 19 June 2017

Sport team brand-equity index: a new measurement

Anish Yousaf, Anil Gupta and Abhishek Mishra

Sport teams not only compete with other teams for the ultimate prize but also for a share of customer mind space. For winning fan loyalty and resultant economic success…

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Abstract

Purpose

Sport teams not only compete with other teams for the ultimate prize but also for a share of customer mind space. For winning fan loyalty and resultant economic success, management of sport teams need to focus on team-branding, and thus, developing and measuring a team’s brand equity becomes essential, which is the core purpose of this paper.

Design/methodology/approach

Current work builds upon previous efforts to develop a reliable and, more importantly, a parsimonious sport team brand-equity (STBE) index, as opposed to the usual multi-dimensional reflective scales, too complicated and not of much use to practitioners.

Findings

The authors propose that the STBE index having eight indicators is enough to capture the full domain of the concept and provide a snapshot about the ability of a team’s administration to create strong emotional bonds with its fans.

Research limitations/implications

Apart from demographics of the respondents, an important drawback is that the STBE index is from the perspective of television or online viewers and not those watching live in stadiums. This work contributes to extant sports brand equity literature by proposing a simpler scale made of casual variables, as opposed to reflective scales running into large number of similar items, a first of its kind in this domain. The authors also are able to forward the growing call for developing more of such scales through this effort.

Practical implications

Not only can the present scale be easily used by sport-marketers and researchers, it will be especially useful for marketing managers who want to associate their brands with sport teams, as it affects performance of their own brand.

Originality/value

The work represents a novel effort for developing a team-based brand equity and, to the authors’ knowledge, has not been attempted in this literature before.

Details

Journal of Indian Business Research, vol. 9 no. 2
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JIBR-07-2016-0069
ISSN: 1755-4195

Keywords

  • Indian Premier League
  • Fan loyalty
  • Formative scale development
  • Index development
  • Sport-based team brand equity

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Article
Publication date: 8 July 2020

Extreme brand love: measuring and modelling the intensity of sports team love

Kerry Daniels, Ian Frederick Wilkinson, Louise Young and Steven (Qiang) Lu

The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of brand love by studying its intensity and the nature of extreme forms of it, rather than its presence or…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of brand love by studying its intensity and the nature of extreme forms of it, rather than its presence or absence. The love of a sports team is a type of brand love and is a valuable context to study of brand love intensity because the intensity of love can become more extreme than for products; it has two distinctive features that are theoretically, management and policy relevant; and it is an under-researched context in marketing that is socially and economically significant.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors empirically develop and test a multidimensional hierarchical higher-order measure of the intensity of team love and a model of its drivers and outcomes using a sample of supporter club members of a professional sports team who vary in their intensity of love for the team.

Findings

The results support our measurement model and its distinctive features, especially the importance of the perceived two-way bond fans have with their team. While overall intensity of team love is not related to social influence or on-field performance, as hypothesized, they are related to sub-dimensions of team love, reflecting its multidimensionality. As hypothesized, the intensity of team love and social influence are related to the intention to renew club membership even with increased costs and poor performance and social influence is directly related to word of mouth and game attendance.

Research limitations/implications

The research is limited to the club members of one sports team in a particular sport in one country and one cultural context. Future research opportunities include: extending it to other sports and brand contexts, refining the methodology and addressing other issues highlighted by the research.

Practical implications

The results indicate the limits of management control of team love intensity because it develops over time independently through social processes. However, firms can help facilitate these processes. The social dimensions indicate the need to develop socially, as well as individually-focussed relationship management strategies. Most devoted fans are valuable customers, but some hardcore elements can be dysfunctional and sabotage the brand.

Social implications

Sport is personally, social and economically significant in most cultures and love of a sports team love can be an important glue that binds people and communities. However, the existence of extreme hardcore fans and heated rivalries can also be divisive and pose challenges for social policy. Hence, the need to better understand the factors driving more extreme forms of team love to better inform the development of social policy.

Originality/value

The authors focus on the intensity of brand love rather than its presence and absence as in prior research. The authors develop and test a new hierarchical measure of sports team love intensity and a model of its drivers and outcomes. The sports context is under-researched in marketing but reveals the important role played by dimensions that are obscured in studies of product brand love – its social nature and the perceived reciprocal relation with devoted fans. The results contribute to developing extended theories of brand love, open up new research opportunities and have management and policy implications.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 54 no. 9
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-12-2018-0878
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

  • Social influence
  • Brand love intensity
  • Extreme brand love
  • Hierarchical measurement model
  • Sports team love
  • Two-way bond

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Article
Publication date: 17 August 2020

Connecting sponsor brands through sports competitions: an identity approach to brand trust and brand loyalty

Po-Lin Pan and Joe Phua

The purpose of this paper was to examine the interplay between sports fanship and brand-related perceptions in the context of sports sponsorship. The effects of sport…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper was to examine the interplay between sports fanship and brand-related perceptions in the context of sports sponsorship. The effects of sport fans' self-enhancement strategies: Basking in reflected glory (BIRGing) and cutting off reflected failure (CORFing) were investigated in response to how sports fans connected themselves to a sponsor brand as well as whether their sponsor brand trust and loyalty were activated.

Design/methodology/approach

An experiment was designed in the first study to examine immediate effects of team performance and sports fandom on sports fans' connection to the sponsor brand, while an online survey was conducted in the second study to investigate the joint effects of team performance and game venue on sports fans' sponsor brand trust and loyalty.

Findings

The first study found that both team performance and sports fandom yielded significant effects on sports fans' connection to the sponsor brand. Specifically, sports fans with higher fandom reported the highest connection to the sponsor brand after the success of their favorite team, while others with lower fandom exhibited the lowest connection after the failure of their favorite team. The second study suggested that team performance and game venue yielded both main and joint effects on sponsor brand trust and loyalty. Moreover, fan identification mediated the joint effects of team performance and game venue on both sponsor brand trust and loyalty.

Originality/value

Replicating the concepts of BIRGing and CORFing into the context of sports sponsorship, this paper verified the vigorous roles of BIRGing and CORFing in influencing sports fans' perceptions of the sponsor brand. Moreover, both theoretical and practical insights into BIRGing and CORFing concepts applicable to examine the impact of the fan–team relationships on sport fans' perceptions of the sponsor brand through sports sponsorship would be generated for the advancement of sports business research.

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-01-2019-0003
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

  • BIRGing
  • CORFing
  • Team performance
  • Fan identification
  • Self-brand connection
  • Brand trust
  • Brand loyalty

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Article
Publication date: 7 May 2020

How deep is your love? Brand love analysis applied to football teams

Félix Velicia Martín, Luis Dona Toledo and Pedro Palos-Sanchez

The central objective is to determine the main components of a brand that become a “beloved” brand in the minds of consumers applied to football teams.

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Abstract

Purpose

The central objective is to determine the main components of a brand that become a “beloved” brand in the minds of consumers applied to football teams.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a quantitative causal study using partial least squares (PLS) with a sample of 824 participants using an online questionnaire.

Findings

Brand love is a construct composed of five dimensions: passion, connection with the brand, intrinsic rewards, emotional attachment and thinking and frequent use. It also demonstrates that the consequences of brand love for football teams are loyalty, willingness to invest and word-of-mouth communication.

Research limitations/implications

Managers of large football clubs must emphasize achieving an emotional connection with their fans and develop their marketing strategies on building long-term emotional relationships which will result in greater investments.

Practical implications

Given the competitive and international environment of the sports sector, the conclusions will be of use for managers of sports clubs and companies that develop sponsorship strategies. Another important contribution is the theoretical contribution of the brand in football teams and the psychological understanding of fans as consumers.

Originality/value

This is the first attempt to establish a model of the background and causes of brand love with respect to football teams and a context also not analysed as is the Spanish one. The analysis does not only focus on the emotional relationship but also include how the possible investment of the fans is modelled.

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. 21 no. 4
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSMS-10-2019-0112
ISSN: 1464-6668

Keywords

  • Brand love
  • Football teams
  • PLS
  • Loyalty
  • Sports marketing

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Article
Publication date: 11 November 2019

The brand personality of professional football teams: A refined model based on the Greek professional football league

Dimitra Papadimitriou, Kyriaki Kaplanidou, Kostas Alexandris and Nikos Theodorakis

The purpose of this paper is to test the psychometric properties of the Team Brand Personality Scale by Blank et al. (2013, 2018) in the context of the professional…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to test the psychometric properties of the Team Brand Personality Scale by Blank et al. (2013, 2018) in the context of the professional football clubs in Greece, based on the perceptions of fans for their own team and the rival team. The brand personality team scores of the fans are also used to create a league map presenting the brand personality of the different teams of the Greek football Super League.

Design/methodology/approach

Following a quantitative research design, 724 Greek football fans completed an electronic questionnaire assessing demographics, brand personality, team identification, sport involvement, attitudinal loyalty and game attractiveness.

Findings

The results partially confirmed the psychometric properties of the brand personality scale and suggested that the notion of brand personality influences positively the attitudinal loyalty and game attractiveness of the fans. Based on the results, the personality structure for the football league was also created and discussed.

Research limitations/implications

This study was set to focus only on the brand personality perceptions of the highly identified fans of football teams, known in the literature as realized brand personality. However, a thorough understanding of the particular concept requires also the perspective of sport marketers who may perceive the brand personality in a different manner (i.e. intended brand personality), so as to build a holistic picture of brand personality of football teams.

Practical implications

This research confirms that football teams have already projected a unique personality among their highly identified fans which can be used by marketing practitioners while designing integrated communication strategies.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the broad brand personality literature by replicating Blank’s et al.’s sport team personality scale to the Greek context and the league level, involving both supporting fans and rivals.

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. 9 no. 5
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-03-2018-0021
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

  • Branding
  • Professional football
  • Sport marketing
  • Brand personality
  • Sport fans

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