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1 – 10 of over 20000
Article
Publication date: 1 April 2008

Aron M. Levin, Fred Beasley and Richard L. Gilson

This research examined fans' purchase intentions towards the sponsor of a NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) event and towards the previous sponsor. The study…

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Abstract

This research examined fans' purchase intentions towards the sponsor of a NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) event and towards the previous sponsor. The study shows that fans are more likely to purchase from the current sponsor and less likely to purchase from the previous sponsor. Fan identification and perceived group norms were significant predictors of purchase intentions towards the current sponsor, but only perceived group norms predicted purchase intentions towards the ex-sponsor. Additionally, perceived group norms partially mediated the relationship between fan identification and purchase intention.

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. 9 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1464-6668

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 July 2017

Eric MacIntosh, Gashaw Abeza and Jennifer Lee

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the National Hockey League (NHL) Ottawa Senators’ Twitter activity influences (if at all) their followers’ activity online, examine…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how the National Hockey League (NHL) Ottawa Senators’ Twitter activity influences (if at all) their followers’ activity online, examine whether followers’ Twitter activity level consequently influences their perception of and perceived inclusion within the online central fan group that surrounds the Senators, assess whether membership can potentially influence followers’ enrichment of social identity, and investigate if fans’ identity – and thereby commitment to the team – is impacted by their level of Twitter activity.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted a case study method focusing on the NHL’s Ottawa Senators, and collected data through a two-phase approach. In the first phase, a focus group was conducted to obtain breadth and depth, as well as to inform and refine the development of questions to be used in the second phase: survey method. In the second phase, a survey was employed to enrich the explanations and attain deeper and broader understanding regarding the research questions.

Findings

The results showed that time spent in reading and engaging in tweets are predictive of commitment. This study also showed that it is not strictly an individual’s Twitter activity in relation to the Senators (i.e. replying and retweeting) which dictates their membership within the fan group. Rather, it is a person’s activity level with other Senators community members which determines their membership in the team’s fan nation. Findings also suggest that both the evaluative and emotional components of forming a group are lacking within the Twitter communication. This only furthers the argument as to why the Senators need to engage in dialogue with their followers.

Research limitations/implications

This was a study of one team over several months of only one season and, therefore, does not take into account a more long-term-oriented strategy to help formulate social identity and team commitment.

Originality/value

The findings of the study informed us that the only predictor that reflected a significant impact on the construction of a Senators fans’ social identity was the number of minutes an individual spent reading the team’s tweets per day. However, the study also showed that the expansion of the network with other fans is a critical feature of increasing the fan group identity; thus, sport organization’s should play a role in helping to foster further engagement with others.

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. 7 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 May 2018

Katherine Rose Nakamoto Reifurth, Matthew J. Bernthal and Bob Heere

Sport management research that examines children as a distinct group of sport consumers is sparse, and therefore the authors know relatively little about how and why children…

Abstract

Purpose

Sport management research that examines children as a distinct group of sport consumers is sparse, and therefore the authors know relatively little about how and why children become fans of sport teams. The purpose of this paper is to explore the game-day experiences of children in order to better understand how these experiences allow children to socialize into the team community and become fans of the team.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors examine this through exploratory observational analysis and 26 semi-structured interviews with children at professional sporting events.

Findings

Among the results, it was found that children primarily focus on exploring ways to build membership in the fan community as opposed to initially building connections to the team itself. In addition, those children that watched the games with their peers demonstrated greater in-game emotional responses than those children that viewed the game with family.

Research limitations/implications

This study provides support for the importance of community membership in the initial stages of sport team fandom as well as the varying effects of different groups within fan communities on child fans. However, further research is needed to increase the generalizability of the results.

Practical implications

It is recommended that sport teams increasingly target groups that will bring children to games with their peers in order to enhance their game experience and increase their socialization into fandom.

Originality/value

This paper is one of the first in sport management to directly look to better understand children and the ways in which they become fans of sports teams.

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. 8 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 4 March 2020

Hsin-Chen Lin and Patrick F. Bruning

The paper aims to compare two general team identification processes of consumers’ in-group-favor and out-group-animosity responses to sports sponsorship.

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Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to compare two general team identification processes of consumers’ in-group-favor and out-group-animosity responses to sports sponsorship.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on two studies and four samples of professional baseball fans in Taiwan (N = 1,294). In Study 1, data from the fans of three teams were analyzed by using multi-group structural equation modeling to account for team effects and to consider parallel in-group-favor and out-group-animosity processes. In Study 2, the fans of one team were sampled and randomly assigned to assess the sponsors of one of three specific competitor teams to account for differences in team competition and rivalry. In both studies, these two processes were compared using patterns of significant relationships and differences in the indirect identification-attitude-outcome relationships.

Findings

Positive outcomes of in-group-favor processes were broader in scope and were more pronounced in absolute magnitude than the negative outcomes of out-group-animosity processes across all outcomes and studies.

Research limitations/implications

The research was conducted in one country and considered the sponsorship of one sport. It is possible that the results could differ for leagues within different countries, more global leagues and different fan bases.

Practical implications

The results suggest that managers should carefully consider whether the negative out-group-animosity outcomes are actually present, broad enough or strong enough to warrant costly or compromising intervention, because they might not always be present or meaningful.

Originality/value

The paper demonstrates the comparatively greater breadth and strength of in-group-favor processes when compared directly to out-group-animosity processes.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 54 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 November 2015

Reinhard Grohs, Heribert Reisinger and David M. Woisetschläger

The purpose of this study is to understand the occurrence, formation and magnitude of negative effects for sponsors of rival sports teams and to identify means to counteract…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to understand the occurrence, formation and magnitude of negative effects for sponsors of rival sports teams and to identify means to counteract negative sponsorship effects.

Design/methodology/approach

Surveys measure fans’ identification with their team as well as attitudes toward rival teams and their sponsors in a soccer context. An experiment introduces sponsorship communication activities that aim at mitigating negative sponsorship effects by shifting the focus of the sponsorship.

Findings

Results from surveys and experiments demonstrate that identification with a sports team negatively affects perceptions of a rival team, negative perceptions of a rival team negatively affect perceptions of its sponsors, this effect is stronger for fans with higher levels of team identification, companies can improve perceptions of rival team sponsors by shifting the focus of sponsorship-linked communication activities, but attenuating negative sponsorship effects is more difficult to achieve for fans with higher levels of identification with their team.

Research limitations/implications

Further studies need to disentangle mitigating effects of framing sponsorship communication and investigate in greater depth conditions under which sponsorship leverage can emphasize specific social identities of sports fans and enhance the inclusiveness of fans’ self-categorization.

Practical implications

Companies can learn from this study how they can frame, design and use sponsorship communication activities to mitigate negative sponsorship effects in the context of rival-team sponsorship.

Originality/value

The study is one of the few studies addressing negative effects of sponsorship. In particular, the study provides first insights into how social identity theory, social categorization theory and framing theory work together with theories of image transfer in both the formation and the attenuation of negative sponsorship outcomes.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 49 no. 11/12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 December 2020

So-Hyun Lee, Soobin Choi and Hee-Woong Kim

The purpose of this paper is to explore the key success factors behind Bangtan Boys’ (BTS) popularity, and how they can contribute to sustaining it, along with detailed strategies…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the key success factors behind Bangtan Boys’ (BTS) popularity, and how they can contribute to sustaining it, along with detailed strategies for the success of global pop.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts a mixed-methods approach that uses text mining and interviews and uses the success of BTS to find the key factors accounting for its sustained popularity. For use in text mining, we collected data related to BTS from social network sites (SNS) and analyzed this data using latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling, term frequency analysis and keyword extraction. In addition, we conducted interviews to explore the key factors accounting for the sustained popularity of BTS.

Findings

We found ten key success factors—active global fandom, SNS communication, fans' loyalty, empathy through music, storytelling and world view, performance quality, music video quality, overseas expansion at an early stage, efforts for self-development and teamwork among members— for a global pop group's success and sustained popularity.

Research limitations/implications

This study contributes to the literature by finding key factors for success and sustained popularity of a global group through using a mixed-methods approach.

Practical implications

Our results suggest strategies to sustain the popularity of global groups and its potential to benefit across the entertainment industry.

Originality/value

This study is among the first to comprehensively examine the key factors for Korean pop’s (K-pop) sustained popularity by using a mixed-methods approach of text mining and interviews.

Details

Internet Research, vol. 31 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1066-2243

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Sport, Gender and Mega-Events
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-937-6

Article
Publication date: 6 September 2023

Sercan Kural and Oğuz Özbek

The study aimed to establish football fans' levels of social identity, team loyalty, and behavioral intentions toward sports consumption and to determine the relationship between…

Abstract

Purpose

The study aimed to establish football fans' levels of social identity, team loyalty, and behavioral intentions toward sports consumption and to determine the relationship between these variables using a structural equation model.

Design/methodology/approach

Research methods: The research model was tested by data analysis using AMOS 23.0. The study sample included 518 football fans with mean age 30.87 (±10.15) years. Data were collected using an online questionnaire delivered to football fans via social media.

Findings

The results supported the study hypotheses and showed that social identity and team loyalty had a significant effect on behavioral intention toward sport consumption for football teams. Social identity was found to have a direct effect on sport consumption behaviors. It was further established that team loyalty was a mediator in the relationship between the fans' social identity and behavioral intention toward sports consumption.

Research limitations/implications

The study planned to collect the data at the stadium entrance before the game; however, it was not possible to reach the fans face-to-face due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore, the data were collected online.

Practical implications

By understanding how the extent of social identity affects sports consumption intention, sports club managers can achieve a higher level of fan loyalty to their teams.

Social implications

The present study provides additional insight into the available literature on team identification. It demonstrated that team identification was associated with social identity and that social identity had an impact on sports consumption behaviors.

Originality/value

This study is an original study in that it is a study in which the social identity scale is used together with the variables of team loyalty and sports consumption behavior intention. The findings of this study help understand the processes that shape the behavioral intentions of football fans toward sports consumption. Furthermore, the mediating role of the developed model was tested using team loyalty.

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. 13 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 August 2021

Johannes Jaeger

Public debates and scholarly literature on football fandom are often characterised by generalisation and lacking differentiation. The changing ethnography of fans, affected by the…

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Abstract

Purpose

Public debates and scholarly literature on football fandom are often characterised by generalisation and lacking differentiation. The changing ethnography of fans, affected by the rapid commercialisation and internationalisation of the game, reinforces the demand for contemporary classification criteria and fan typologies that take the complexity and heterogeneity of fans into account and draw a more differentiated picture of fans and sub-groups.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the grounded theory methodology and a systematic literature review on stakeholder theory, stakeholder classification criteria and football fandom, the authors conduct and analyse 14 semi-structured expert interviews with fan managers employed by German professional football clubs. Building on the analysis, the authors identify, present and discuss ten contemporary criteria and five corresponding typologies for the classification of football fans.

Findings

The grounded theory analysis suggests that football fans can be characterised according to ten classification criteria. Building on the analysis, the authors derive five fan typologies that differ in their characteristics along the continua of the identified criteria. Typologies comprise (1) active fans, (2) consuming fans, (3) event fans, (4) corporate fans and (5) passive followers.

Originality/value

The paper enlarges prior knowledge on the behavioural and attitudinal characteristics of fans as individuals and adds knowledge regarding relationships within fan groups, and regarding formal and non-formal relations between fans and clubs. The results provide scholars with a framework for further scientific investigation and practitioners with a concept for a more sophisticated and differentiated approach to managing fan relations.

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. 11 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Fandom Culture and The Archers
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-970-5

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