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1 – 10 of over 9000Jennifer L. Harker and Jonathan A. Jensen
The purpose of this research is to extend current knowledge regarding rivalry communication among sport consumers to better understand how rivals behave with one another when they…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to extend current knowledge regarding rivalry communication among sport consumers to better understand how rivals behave with one another when they communicate.
Design/methodology/approach
This national survey of US sport consumers used a novel approach to explore whether and with whom rivals discuss National Football League (NFL) game outcomes. The survey captured both uniplex and multiplex data by asking respondents to name rival discussants with whom they had recently interacted, and the fan behaviors they exchanged with those named rival discussants.
Findings
Through use of this novel data collection approach, new findings were uncovered related to blasting, glory out of reflective failure, schadenfreude and the influence of team identification on the exchange of rivalry fan behaviors. The results of the uniplex and multiplex data analyses uniquely showcase the ways in which social identity theory combines with team identification to enact rivalry behavior.
Originality/value
This research is the first to precisely dichotomize the psychological antecedents from the communicated behavior between rival fans. Results reveal the precise ways in which team identification influences discordant communication between rival fans, which differs from past research in an interesting new way.
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Yasuhiro Watanabe, Cassendra Gilbert, Mohd Salleh Aman and James J. Zhang
The purpose of this paper is to examine the systematic influence of core product features, event operation quality, sport fan identification, and image of host city as a tourism…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the systematic influence of core product features, event operation quality, sport fan identification, and image of host city as a tourism destination on behavioral intentions of international spectator at a Formula One (F1) event held in Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey form assessing the specified concepts was designed and employed to examine the structural relationships. The research participants were international spectators (n=512) attending the event. Data were randomly split into two halves, one for EFA (n=256) and the other for CFA and SEM (n=256).
Findings
Findings revealed that core product feature and sport fan identification factors were significantly (p<0.05) related to both of international spectators’ desire to stay at the event, attend the event in the future, and revisit the country; whereas, event operation quality was only found to be significantly influential of the re-patronage, and destination image was only significantly influential of the desire to stay. The findings highlight the importance and relevance of these concepts in attracting, serving, and retaining international visitors to the event.
Originality/value
Unlike other studies that are centered merely on game and event factors, this study expanded on a bigger ecological spectrum surrounding a F1 event and systematically evaluated the critical concepts and factors affecting international tourist to the event that can be considerable sources of economic growth. The findings provide empirical evidence for event and tourism management and marketing.
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Jingyi Tian, Ting (Tina) Li, Rui Chen, Kaining Yang, Ping Li and Si Wen
“Idol pilgrimage tour” is a popular trend among young Chinese fans who travel for idol-related purposes, engage in interactive events and have co-created experiences at…
Abstract
Purpose
“Idol pilgrimage tour” is a popular trend among young Chinese fans who travel for idol-related purposes, engage in interactive events and have co-created experiences at destinations. With the growing market size of fan economy, fan tourists generate significant revenue for the local. However, many destinations have not fully utilised this opportunity, and there is a lack of research on this niche form of tourism. This research was undertaken to address this research gap.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted an idol worship–motivation–co-created experience–tour satisfaction–destination loyalty framework in the context of idol pilgrimage tours. In addition, this study investigated the direct influence of idol worship on the other four constructs. Data were collected from 354 Chinese fans who had such experience through online questionnaires. The partial least squares–structural equation modelling technique was used to examine the research model.
Findings
It was demonstrated that idol worship has a direct influence on motivation, co-created experience, satisfaction and loyalty and that there is a positive relationship between motivation, co-created experience, satisfaction and loyalty. The results advance the brand sacralisation literature by studying worship in a tourism context and contribute to interactive marketing literature by clarifying the interactive mechanism between relationships among the idol, fans and destinations. The study suggests some practical implications for destination management organisations attempting to target tourist fans.
Originality/value
This is the first study introducing the concept of the idol pilgrimage tour. Empirical results of this study reveal the underlying mechanism of how idols influence fans' travel-related psychology and behaviour.
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Tamar Icekson, Anat Toder Alon, Avichai Shuv-Ami and Yaron Sela
The growing proportion of older fans and their potential economic value have increased the need for an improved understanding of age differences in fan behaviour. Building on…
Abstract
Purpose
The growing proportion of older fans and their potential economic value have increased the need for an improved understanding of age differences in fan behaviour. Building on socioemotional selectivity theory, the current study examines the impact of age differences on fan hatred as well as on the extent to which fans actually engage in aggressive activities and fans' perceptions of the levels of appropriateness of certain physical and verbal acts of aggression.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used an online panel-based survey that offered access to a real-world population of sport fans. The participants were 742 fans of professional football (soccer).
Findings
Results from structural equation modelling indicated that older fans reported lower levels of fan hatred, lower self-reported aggression and lower acceptance of physical and verbal aggression. Moreover, fan hatred partially mediated the relationship between age and levels of aggression and between age and acceptance of verbal aggression. In addition, fan hatred fully mediated the relationship between age and acceptance of physical aggression.
Originality/value
The current study makes two important contributions. First, it demonstrates that sport clubs may particularly benefit from understanding the potential but often neglected importance of older sport fans in relation to the problematic phenomenon of fan aggression. Second, it offers a thorough theoretical account of the manner in which fan hatred plays a significant role in the relationships between age and fan aggressiveness.
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Colleen C. Bee and Mark E. Havitz
Consumer loyalty has long been recognised as a key consideration of marketing strategies focused on customer retention. While the importance of the loyalty construct is widely…
Abstract
Consumer loyalty has long been recognised as a key consideration of marketing strategies focused on customer retention. While the importance of the loyalty construct is widely recognised, the conditions and variables that foster consumer loyalty for a specific service may vary. This paper explores the variables that influence fan attendance at a professional sporting event. It extends prior research by conceptualising both a behavioural and an attitudinal component of loyalty, as well as considering fan involvement with the sport and attraction to the sport. The findings suggest that psychological commitment and resistance to change mediate the effect of fan attraction and involvement on behavioural loyalty in a professional sports context.
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Abstract
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This study is concerned with understanding the nature of police stereotypes and expectations and their potential role in shaping the intergroup dynamics of “hooliganism” involving…
Abstract
This study is concerned with understanding the nature of police stereotypes and expectations and their potential role in shaping the intergroup dynamics of “hooliganism” involving England fans during the football European Championships in Belgium and Holland (Euro 2000). The paper uses a questionnaire survey of Belgian Gendarmerie officers to explore the extent to which England fans were seen as a dangerous social category who's normative behaviours were likely to be interpreted as a manifestation of hooliganism and therefore as posing a relatively uniform threat to “public order”. In so doing the study provides evidence to support a contention that the Gendarmerie at Euro 2000 held a view of England fans that was consistent with the use of relatively indiscriminate coercive force. The implications of the analysis for understanding the nature of public order policing, its role in shaping “public disorder” in football contexts and the need for interactive and historical studies of crowd events are discussed.
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Youngbum Kwon and Dae Hee Kwak
The global outbreak of the COVID-19 forced most sport leagues to cancel games in March–April 2020, leaving no sport games to watch for sport fans. The present study examined how…
Abstract
Purpose
The global outbreak of the COVID-19 forced most sport leagues to cancel games in March–April 2020, leaving no sport games to watch for sport fans. The present study examined how sport consumers appraise stress and engage in coping behaviors resulted from sport lockout due to the global pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
This study examined the relationship between sport fans’ psychological dispositions, threat appraisal and coping strategies among professional sport fans in the USA. A panel of sport fans (N = 446) representative of the US adult population participated in an online survey in the fourth week of April, 2020 when no major sport leagues made a return from the lockout due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Findings
Results of this present study showed that anger, aggressiveness and need for affiliation increased threat perceptions toward the COVID-19 lockout, which subsequently had significant effect on emotion-focused and disengagement coping behaviors.
Research limitations/implications
This is the first empirical study that examined stress and coping behavior among sport fans in the global public health crisis context. Our findings show what triggers stress appraisals and how fans cope with them.
Practical implications
Findings suggest that segmenting sport fans based on psychological dispositions could be useful in predicting fans that will engage in coping behaviors.
Social implications
While the hope is to return to normal postpandemic, COVID-19 might not be the last. We are uncertain whether there might be another potential pandemic-related sport lockdown. Understanding how lack of sport events can create distress in sport fans and have important public health implications.
Originality/value
The findings provide empirical evidence on how sport consumers respond to the pandemic-related sport lockdown and cope with the unprecedented situation. The findings of this study contribute to the sport management literature as we are unsure whether the sport industry might face this challenging situation in the future again.
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Yannis Lianopoulos, Nicholas D. Theodorakis, Nikolaos Tsigilis, Antonis Gardikiotis and Athanasios Koustelios
The concept of sport team identification has been widely used as a theoretical framework in explaining sport fan behavior. However, limited attention has been devoted to the…
Abstract
Purpose
The concept of sport team identification has been widely used as a theoretical framework in explaining sport fan behavior. However, limited attention has been devoted to the consequences of distant (i.e., foreign) team identification. The purpose of the current research was to examine the way in which fans (local and distant) can increase their levels of collective and personal self-esteem due to their team identification.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were accumulated from three Greek websites (N = 742). Among them, 623 subjects were grouped as local and 119 as distant football fans. A structural invariance analysis was followed.
Findings
The results revealed how team identification, enduring team-related social connections, and basking in reflected glory are interrelated to affect collective and finally personal self-esteem. Moreover, no differences were found between local and distant fans regarding the paths from eam identification to collective self-esteem and from collective self-esteem to personal self-esteem.
Originality/value
This is one of the first endeavors to examine the psychological consequences of distant team identification and to test the invariance across local and distant fans concerning the mechanisms that their personal self-esteem can be enhanced because their psychological connection to their favorite sport team.
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Sai Wang and Ki Joon Kim
In the context of celebrity endorsement, this study aims to demonstrate that the ways in which consumers adopt moral reasoning strategies (i.e. rationalization, decoupling and…
Abstract
Purpose
In the context of celebrity endorsement, this study aims to demonstrate that the ways in which consumers adopt moral reasoning strategies (i.e. rationalization, decoupling and coupling) are largely dependent on the severity (i.e. high vs low) of celebrity transgressions and the degree to which they personally identify with the celebrity.
Design/methodology/approach
A between-subjects online experiment (N = 144) with two conditions, representing high- and low-severity celebrity transgressions, was conducted. Participants’ attitudes toward the celebrity and endorsed brand, their purchase intention for the endorsed product and the degrees to which they identified with the celebrity and adopted the three types of moral reasoning strategies were assessed.
Findings
The rationalization and decoupling strategies mediate the effects of highly negative information about a celebrity on consumer attitudes toward the celebrity and endorsed brand as well as on purchase intention for the endorsed product. In addition, consumers who identify strongly as fans of the celebrity in question are more likely to activate rationalization and decoupling strategies to process and evaluate transgressive behaviors than those with weaker fan identification.
Originality/value
By exploring the ways in which moral reasoning and fan identification work in processing negative information, this study provides insights into the psychological process through which negative news coverage of a celebrity endorser influences consumer attitudes and purchase intention.
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