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The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between cultural value orientations and sport fan motivations.

Data were collected from American and Korean college students. Three separate multivariate analysis of covariance revealed sport fan motivations differ across nationality and cultural value orientation.

The current study provided empirical support for the assumption that individualism-collectivism influences sport fan motivations and geographically different sport consumers. Also, the outcomes were consistent with the previous literature which found sport fan motivations differ across nationality (the USA and South Korea).

In combination with prior research, the findings of this study offer suggestions for how marketers could differentiate their marketing strategies for culturally diverse sport consumers.

“Fostered idols” refer to entertainment idols and young stars-in-the-making who begin their careers as amateurs. Today, the fostered idol model has become increasingly popular in China, and fans demonstrate incredible consumption power. Despite the booming market, little is known about this phenomenon. Therefore, this study aims to explore fans’ motivations and consumption practices from the consumer’s perspective within the framework of self-determination theory.

In all 20 in-depth interviews with fostered idol fans were conducted through online phone calls. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and subsequently analysed using a grounded approach.

The results indicate that fans’ consumption practices are motivated both intrinsically and extrinsically. Intrinsic motivation includes sensory pleasure while extrinsic motivations are composed of a sense of being needed and a sense of success. Extrinsic motivations play a dominant role and reflect the needs of relatedness and competence. Additionally, consumption practices are found to be consistent with motivations.

The results show the crucial role of psychological satisfaction experienced by fans in the consumption of the fostered idol and highlight the importance of a relatedness- and competence-supportive environment to secure fans’ persistent consumption and loyalty.

This study focuses on fans of fostered idols that has not been explored in existing studies and offers valuable insights regarding the similarities and differences between fan consumption in China and other Asian countries. The results will inform marketing practitioners for the development of effective strategies and business decisions.

Social network sites are key marketing tools that allow brands to connect and engage with consumers. However, there is still a lack of evidence of their value for football brands. This research aims to understand the motivations for fans to engage with their favourite football brands on Facebook and Instagram.

An online survey was performed, resulting in 214 valid responses. As the social media strategy followed by the football brand analysed was built around games, the authors divided fans into two groups based on the main method in which the club's games are watched: in stadium versus mediated. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between motivations and fans' engagement, through content consumption and contribution, on Facebook and Instagram. Analysis was performed first with the whole sample and then by group (stadium attendance vs mediated attendance fans).

The findings show that social influence, entertainment, searching for information and rewards are the most relevant motivations for consumers to engage with brand-related content on Facebook. Entertainment, rewards and social influence are the main motivations influencing consumer interactions on Instagram. Group moderation was only confirmed in the impact of social influence on Facebook page content consumption.

The results provide valuable insights into the social media marketing activities of sports brands, which will assist brand managers to develop strategies for effectively stimulating engagement with the different groups of fans.

Using two theoretical lenses – social identity theory and generation cohort theory – the present study analyzes the influence of sport motivations (i.e., patriotism, drama and excitement of the game, nostalgic associations, interest in star players and social influence) on the intentions to watch the International Cricket Council (ICC) Twenty-20 (T20) World Cup of three different generation cohorts (i.e., Generations X, Y and Z).

Data were collected from N = 499 cricket lovers from Pakistan based on a non-probability sampling technique. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), structural equation modeling (SEM) and multi-group modeling techniques were used as methods.

SEM results show that cricket fans' intentions to watch the T20 World Cup are positively influenced by patriotism, drama and excitement of the game, and social influence. The results of multi-group modeling reveal significant differences between Generation X-ers, Y-ers and Z-ers regarding the effect of sport motivations on their intentions to watch the ICC T20 World Cup. Specifically, our findings show that for X-ers, interest in star players and nostalgic associations are the main motivations behind watching the T20 World Cup, whereas drama and excitement appeared to be an important predictor for Y-ers, and patriotism and social influence are more likely to increase Z-ers' intentions to watch the T20 World Cup.

This study is the first of its kind to report the motivations of Generations X, Y and Z to watch the T20 World Cup.

“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.

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.

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.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and test certain assumptions concerning the role of the media in its coverage of the Olympic Games, US men's and women's basketball in particular, and its perceived impact on brand image of the athletes' performance from a fan's motivational and financial perspective.

Uses and gratifications theory and sport fan motivation scales were used to identify potential impacts of media coverage and branding on athletic performance. Based on a study of 143 working professionals that identified themselves as Olympic sport fans in the Pittsburgh, PA metropolitan area, several hypotheses were tested.

The most to least important factor-based constructs found from a PCA (Principal Components Analysis)/factor analysis included competitiveness, fan commitment, media connections, media impacts, demographics and financial impacts. When using the construct athletic performance at the Olympic level as the dependent variable, results suggested that competitiveness, media connections and fan commitment were significant for males only, while only media connections for significant for females. Males were found to be more player-centric than females, willing to be more focused on the competitive nature of the Olympic Games and to dedicate more money for such activities.

Focusing on Olympic Games and associated athletes' competitive nature opens a unique perspective from fan's gender perspective.

This study delves into the psychological processes underlying sport fans' post-purchase innovativeness behaviour. This exploratory research aims to establish a theoretical framework that elucidates the formation of sport fans' word-of-mouth (WOM) behaviours, particularly emphasising the structural relationship between motivated consumer innovativeness and satisfaction in using AR live-streaming services.

Utilising an online survey and convenience sampling, the study garnered a total of 243 usable responses from three online baseball fan communities in South Korea. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to assess the psychometric properties of the constructs. Subsequently, a structural equation model was used to probe the influence of motivated consumer innovativeness on WOM, with a particular focus on the mediating role of satisfaction.

Three dimensions of motivated sport fans innovativeness – functional, hedonic and cognitive – showed a positive association with WOM, partly mediated by satisfaction. In contrast, socially motivated sport fans innovativeness did not directly lead to WOM but influenced it solely through satisfaction. The full mediating role of satisfaction in the relationship between socially motivated fans innovativeness and WOM was found.

This research stands out as one of the scant studies exploring motivated sport fans innovativeness in the context of AR live sport streaming. The findings not only corroborate but also augment the extant literature by empirically confirming that three dimensions of motivated fans innovativeness, coupled with satisfaction, are pivotal antecedents to WOM intention.

This study examines the relationship between spectator motivation and sports consumption behaviours in the context of an adaptive sport. Respondents were spectators from five matches held in the Midwest United States involving registered United States Quad Rugby Association teams. The Motivation Scale for Sport Consumption (MSSC; Trail & James, 2001) was adapted to measure spectator motivation and predict repatronage intentions and online media consumption among wheelchair rugby spectators. Results indicated that two spectator motivation factors, physical skill and knowledge, were related to repatronage intentions. In addition, knowledge and vicarious achievement were found to be related to online media consumption.

The purposes of this paper is to segment spectators of collegiate football game using a cluster analysis and to determine differences between spectator clusters based on motivations, satisfaction, and demographic characteristics.

A survey instrument was utilized, and a total of 407 usable data were gathered through a convenience sampling method at a main campus in the Southern USA. A discriminant analysis was employed to create cluster profiles including demographic variables not previously included in the clustering procedure. Cluster analysis is a procedure used to determine best group segmentation.

Through a factor-cluster analysis, two distinct groups are identified as attendees of collegiate football games: far-away fans and seasoned sideliners. Knowing the different spectators in event attendance allows marketers of collegiate sport events to effectively target segments and attract larger numbers of visitors to each event. Although the results indicated lower satisfaction with the far-away fans cluster, they are nonetheless spending their money at these events. A concerted effort to better welcome tourists that are supporting the visiting team may help boost their image of the local community and thus increase their spending level.

The current study adds to the literature on sport event research, while providing great insight for researchers and practitioners how to segment their target market. Therefore, it is believed that the results of the present study will help future researchers and industry practitioners make use of the implications and findings to broaden their knowledge about sport marketing.

This study compared the motives and media consumption behaviours of American and South Korean spectators of Mixed Martial Arts. Significant cross-national differences were noted in sport interest, vicarious achievement, aesthetics, national pride and violence. Backward regression analyses indicated that sport interest, fighter interest and drama predicted media consumption at the American event, while sport interest, drama and adoration were significant predictors at the Korean event.