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In the age of nine-figure transfer fees and football stars building their own brands and follower base, a shift in fan identification in football appears to be taking place as athletes can build strong connections with their followers. This paper examines the level of identification shown by football fans towards both their favourite team and their favourite player, in connection with the concept of fan loyalty.

A total of 4,707 international respondents participated in an online survey to examine the relationship between fan identification and fan loyalty, and to measure the impact of variables like country, player, club, on fan identification using multi-regression analyses.

The results underline the strong presence of team identification compared to identification of single players. Results have also revealed that the relationship between a fan's favourite team and player has a significant impact on identification levels towards both actors. Fans supporting a foreign club were found to show significantly stronger team identification than those who support a club from their own country or region.

This research contributes to the growing body of publications in the field of sports consumer research and underlines the importance of understanding the quality of relationships and thus the identification of fans with clubs and individual players for the stakeholders involved. International sports marketing is becoming increasingly important and an understanding of fan interests is essential for effective marketing, as information on trends in fan interests enables a more tailored strategy for clubs and sponsors.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that motivate Korean baseball fans to support Korean Major League Baseball (MLB) players and to identify the effects of the motivations on identification and behavioral loyalty.

Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire at three Korean universities. A model was designed to see which three motivations (commitment to Korean baseball, interests in MLB and ethnic identity) affect loyalty behaviors to support Korean MLB players. In the model, the mediating effect of player identification is set to the relation between the three motivations and behavioral loyalty. The moderating effect of team identification is also set to the relation between player identification and behavioral loyalty. Collected data (n=294) were first analyzed via confirmatory factor analysis to ascertain the factor structure of the study model. Then, the study performed a structural equation modeling which finds the magnitude and significance of each causal path among designed factors.

All the effects were found to be significantly positive except team identification whose moderating effect was not significant. Interests in MLB had the greatest impact on the fan’s player identification followed by commitment to the Korean baseball league and their ethnic identity. It was also found that the influence of player identification was positive on behavioral loyalty.

This work can help MLB expand their fan base internationally, especially in Asian countries.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of patriotism and identification with national players on identification with the NBA and, ultimately, with purchase intentions of league-related merchandise. Findings revealed that the interaction between patriotism and identification with national players was a significant predictor of identification with NBA, which in turn was a significant predictor of purchase intentions of league-related products. The moderated mediation model fit the data quite well and explained 44.5% of the variance in purchase intentions. Theoretical implications of the findings, as well as practical implications for sports managers, are discussed.

In the current era of fake news, illusions, manipulations and other artificial attributes of virtuality and reality, authenticity is a virtue that people highly appreciate. This study aims to examine the influence of the personal brand authenticity of top football players on loyalty to the football discipline in general, via the mediation of personal brand identification.

Based on data collected from a convenience sample of 562 respondents from Poland via an electronic survey and analyzed using the structural equation modeling method, this study explored, first, the influence of top football players’ personal brand authenticity on consumers’ identification with these football players, and second, how this identification may lead to enhancing loyalty to the football discipline. Finally, it verified how the loyalty effect (attitudinal and behavioral) varies across different categories of spectators.

Personal brand identification with authentic football stars is a focal factor enabling the creation of loyalty (attitudinal and behavioral) to the whole discipline. Consumers’ perceptions of the authenticity of the personal brands of football players play a role in increasing identification with these personal brands. This identification is essential in achieving loyalty to football as a sports discipline via football celebrities.

Football players perceived as authentic are evaluated more positively, leading to consumer identification with these players, which, in turn, increases consumers’ loyalty to football. Thus, the presence of authentic, skilled players is important for football, but the actual loyalty effect from authenticity can be achieved only by identification. Therefore, football requires exceptional, strong stars who reflect a set of desired personal values. Further research is needed to identify the desired set of values that leads to identification with football stars.

This study presents evidence that the personal brand authenticity of a football star is a driver of loyalty towards football discipline in general if the spectators’ identification with this superstar occurs. Moreover, this study proves that loyalty to football driven by the personal brand authenticity of football stars differs between spectators’ categories.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether online leadership affects offline leadership through a mediation mechanism.

Drawing on social presence theory, the authors developed a mediation model of online leadership to offline leadership, and examine the moderating effect of interactivity. Data were collected through an internet questionnaire, with gamers in Taiwan’s leading forum as research targets. After receiving 912 valid questionnaires, the authors used SPSS 21 and AMOS 21 to conduct data analysis to test the model.

The results show that online leadership will affect offline leadership. Moreover, game achievements and character identification have partial mediated effects in this model. Finally, interactivity has a moderating effect in this model.

These findings provide insights for future leadership training effectiveness, training guidelines, game design, and selection of references.

This research extends the current state of knowledge about the paths to transfer online leadership experiences to office situations through direct influence, game achievement, and character identification.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the antecedents of peer recommendations (generating positive word-of-mouth and recruiting others) in the context of mobile social games.

Drawing on the needs–supplies fit framework and social identity theory, this paper proposes that game design characteristics (challenge, fairness, innovativeness and ease of use) influence game identification, which further predicts word-of-mouth (WOM) generation and recruitment intention. This paper further suggests fits between gamer orientation (passing time and seeking achievements) and game design lead to enhanced game identification. The model was tested using data from an empirical survey with 767 mobile social gamers.

Game challenge, game fairness, game innovativeness and ease of use are positively associated with game identification, whereas game identification positively predicts WOM generation and recruitment intention. Achievement-seeking use was found to enhance the effects of game challenge and game fairness on game identification, and passing time use was found to strengthen the effects of game innovativeness and ease of use on game identification.

The findings of this study provide operable implications to facilitate peer recommendations in a mobile gaming context. The model was only tested within the context of mobile social games, however, so caution is advised when generalizing the findings to other game subgenres.

This study distinguishes itself from other peer recommendation studies by taking recruitment, a more straightforward and salient form of peer recommendation, into account. This paper enriches theory by investigating the antecedents and consequences of game identification. This study clarifies the underlying mechanism of how game design influences peer recommendations and examines the interactions between game design and gamer orientation.

This paper tests and validates a conceptual model linking the attachment points, team identification, attitude towards the team sponsors and the behavioural intentions in the context of Indian Premier League (IPL), while testing for the moderating effects of age and gender.

Data were collected from 1,053 participants through both online and offline survey and then analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM).

Attachment points influence the formation of team identification, which, in turn, affect the attitude towards the team sponsors. Attitude towards the team sponsors influence the behavioural intentions. Player attachment influences team identification the most. Age and gender have a moderating effect on the constructs of the study. Team identification in females is stronger because of attachment to sports, whereas males have stronger team identification based on player attachment. Males have a stronger intention to spread positive word of mouth (WOM) about sponsor products as compared to the female respondents. The younger age group of less than 21 years has more intention to spread positive WOM compared to the other age groups considered in the study.

This study contributes towards sports sponsorship research and the paradigms of social identity and attachment theories. Moreover, it will also help the marketers (sponsors) in IPL to strategically market their brands.

This is the first study to investigate the impact of attachment points on sponsorship outcomes in the context of IPL. Further, it is also the first to investigate the purchase intentions and WOM for the team sponsors in IPL. The multi-group analysis results will provide insights into marketers to better understand IPL viewers' segments and their behaviour.

Location-based games (LBGs) have afforded novel information technology (IT) developments in how people interact with the physical world. Namely, LBGs have spurred a wave of territoriality (i.e. controlling) and exploration (i.e. discovering) of augmented physical space that are driven by different social dynamics related to group formation, social connectivity and altruism. The aim of this study is to investigate this dynamic and how it is further related to the use intensity of location-based IT.

This work presents a structural equation model that connects social dimensions of play to territorial control and exploration, and playing intensity. The model was tested with psychometric data gathered from a global sample of Pokémon GO players (N = 515).

In the tested sample, players' social self-efficacy and altruism were positively associated with team identification. Team identification, in turn, was positively associated with both territorial control and exploration tendency. Territorial control had a significant relationship with playing intensity; however, exploration tendency did not. This implies territorial control is the stronger predictor of playing intensity.

The findings suggest that human primal urges to conquer and control geographical territory may surface in the digital reimagination of physical space. LBGs offer opportunities for making use of new forms of play (territorial control and exploration) in motivating locative behaviours.

This research quantifies the relationships between a social predisposition, team identification, territorial control, exploration tendency and playing intensity in the context of Pokémon GO. It contributes new knowledge to the understanding of territorial behaviour (control and exploration) in location-based IT.

The purpose of this research is to examine the effects of congruence between the ideal self-image of a game player and the game character on identification and interaction with the game character, perceived game power and performance, character attachment and willingness to spend money on the game character.

A total of 347 online game players participated in an online survey posted via the nationwide crowdsourcing web service Mechanical Turk in the US. A structural equation modelling was conducted using a maximum-likelihood estimation procedure to test the relationships among the variables.

The results revealed a significant positive impact of congruence between a game character and the ideal self-image of a game player on identification and interaction with the game character, perceived game power, game performance, attachment to the game character and willingness to spend money on the game character.

Although significant research has been conducted in the area of online gaming, limited attention has been given to the strategic game content that stimulates a player's intention to purchase game items. Due to the challenges in sales growth in the game industry caused by business model shifts from a subscription-based model to a free-to-play one, it is important for marketing practitioners to motivate game players to continue playing the game and purchase game items. The results of this study provide valuable strategic insights to overcome the limitations of existing marketing strategies in the online game business.

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.

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.

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.

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.