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1 – 10 of 26Julia Rietz and Kirstin Hallmann
The study aims to provide a reference for market segmentation in a relatively new market. Esports consumer profiles are developed based on consumption motives, structural factors…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to provide a reference for market segmentation in a relatively new market. Esports consumer profiles are developed based on consumption motives, structural factors, game genres, interests, demographics and behavioral intentions. It delivers managerial advice for a growing esports market.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative approach using an online survey was implemented to identify homogenous groups. The study employed the Motivation Scale for Sports Consumption (MSSC) to investigate the consumption motives of esports consumers. A two-step market segmentation was conducted based on the motives, applying hierarchical clustering. Moreover, descriptor variables were used to create distinct esports consumer profiles.
Findings
This research divides the esports market into four clusters based on MSSC, which is new and relevant in a constantly changing environment. The clusters are named Low Intention Novices, Leisure Warriors, Socializing Learners and Dedicated Enthusiasts.
Originality/value
This adds to the limited literature on esports market segmentation and highlights the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.
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Mikihiro Sato, Tomo Tokuyama, Shohgo Motoyama, Lance Warwick and Junko Deguchi
Drawing upon a push-pull-mooring model and the literature on behavioral loyalty, this research aims to examine the underlying factors and mechanisms that influence switching…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing upon a push-pull-mooring model and the literature on behavioral loyalty, this research aims to examine the underlying factors and mechanisms that influence switching intention in the context of professional sport in Japan.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a two-wave survey design (pregame and postgame surveys), we collected data from 367 fans of a professional soccer team in Japan. Our data included three push factors (quality, satisfaction, and perceived value of the current favorite team), a pull factor (alternative team attractiveness), a mooring factor (team identification), and behavioral loyalty and switching intention to the alternative team. We used structural equation modeling to test our hypotheses.
Findings
A mediation analysis revealed that perceived value of an individual’s current favorite team was negatively associated with behavioral loyalty to an alternative team, whereas attractiveness of the alternative team was positively associated with behavioral loyalty, which, in turn, resulted in fans’ switching intention. Latent moderated structural equation modeling further revealed the negative moderating effect of team identification with the current team on the relationship between behavioral loyalty and switching intention.
Originality/value
The findings provide new evidence about the role of behavioral loyalty in understanding sport consumers’ switching intention and highlight the importance of team identification that can foster a sustainable and long-term relationship between fans and their favorite sport teams.
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The inclusion of esports as an official event in the Hangzhou Asian Games is an important step towards the institutionalisation of esports. The significance of this event marks…
Abstract
The inclusion of esports as an official event in the Hangzhou Asian Games is an important step towards the institutionalisation of esports. The significance of this event marks that Asia once again takes a lead in the global esportisation. This chapter investigates a series of history events in the inclusion process of esports into the comprehensive Games in Asia using process sociology and actor network theory (ANT). This study will analyse the type characteristics of esports events in Hangzhou Asian Games, whilst examining how key stakeholders' interact and balance in the network composed of international sports organisations, host of the event, emerging esports organisations and esports game companies. The chapter also examines the functions of global game industrial economic geography, local cultural politics, esports geopolitics and Olympic values in esports sportization, aiming to reveal the implications of esports inclusion in the Asian Games on the debate of whether esports meets the criteria to be classified as a ‘sport’ and its enlightenment of digital strategy to the inclusion esports in the Olympics.
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For decades, consumer identification and motivation, either alone or jointly, have been essential constructs for behavioral researchers. The resultant output is significant in…
Abstract
Purpose
For decades, consumer identification and motivation, either alone or jointly, have been essential constructs for behavioral researchers. The resultant output is significant in terms of both quality and quantity. However, at a deeper level, a lack of conceptual clarity in the relationship between these constructs has led to theoretical and practical irregularities, which this study aims to address.
Design/methodology/approach
An online questionnaire was distributed to sport consumers aged over 18 participating in an online panel, prompted 293 completed responses. Structural equations modeling was used to examine the data.
Findings
Findings show that identification mediates the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on sport supporters’ loyalty and explain 90% of the variance in that construct. In addition, identification mediates the adverse effects of extrinsic motivation on loyalty and strengthens loyalty when levels of satisfaction decline.
Originality/value
This study extends previous work by providing a theoretical perspective that clarifies the relationship between motivation and consumer identification; deepens theory by empirically observing the relationship at different levels of consumer satisfaction; and presents a parsimonious, valid and reliable method that managers can leverage to strengthen sport supporters’ loyalty.
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Hyunseok Song, Kevin K. Byon and Paul M. Pedersen
To extend research into sport consumer behaviors related to online sports betting, this study is designed to identify and examine the relationship between online sports betting…
Abstract
Purpose
To extend research into sport consumer behaviors related to online sports betting, this study is designed to identify and examine the relationship between online sports betting motivations and online sports betting intentions. By applying a push-pull framework from online sport consumption and gambling studies, nine motivations to engage in online sports betting were identified. These motivations were hypothesized to motivate online sports betting intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
A quota sampling technique based on the sports bettor demographics available in the American Gaming Association (AGA, 2019) and the Pew Research Center (2022) obtained a total of 550 completed surveys that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria. For data analyses, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to examine the measurement model and the hypothesized model, respectively.
Findings
The results revealed that four motivations (i.e. monetary gain, excitement, convenience and negative technology-readiness) were related to online sports betting intention, while five motivations (i.e. sport fandom, positive technology-readiness, impulsivity, socialization and promotion) were not.
Originality/value
The results provide foundational theoretical knowledge of what motivates sports fans to participate in online sports betting. Furthermore, the findings assist practitioners in their allocation of resources by enhancing their understanding of online sports betting motivations.
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Charitomeni Tsordia, Yannis Lianopoulos, Vassilis Dalakas and Nicholas D. Theodorakis
The aim of this research was to investigate fans’ responses toward a sponsor that has had a long-standing sponsorship deal with a club and decided also to sponsor the club’s rival.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this research was to investigate fans’ responses toward a sponsor that has had a long-standing sponsorship deal with a club and decided also to sponsor the club’s rival.
Design/methodology/approach
A long-term sponsorship deal between a retsina wine company and a popular football club and a newly established deal between the company and the main rival club were selected as the research setting. Data were collected from a total sample of 302 participants, fans of the two teams, using an online survey and PLS-SEM was employed to test the relationships of the proposed structural model.
Findings
The results provided evidence for the importance of the inclusion of perceptions of fit for both teams to the model as it impacted the responses in the joint sponsorship. Team identification emerged significant for improving fans perceptions of fit between the sponsor and their favorite club but also led fans of the long-term sponsored club to feel betrayed from the sponsor. The sense of betrayal impacted the level of fit, the rejection of sponsorship but did not emerge significant for driving negative responses toward the sponsor’s brand. The same held for the rejection of the joint sponsorship.
Originality/value
This is the very first study that incorporated the effects of the perceptions of fit of two rival clubs to test the effect of sponsorship for a sponsor brand of a deal that includes a longtime sponsored football club and its rival as a newly sponsored one. It is also one of the first attempts that explores relationships between perceptions of fit, sense of betrayal and rejection of a joint sport sponsorship in a rivalry context, highlighting the importance of preventing fans' betrayal.
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The body has been one of the central tools in analysing connections between sport and postcolonialism in India, given how sport was an essential part of the colonial ‘civilising’…
Abstract
The body has been one of the central tools in analysing connections between sport and postcolonialism in India, given how sport was an essential part of the colonial ‘civilising’ mission, which involved disciplining and controlling Indian bodies. Any discursive understanding of sport and postcolonialism in India must consider how it relates to existing concepts of the body and shapes the experiences of the people involved in it – acknowledging not just the power of colonialism in moulding sporting experiences but also the force of internal hierarchies that exist in Indian society. This chapter explores the experiences of students who studied in higher educational institutions in Kerala under the ‘sports quota’, a system that reserves seats in colleges/universities for high-performing sportspersons in India. Through their interviews, the sustained exclusion of the sporting body in contemporary Indian pedagogy is illustrated here. Specifically, the continuing prevalence of the colonial emphasis on the sporting body, as one whose strength and instrumentality are paramount, as well as its corollary postcolonial position, which treats this sporting body as inferior to the ‘refined mind’ of studious pupils, can be observed. Approaching the sports quota with a decolonising lens would require re-examining the disembodied nature of pedagogy in India’s higher educational institutions, acknowledging sporting students’ lived experiences, and a seamless integration – as opposed to separation/exclusion – of the sportsperson into higher education.
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Yo Han Lee, Yoon Tae Sung and Hoyoon Jung
This study examines the impact of outcome uncertainty on the National Football League (NFL) secondary ticket market prices. As a demand-driven market, it is essential to…
Abstract
Purpose
This study examines the impact of outcome uncertainty on the National Football League (NFL) secondary ticket market prices. As a demand-driven market, it is essential to comprehend how resellers respond to outcome uncertainty, one of the consumer demand factors in sports.
Design/methodology/approach
Using real-time ticket prices and money lines as a proxy of the probabilities of winning, this study employs a regression analysis and examines 33,554 price observations from the NFL’s secondary ticket market partner, StubHub.
Findings
The result shows a positive relationship between outcome uncertainty and secondary market ticket prices, indicating that resellers adjust the prices in response to the level of outcome uncertainty and put more value on games with greater uncertainty. This finding confirms the demand-driven nature of the secondary ticket market, as outcome uncertainty is one of the demand factors in sports.
Originality/value
This study links the uncertainty of outcome hypothesis with secondary ticket market pricing and fills a gap in the literature by providing an important perspective on games with uncertainty in the secondary ticket market. Outcome uncertainty has limited understanding in relation to secondary ticket market pricing despite its relationship with consumer demand. The positive relationship between outcome uncertainty and the ticket prices, grounded in real-time price data and win probability from sport betting markets, enhances our understanding of price determinations in the secondary ticket market.
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This study aims to examine involvement and perceived usefulness (PU) as the drivers of loyalty for online booking websites, revealing findings of theoretical and practical…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine involvement and perceived usefulness (PU) as the drivers of loyalty for online booking websites, revealing findings of theoretical and practical relevance. The proposed conceptual model is drawn on elaboration likelihood model (ELM) along with the consideration of expectation confirmation model for loyalty development.
Design/methodology/approach
A two-stage structural equation modeling was applied to test the reliability and validity of the constructs and the strength of the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
Attitudinal loyalty (AL) is found to have a significant role, resulting in behavioral loyalty (BL) toward online booking. The results of this study supported the ELM framework, where involvement and PU resulted in BL through AL. PU and AL also served as mediating mechanisms underlying the impact of consumer involvement on BL.
Originality/value
This study applies the ELM to online ticketing mechanisms and nuances amid AL and BL with their drivers.
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Samata Biswas and Supratik Sinha
Bengali sports history features very few women; some examples include enquiry into the representation of women in cricket stadiums as spectators (Naha, 2021) and the history of…
Abstract
Bengali sports history features very few women; some examples include enquiry into the representation of women in cricket stadiums as spectators (Naha, 2021) and the history of physical education in a women’s college (Bhattacharya, 2009). Likewise, young adult sports fiction in Bengali hardly engages with girls, with the notable exception of Moti Nandi’s Kalabati novels. This series of nine novels features the eponymous character as a high school student and a cricketer between 1984 and 2005. Belonging to a zamindar family, it is the possession of cultural capital post-abolishment of the zamindari system which allows Kalabati to play cricket. Situating the novel amidst India’s entry into neoliberalism, this chapter employs close reading to examine the ways adopted by the protagonist to manoeuvre new gender roles in conjunction with traditionally ascribed ones. Kalabati’s participation in a sport and a range of physical activities dominated by men goes against the societal codes prescribed for women. Despite that, masquerade and performativity allow Kalabati to assert her agency. Through alternately impersonating men and performing hyper-femininity, she effortlessly adjusts herself to different bodies, etiquettes and markers of gender identity. The fluidity in gender identities and emphasis on performance opens up the straitjacketed discussions around the former. This chapter argues that Kalabati’s exceptionality as a sportsperson is both an embodied and a genealogical trait.
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