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This study tested the paths of a structural model that was conceptualised by hypothesising that team attributes affect team identification, which in turn plays a mediating role in sponsor identification and image transfer from event to sponsor. A questionnaire adapted items from relevant constructs in past research and responses were collected from 991 conveniently sampled fans of professional soccer teams in Korea. Data analysis using the SPSSWIN statistical program (v. 12.0) and the AMOS structural modelling program (v. 4.0) found that the data fitted the conceptualised structural model.

This study approaches corporate sponsorship of sport as identification rhetoric to further understand the relationship created between consumers and corporate sponsors. The focus is on the corporate sponsorship of the NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) Sprint Cup Series, examining how sponsorship messages utilise identification tactics. The study finds that messages rhetorically create identification through common ground and unifying symbol strategies between the sponsor and sponsored activity, and between the sponsor and consumer.

The purpose of these studies is to determine how maximizing sport fans seek optimal outcomes through team identification. Maximizers seek optimal outcomes but do not always obtain them. This may be particularly true of sport fans, who often identify with teams for reasons that run deeper than team success. Maximizing fans may be more concerned with being the best fans than following the best teams.

In Study 1, the authors measured maximizing tendency and identification with participants’ favorite National Football League (NFL) teams. The authors then used moderated regression to predict identification levels from the interaction of maximizing and the historical win–loss records of these teams. In Study 2, the authors manipulated team success by providing participants either an optimistic or pessimistic preview of their college basketball team’s upcoming season. The authors measured maximizing tendency as a moderator of this relationship and identification with the college basketball team as the dependent variable.

In Study 1, maximizers identified more strongly with their favorite NFL team when their favorite team was a historically unsuccessful team. In Study 2, maximizers identified more strongly with their college basketball team after reading a pessimistic preview of the team’s upcoming season than after reading an optimistic preview of that season.

Study 1 required participants to self-report their favorite NFL teams, so the results were only correlational. However, the authors were able to address this limitation with an experimental Study 2.

There are a number of potential implications for sport marketing strategy. For one, sport marketers may want to appeal to fans’ desire to be the best by supporting their teams when they need it most, particularly for teams that are not performing well.

This is the first examination of team or fan identification in the context of maximizing tendency.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The purpose of this study is to propose a conceptual model for identifying the factors of e-service quality (e-SQ) and for investigating the impact of team identification, e-SQ and satisfaction on behavioural intention to revisit sports websites. The proposed conceptual framework includes five service quality factors of sports websites (usability, privacy, reliability, information, appearance). Based on the previous literature in the areas of e-SQ and team identification, this study attempts to develop a model to better understand the relationships between each construct. The Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) results with a convenience sample of 409 college students reveal that team identification has a positive and significant effect on e-SQ, satisfaction and revisitation. In addition, satisfaction is found to be a mediator between e-SQ and revisitation.

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.

In sports consumer behaviour literature only a small amount of variance in attendance is explained by motives. One possible explanation for this is the existence of a third factor which moderates this relationship between the motives and attendance. Individuals who strongly identify with a sports team demonstrate distinctly different behavioural patterns from weakly identified individuals. Identification may, therefore, serve as a moderator. Accordingly, two hypotheses are generated: (a) the relationship between motives and attendance intention ranges from weak to moderate; and (b) the overarching construct of Identification (Team Identification) moderates the influence of motives on attendance intention. Participants were 207 United States of America National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division IA student-subjects. Instrumentation includes measures of motivation, points of attachment and attendance intention. Through hierarchical Confirmatory Factor Analysis, regression analyses and latent variable scores approach, the results largely support both hypotheses.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of sport fans' team identification on their emotional experiences (i.e. vitality and game satisfaction) using two-wave data in a specific sport event during the declaration of the emergency statement in Japan. The study also aims to test the moderating effects of risk perceptions about COVID-19 and the game outcome on the relationship between team identification and vitality/game satisfaction.

The present research was conducted in the context of a sport event in Tokyo (the Japanese Rugby Top League 2020–2021 Season Playoff Tournament Final) during the declaration of the emergency statement period in Japan. The data were collected through a two-wave design (before and after the game) from the spectators of the event.

Team identification significantly predicted higher vitality after the game but not game satisfaction. Additionally, the moderation test found that sport fans with high social risk perception about the COVID-19 showed a positive relationship between team identification and vitality but not for the fans with low social risk perception.

The present results suggest that sport events can be advertised for sport fans as a tool to increase physical and psychological energy in their daily lives during the pandemic.

The present study demonstrated that team identification predicted greater vitality after the spectatorship during the COVID-19 outbreak. In particular, higher social risk perception was a significant catalyst to improve vitality after the game.

With the remarkable advancements in information and communication technologies, comprehending online sport fan communities is being pushed further up in the agenda of sport teams worldwide. Based on social identity theory, the main purpose of this research paper is to test the mechanism of how horizontal relationships developed through online communities lead to vertical relationships such as team identification and behavioural intentions.

Using a sample of online baseball fan community members in South Korea (N = 400) and employing structural equations modelling, the current research examined the structural relations among online community identification, team identification, behavioural intention and WOM intention while testing moderating effect of perceived authenticity.

This study finds that online community identification has a significant positive impact on team-level consumer outcomes: team identification, behavioural intention and WOM intention. Team identification is verified as a significant determinant of both behavioural intention and WOM intention. Moreover, the partial mediating role of team identification in the relationships between online community identification and behavioural intentions are corroborated.

The present study furnishes essential information for identifying the underlying mechanism of how fan-to-fan horizontal relationships cultivate team-to-fan vertical relationships in the context of the virtual fan community.