Search results

1 – 10 of over 1000
Open Access
Article
Publication date: 29 September 2020

Aaron von Felbert and Christoph Breuer

As the superiority of sports celebrities' endorsements has been questioned, the purpose of this study is to identify various types of endorsers' direct and indirect effects on…

13441

Abstract

Purpose

As the superiority of sports celebrities' endorsements has been questioned, the purpose of this study is to identify various types of endorsers' direct and indirect effects on consumers' purchase intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirical data were collected from 240 useful responses to an online experiment, and research hypotheses were tested using (moderated) serial mediation analyses.

Findings

The study's findings indicate that an endorser has a positive influence on consumers' purchase intentions through their perceptions of the advertisement and the endorsed brand. A moderated serial mediation analysis finds differences in the four types of endorsers analyzed. A sports celebrity is the most effective type of endorser in increasing consumers' purchase intentions, whereas endorsements by company managers and peer consumers, while also positive, are less effective in influencing advertising outcomes. An expert's endorsement is comparable to that of a manager but not significant.

Research limitations/implications

The generalizability of the study's findings is limited because of a restricted data sample, the use of fictitious endorsers and the limited number of product categories and brands analyzed.

Originality/value

The study systematically analyzes the behavioral influence of four types of endorsers on consumers' purchase intentions, mediated by their perceptions of the advertisements and the endorsed brand. The results of this analysis extend the current state of endorsement research, indicating that endorsements should be integrated into companies' marketing strategies and provide marketing professionals practical guidance on which type of endorser is most effective in influencing advertising outcomes.

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. 22 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1464-6668

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 11 March 2021

Angelo Bonfanti and Georgia Yfantidou

This study aims to detect the dimensions of the in-store customer shopping experience from the sports retailer perspective and to investigate how the role of sports equipment…

8221

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to detect the dimensions of the in-store customer shopping experience from the sports retailer perspective and to investigate how the role of sports equipment stores is changing.

Design/methodology/approach

This exploratory study performs semi-structured interviews with retail managers of sports equipment stores.

Findings

This research reveals the importance of the dimensions of immersive design, sensorial ambient elements, social relationships, trialability and real experience sharing in designing a memorable in-store shopping experience in sports stores, and it highlights that the store's role in the sports context is transitioning from sales space to an interactive, immersive, engaging and convivial place. It proposes a model to design the in-store customer shopping experience effectively.

Practical implications

Sports equipment managers can make their physical stores as experiential as possible by investing in expert, passionate personnel and technology in order to create a real in-store experience of the product and the sports practice.

Originality/value

While sports equipment retailers acknowledge the importance of providing customers with a memorable shopping experience by creating an evocative environment and placing multiple touchpoints in stores, management scholars have paid limited attention to sports stores. This study explores the ways in which sports retail managers can design their stores effectively in experiential terms.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 49 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 25 June 2020

Elisabeth Happ, Ursula Scholl-Grissemann, Mike Peters and Martin Schnitzer

Offline retail stores have been working on improving their in-store customer experience; they have begun to realise the physical advantage they have over online channels…

13832

Abstract

Purpose

Offline retail stores have been working on improving their in-store customer experience; they have begun to realise the physical advantage they have over online channels. Especially sports products have a number of unique features, such as high emotional involvement or a sense of community; additionally, sports customers put emphasis on multisensory brand experience at the point of sale. This study examines the in-store customer experience (ISCX) in offline sports retail stores, taking into account the commercial uniqueness of sport.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative study (focus groups; n = 16) and quantitative survey (cross-sectional survey design; n = 238) were conducted to measure ISCX in sports retail stores.

Findings

The results suggest that the customers' in-store experience has a significant influence on customers' satisfaction with the sports retailer and their likeliness to recommend the store to friends, which, in turn, is significantly affected by customers' satisfaction with the retailer. Moreover, social responses to actors involved in the service encounter, for example, the interaction with employees, play a significant role for the customer in-store experience. Accordingly, sports customers strive not only for functional benefits inherent in the interaction with customers and employees but also for social benefits.

Originality/value

This study extends the knowledge by (1) replicating the ISCX scale, (2) analysing ISCX in a sports retail environment and (3) examining the influence of ISCX on the Net Promoter Score. Moreover, the findings support managers' know-how about in-store setting and help to maintain the customer relationship.

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. 22 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1464-6668

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 30 June 2023

Angelo Bonfanti, Vania Vigolo, Virginia Vannucci and Federico Brunetti

This study focuses on memorable customer shopping experience design in the sporting goods retail setting. It aims to identify the phygital customers' needs and expectations that…

3092

Abstract

Purpose

This study focuses on memorable customer shopping experience design in the sporting goods retail setting. It aims to identify the phygital customers' needs and expectations that are satisfied through in-store technologies and to detect the in-store strategies that use these technologies to make the store attractive and experiential.

Design/methodology/approach

This exploratory study adopted a qualitative research methodology, specifically a multiple-case study, by performing semi-structured interviews with sporting goods store managers.

Findings

Sporting goods retailers use various in-store technologies to create a phygital customer shopping experience, including devices, mobile apps, wireless communication technologies, in-store activations, support devices, intelligent stations, and sensors. To improve the phygital customer journey and the phygital shopping experience, retailers meet customers' needs for utilitarian, hedonic, social, and playfulness experiences. Purely physical or digital strategies, as well as phygital strategies, are identified. This research also proposes a model of in-store phygital customer shopping experience design for sporting goods retailers.

Practical implications

Sporting goods managers can invest in multiple technologies by designing a physical environment according to the customers' needs for utilitarian, hedonic, social, and playful experiences. In addition, they can improve the phygital customer shopping experience with specific push strategies that increase customer engagement and, in turn, brand and store loyalty.

Originality/value

This study highlights how the phygital customer experiential journey can be created through new technologies and improved with specific reference to the sporting goods stores.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 51 no. 13
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 July 2022

Erik Winell, John Armbrecht, Erik Lundberg and Jonas Nilsson

The purpose of this paper is to develop a holistic understanding of extant studies addressing the impact of commercialization on fans of elite sports.

9114

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a holistic understanding of extant studies addressing the impact of commercialization on fans of elite sports.

Design/methodology/approach

In doing this, the authors performed a structured review of 42 academic articles published between 1992 and 2020 that all focus on how fans respond and are affected by the commercialization of elite sports.

Findings

The structured review shows that the impacts of commercialization on fans relate to four different themes. These are (1) fan identity, (2) fan attitudes, (3) fan emotions and (4) fan behaviours. However, the analysis also shows that research within each category is largely scattered, and more research within each category is needed.

Originality/value

The paper highlights the complex and dynamic nature of commercialization. It presents a research agenda for future research and emphasizes a need to integrate the interests of several stakeholders when managing the impacts of elite sport commercialization.

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. 13 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 October 2022

Jackson Sears, Beth A. Cianfrone and Timothy Kellison

The usage of sport stadia for public service is increasingly common and may come in different forms. In the COVID-19 pandemic, this included sport entities hosting mass COVID-19…

Abstract

Purpose

The usage of sport stadia for public service is increasingly common and may come in different forms. In the COVID-19 pandemic, this included sport entities hosting mass COVID-19 vaccinations at their stadiums. The purpose of this study was to examine the branding effects of a COVID-19 mass vaccination center as communicated by (1) a sport entity (i.e. stadium and its two teams) and (2) the public.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyzed the entity's social media messages related to the mass vaccination center for the three groups, the stadium and its two sports team tenants (N = 48) while comparing the public's social media content about the vaccination center (N = 187). An empirical material coding analysis was conducted.

Findings

The sport entity's posts revealed 12 codes, five categories and two themes communicated about their brand: In this together–community impact and showcasing brand attributes. The public posts analysis revealed 21 codes, eight categories and four themes, creating brand awareness, establishing/reaffirming brand attributes, affective response and in this together–community response.

Originality/value

The identification of the two organization themes and four public themes provided an initial examination of the mass vaccination efforts' impact on the sport entity's brand. With the rise of stadia being utilized as public service venues (e.g. voting centers and disaster shelters), the results of the study can provide guidance to communicating the host team's brand during these times. Results also suggest the public perception of such service reflected positive opportunities for brand exposure and subsequent effects for the teams.

Details

International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, vol. 24 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1464-6668

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 20 February 2023

Chen Chen and Timothy Kellison

This paper aims to explore what environmental justice (EJ) can offer to sport management research and highlights the urgency for sport management scholars interested in…

1166

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore what environmental justice (EJ) can offer to sport management research and highlights the urgency for sport management scholars interested in environmental and ecological issues to engage with EJ as an important research agenda.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is primarily a position and conceptual paper. Drawing from multidisciplinary literature (e.g. critical human geography, environmental sociology, Indigenous studies and postcolonial studies), it provides an overview of the major conceptualizations of EJ and discusses important premises for sport management researchers to engage with EJ topics.

Findings

EJ offers opportunities for sport management researchers to form stronger analyses on existing racial, socio-economic, and gender-related inequities manifest in the sport industry. The incorporation of EJ can strengthen the emerging sport ecology research in sport management and offer opportunities for sport management researchers to form stronger analyses on existing racial, class and gender-related inequities manifest in the sport industry.

Originality/value

It provides a critical and original intervention to the sport management literature. EJ's emphasis on power and its position at the convergence of social movements, public policy, and scholarship hold important potential for sport management researchers to advance scholarship with “actions,” addressing environmental harms and seeking practical solutions for enhancing communities' well-being.

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. 13 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 7 December 2020

Dalia Sedky, Wael Kortam and Ehab AbouAish

The purpose of this study is to examine how sports marketing can attract audiences towards less popular sports.

15597

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine how sports marketing can attract audiences towards less popular sports.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 22 interviews were conducted first to explore the opinions of sports professionals about how audiences can be attracted towards less popular sports. Then 479 responses to an online questionnaire were collected. The online questionnaire includes a pretest-posttest experiment in which each respondent has watched a video. Confirmatory factor analysis, reliability test and hierarchical regression analysis have been performed.

Findings

The elements of sports marketing that can help to attract audiences towards less popular sports are sports media, sports advertising, star athlete and sports sponsorship. The performance of national teams moderates the relationship between sports advertising and attraction towards less popular sports.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, a definition of sustainable sports marketing is introduced for the first time. Sustainable sports marketing can be defined as the continuous implementation of marketing activities in the sports context to ensure the continuous existence of the sports themselves (all types of sports) and the prosperity of future generations. Elements that can attract audiences towards less popular sports have been examined for the first time.

Details

Journal of Humanities and Applied Social Sciences, vol. 4 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN:

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 8 May 2023

Junfeng Wang and Vera Butkouskaya

This study constructs the influence mechanism model of sustainable marketing activities (SMAs), event image, commemorative product perceived value and tourists’ behavioral…

2445

Abstract

Purpose

This study constructs the influence mechanism model of sustainable marketing activities (SMAs), event image, commemorative product perceived value and tourists’ behavioral intentions (TBIs) in the sports tourism context of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games. Additionally, the article discusses the role of event image and product perceived value in enhancing the SMAs’ effect on TBIs.

Design/methodology/approach

The research analyzed 315 valid questionnaires from tourists in the Chinese market by structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results indicate that SMAs positively impact sports tourism event image, tourists’ perceived commemorative product value and TBIs. Meanwhile, event image and product perceived value mediate the SMAs and TBIs relationship.

Research limitations/implications

Considering SMAs as essential for sustainable development, this paper contributes to the strategic management discipline. Additionally, the research expands the analysis of event image and product perceived value in the brand theory and customer behavior research.

Practical implications

The article outlines the principal value of SMAs implementation in enhancing behavioral intentions. It also reveals that a favorable event image and good perceived value can enhance SMAs’ effectiveness toward positively influencing TBIs, especially purchase intentions. It provides a new vision for nonprofit organizations to prioritize SMAs’ implementation in marketing strategies.

Originality/value

It is pioneering work with a complex research framework for SMAs implementation in the sports tourism context.

Details

Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Science, vol. 28 no. 55
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2218-0648

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 18 June 2019

Youngjoo Na and Jisu Kim

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the post type of the official account of the Korean fashion brands on Instagram and to analyze the images and keywords according to the use…

4571

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the post type of the official account of the Korean fashion brands on Instagram and to analyze the images and keywords according to the use of the hashtag in it. This study also will provide data of how fashion brands use the new media of Instagram and how they promote it.

Design/methodology/approach

This study investigated the types of postings and keywords of hashtag(#) of fashion brand’s official Instagram account in order to analyze the post type and keyword. In total, six apparel brand companies were selected, with two in each of three categories (classic casual brand, outdoor sports brand and designer character brand), and seven types of postings were classified (lookbook and product, collection, broadcasting ads, brand issue, sensibility pictures, sponsorship and event). The frequencies were collected according to their types that were confirmed by four fashion major specialists.

Findings

First, the proportion of the types of postings varied according to the characteristics of the brand. Second, the six brands used keywords of a symbol because it is important to convey brand identity. Third, the sensibility keywords of each brand were investigated, and one of the designer character brands used only practical keywords without sensibility keywords. Fourth, this study examined the number of Instagram hashtags and hearts to determine if the reaction was in alignment with the marketing trends of the company’s official Instagram account and consumers. One of the classic casual brands, one of the outdoor sports brands and both designer character brands showed a high proportion of types of posts on Instagram that well matched with consumer response. As a hypothesis of this study, it was supported that the posting types of images and hashtags will be different according to the characteristics of brand.

Originality/value

Instagram is the fastest growing social network service (SNS) globally, especially among young adults. Instagram is noted for its strong SNS marketing but it has not been well researched in the apparel industry. The study results will help improve the brand image and promotion by using official Instagram account in the apparel industry.

Details

International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, vol. 32 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0955-6222

Keywords

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