A role of team and organizational identification in the success of cause-related sport marketing

As sport marketers are increasingly engaging in cause-related sport marketing (CRSM) programs, there is a growing interest in understanding what CRSM characteristics and circumstances can lead to success. This study extends prior research by examining the direct and moderating impacts of team identification and cause organizational identification on consumer attitudes toward cause related sport marketing (CRSM) programs using intercollegiate sport contexts in the United States. A two groups (high vs. low-fit CRSM messages), between subject, and post-test only experiment (N = 309) denoted that respondents showed more positive attitudes toward high-fit CRSM messages and both team identification and cause organizational identification had different moderating effects of sport/cause fit on attitudes. Fit between a sport team and a cause had a greater impact on attitudes when consumer affinity toward the sport team was more positive. However, fit had little or no impact when consumer affinity toward the cause was positive, but it played a significant and positive role when consumers showed low affinity toward the cause.     

The effect of familiarity on associated sponsor and event brand attitudes following negative celebrity endorser publicity

This research examined how familiarity with a brand influences how negative publicity related to a celebrity endorser is perceived. Specifically, the current research determined if familiarity with event and sponsor brands may temper any negative consequences of being linked with negative celebrity endorser publicity. Two studies were conducted to investigate this aim. Study 1 (n = 136) used unfamiliar brands and indicated attitudes towards the selected sponsor and the event brands were significantly reduced after negative publicity surrounding an associated celebrity endorser emerged. In contrast, individuals not exposed to negative publicity did not report reduced attitude scores. Study 2 (n = 272) used unfamiliar and familiar brands and found that negative publicity surrounding celebrity endorsers has the capacity to weaken attitudes towards associated event and sponsor brands. However, any negative impact was tempered by an individual's familiarity with the respective brand, indicating brand familiarity has a moderating effect on brand attitudes within the sports marketplace. This research furthers understandings related to sport sponsorship theory by assessing the role of brand familiarity in tempering information transference. Additionally, the paper provides insights to the events category which has not been researched previously. Brand managers can use this information to develop proactive and reactive strategies to employ to protect their brands when celebrity endorsers attract negative publicity.     

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Purchaser Style Inventory for Sport Products (PSISP)

Consumers are bombarded every day by numerous promotion messages, and their decision making in purchasing sport goods or services is frequently confused by these advertised information (Lysonski, Durvasula, & Zotos, 1996). For this reason, research in consumer decision-making styles has become increasingly popular. In 2009, Bae, Lam, and Jackson developed the Purchaser Style Inventory for Sport Products (PSISP) to identify consumers’ shopping behaviors. However, the PSISP was exploratory in nature. The purpose of this study was to validate the PSISP using confirmatory factor analysis. Participants (N = 455) were college students in the southern region of the United States. Fit indices (e.g., CFI = .92, SRMR = .068, RMSEA = .065: 90% CI = .062; .068) indicated the model provided reasonable fit to the data. After model respecification, the 37-item PSISP-II model significantly (p < .001) improved and included nine latent factors: Quality, Brand, Fashion, Recreation, Price, Impulse, Confusion, Habit, and Endorsement. It was concluded that the PSISP-II was a reliable scale in measuring consumer decision-making styles in purchasing sport products.     

Introducing branded communities in sport for building strong brand relations in social media

Brand communities have become an important aspect for brand management in social media. However, many brands have failed to establish a successful online brand community. In this study, we introduce branded communities as an alternative concept to brand communities. In contrast to brand communities, a branded community does not revolve around a specific (sport) brand, but around any interest or need. However, a specific brand makes use of the community for marketing purposes by sponsoring or operating the community. We emphasize the suitability of sport as an interest around which branded communities can be built as well as links of branded communities to sport sponsorship. We empirically studied the factors which influence the success of this phenomenon and the effects of operating or sponsoring such a community for a brand by using an online survey (N = 501) of members of a branded online community relating to football. The results demonstrate the relevance of topic interest (i.e., identification and involvement with football) and the quality of the community as determinants of interest in and loyalty towards a branded community. The brand owner benefits from an increase in brand loyalty for those community members who are aware of the brand as the operator of the community, whereby awareness of this sponsorship does not decrease loyalty towards the community. Our research contributes to previous knowledge by proving that branded communities are both an effective means for companies to deploy sponsorship and branding strategies in social media and provide a promising opportunity for sport managers to generate value.     

Dimensions of Market Demand Associated with Taekwondo Schools in North America: Development of a Scale

Since the introduction of martial arts in the United States, the sport of Taekwondo (TKD) has rapidly grown and developed. Although the elevated interest in this sport has increased the magnitude of the TKD market, no systematic studies have been conducted to investigate the market demand variables associated with TKD schools in North America. To a great extent, lack of study has been due to the unavailability of a viable measure. The purpose of this study was to identify the dimensions of market demand for TKD schools and develop the Scale of Market Demand Associated with Taekwondo School (SMD-TKD). Research participants (N = 205) were TKD school members who were 18 years and older from 22 TKD schools in major cities of Florida. A factor analysis using principal component extraction and varimax rotation produced six factors with 51 items returned (i.e., Personal Benefits, School Operation, Instruction Quality, Program Offering, Locker Room, and Cultural Learning). Multiples regression analysis revealed that all market demand factors, except for Program Offering and Cultural Learning, were positively (p < .05) predictive of TKD consumption, suggesting that the SMD-TKD is useful for marketing studies on TKD consumers.     

Core values brand building in sport: Stakeholder attitudes towards intercollegiate athletics and university brand congruency

The purpose of this case study was to investigate stakeholder attitudes toward athletic department behavioral congruency with the stated core values of a major BCS¹ university located in the Southwestern portion of the United States. Research has indicated that positive and negative attitudes toward intercollegiate athletics can contribute to the perceptions of congruency with the established university mission and values. Over time, however, the increase in negative attitudes attributed to athletic department behavior brings into question their congruency with the university core values. Document analysis and personal interviews (N = 13) were conducted with individuals from each of six university internal and external stakeholder groups. Findings revealed four primary themes: (a) Excellence Equals Winning, (b) For Public Relations Purposes Only, (c) Separation and Isolation of the Athletic Department, and (d) Lack of Leadership from the Top-Down. Implications and future research concerning university brand image and core value accountability are discussed.     

Women's 2011 Football World Cup: The impact of perceived images of women's soccer and the World Cup 2011 on interest in attending matches

The popularity of women's soccer has increased in Germany since the inauguration of the sport in 1970 by the German Football Association. The purpose of this study is to analyze the current image of women's soccer in general and the pre-event image of the World Cup 2011 in particular, as well as the key drivers and indicators that trigger interest in attending women's soccer matches. The study sample consists of sport-interested individuals who were questioned concerning their attitudes and actions related to the attendance at women's soccer matches at different leisure facilities and sport events in Germany in 2009 (n = 1284). Additive image indexes were created in order to evaluate the respective images of women's soccer and the Women's World Cup. Regression analyses were applied to test the key drivers for interest in attending matches. The results suggest that age is important in determining the perceived image of women's soccer and the Women's World Cup and gender influences the perception of the pre-event image of the Women's World Cup. Moreover, various image indicators influence future behavior which applies as well to age. No differences were found regarding an effect of gender on future behavior. Regarding women's soccer it can be said that the more interesting, exciting and cheerful it is perceived to be, the higher the interest in attending matches. These attributes can be used in marketing communications to foster game attendance.     

Olympic medals and demo-economic factors: Novel predictors,the ex-host effect,the exact role of team size,and the “population-GDP” model revisited

The present study revisited the problem of estimating Olympic success by critical demo-economic indicators. The sample consisted of the 75 winner countries at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games (not previously analyzed). Medal totals were log-linearly regressed on land, population, GDP, urban population, inflation, growth rate, unemployment, labor force, health expenditures, ex-host, and team size. Multiple regression assumptions were tested with proper diagnostics including collinearity. Olympic team size was the best single predictors of Olympic medals (R² = 0.690, p < 0.001), and as an alternative criterion variable was significantly regressed on population, growth rate, health expenditure, and unemployment (R² = 0.563, p < 0.001). Medal totals were significantly regressed on population, ex-host, health expenditure, growth rate, and unemployment (R² = 0.541, p < 0.001). The classical population-GDP model extracted only 28% of the variance in total medals (R² = 0.277, p < 0.001), and this was slightly improved when combined with unemployment (R² = 0.365, p < 0.001). It appears that the size of the Olympic team plays the role of transmitting the composite impact of a country's size and economy to the end-phase of Olympic success. Winning Olympic medals depends on the combined potential of population, wealth, growth rate, unemployment, ex-host, and social-sport expenditures. Larger and wealthier countries win more medals by “producing” larger Olympic teams as a result of possessing more athletic talents and better support for social and sport related activities.     

“Pick and choose our battles” – Understanding organizational capacity in a sport for development and peace organization

A growing number of sport for development and peace (SDP) organizations seek to address social issues through sport. Hall et al. (2003) created a multidimensional framework that suggests SDP and other nonprofit organizations need human resources, financial, and structural capacities to accomplish their organizational goals and objectives, but may face challenges with developing these capacities. The current study used this framework and examined the capacities of Gainline Africa – a small SDP nonprofit organization based in North America and operating programming in an East African post-conflict community – to identify critical elements that influenced the organization's ability to fulfill its mission. Semi-structured interviews (n = 10) were conducted with its North American staff members. The study's findings build upon the theoretical understanding of organizational capacity within nonprofit sport organizations, and several new elements such as community funding and managing nontraditional Global North-Global South dynamics, were revealed that could be unique to the SDP context. Practically speaking, smaller SDP organizations can use the findings to help increase their organizational capacity through leveraging local partnerships and understanding the role and usage of paid versus volunteer staff members.     

Five dimensions of brand personality traits in sport

The first purpose of this study was to elaborate upon existing critiques and return to the fundamental brand personality concept by reexamining personality trait theory (i.e., lexical approach) and the sport brand personality literature. Based on a conceptualisation of sport brand personality, the second purpose was to develop an instrument for measuring brand personality in sport based on the restricted definition that excludes non-human personality traits. We adopted the lexical approach in an effort to explore the application of the HEXACO model for obtaining a set of representative personality traits (N = 36) both applicable and relevant to sport brands. For the purpose of this study, a sport brand × subject structure was utilised to find major sport brand personality dimensions. As a representative brand in sport, the National Football League was selected. Two data sets were collected from college students. The 36 sport brand personality traits were submitted to a principal axis factor analysis on the first data set (N = 196). The analysis identified five factors (i.e., Agreeableness, Extraversion/Emotionality, Openness, Conscientiousness, and Honesty) that closely resemble the structure of human personality models. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis confirmed that the newly developed five-factor model has an acceptable fit to the second data set (N = 155). This study identified that the lexical approach can provide a conceptual and methodological foundation when developing brand personality instruments.     

Social and charitable impacts of a charity-affiliated sport event: A mixed methods study

In this mixed methods research, the authors examine a unique type of small-scale event – a charity-affiliated sport event – and define and measure its social and charitable impacts as perceived by residents. Findings from interviews (N = 37) and surveys (N = 459) with residents indicated that the event’s social impacts can be defined by its capacity to develop social capital, enhance collective identity and pride, and promote sport, health, and well-being. Three types of charitable impacts also emerged, including empathy for cause, informational support, and tangible support. Of them, empathy for cause, which addresses a central social issue in the host community, had the strongest association with residents’ perceptions of social impacts. These results provide evidence of a variety of positive impacts that a charity-affiliated sport event has on a community, which can be used to bolster appeals for corporate sponsorship and government support to assist in event delivery.     

Modification of the Volunteer Functions Inventory for application in youth sports

The purpose of this study was to modify the Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI) to be specifically applicable to assess volunteer motivation in youth sport settings. Based on a comprehensive review of literature, the VFI items were first modified to reflect the context of youth sports. Testing of measurement properties was accomplished through two studies. In Study One, the modified VFI was administered to volunteers (N = 515) of a nationwide youth soccer organization. Data were randomly split into two-halves: one for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with principal-axis extraction and oblique rotation, and the other for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with maximum likelihood estimation. In the EFA, six factors emerged which were consistent with the dimensions of the VFI; however, 12 items were eliminated due to double loading or misspecification, resulting in 18 items being retained. The CFA revealed that the data fit the 6-factor model well. In Study Two, the resolved scale was re-validated through a sample of 262 volunteers of local youth sport leagues. Overall, findings of these two studies suggest that the modified VFI for youth sports is a valid and reliable scale. This scale may be adopted to study various volunteer motivation issues associated with youth sport organizations and events.     

Who is more influenced by customer equity drivers? A moderator analysis in a professional soccer context

Despite the recent progress in understanding consumer moderators, much of this work has focused on the satisfaction-behavioral intentions link. There is a lack of research regarding the potential moderating effects of consumer variables on the relationship between the three dimensions of customer equity (value, brand, and relationship equity) and behavioral intentions. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine how the effects of value, brand, and relationship equity on consumer behavioral intentions are enhanced by demographic (age and gender) and relational (season-ticket purchase) moderators. Furthermore, this study views brand equity as a psychological moderator and attempts to investigate the moderating effects of brand equity on the relationships between value equity, relationship equity, and behavioral intentions. Data were collected from spectators at a professional soccer event in Japan (n = 383). The results indicate that the effect of brand equity on behavioral intentions is positive and significant, while relationship equity has positive effects on both brand equity and behavioral intentions. A series of moderator analyses using the multi-group SEM method revealed that the influences of brand and relationship equity on behavioral intentions are stronger for younger consumers, men, and season-ticket holders than for older consumers, women, and non-season-ticket holders. Moreover, the moderator analyses verified that the effect of value equity on behavioral intentions was positive and significant only for those spectators belonging to the low brand equity categorization. The research findings, contributions, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Modelling the decision to volunteer in organised sports

Using a heterodox economic approach, the purpose of this paper is twofold: to analyse the determinants of (1) volunteering in organised sports, and (2) time committed to that volunteering. By means of regression analysis of secondary data from a nation-wide volunteer survey with two waves (2004: n = 15,000; 2009: n = 20,005), it was established that human capital, female gender and the motive of shaping society had a negative influence on the decision to volunteer while the number of engagements in other volunteering had a positive effect. Time committed to volunteering was determined by male gender, having children, meeting people, club membership, shaping society and number of voluntary engagements. The volunteer workforce is thus very heterogeneous; however, sport club managers should recruit volunteers in particular amongst existing members.     

Dimensions of general market demand associated with professional team sports: Development of a scale

The purpose of this study was to develop the Scale of Market Demand to assess general market demand factors affecting the consumption of professional team sports, which was completed through the following five steps: (a) formulation of a theoretical framework, (b) development of a preliminary scale, (c) exploratory factor analysis (EFA), (d) confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and (e) examination of predictive validity through conducting a structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis. Following a community intercept method, professional sport consumers (N = 453) in four southeastern metropolitan areas responded to the scale. Data were randomly split into two halves: one for EFA and the other for CFA. In the EFA with alpha extraction and promax rotation, six factors with 31 items emerged: opposing team, home team, game promotion, economic consideration, sport epitome, and schedule convenience. In the CFA with maximum likelihood estimation, five factors with 17 most pertinent items were retained, without the sport epitome factor. This five-factor model displayed good fit to the data, discriminant validity, and high reliability. The SEM revealed that home team, opposing team, and game promotion were predictive of game re-attendance behaviour.     

Predicting spectators’ behavioural intentions in professional football: The role of satisfaction and service quality

The present study aimed to examine the relationships among service quality, satisfaction and spectators’ behavioural intentions, in the context of professional football. Using Gronroos’ (1984) theoretical framework, service quality was conceptualized in terms of technical (outcome) and functional (process-related) quality. Outcome quality was measured with two dimensions: game quality and team performance, while five dimensions were used to measure functional quality (tangibles, responsiveness, reliability, access and security). Three hundred and fifty (N = 350) spectators of a professional football game in Greece participated in the study. The results provided support of the two total service quality model used. Furthermore, outcome quality was shown to have a stronger influence on spectators’ satisfaction levels than functional quality; finally, satisfaction was shown to partially mediate the relationship between service quality and spectators’ behavioural intentions. These results contribute to our theoretical understanding of the factors that predict spectators’ loyalty in professional football. Sport marketing implications are also discussed.     

The impact of organizational capacity on voluntary engagement in sports clubs: A multi-level analysis

As volunteerism occurs in an organizational context, both individual factors and organizational characteristics affect (potential) volunteers in sports clubs. Whereas a number of researchers have studied individual-level determinants, knowledge on the role of organizational-level factors is limited. Based on the concept of organizational capacity, in the present study, the authors investigate whether and how human resources, financial, and structural capacities of sports clubs influence individual voluntary engagement. Using data from German football and track and field clubs (n = 296) and their members (n = 1222), the effects of organizational capacity on voluntary engagement within two subsamples, adult members and parents of underage members, are examined. The results of multi-level mixed effects regression analyses show that all capacity dimensions are significantly associated with voluntary engagement of both adult members and parents of underage members. A larger number of members and a greater share of volunteers reduce the amount of time a volunteer devotes to voluntary work; adult members are less likely to volunteer when their club has a balanced budget; and strategic planning increases the likelihood of individuals to volunteer informally. Overall, the results support the notion that the organizational context is more relevant to volunteering of adult members than individual characteristics and equally relevant to parents of underage members. Managerial implications to facilitate volunteering, such as shifting club goals towards youth development and sports for all provision, are discussed.     

A distance-running event and life satisfaction: The mediating roles of involvement

The increasing popularity of mass participant sport events has provided sport event managers and scholars with an opportunity to contribute to a broader conversation on ways to promote population health. Theoretically, these managed sport services should have the capacity to enhance event participants’ well-being; however, the empirical link between event participation and well-being remains inconclusive. By comparing individuals who participated in a distance-running event with individuals who did not participate in the event, this study examined the contributions of the distance-running event, behavioural loyalty, and psychological involvement to life satisfaction, an indicator of mental health and well-being. Participants (N = 742) were recruited from a 10-mile running event held in the United States. The results revealed that participation in a distance-running event was positively associated with weekly running activity, an indicator of behavioural loyalty. In addition, the two facets of psychological involvement in running—pleasure and sign—mediated the relationship between weekly running activity and life satisfaction. These findings provide empirical support that distance-running events can serve as environmental correlates of participants’ behavioural loyalty and that the contribution of behavioural loyalty to life satisfaction lies in whether event participants identify pleasant and symbolic aspects of the activity.     

Achieving organizational de-escalation: Exit strategy implementation among United States collegiate athletic departments

Given the increasing commitment associated with NCAA Division I participation, higher learning institutions in the United States have recently engaged in initial stages of de-escalation behavior, or the reversal of escalating commitment via project termination or redirection. However, difficulty arises upon implementation of the selected alternative exit strategy. Applying escalation of commitment theory, this collective case study explored exit strategy implementation among institutions (N = 8) having achieved organizational de-escalation. Participants (n = 32) included decision makers involved in athletics exit strategy implementation. NVivo 9 was employed for analyzing collected data throughout the course of a three-step coding process. Findings revealed the importance of presenting stakeholders with objective data concerning the true costs of participation in a non-consulting manner. Additionally, exit implementation should consider the most timely departure possible, accounting for project-specific consequences potentially hindering de-escalation achievement. Finally, decision makers at institutions incorporating newly formed athletic-related initiatives did not exhibit impression management in de-institutionalizing the former course of action.     

Female athlete endorsers: Determinants of effectiveness

In drawing from social role theory and the match-up hypothesis, the purpose of this study was to determine influential variables regarding the effectiveness of female athlete endorsers. A 2 (gender appropriate/gender inappropriate) × 2 (sport related product/non-sport related product) experiment was conducted with 296 participants from four different universities throughout the United States. Results indicated that type of sport had little effect on credibility measures. Further, the athlete's sport had no effect on athlete-product fit. The most important aspect relative to purchase intentions was the product being endorsed, not the sport in which the athlete competed. Results are discussed in terms of practical implications and theoretical considerations.