Examining the antecedents of sport team brand equity: A dual-identification perspective

Although the practice of building brand equity in the context of professional sport teams is popular, the formation of sport team brand equity in the sport marketing literature is still relatively unknown and incompletely understood. In this study, the authors propose a dual-identification model to examine the formation of sport team brand equity in an Asia-based professional team sport setting. Baseball fans (N = 548) of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan participated in the self-administered survey. A Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model analysis revealed that marketplace characteristics (including group experience, salient experience, team history, and fan rituals) and brand-identified-related factors (including self-congruity and team brand prestige) were significantly related to identification with sport team and identification with sport team brand, respectively. In turn, both identification with sport team and identification with sport team brand were significant predictors of sport team brand equity. These findings highlight the importance of studying a dual-identification model in order to understand how sport team brand equity forms and suggest implications for sport team managers.     

Investigating the role of fan club membership on perceptions of team brand equity in football

Researchers have suggested that brand equity is vital for professional sport teams by focusing on the examination of sport fans in general. The current study aims to examine the differences in team brand equity perceptions between fan club members and non-members, and the predictive role of brand equity dimensions on behavioral intentions. Data were collected from fans of a professional football league (n = 2287) with an adapted version of the spectator-based brand equity scale. The results gathered through a confirmatory factor analysis provide evidence of fair psychometric properties of the measurement scale. A multi-group CFA analysis showed factorial stability of the model in both groups, while the latent mean comparisons revealed significant differences in the dimensions of brand mark, social interaction, commitment, team history, organizational attributes, team success, head coach, management, stadium, and internalization. In addition, a multi-group SEM analysis revealed that the relationships between brand equity dimensions and behavioral intentions are not significantly different among the groups. Social interaction, team success and internalization were the significant positive predictors of behavioral intentions among the overall sample. These findings highlight the importance of studying different types of consumers and suggest managerial implications, such as the need for clubs to establish reciprocal relationships with fans in order to increase their levels of internalization and contribute to increased behavioral intentions.     

The effects of perceived CSR,pride, team identification,and regional attachment: the moderating effect of gender

The aim of this paper was to investigate specific mechanisms of how sport fans’ perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) of teams could enhance their sense of pride, team identification, and regional attachment. The mediating effect of gender was also examined. A theoretical research model was investigated via multi-group structural equation modeling (SEM) using 317 survey responses. The results indicate that pride is an important mediator of the relationship between perceived CSR and team identification, and team identification was found an important predictor of regional attachment. Additionally, the results suggest that these relationships were much stronger amongst males. In both genders, perceived CSR was an important indicator for enhancing pride.     

Sport team personality: It’s not all about winning!

As there is still no commonly accepted scale to measure the brand personality of sport teams, the purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Sport Team Personality Scale (STPS) in a professional sport context. The authors conducted a series of studies in the United States and United Kingdom with fans of the English Premier League, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Football League, and the National Hockey League. The STPS contains 18 items that load onto six factors: success, talent, entertainment, dedication, admiration, and care. The authors compared this new scale with existing sport team personality scales and used it to explore team identification and perceptual similarities and differences among teams. Results indicate that teams map along performance (i.e., success and talent) and character (i.e., admiration and care) factors and that the character factor is a more important source of team identification than the performance factor. Taken together, these results illustrate how the STPS can help sport managers position and differentiate teams within a league to improve marketing outcomes.     

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.     

职业体育球迷态度忠诚度影响因素的实证研究

通过对球队认同感、顾客满意度与态度忠诚度之间的关系进行分析,为制定职业体育市场营销策略提供参考.研究结果得出：球队认同感和顾客满意度的提升能显著增加球迷的认知品牌忠诚度,认知品牌忠诚度则能够显著提升球迷的情感品牌忠诚度,情感品牌忠诚度在一定条件下能够提升球迷的意向品牌忠诚度,球迷对职业体育品牌的信任会增加对该品牌的喜好程度,进而会增加对该品牌所提供产品的再购意愿等.     

Self-categorization process in sport: An examination of the “Linsanity” phenomenon in Taiwan

The “Linsanity” phenomenon attracted an increase in attention toward the National Basketball Association (NBA) for a short period of time. Drawing on self-categorization theory to elucidate current literature on team identification, this research proposed a conceptual model delineating the social psychological process for international consumers during the phenomenon. Using an online survey with a convenience sample in Taiwan, structural equation modeling, including confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and path analysis, validated the conceptual model and confirmed the relationships between constructs in the model. Results indicated that Taiwanese identification positively influenced player identification, while player identification mediated the relationship between Taiwanese identification and team identification. Consequently, team identification positively influenced NBA involvement. The research findings together contribute to explicating the mechanism behind consumers’ self-categorization process during the “Linsanity” phenomenon while offering implications for international sport marketing. The research concludes with suggestions for future research.     

Creating fans from scratch: A qualitative analysis of child consumer brand perceptions of a new sport team

When a new sport team enters an existing league, branding becomes an important tool the team uses to establish itself and gain a following within the community. Previous research on new sport teams has focused on adult attachment and formation of fan communities, but few researchers have focused on children learning to value brands and branding techniques. Through this study, the authors examine the aspects of branding efforts, specifically branded imagery and associations, that children find important, relevant, and representative of a new sport team. A drawing contest for children ages 5–14 enrolled in public schools executed in conjunction with a local single-A baseball team after their inaugural season revealed many brand associations traditionally tied to adult fans of both new and established sport teams were irrelevant to the child participants included in this study. Branded imagery was also not used by any participants before the age of 7, extending current research on branding and child development to highlight the lack of effectiveness of branding on children younger than 7. Further findings are also discussed.     

Confirmatory Analysis of the Athletic Team Merchandise Model

Although sales of athletic team merchandise (ATM) contribute to the overall consumption of sport, a research effort that comprehensively measures aspects that trigger the consumption of ATM is lacking. In light of the gap, utilizing multiple theories and other concepts that describe product consumption, the authors of this article empirically examined a theoretical model to explain ATM purchasing intention. Seven hundred thirty-six individuals who had previously purchased ATM participated in the surveys. The confirmatory factor analyses suggests that the ATM model, consisting of personal values, team identification, brand attitude, past expenditure, perceived product attributes, expectancy disconfirmation, satisfaction, and purchase intention, has good psychometric properties, and is a good measurement for the purchase intention of ATM. Comprehensiveness of the model suggests researchers should measure factors explaining various commonly occurring consumption activities at a domain level.     

Determining the influence of the social versus physical context on environmentally responsible behaviour among cycling spectators

The paper explores the relationships between three factors and environmentally responsible behavioural intentions among cycling spectators: place attachment, subculture identification and subjective norms. Two categories of behavioural intentions are presented namely situational (while spectating) and future (before attending similar events). Analysis of covariance is used to test the relationships in a sample of 619 spectators from both road race and mountain bike events. The paper supports previous research highlighting the importance of the social dimension of sport spectating and the link to social norms that drive environmental behaviour. It also adds to existing research on place attachment as a precursor to environmentally responsible behaviour with reference to sport spectating.     

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.     

Beyond Tippekampen: the origins and maintenance of Scandinavian support for the Liverpool FC

Professional sport is a highly marketable product, whereby favourite teams often become ‘overseas sweethearts’ for millions of satellite supporters and their imagined community of like-minded fans. Scandinavia has historically proven to be a fertile market for English football and is home to some of the largest supporter groups for English clubs, in particular the Liverpool FC. This article examines the origins of Scandinavian identification with the Merseyside club and how satellite supporters in the region maintain a connection with the famous brand. Scandinavian supporters highlighted the importance of the media, especially the popularity of state-run television programmes such as Tippekampen, the team’s playing style and the presence of star players in their initial support for Liverpool FC and explained how they had turned to a virtual ‘third place’ to regularly connect and engage with fellow fans and the brand in cyberspace. In a global marketplace, satellite supporters are critical for the future of many brands and this article offers a valuable case study for those who seek to exploit these markets, monetize these consumers and build equity for their team brands.     

Conceptualizing employee identification with sport organizations: Sport Employee Identification (SEI)

The concepts of organizational identification and team identification have been researched heavily over the last half-century. However, scholars have failed to specifically examine organizational identification among sport employees. We develop a theoretical framework of organizational identification of sport employees, coined Sport Employee Identification (SEI). We conceptualize SEI as an amalgamation of organizational identification and team identification in which sport employees are both external (fans) and internal (employee) members of the sport organization. The development of the SEI model is based on related theory and further ethnographic data are collected over a four-month period within an intercollegiate athletics fundraising department. Implications for scholars and practitioners and avenues for future research are discussed.     

天津市社区体育现状调查与发展对策研究

运用文献分析、实地考察、访谈、数理统计等方法，围绕天津市社区体育管理体制、组织运行形式、产业化运作、专职人员与健身指导员队伍、新型社区体育运行机制以及社区体育发展中存在的主要问题进行调查与分析。在此基础上，提出加快城市社区体育发展的对策：政府主导作用应通过立法得以保证；官民结合是社区体育的新型组织与运行形式；建立高水平的科学健身指导队伍是当务之急；大力扶持非营利性产业化运作和产业开发是加速社区体育发展的主动力；构建新型社区体育模式是社区体育_丁作实现创新发展的重要途径。     

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.     

Exploring sport brand double jeopardy: The link between team market share and attitudinal loyalty

Marketers are charged with the responsibility of attracting consumers and encouraging loyalty for their brands. Double jeopardy, a marketing law observed across numerous product and service settings, contends that loyalty is largely influenced by a brand's market share. There have been suggestions that sport may be one of the few areas immune to such effects, providing researchers with an opportunity to test how sport brand loyalty may be impacted by market share. The current research capitalises on this opportunity by assessing the effects of market share on attitudinal loyalty reported by a sample of 794 Australian sport fans. ANOVA tests revealed that fans of high market share brands displayed higher levels of attitudinal loyalty towards their favourite teams in comparison to small market share team fans. Further tests revealed that differences existed in terms of the brand association perceptions held by high and small market share team fans, and how these contributed to predicting attitudinal loyalty. Consequently, sport marketers should be cognisant of double jeopardy effects when evaluating sport brands and formulating marketing strategies, though future research is needed to determine the full applicability of double jeopardy within the sport context.     

The moral disengagement in sport scale--short

A scale has recently been developed to measure moral disengagement in sport (Boardley & Kavussanu, 2007). It consists of 32 items that measure the eight mechanisms of moral disengagement proposed by Bandura (1991). In the present study, we aimed to: (a) examine whether a subset of these items could form a short version of the scale; (b) provide evidence for the construct validity of the short version; and (c) test its measurement invariance across sex and sport type. A total of 992 football, rugby, hockey, basketball, and netball players from three different samples completed the long version of the scale. Data analyses indicated that the short version of the scale consisted of eight items and had high internal consistency. Construct validity of the scale was evidenced via correlations with sport moral disengagement and prosocial and antisocial behaviour. Multisample confirmatory factor analyses established measurement invariance across sex and partial measurement invariance across four team sports. In conclusion, the short version of the scale is a reliable and valid measure of moral disengagement in sport.     

Empowerment within brand communities: Overcoming the Achilles’ Heel of scale-free networks

This study explored how consumer interactions evolve within an emerging brand community. Since newly formed brand communities are marked by the presence of scale-free networks, an ethnographic study among individuals in their second year of tailgating at American football games was conducted to examine whether group leaders were able to empower their followers and alleviate the Achilles’ Heel of scale-free networks. The authors investigated whether member empowerment led to a more balanced network of consumers, whereby individual group members increased their involvement and loyalty towards the group itself and the larger brand. Social network theory was used to examine the changes in relationships among individual consumers within the brand community, specifically focusing on the construct of centrality. Marketing implications associated with the changes and developments of these evolving brand communities are discussed.     

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.     

‘What about the community impact?’: The Corpus Christi ‘hook’

This case study draws on theory in the following areas (1) public financing of sport facilities and in particular, the method of bonds and the impact on and involvement of local taxpayers, (2) community impact of minor league sport teams, and (3) leveraging of sport teams and facilities. This case is centered on Justin Drew, the president of the Corpus Christi Hooks, who must work with city officials to ensure that his minor league baseball team does not lose local support. The city of Corpus Christi helped finance the Hooks’ stadium a few years prior, and now with new members on City Council, tough economic times, and a history of folded professional sports teams in the city, Drew must be proactive in seeing that the Hooks do not meet a similar fate.The case presents a common challenge confronted by communities that host professional sport teams. In many cases, cities must provide some level of public financing for sport facilities in order to attract or retain a team. To gain public support, various promises are made about the potential for the team to transform the community. However, once public funding is secured and a team and facility is in place, it is unclear who has the responsibility for delivering on these promises. The situation presented in this case is not unique. In fact, similar claims are made about the impact of a sports team, regardless of the size of the host community or the type of team. This case gives students the opportunity to measure impact and also think critically about how to leverage a sports team to create value for the community. Although the characters in the case are fictitious the case draws upon actual facts and data from public records regarding Corpus Christi and their minor league baseball team, the Hooks; thus, providing students with a realistic dilemma to consider. The case is intended for use in Sport Finance/Economics and Sport Policy courses, but could also be adapted for other courses such as Sport Marketing, Sport Communication, Facilities and Event Management or even Research Methods.