A longitudinal study of team-fan role identity on self-reported attendance behavior and future intentions

Attendance at college sporting events generates billions of dollars annually for athletic departments at the college level in the United States. Based on Identity Theory and prior research, we developed and tested two models that were successful in predicting actual attendance, attendance intentions (conative loyalty), and support for the team across time. Respondents (N = 165; 60% female, 59% Caucasian) filled out three surveys across the year. In Model A (RMSEA = .066, χ2/df = 50.02/29 = 1.73), prior season attendance, number of games intending to attend, and preseason team-fan role identity (Time 1) explained 63% of self-reported attendance behavior (Time 2). Those variables and postseason role identity (Time 2) explained 48.5% of attendance intentions (Time 3; Model A) and 43% of supporting the team in the future (Time 3; Model B, RMSEA = .060, χ2/df = 46.16/29 = 1.59). Sports marketers need to take into account both the impact of role identity as a fan of the team and attendance intentions, not just prior attendance behavior when predicting future attendance behavior and support for the tea

The effects of service provider employment status and service quality exchange on perceived organizational image and purchase intention

Volunteers are a major labor source in sports; however, the impact of volunteers on organizational image or on customers' repatronage intentions has not been studied. An experimental study (2 x 3 factorial design) was employed to explore the effect of Employment Status of the service provider and perceived Quality of Service Exchange on Perceived Organizational Image and Intention to Attend a Game with 461 college students who were potential customers of college sports. Quality of Service Exchange included Technical Aspects (presenting of information vs. presenting of no information) and Relational Aspects (willingness to help vs. unwillingness to help). Results showed that both Perceived Organizational Image and Intention to Attend a Game were primarily determined by Quality of Service Exchange. Employment Status and the interaction term between Employment Status and Quality of Service Exchange only minimally influenced the two dependent variables. This suggests that potential customers of college sports did not distinguish the service of volunteers from that of paid-employees.Volunteer Organizational image Service quality Employment status

Esports sponsorship : an empirical examination of esports consumers’ perceptions of non-endemic sponsors

Traditional sport organizations and their sponsors are beginning to embrace esports, but the effectiveness of non-endemic sponsorships in esports remains uncertain. Esports consumers are notoriously hostile to organizations they perceive as seeking to exploit them – including the growing ranks of non-endemics seeking to capitalize on the youth- and tech-centric esports industry. The purpose of this study is to evaluate esports consumers’ perceptions of non-endemic sponsorships. We adapt a well established sport sponsorship model to the context of esports to test key relationships’ salience to sponsors. We demonstrate that non-endemic sponsors can benefit from esports team sponsorship through enhanced attitudes, perceived goodwill, and product purchase intentions. Moreover, we find that there is only a small effect of esports brand attitude on attitude toward the sponsor, yet a larger effect on perceived goodwill and product purchase intentions. This suggests that firms with limited marketing budgets can benefit from increased goodwill and purchase intentions by sponsoring emerging esports teams who provide low-cost sponsorship opportunities

Liking the game: How can spectating motivations influence social media usage at live esports events?

There is no doubt that various social media services shape the ways in which we approach our daily lives. The ubiquitous nature of these services, afforded by mobile devices, means that we can take them with us wherever we go — including when we attend live events. Uncovering why individuals use social media during live events can help improve event organization, marketing, and the experiences of attendees. Our understanding of the motivations for using social media during live events is, however, still lacking in depth, especially in regard to emerging live events such as esports. This study aims to answer the question: what motivates the use of social media during live esports events? Data was gathered via a survey (N=255) at the ‘Assembly 2016’ LAN-event, a major live esports event. We examine the relationships between using various social media services and the motivations for esports spectating, through the Motivation Scale for Sports Consumption. While the results indicate that using social media services while attending Assembly 2016 was quite popular, it seemed that in many cases social media usage was a distraction from esports spectating, a core activity of the event. The results provide implications as to how marketers of live esports events should encourage or control usage of social media by attendees.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe