Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between sport team authenticity, fan identity and citizenship behaviors, and how the link between sport team authenticity and fan identity is moderated by sponsor philanthropy.
Design/methodology/approach
A web survey was distributed to baseball fans in an online community in South Korea. A total of 383 valid answered questionnaires were collected and tested with confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.
Findings
The findings suggested interrelationships between sport teams’ brand authenticity and fan identity and between fan identity and citizenship behavior. This work also confirms the moderating effect of a title sponsor’s philanthropic activities on the relationship between sport team authenticity and fan identity.
Practical implications
A sport team’s effort to maintain authenticity would intensify fan identity levels. Action plans that relate to team’s authenticity among fans are necessary. For example, the team could create a plan for the players to give back to the community by volunteering in community projects with the support of the sponsor. Building a team’s authentic culture with well-integrated philanthropy programs of a title sponsor would benefit the team in sustaining competitive advantages in a market.
Originality/value
The findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating the role of title sponsor’s philanthropic behavior on the sport industry. The relative importance of the team’s authenticity (congruency and fan orientation) for fan identity was increased when the perception of the sponsor’s philanthropy was high.
Recently, gamified wearable fitness trackers have received greater attention and usage among sport consumers. Although a moderate amount of aerobic physical activity can significantly reduce the risk of many serious illnesses, physical inactivity issues are still prominent. Although wearable fitness trackers have the potential to contribute to physical activity engagement and sustainable health outcomes, there are dwindling engagement and discontinuance issues. Thus, examining its gamification elements and role in physical activity becomes critical. This study examined the gamification elements in wearable fitness trackers and their role in physical activity and sports engagement. A comprehensive literature review yielded 26 articles that empirically measured a variety of gamification features and the effect of the device on physical activity and sports engagement. The study suggests three key gamification themes: goal-based, social-based, and rewards-based gamification that can be a point of interest for future scholars and practitioners. Based on the review, we propose a conceptual framework that embraces motivational affordances and engagement in physical activity and sports.
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