Purpose With the ever-increasing popularity of smartphones, it has become one of the most important medium to increase sport fan engagement. However, very little attention has been paid to understand how fans use smartphones to follow sport. With that in mind, the purpose of this paper is to investigate specific factors that influence the use of smartphones in the sport consumption context. Design/methodology/approach This research empirically examined theoretical relationships between three categories of variables (perceptions toward smartphones, sport-specific factors, and smartphone-specific factors) and intention to use the smartphone in following sports. Findings Of the 11 proposed hypotheses, eight hypotheses were supported. Approximately 79.4 percent of variance in the usage intention was explained by the three categories of the variables. Originality/value As one of the first to take a holistic approach toward understanding sport consumption behaviors using smartphones, results of the current research can be employed as a base for studies examining other multi-functional technology medium in various sport settings.

The popularity of smartphones has led to the creation of sport-related mobile applications in the areas of games, fitness, information, and events for sport consumers. The main purpose of this study was to examine why college students use sport-related mobile applications and what benefits they received from their usage. The study employed the Motivation Scale for Sport Online Consumption and the Technology Acceptance Model to understand this usage in more detail. Using a mixed-method approach, the study revealed that college students identified fanship, convenience, and information as primary motives for using their sport-related mobile applications. For college students who are sport fans, supporting their fanship through these applications represents an important aspect of their lifestyle. Sport managers and sport application developers will benefit from understanding users' intentions and motives as the market for sport-related applications continues to grow.

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This study proposes a conceptual model to comprehensively understand how sports fans perceive and accept smartphones and applications in a sport consumption context by developing a series of propositions. Theoretically based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Sport Website Acceptance Model (SWAM), this study provides fundamental groundwork to better conceptualise sports fans' decision making processes involving the latest technology used to consume sport.

Using organizational justice literature, the current study aimed to examine the relationship between three dimensions of organizational justice (distributive, procedural, interactional justice) and affective commitment, and to explore the moderating effect of group cohesion on the relationship between the three dimensions of justice and affective commitment in a collegiate team sport context. Data were collected from 253 college student-athletes of two Football Bowl Subdivision institutions in the Southeastern United States. Results of three hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that all three dimensions of justice were positively and significantly related to affective commitment. In regard to the moderating effect, group cohesion significantly moderated the distributive justice–affective commitment and the interactional–affective commitment relationships. Specifically, the two significant relationships were significantly stronger for student-athletes who reported high levels of group cohesion than their counterparts. Strategies by coaches to improve athletes’ perceptions of fairness and group cohesion and suggestions for future researches were discussed.