Athlete endorsers’ transgressions pose a dilemma for loyal fans who have established emotional attachments toward the individual. However, little is known regarding how fans maintain their support for the wrongdoer. Drawing on moral psychology and social identity theory, the current study proposes and examines a conceptual model incorporating athlete identification, moral emotions, moral reasoning strategies, and consumer evaluations. By using an actual scandal involving an NFL player (i.e., Ray Rice), the results show that fan identification suppresses the experience of negative moral emotions but facilitates fans’ moral disengagement processes, which enables fans to support the wrongdoer. Moreover, negative moral emotions motivate the moral coupling process. Findings contribute to the sport consumer behavior literature that highly identified fans seem to regulate negative emotions but deliberately select moral disengagement reasoning strategies to maintain their positive stance toward the wrongdoer and associated brands.

openAccessArticle: FalsePage Range: 345-345doi: 10.1016/j.smr.2011.11.002Harvest Date: 2016-01-12 15:11:29issueName:cover date: 2012-08-01pubType

Purpose -As a fixture in the mainstream media landscape, athletes, coaches, and sport celebrities are regularly used to promote products from sports equipment to high-end watches. With an intrinsic connection between athlete endorsers and sport-related products, it is the use of these endorsers to promote non-sport products that raises questions about their appropriateness as a marketing tool. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to develop an explanatory model that analyzes athlete endorser effectiveness in promoting non-sport products. Design/methodology/approach -An holistic approach was taken, examining the structural relationships of identification with an athlete and his/her sport to product-endorser congruency, perceived value, and purchase intentions, providing a preliminary overview of key socio-psychological factors that may influence the purchase intentions of endorsed products. Findings -This paper provides empirical insights about the effectiveness of athlete endorsers for non-sport products. The result was a 42-item, five factor model (i.e. Athlete Identification, Sport Identification, Match-Up, Perceived Value, and Purchase Intention) that fit the data adequately well.Research limitations/implications -This model provides academicians with a synthesized review, and application of the various factors that play a role in athlete endorser selection and viability. This model serves as a framework for future analysis. Practical implications -The paper includes a tactical approach that, when re-evaluated, can provide a model to adapt and adopt in the selection of product or brand endorsers. Originality/value -This paper fulfills an identified need to develop a model to test the oft adopted, yet highly risky, method of selecting an athlete to endorse products that do not have an intrinsic link to the sport in which he or she is employed.

Experiential learning has become a driving force of universities around the world, and is a crucial part of many sport management programs. This is particularly true given the competitive nature of the field and the rapid changes the industry continuously faces. This work seeks to reexamine the sport management curricula to ensure a progression and evolution toward a superior level of student preparedness for their internship experiences. Through the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods, our major findings recommend a focus on academic, experiential, and professional development. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed along with limitations and directions for further investigation.

PurposeThis paper aims to determine if single-item (SI) needs' and values' measures have similar reliability and validity values to multi-item (MI) measures of the same constructs and thus could be substituted by sport marketers to predict internal motivating aspects of sport consumer attitudes and behavior. In addition, the authors wish to determine whether a small subset of needs and values listed in current measures are sufficient to predict sport consumer attitudes and behavior.Design/methodology/approachIn this two-study design, the first study was a national sample (N = 439) comparing reliability and validity of single-item scales to multi-item scales. In the second study the authors collected data from fans and spectators of four different teams (N1 = 583; N2 = 1164; N3 = 213; N4 = 404) to determine the impact of needs and values on sport consumer attitudes and behavior.FindingsThe authors determined that in 89% of the scales, single-item measures of needs and values were just as reliable and valid as their associated multi-item measures. The authors also found that a small subset of the needs and values explain a meaningful amount of variance in sport consumer attitudes and behaviors.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors determined that in 89% of the scales, single-item measures of needs and values were just as reliable and valid as their associated multi-item measures. The authors also found that a small subset of the needs and values explain a meaningful amount of variance in sport consumer attitudes and behaviors.Originality/valueThe authors show that as motives for sport consumption, single-item measures of personal needs and values are equivalent to multi-item measures and not all needs and values used in previous sport research are necessary because they do not predict a meaningful amount of variance in sport consumer attitudes and behaviors. The authors identified a small number of single-item measures that practitioners can easily use in short surveys that will predict a statistically meaningful amount of variance in sport consumer attitudes and behaviors.