Conceptualization and Measurement of Fan Engagement: Empirical Evidence From a Professional Sport Context

Abstract

In the sport management literature, limited attention has been devoted to the conceptualization and measure ment of fan engagement. Two quantitative studies were completed to validate the proposed fan-engagement scale composed of three defining elements (management cooperation, prosocial behavior, and performance tolerance). The results from Study 1 provide evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the threefactor model of fan engagement. In Study 2, we assess nomological validity by examining the antecedents and consequences of fan engagement and found that team identification and basking in reflected glory played a particularly important role in increasing the three dimensions of fan engagement. Furthermore, the results indicate that performance tolerance has a positive effect on purchase intention. These findings highlight the importance of the sequential relationships between team identification, performance tolerance, and purchase intention.

Social media and sports: driving fan engagement with football clubs on Facebook

“…Brand Love as been associated with high levels of fanship (Wallace et al, 2014), which includes an emotional connection to a team, and is 'active, participatory, and empowering, with the passion and pleasure it creates' (Whitemkaper et al, 2012, p. 173). Past research has stressed the importance of emotional intensity in consumer behaviour (Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006), namely extrarole behaviours (Yoshida et al, 2014), which in a sport context are pro-social, effort-intensive behaviours, beyond transactions, directed toward a sport team and other fans (deRuyter & Wetzels, 2000). The love for the club and team identification is where these passionate behaviours originate (Dionisio et al, 2008), which may include advocacy (e.g.…”

“…These high levels of fandom, team identification and emotional attachment towards sport clubs have often been associated with the term 'engage' in the sport marketing literature (Yoshida, Gordon, Nakazawa, & Biscaia, 2014). Highly engaged fans are likely to develop non-transactional behaviours such as positive word-of-mouth; displays of sport fandom; consumer-to-consumer interactions in fan communities; and reading information about the team (Ahearne, Bhattacharya, & Gruen, 2005;deRuyter & Wetzels, 2000).…”

“…As such, in the sport management literature, research devoted to fan engagement has deserved limited attention (Mahan, 2011;Stavros, Meng, Westberg, & Farrelly, 2014), particularly on social media (Wallace, Wilson, & Miloch, 2011) and from the fan perspective (Clavio & Kian, 2010;Stavros et al, 2014). In fact, although research investigating issues on sport consumers' engagement spans nearly 30 years, most studies have been developed offline and focused on transactional behaviours (Yoshida et al, 2014), while the few developed online fail to consider a full set of behaviours and motivations associated with social media engagement, lacking theoretical depth (Filo et al, 2015). However, in order to use social media effectively, clubs need proper guidance on how to manage their presence online, namely by gaining more insights about their fans, motivations and behaviours.…”

Exploring PERMA in spectator sport: Applying positive psychology to examine the individual-level benefits of sport consumption

“…This lack of clarity is also present within the sport management literature where constructs such as commitment, involvement, identification, and attachment are used interchangeably to conceptualise engagement (Yoshida, Gordon, Nakazawa, & Biscaia, 2014). Recognising this problem, marketing (Brodie et al, 2011;Hollebeek, 2011) and sport management scholars (e.g., Yoshida et al, 2014) have conceptualised engagement as a dyadic interaction between a consumer and an organisation, or two or more consumers.Within the PERMA framework, engagement refers to the degree of immersion and concentration an individual experiences or dedicates to an activity (Csikszentmihalyi, 2013;Forgeard et al, 2011). Thus, in positive psychology engagement refers to a person's absorption derived from interaction with an object (Seligman, 2011).…”

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

“…Typically research has either tried to predict attendance intentions (Bodet & Bernache-Assolant, 2011;Gray & WertGray, 2012;Harrolle, Trail, Rodríguez, & Jordan, 2010;Matsuoka, Chelladurai, & Harada, 2003;Shapiro, Ridinger, & Trail, 2013;Trail, Anderson, & Fink, 2005;Wang, Zhang, & Tsuji, 2011;Wu, Tsai, & Hung, 2012;Yoshida, Gordon, Nakazawa, & Biscaia, 2014;) or has inappropriately measured past attendance and attempted to 'predict' it with measures taken afterwards (Bee & Havitz, 2010;Heere et al, 2011;Kwon, Trail, & Anderson, 2005;Laverie & Arnett, 2000). In addition, there have been economic models that attempted to predict attendance with limited success as well (Baade & Tiehen, 1990;Greenstein & Marcum, 1981).…”