The purpose of this study was to identify key characteristics of word-of-mouth (WOM) communication and examine their impact on sport consumers’ perceived influence in sport viewership. Through an extensive literature review, we identified the characteristics of the message sender (i.e., expertise and trustworthiness) and the message (i.e., richness of message content and strength of message delivery) as determinants of perceived influence of WOM. We also examined the moderating effects of homophily (interpersonal factors) and involvement (the message receiver characteristics). Data were collected from sport consumers who had received a recommendation to watch a sporting event in the preceding 3 months and actually watched the event. The results indicate the positive effects of trustworthiness, richness of message content, and strength of message delivery on WOM influence. Homophily and involvement were found to have moderating effects. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

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The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in the relationship between sports consumers’ perceived influence of word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendation and its antecedents. We conducted a survey with sports consumers who had received a WOM recommendation to watch a sporting event and actually watched the event. Survey participants indicated how much the WOM recommendation influenced their sport-watching behavior. The results of structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that a recommender’s trustworthiness, the richness of message content, and the strength of message delivery were positively related to perceived influence of WOM recommendation. Latent mean analysis revealed that women perceived greater influence of WOM recommendation on their sport-watching behavior compared to men. Multigroup SEM indicated that trustworthiness had a positive relation with perceived influence of WOM recommendation only for female consumers, whereas strength of message delivery had a positive association with perceived influence of WOM recommendation only for male consumers.

Sport socialization research has revealed that a community is one of the most influential socializing agents. However, little is known about which aspects of a community promote sport socialization and how it occurs. In the current research, we identified and conceptualized two key factors characterizing sports teams’ fan communities, relative size and entitativity, and discussed how these factors influence sport socialization and its outcomes. First, we developed the model of community influence on sport socialization to depict the effects of relative size and entitativity on people’s perceptions and behaviors at the initial stage of their sport socialization. Second, we proposed the model of community influence on the outcomes of sport socialization, which explains how relative size and entitativity contribute to the outcomes of sport socialization.