Scholars have studied sport team identification for decades, advancing our understanding of the influence of a psychological connection to a sport team on attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. Despite the contribution of the study of team identification to the sport fan psychology and sport consumer behavior literatures, a critical issue is apparent. A review of the methods used by scholars to assess and study team identification uncovered a misinterpretation of participant responses to team identification scale items. In previous research, not-identified individuals have been examined as individuals with low team identification. We illustrate the problem with scales used to measure team identification, then propose one approach to resolving the problem with the most frequently used scale, the Sport Spectator Identification Scale. We report on the testing of a modified scale, the Sport Spectator Identification Scale–Revised (SSIS-R), to detect not-identified individuals. We conclude with suggestions moving forward the study of team identification in general.

openAccessArticle: Falsecover date: 2015-08-01pii: S1441-3523(14)00089-8Harvest Date: 2016-01-06 13:07:37issueName:Page Range: 396-396href scidir: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1441352314000898pubType

Scholars have frequently examined sponsorship effectiveness via survey instrument; however, no efforts have been made to gauge sponsorship effectiveness via social networking sites. As a medium for consumer activ ity and interaction, scholars and industry professionals can leverage social media to monitor the effects of sponsorship in real time, as consumers experience a sporting event. In this exploratory study, we employed a mixed methods study design to examine Twitter users' discussion of 2013 French Open sponsors during the tennis tournament. We found a weak positive relationship between sponsor-event functional fit and positive sponsor-related sentiment, and a weak positive relationship between a sponsor company's social media pres ence and event-related buzz. Through case study analysis, we discovered unintended misrepresentation and activation were apparent drivers of sponsor-related social media conversation during the 2013 French Open. As an emerging area for sponsorship research, we provide suggestions for future research into sponsorship and social media.

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Published 4 decades ago, “Basking in Reflected Glory: Three (Football) Field Studies” (Cialdini et al., 1976) is the most influential study of sport consumer behavior. This article features re-creations of Studies 1 and 2, exactly 40 years after the original publication. The results of Study 1 were reproduced, with participants more than twice as likely to wear school-affiliated apparel after wins and 55% less likely after losses. The study also extends the BIRGing literature in its investigation of the influence of gender and the effect’s salience over time. Study 2’s results were not reproduced. However, study participants were significantly more likely to use first-person plural pronouns, providing further empirical evidence of BIRGing behaviors. This article makes a novel contribution to the sport consumer behavior literature by advancing the study of one of the field’s most foundational theories and serving as an impetus for future investigations of BIRGing motivations.