Consumer loyalty among fans of sports clubs: How much do they vary across disciplines?

Abstract

Background: In the sports sector, the expected outcome of having loyal fans is equated with the amount and frequency of game attendance, the purchase of team merchandise, following the club's results in the media, and participation in discussions about the club, whereas the level of loyalty is determined by team identification and customer satisfaction with the team's performance. However, previous studies have not investigated the differentiation of the loyalty of club fans across different sports disciplines.To fill this research gap, the goals of the study were to measure the difference in loyalty behaviors in sports club fans and their determinants across disciplines and to find whether the discipline can affect the general level of loyalty despite other determinants. Material and methods:The study was conducted in the form of an online survey (n = 1349) spread with the use of commercial advertisements in social media.Results: Football and speedway fans have higher levels of identification and consumption behaviors than fans of clubs belonging to other sports disciplines. Contrary to expectations, satisfaction with a team's performance made no significant difference among sport fans concerning match attendance and interest-in-media, and it had limited impact on merchandise purchasing. Conclusions:This study supports evidence from previous observations indicating the leading role of identification in enhancing loyalty behaviors among sports fans. The combination of findings provides some support for the conceptual premise that loyalty behaviors and their determining factors are varied across sports disciplines.

The association between Saudi football clubs and the loyalty of their fanbase, a cross-sectional study.

“…Purchasing a favorite football club's related products was one of the most important behavioral factors (Martin, 2013). It is also found that the football fans have the highest level of identification and they consume more club's products than the other sports fans such as volleyball (Kościołek, 2019). In this study, the findings show that the majority of the fans who participated in the study have purchased products related to their football club with a percentage of 53.3% and 12.2% answered that it is their duty as a fan of the team to purchase these products.…”

A produção do conhecimento da Educação Física sobre Educação Infantil como tema de pesquisa

“…A literatura aponta que há preditores importantíssimos para que o adepto tenha intenções comportamentais favoráveis. Por exemplo, a satisfação em relação aos serviços e aos produtos oferecidos e a identificação com a organização desportiva são os preditores mais identificados (Biscaia, Correia, Rosado, Maroco & Ross, 2012;eodorakis, Alexandris, Tsigilis & Karvounis, 2013;Biscaia, Correia, Yoshida, Rosado & Marôco, 2013;Rodrigues, Sousa & Fagundes, 2018;Kościołek, 2019;Worastcheck, Horbel & Popp, 2019). Esses dois preditores, além de forte influência direta, também tem forte influência ao exercer um papel de moderador (indireto) entre duas dimensões (sendo as intenções comportamentais favoráveis como desfecho).…”

The Impact of Social Media Marketing on Football – Fan Loyalty

“…The loyalty attitudes among supporters of sports teams indicate behavioural results in terms of the quantity and frequency of game attendance, watching the club's games on television, donning the club's colours and logo, and participating in debates about the team. Customer satisfaction and team identification are the two most crucial loyalty attitudes underlie loyalty actions (Kościółek, 2019).…”

“…Continually belonging to the same sports club for an extended time, expanding the size and breadth of membership, or recommending the club to others are all examples of loyalty in a sporting field. Additionally, behaviorally loyal consumers are less likely to transfer memberships even if a subscription is cheaper elsewhere since they are more inclined to complain about problems rather than changing service providers (Kościółek, 2019). Schijns et al, (2016) argued that an emotional bond with the sports team (also known as "my club"), a sense of duty to remain a member, and the perception that there are not many other clubs to switch to are all components of attitude loyalty.…”