Exploring Origins of Involvement: Understanding the Relationship Between Consumer Motives and Involvement with Professional Sport Teams

The Relationship Among Fans’ Involvement, Psychological Commitment, and Loyalty in Professional Team Sports

“…Kerstetter and Kovich (1997) examined the involvement of women's basketball spectators and found that there is a relationship between involvement and specific behaviors among spectators. Also, Funk et al (2004) confirmed the psychometric properties of a Team Sport Involvement (TSI) model revealing that nine antecedents represented four higher order facets of involvement (attraction, self-expression, centrality to lifestyle and risk). As far as Greek spectator sports are concerned, Nassis and Theodorakis (2008) confirmed the three-factor model of sport fans' involvement that Kyle et al (2003) had suggested, but the sample of the study was limited to university students.…”

“…Funk et al (2004) developed a model that measures 18 distinct antecedents of involvement among spectators of the WNBA in the United States of America and demonstrated that there is a significant correlation between facets of involvement and fans' attendance. Also, Shank and Beasley (1998) ascertained significant correlations between cognitive and affective involvement on the one hand, and fans' attendance, and other activities, such as watching games on television or listening to the radio and reading team news in the newspapers, on the other.…”

“…In the area of spectator sports, many researchers have found that there is a relationship between involvement and specific behaviors, such as fans' attendance (Funk et al 2004;Shank and Beasley, 1998). Funk et al (2004) developed a model that measures 18 distinct antecedents of involvement among spectators of the WNBA in the United States of America and demonstrated that there is a significant correlation between facets of involvement and fans' attendance.…”

“…This definition has been adapted to examine sport fans and spectators' involvement (Funk & James, 2001;Funk, Ridinger & Moorman, 2004). A wide range of research dealing with involvement measurement has been conducted in leisure and sport settings (Dimanche, Havitz & Howard, 1993;Kerstetter & Kovich, 1997).…”

Beyond irrationality and the ultras: some notes on female English rugby union fans and the ‘feminised’ sports crowd

“…Much of the recent growth in research on sports fandom is characterised by a focus on changing patterns of consumption and, more especially in the United States, on quantitative studies driven by social psychology and sports marketing: a largely statistical concern aimed at measuring primary motivations for fandom (see Chen, 2010;Clark et al, 2009;Funk et al 2004;Robinson & Trail, 2005;Smith & Stewart, 2007;Wann. Melnick, Russell & Pease, 2001).…”