Information Exposure Effect of Athletic Performance, Idolizing and Sportsmanship on Sports Fan Students

Abstract

Background. Teenagers who are into sports seek information about their sport, including information about their idol athletes. Idol athletes use social media platforms to distribute information to build their brand image among their fans. One of the social media platforms currently widely used by teenagers as well as by athletes to establish the athletes’ brand is Instagram. One type of information about athletes spread on Instagram includes aspects of athletic performance. Referring to the athlete brand image model, they reveal that athletic performance contains elements of sportsmanship. Sportsmanship is a material embedded in sports education as well as an attitude that each adolescent should develop. Study purpose. The purpose of this study was to elicit an overview of the effect of exposure to information about athletic performance on social media as well as its relationship with idolizing and the formation of sportsmanship values within themselves, both expressed directly and through online media. Materials and methods. The respondents of this study were 580 adolescents who actively took part in sports activity units at their respective schools and universities. This study applied means to compare followed by simple regression analysis. Results. The results show that adolescents prefer information that contains elements of sportsmanship, and rivalry. Exposure to information related to athletic performance disseminated by athletes through social media affects adolescents’ idolizing attitudes. Idolizing attitude also affects adolescents’ sportsmanship shown directly, however, it does not significantly affect sportsmanship being expressed through social media. Conclusions. Adolescents in different sociodemographic categories have different preferences in selecting information related to athletic performance from their idolized athletes on social media. The formation of sportsmanship in adolescents can be supported by their exposure to information that is related to athletic performance.