Articles
The Dual Roles of Trust and Risk in Sport Consumer Decision-Making in Social Commerce: An Information Adoption Model
The purpose of this study was to understand consumers’ decision-making process based on the information adoption model (IAM). In addition, the trust-risk perspective was incorporated into the IAM to establish a more comprehensive framework to explore consumers’ purchase intention. The results found that consumers’ intention to purchase sporting goods was significantly predicted by the IAM and perceptions of trust and risk. Specifically, the relationships within the IAM were positive and significant, and both argument quality and source credibility affected information usefulness, which further led to information adoption. Moreover, information adoption had a positive influence on purchase intention. In addition, perceived trust and risk played different roles in consumers’ information adoption process and purchase intention. This study initially explores sport consumers’ decision-making in social commerce. Integrating the IAM and trust-risk perspective provides insights into the consumers’ information adoption process and purchase intention of sporting goods.
Keywords: purchase intention, sporting goods, social commerce, information adoption model, perceived trust, perceived risk
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.32731/SMQ.324.122023.01
Managing Social Media Through Crisis: A Content Analysis of Instagram Posts Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Examining shifts in sport organizations’ social media content from before to during the pandemic-induced stoppage of play provides insight into digital branding during crises. Drawing on consumer-based brand equity and the context, content, and process framework, we examined adjustments made to brand image portrayal on Instagram and corresponding consumer engagement during the lockdown for two sport organizations at different seasonality stages. Results highlight how the National Basketball Association (NBA), facing the loss of their core product, utilized a need-based adjustment, while the National Football League (NFL) exhibited an opportunity-based adjustment. Analyses of consumer responses gauged the effectiveness of these two approaches, finding that the NFL was able to increase engagement, while the NBA suffered from declining engagement. Further investigation found that the NBA is still plagued by declined engagement since the pandemic, underscoring the importance of appropriate and effective digital branding during a crisis. While helping to fill the dearth of knowledge on how sport organizations operate under conditions outside of normalcy, this research improves our understanding of how social media content is managed during a crisis.
Keywords: COVID-19, brand equity, Instagram, social media content strategies
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.32731/SMQ.324.122023.02
Division I College Football Premium Seating: An Analysis of the Power Five and Group of Five, Clientele, and Luxury Suite Prices
In Division I college football, sustainability concerns exist from the growing financial divide between the Power Five and Group of Five conferences. Athletic departments can become more financially viable through generation of additional attendance revenue in the higher priced area of premium seating, but little research has been conducted on the topic. As the first premium seating study across all of Division I, results indicated the Power Five and Group of Five did not significantly differ on their available premium seating options with luxury suites, club seats, and loge boxes. Also, suite consumers were mainly half individuals/families and half corporate for both classifications. Further, the regression models explained approximately 60% of suite price from Conference Affiliation, Suite Capacity, Number of Suites, County Population, Facility Age, Non-Gameday Rental, and Private/Public Institution variables. Altogether, results highlighted the uniqueness of the college football market and its distinctiveness from professional sport.
Keywords: college football, premium seating, luxury suites, price, Power Five, Group of Five
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.32731/SMQ.324.122023.03
An Examination of Consumer’s Brand Loyalty and Purchase Intention Toward Collaborations in the Sport Brand Footwear Industry
Collaborations between sport footwear/apparel manufacturers and fashion icons (e.g., designers, musicians, celebrities) have become an integral marketing practice over the last decade. Although the number of footwear collaborations has continually grown across the industry, scholars have yet to evaluate the effects of such marketing practices. The focal aim of this study was to assess the impact of product collaborations on sport consumers who were familiar with sport shoe collaboration. A total of 345 respondents participated in an experimental study to test the effects of self-image congruence, brand loyalty, perceived brand fit, and purchase intention. Data were analyzed using SEM and ANOVA, and all hypotheses were supported, with results indicating the overarching influence of self-image congruity as well as the partial mediation of perceived brand fit between said congruity and brand loyalty.
Keywords: self-image congruity, purchase intention, brand loyalty, fashion, collaboration, co-brand, footwear, perceived brand fit
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.32731/SMQ.324.122023.04
How Changes in Team Performance Impact Team Identity
Despite a wealth of team identification research, little scholarship has focused on how considerable changes to a team’s performance may impact the meaning of the team identity (as such a meaning is understood/exposited by in-group members). To this end, we examined fans of a historically poor-performing team that had reversed course, becoming a winner. We conducted semi-structured interviews with supporters of Major League Baseball’s (MLB’s) Chicago Cubs to explore how the team’s 2016 World Series (i.e., championship) win had impacted supporters’ identification with the team. We noted two primary themes defining how the team identity had changed: (1) different expectations for performance following the championship; and (2) the team’s new success representing a threat to interviewees’ understanding of the team identity meaning. We also observed constants in the composition of the team identity, factors unchanged by the success. We make our primary contribution by addressing the role of considerable team performance changes in the meaning of team identity.
Keywords: team identification, sport consumer behavior, sport marketing
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.32731/SMQ.324.122023.05
An Updated Overview of Research Published in Sport Marketing Quarterly (2012 to 2022): A Tri-Method Approach
This article had two primary goals. The first goal was to update the previous study regarding the content analysis of Sport Marketing Quarterly (SMQ) by Peetz and Reams (2011). The second aim was to compare the prior review results by adding an in-depth analysis focusing on unique aspects by integrating three methods. Two hundred and seven articles published between 2012 and 2022 in SMQ were analyzed using bibliometric and content analysis and the paradigm funnel. Th e conceptual structure map of keywords is expressive of four clusters, while the co-citation analysis points to three. Media consumption, motives, social media, fan engagement, ticket sales, and brand management are some niche and emerging topics that may be discussed and noticed. In addition, satisfaction and corporate social responsibility are trending topics in SMQ. Last, this study offers a snapshot of the gaps, which outlines future directions for sport marketing studies in SMQ.
Keywords: bibliometric analysis, content analysis, intellectual structure, paradigm funnel, science mapping, Sport Marketing Quarterly
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.32731/SMQ.324.122023.06
