Conference Paper

Lianopoulos, Y., Tsordia, C., Kassis, V., Theodorakis, N. D., & Costa, G. (2024, September 3–6). Predicting fans’ social media engagement: The role of brand associations and team identification [Paper presentation]. European Association for Sport Management (EASM) Conference, Paris, France.

Authors

Yannis Lianopoulos, Charitomeni Tsordia, Vassilis Kassis, Nicholas D. Theodorakis & George Costa

DOI

Download the EASM 2024 Abstracts book [PDF]

Abstract

With the widespread use of social media, sport clubs are increasingly dedicating significant resources to boost online interaction with their fans. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the interrelationships among team associations, team identification, and fans’ engagement with sport teams’ social media.

According to vanDoorn et al. (2010) customer engagement is defined as “customers’ behavioural manifestations toward a brand or firm, beyond purchase, resulting from motivational drivers” (p. 254). Muntinga et al. (2011) conceptualized SME in 3 hierarchical tiers: Consumption, Contribution and Creation. SME has been found to be predicted by brand associations (Schivinski et al., 2021) (anything retained in customers’ memory concerning the brand, Aaker, 1991). Keller’s (1993) theoretical approach of brand associations includes the dimensions Product-related attributes, Non-product-related attributes and Benefits which are associated to fans’ expectations from consumption. Brand associations might also predict SME indirectly, through team identification which is considered major construct in explaining fans’ behaviors and has been used as a mediator variable in previous studies (Wear et al., 2018). Prior findings have shown that brand associations are related to team identification (Wear et al., 2018) and that team identification impacts fans’ usage of their team’s Facebook page (Moyer et al., 2015).

Data from 213 football fans were obtained using an electronic questionnaire. Measures were borrowed from the literature (i.e. Gladden and Funk, 2002; Tsigilis et al., 2023) and Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling was employed for testing the hypotheses. Brand associations explained 61% of the variance of team identification, with Benefits (β=.70) and Nonproduct-related attributes (β=.13) having a statistically significant association with team identification. Brand associations and team identification explained 57% of the variance of Consumption, 40% of Contribution, and 26% of Creation. Identification was statistically significantly associated with all dimensions of SME (β=.36 for Consumption, β=.37 for Contribution, β=.39 for Creation) in line with previous findings (Moyer et al., 2015). Statistically significant structural paths were observed in Benefits/Consumption (β=.36), Benefits/Contribution (β=.23), and Nonproduct- related/Consumption (β=.14) relationships, supporting prior results in other than the sport-related context (Schivinski et al., 2021). Finally, identification mediated the relationships between Benefits and all SME dimensions (β=.25 Consumption, β=.26 Contribution, and β=.27 Creation), as well as the relationships between Non-product-related and SME dimensions (β=.05 Consumption, β=.05 Contribution, and β=.05 Creation).

This research contributed theoretically to the sport management literature by introducing team identification as a mean to enhance fans’ SME coming from brand associations. Identification’s role was pivotal for driving fans that hold positive Non-product-related attributes to increase both Contribution to their team’s social media and Content creation. Similarly, team identification was crucial for motivating fans who perceived benefits from their team to create content on their social media. A surprising finding was that Product-related attributes did not influence fans’ SME, neither directly, nor indirectly through team identification. This finding provides an interesting avenue for research, focusing on factors that impact the relationship. From a practical viewpoint, the results propose that team marketing managers should develop strategies to increase team identification to boost fans SME.