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International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship
Impact of core product quality on sport fans’ emotions and behavioral intentions
Behzad Foroughi Davoud Nikbin Sunghyup Sean Hyun Mohamad Iranmanesh
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Behzad Foroughi Davoud Nikbin Sunghyup Sean Hyun Mohamad Iranmanesh , (2016),"Impact of
core product quality on sport fans’ emotions and behavioral intentions", International Journal of Sports
Marketing and Sponsorship, Vol. 17 Iss 2 pp. 110 - 129
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Impact of core product quality
on sport fans’emotions and
behavioral intentions
Behzad Foroughi
School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia
Davoud Nikbin
Faculty of Business, Multimedia University, Melaka, Malaysia
Sunghyup Sean Hyun
School of Tourism, Hanyang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, and
Mohamad Iranmanesh
School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among the core product quality
(team characteristics and player performance), emotion (anxiety, anger, dejection, happiness, and
excitement), and the fans behavioral intentions.
Design/methodology/approach –Data were gathered on the team characteristics and player
performance, emotions of anxiety, anger, dejection, happiness, and excitement using a survey from
subjects comprised of 233 spectators attending Iranian Premier League soccer matches.
Findings –The results showed that both the core product quality dimensions of the team
characteristics and player performance are related significantly to the negative emotion of anxiety and
both positive emotions of excitement and happiness. Moreover, the positive emotions of excitement
and happiness were positively related to the fan attendance, while the negative emotions of anxiety
and dejection were negatively and significantly related to the fans behavioral intentions. The practical
implications of the findings are discussed briefly.
Originality/value –The paper provides useful information for sports marketing executives,
suggesting that they strive for unique organizational advantages and employ them in their marketing
messages when their teams are unsuccessful. Such a strategy can allow organizations to maximize the
positive emotions of spectators in the face of poor core product quality.
Keywords Consumer behaviour, Behavioural intention, Iran, Emotion, Soccer, Core product quality
Paper type Research paper
Executive summary
As in all service industries, the provision of high-quality service to consumers in
professional sports organizations promotes customer satisfaction and loyalty, which in
turn enhances the profitability of the service provider. Therefore, this study examined
the relationship between core product quality, spectators’emotions, and behavioral
intentions at soccer matches in Iran. The core product at a sporting event refers to the
entertainment of competition based on the uncertainty of the game outcome, or to
physical goods/services associated with the excitement of the sporting event, or
to both. Data were collected using a convenience sampling method at six football games
of the Premier League in Azadi Stadium in Iran. A supervisor and ten trained research
International Journal of Sports
Marketing and Sponsorship
Vol. 17 No. 2, 2016
pp. 110-129
© Emerald Group PublishingLimited
1464-6668
DOI 10.1108/IJSMS-04-2016-010
Received 18 July 2013
Revised 18 March 2014
13 June 2014
8 February 2015
Accepted 28 October 2015
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1464-6668.htm
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by
the Korean Government (MSIP) (No. 2015R1A5A7037751).
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assistants were placed at all stadium gates to ensure the representation of all
spectators. The data, analyzed using structural equation modeling AMOS, showed that
although some of the hypothesized relationships were weak, an increase in perceived
core product quality may yield increases in consumer excitement and happiness and a
decrease in consumer anxiety during games. Moreover, excitement, happiness, anxiety,
and dejection were related to behavioral intentions. These results suggest that sports
marketing executives should strive for unique organizational advantages and employ
them in their marketing messages when their teams are unsuccessful. Such a strategy
can allow organizations to maximize the positive emotions of spectators in the face of
poor core product quality.
Introduction
Quality has been suggested to be a key issue for the success of service organizations
because it is related to increased consumer loyalty and higher profits for the
organizations (Dagger and Sweeney, 2006; Verhoef, 2003; Zeithaml and Binter, 2003).
A customer with positive service quality perceptions is likely to report high levels of
satisfaction and subsequently develop attitudinal and behavioral loyalty to the
organization and its services (Dagger and Sweeney, 2007; Hyun, 2010; Keillor et al.,
2007; Lee et al., 2007; Olorunniwo et al., 2006).
Although the link between the service quality and consumer loyalty is well
documented in the services marketing literature, it has not been established in the
sports spectator industry. This is because of the differences between the purchase
decision making of a general consumer and a sport fan consumer. These differences
relate to the important role of variables, such as the team identification (Robinson et al.,
2005; Trail et al., 2003), fan motivation (Mahony et al., 2002; Robinson et al., 2004),
involvement (Funk et al., 2002, 2004), and brand associations (Boyle and Magnusson,
2007; Hyun, 2009; Hyun and Kim, 2011; Hyun and Han, 2012; Ross, 2007) on the
spectators’purchase decision-making process. Although the above-mentioned
variables have been shown to significantly affect the development of fan loyalty, the
role of service quality is still open to discussion. Some attempts have been made to
measure the service quality in spectator sports (Lee et al., 2011; Theodorakis et al., 2011)
and examine the role of different service aspects on the development of positive
spectators’behavioral intentions (Brady et al., 2006; Hightower et al., 2002; Wakefield
and Blodgett, 1994, 1996, 1999). The studies published thus far did not provide a clear
conclusion as to whether the service quality plays a role in the development of the
spectators’loyalty.
Consistent with previous studies such as Madrigal (1995) and Rasmussen (1999), this
study argues that consumer perceptions of the sportscape are not the primary
determinants of emotions, satisfaction, and behavioral intention. This investigation
argues that core product quality is also important to spectators’emotions and behavioral
intentions in team sport. Furthermore, the core sport product is the actual event that
occurs on the playing surface (Masteralexix et al., 2009), and it is an uncontrollable
variable that creates unique challenges for sport marketers. As a result, sport marketing
researchers have sharply focussed on understanding the influence controllable variables,
like service quality and performance, have on customer satisfaction and behavioral
intentions. But unlike these studies, this research suggests that there is a causal
relationship between core product quality and spectators emotions.
Previous studies have emphasized the importance of spectator emotions in sporting
events. For example, Holt (1995) stated that attending a sporting event in a stadium
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evokes a wide range of emotional responses, from positive ones (such as feelings of
excitement) to negative ones (such as anger and feelings of disappointment). Deighton
(1992) mentioned that the level of arousal or suspense is enhanced at sporting events
because competitive sports games are a type of unscripted performance in which the
outcomes are uncertain. Nevertheless, little is known about the array of different
emotions experienced by spectators during sporting events and how the specific
emotions contribute to the fan’s intention to attend the future games. Of the few studies
conducted on this topic, Madrigal (1995) reported that the affective state during a
basketball game was a significant predictor of fan satisfaction, whereas Trail et al.
(2003) as well as Harrolle et al. (2010) noted that the affective state was crucial to future
fan behavior. Another study conducted by Kim et al. (2013) investigated the effects of
excitement (drama) on behavioral consequences such as attendance. However, these
studies did not discuss the wide range of emotions experienced by sport spectators and
how the various emotions affect the spectator’s intention to attend future games.
Cunningham et al. (2011) also suggested that it is crucial for sport marketers to
understand their fans’emotions and feelings that drive their behaviors. Therefore,
understanding the role of emotion on fan behavior has great research potential and can
expand our knowledge of sport consumers. Based on this evidence, research on the link
between emotions and attendance is needed to help sport marketers develop strategies
to improve the fan attendance and retention.
This study focussed on the football industry in Iran. Various studies and surveys in
Iran suggest that what is currently known as sport marketing is limited to only sales of
tickets and sports products (Estiri et al., 2010; Khabiri et al., 2004). On the other hand,
there has been no research on the spectators’attendance with regard to their emotions
and core product quality in Iran. A study of the core product quality and emotions on the
fan attendance is crucial for assisting club managers in the development of strategies for
increasing the spectator attendance and improving the customer retention.
The present study makes a number of contributions to sports marketing research.
First, although previous research has studied the effects of different service aspects on
spectators’behavioral intentions, there are no clear conclusions as to whether core
product quality in sports is influential in the development of spectators’loyalty.
Furthermore, unlike previous studies in the sports marketing context, this study
considered the wide range of emotions experienced by spectators and examined how
these specific emotions contribute to spectators’behavioral intentions. Previous studies
such as Harrolle et al. (2010) and Trail et al. (2003) have considered affective responses
as a single variable, while Kim et al. (2013) investigated only the effects of drama
(excitement) on behavioral consequences such as attendance. Moreover, this study
examined the effects of core product quality on the array of different emotions
experienced by spectators during sporting events. Finally, the majority of research on
service quality in sports marketing has been conducted in a Western context and few
studies have examined the topic in an Eastern cultural context. Iran is a suitable place
for a study that examines these variables from an Eastern perspective. Therefore, this
study examined the relationships among core product quality, spectators’emotions,
and behavioral intentions at Iranian Premier League soccer matches.
Literature review
Emotions
Although there is a lack of consensus when defining the emotions among researchers
(Scherer, 2005; Vallerand and Blanchard, 2000), it is commonly accepted that emotions
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are a response to a stimulus event (Deci and Ryan, 1980; Scherer, 2005), and involve
subjective experiences (cognitive component), physiological changes (arousal
component) and action tendencies (e.g. body posture or facial expressions).
A growing body of literature has highlighted the importance of understanding
emotional reactions in the service industries (Biscaia et al., 2012; Hyun et al., 2011; Hyun
and Kang, 2014; Hyun and Kim, 2014; Kwak et al., 2011). On the other hand, little is
known regarding the emotions experienced by spectators at sporting events and their
consequences. Of the few studies conducted on this topic, Madrigal (1995) suggested
that the emotional status during a basketball game was a significant predictor of the
fans’satisfaction, whereas Trail et al. (2003) reported that the affective state had a
critical effect on the future fans’behavior. Nevertheless, these studies did not discuss
the wide range of emotions experienced by sport spectators. Furthermore, the emotions
analyzed in most of the previous studies are usually based on the mere valence (either
positive or negative) and the behavioral consequences of specific emotions were
ignored. For example, Harrolle et al. (2010) investigated the predictors of conative
loyalty and found that affective responses as a whole were a predictor. In addition,
Trail et al. (2003) investigated sports spectator consumption intentions and found that
affective states as a whole were one of the factors explaining consumption intentions.
However, they did not specifically investigate the effects of each dimension of emotions.
Kim et al. (2013) investigated only the effects of excitement (drama) on behavioral
consequences such as attendance. In turn, Sumino and Harada (2004) considered six
categories of emotions ( joy, anger, sadness, excitement, worry, and love) from the
consumption emotion set (CES: Richins et al., 1997) to measure the affective experience
of football fans at the stadium. Their study examined the relationship between the
specific emotions and subsequent behavioral intentions. On the other hand, the CES
was not developed for use in a sporting context and the factorial validity was not
checked in a sporting context yet, representing an important limitation to analyzing the
spectators’emotions.
Context analysis is fundamental to a study of emotions (Lazarus, 2000). Therefore,
the emotional constructs designed in sport settings (Isberg, 2000; Jones et al., 2005;
Lazarus, 2000) should be considered when examining the emotions of fans at sporting
events. Jones et al. (2005) developed the sport emotion questionnaire (SEQ) using both
qualitative and quantitative approaches, and identified five emotion categories
covering a range of unpleasant and pleasant emotions. The unpleasant emotions
included anger (response to an event perceived as being offensive), anxiety (reflects the
uncertainty of attaining a goal), and dejection (results from the gap between the
individual’s expectations and the activity in progress), whereas the pleasant emotions
were happiness (results from the positive experience with the sport), and excitement
(favorable expectations of reaching a specific goal). The SEQ provided evidence of the
factorial validity, criterion validity, and proved to be a valid tool for measuring
emotions. To that extent, the SEQ was used in the current study to examine the
emotions experienced by spectators during football games.
Sports as an entertainment is a unique form of experiential consumption. According
to (Holt, 1995), spectator sport involves a range of experiential elements of consumption
behavior (e.g. accounting, evaluating, and appreciating). For example, attending a
professional sporting event at a stadium can evoke a full range of emotional responses,
ranging from positive emotions, such as the feelings of excitement and awe, to negative
emotions, such as anger and feelings of disappointment (Holt, 1995). Similarly,
consumers report that they watch sporting broadcasts because of the emotional
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rewards they receive from watching (Raney, 2006). When compared to other types of
entertainment media genres (e.g. comedy, reality show, drama, animation, late night
talk show) sports fans have reported more intensive emotional responses when viewing
a sport on television (Gantz et al., 2006). The level of arousal or suspense is even greater
in sport because competitive sporting events are a type of unscripted performance, in
which the outcomes are uncertain (Deighton, 1992). Therefore, it appears that
emotion is an essential psychological component associated with the consumption of
spectator sport.
Over the past few decades, however, research on the sports consumer behavior has
tended to overlook the implications of the emotional aspect in modeling sport consumer
behavior. The large body of sport consumer behavior research has been expanded
around the notion that people are rational beings who make logical decisions. On the
other hand, from the fans’perspective, feelings and emotions guide their decisions and
behaviors, not logical and analytical processes. Cunningham et al. (2011) contended that
it is crucial for sport marketers to understand their fans’emotions and feelings that
drive their behaviors. Therefore, understanding the role of emotion on fan behavior has
great research potential and can expand the knowledge of sport consumers.
Core product quality and emotion
Kotler (1989) defined a product as “anything that can be offered to a market for
attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.”He
further explained that products should be viewed on three levels: core product, actual
product, and augmented product. He then defined the core product as “what the
buyer is really buying.”In a sporting event, Masteralexix et al. (2009) defined the core
spectator sport product as the actual event on the playing surface. According to
Schaaf (1995), the core product at a sporting event refers to the entertainment of
competition based on the uncertainty of the game’s outcome, or physical goods or
services associated with the excitement of the sporting event, or both. This definition
of the core product in spectator sports includes the game-related components.
Previous research supports this conceptualization and provides the basis for the
conclusion that the core product in sport is derived from sport-related factors, such as
the quality of the home and opposing teams, winning percentage, place in the
standings, team history, number of star players on the team, reputation of the team,
strategies, and skills (Braunstein et al., 2005; Ferreira and Armstrong, 2004; Hansen and
Gauthier, 1989; Zhang et al.,1997).
Previous studies in the area suggests that there are two important constructs
pertaining to the core product at sporting events: team characteristics and player
performance (Garvin, 1984; Greenwell, 2001; James and Ross, 2004; Yoshida and James,
2010; Zhang et al., 1997). In Harrolle and Trail (2007) study these two constructs were
named as “quality of the play”and “outcome of the game.”The team characteristics
refer to the customer’s perceptions of the home teams’basic features based on the team
standing, winning percentage, number of star players, and team history, whereas the
player performance refers to the customer’s perceptions of a player’s physical and
technical superiority to perform well, play hard, and show exciting plays.
With respect to the fans’emotions, it was hypothesized that a customer’s
perceptions of the core product dimensions influence the fans’positive and negative
emotions. Previous research in the area, such as Yoshida and James (2010), highlighted
that the customers’perceptions of the core product quality affect their game
satisfaction. According to Harrolle et al. (2010), after spectators or fans disconfirm or
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confirm their expectations on the quality and/or outcome of the game, they have either
a positive or a negative affective response and a certain level of satisfaction or
dissatisfaction with the quality and/or outcome of the game. In line with Westbrook
and Oliver (1991), who defined the consumption emotion, refers to a set of emotional
responses elicited during a product/service consumption experience, the customer
satisfaction can be classified as an emotion because it is often defined as the reaction or
attitude of the customer to an organization’s offerings (Neeley and Schumann, 2000).
Therefore, it can be hypothesized that the core product quality affects the fans’
emotions. This is also in line with Westerbeek and Shilbury (2003),who stated that the
core sport product creates an emotional value, which in turn leads to satisfaction.
Moreover, based on the previous literature, the dimensions of the core product quality,
including the team characteristics and player performance, are sport-specific and are
associated more with a sense of pleasure, excitement, and achievement than with
functional services (Madrigal, 1995; Trail et al., 2003). In line with this discussion, this
paper proposes the following two research hypotheses:
H1.1. The fans’positive perceptions of team characteristics have a negative impact
on their anxiety.
H1.2. The fans’positive perceptions of the team characteristics have a negative
impact on their anger.
H1.3. The fans’positive perceptions of the team characteristics have a negative
impact on their dejection.
H1.4. The fans’positive perceptions of the team characteristics have a positive
impact on their excitement.
H1.5. The fans’positive perceptions of the team characteristics have a positive
impact on their happiness.
H2.1. The fans’positive perceptions of the player performance have a negative
impact on their anxiety.
H2.2. The fans’positive perceptions of the player performance have a negative
impact on their anger.
H2.3. The fans’positive perceptions of the player performance have a negative
impact on their dejection.
H2.4. The fans’positive perceptions of the player performance have a positive
impact on their excitement.
H2.5. The fans’positive perceptions of the player performance have a positive
impact on their happiness.
Emotional and behavioral intention
The behavioral intention is defined as “the degree to which a person has formulated
conscious plans to perform or not to perform some specified future behavior”
(Westerbeek and Shilbury, 2003, p. 214). That is, the intention to perform a behavior is
the proximal cause of such behavior (Shim et al., 2001). Because the behavioral
intentions have been specified as a surrogate indicator of the actual behavior in
marketing studies (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975), this study also used the behavioral
intentions as an outcome construct influenced by emotions. A common assumption in
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the service-related literature is that positive emotions stimulate favorable behavioral
intentions, whereas negative emotions have an opposite effect (Schoefer and
Diamantopoulos, 2008). According to Zeithaml et al. (1996), favorable behavioral
intentions include aspects, such as saying positive things and recommending the
service to others, paying a price premium, or expressing cognitive loyalty to the
organization. In contrast, unfavorable behavioral intentions include aspects, such as
complaining to friends or external agencies, switching to competitors and decreasing
the amount of business to the company.
The role of emotions in consumer behavior has attracted growing interest because
emotions play a significant, central role in our lives (Burns and Neisner, 2006). Sirakaya
et al. (2004) reported that it is particularly important to understand emotions within
the context of leisure because emotional reactions are indelibly intertwined in the
attendees’experience. Moreover, Sirakaya et al. (2004) noted that it is particularly
important to understand experiential phenomena, such as emotions, within the context
of tourism and leisure but very little research has been conducted on the role of
emotions within this context (Bigne and Andreu, 2004).
Hong et al. (2005) suggested that the positive emotional bond with a club is crucial to
the spectator’s intention to attend games and purchase merchandise. Trail et al. (2005)
and Harrolle et al. (2010) found that affective responses influence conative loyalty
through self-esteem responses. Similarly, Trail et al. (2003) in their study on sport
spectator consumption behavior highlighted that many factor such as motives,
identification, expectancies, disconfirmation or confirmation of expectancies, and
self-esteem behavioral intentions and affective state affect sport spectator consumption
intentions. Sumino and Harada (2004) as well as Kim et al. (2013) reported that
excitement is a predictor of the intentions to attend future games. On the other hand,
negative emotions during service consumption experiences may induce unfavorable
behavioral intentions (Bougie et al., 2003) For example, Zeelenberg and Pieters (2004)
reported that disappointment was a significant predictor of switching and a negative
word-of-mouth. These studies highlight the need to examine the behavioral tendencies
associated with each specific emotion (Zeelenberg and Pieters, 2004). Therefore, based
on the above, this study hypothesizes:
H3.1. Anxiety experienced during games negatively influences the fans’behavioral
intentions.
H3.2. Dejection experienced during games negatively influences the fans’
behavioral intentions.
H3.3. Anger experienced during games negatively influences the fans’behavioral
intentions.
H3.4. Happiness experienced during games positively influences the fans’
behavioral intentions.
H3.5. Excitement experienced during games positively influences the fans’
behavioral intentions.
Conceptual model
Based on the literature review, a research framework was developed to study the
linkage between the core product quality, emotion, and behavioral intentions in
the context of professional football in Iran (see Figure 1). This model suggested that the
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dimensions of the core product quality (team characteristics and player performance)
influence various emotions (anxiety, anger, dejection, happiness, and excitement),
which have an effect on the fans’behavioral intentions.
Method
Research context
Football is possibly the most popular sport in Iran, with only wrestling and volleyball
coming close to matching its popularity. Football has been a part of life for Iranians for
many decades and is played in schools, alleys, streets, and football clubs nationwide.
The current professional league structure has been in place since 2001. The Iran
Premier League (IPL), also known as the Persian Gulf Cup, is the highest level of club
football in Iran. Below it is the Azadegan League, also known as the first division,
which consists of two 12-team groups. The number of teams in each league often
changes from season to season, due to a lack of professional management in the lower
levels of the system. Currently, the IPL is the only league that is considered professional
in Iran. This study focusses on only the spectators of the IPL.
Participants and data collection
The study sample consisted of spectators from the Iranian professional football league
who voluntarily agreed to participate under a guarantee of anonymity in their
responses. Through numerous conversations with athletic department executives,
permission was granted to collect data in the football stadium after each game. The
stadium concourse and its surrounding areas have heavy foot traffic after an athletic
contest. Data were collected from the spectators of the Soccer Premier League during
six games at a stadium located in Tehran, during the 2012 soccer season, using a
convenience sample. The methods of data collection were the same for each game. The
research team distributed paper and pencil surveys to the respondents (supporters of
the home team aged 18 years or older) around the admission gates of the football
stadium after the football games, either within the stadium premises or the immediate
surroundings. A cover letter attached to each survey informed the respondents about
the purpose, the importance of their honest input, and the location for returning the
completed survey. A supervisor and ten trained research assistants were placed at all
stadium gates to ensure representation of all spectators (Robinson et al., 2005). The
questionnaires were completed at that moment and returned to the surveyors after
completion. A total of 250 completed questionnaires were returned of which 233 were
considered usable for data analyses. In total, 17 respondents answered the
questionnaires incompletely or were rejected due to improper answers.
Instrument
Multiple item scales were used to measure each construct in this study. Where possible,
validated scales from previous literature were used after a slight modification. The nine
Behavioral
Intentions
Emotion
• Anxiety
• Dejection
• Anger
• Happiness
• Excitement
Core product quality
• Team
characteristics
• Player
performance Figure 1.
Research framework
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questions regarding core product quality, including four items about team characteristics
and five items about player performance, were adapted from the literature based on the
work reported by Yoshida and James (2010), in which the respondents were asked to
respond to the statements using a seven-point Likert scale ranging from “strongly
disagree,”scored as 1, to “strongly agree,”scored as 7. Team characteristics were
measured using statements such as “The team has star players,”“The team has good
win/loss records,”and “The team has a good history.”Player performance was measured
by items such as “The team players have superior skills,”“The team plays hard at all
times,”and “The team players always try to do their best.”The 22 item scale for emotion
was adapted from Jones et al. (2005) “SEQ”to assess the emotions of anxiety, dejection,
anger, happiness and excitement. All items were measured using a seven-point Likert-
type scale, which was anchored by “not at all”(1) and “extremely”(7), to determine how
spectators felt during the games. Finally, the behavioral intentions were measured with a
scale adopted from (Cronin et al., 2000). The behavioral intentions included three different
types of behavioral consequences: intentions to attend future sporting events; positive
word-of-mouth intentions; and customer loyalty. Using a seven-point Likert type scale
ranging from “very low (1)”to “very high (7),”the participants were asked to rate the
likelihood of their acting on the suggested behaviors.
The researchers initially established content-based validity evidence of the
instrument. An initial survey questionnaire was sent to a panel of three experts
including faculty members of sport management programs, two of which were
bilingual in Persian and English. Each was asked to carefully review the survey to
determine whether the items adequately represented the domains of the underlying
constructs in terms of wording, clarity, format, relevance, and adequacy. In this
process, they conducted a structured review of the survey to ensure content relevance
and content representativeness, as recommended by Chatterji (2003). After this
validation process, the questionnaires were translated from English into Persian. Once
this initial translation process was completed, the questionnaires were translated back
into English by Persian experts, who also possessed an extensive background in
English and management research. The aims of this process were to detect any
disagreements in the underlying constructs due to translation. As suggested by
Hambleton and Kanjee (1993), this process was necessary to establish the equivalency
of the psychological measurements. The two translated questionnaires in Persian and
English were determined to maintain a similar meaning. In other words, the translated
questionnaires were regarded as representative of the original questionnaires.
To further ensure the clarity of the translated survey, a pilot study was performed
by distributing the questionnaire to 35 spectators to seek feedback on the questionnaire
design. The pilot test was conducted to improve the overall quality of the questionnaire.
To ensure honest responses, the subjects were informed that their responses would be
kept confidential and used for academic purposes. In addition, the respondents were
asked to provide comments relative to the wording, clarity, scoring routine, and
adequacy as recommended by Babbie (1998). Based on their feedback, several minor
changes were made to tailor the questionnaires to the target audience. The
questionnaires were deemed ready for distribution after these modifications.
Results
Measurement model
Following the recommendations in the literature (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988), we first
tested the measurement model before we tested the proposed conceptual model.
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This study evaluated measurement properties by running confirmatory factory
analysis. The results indicate that measurement model fit the data satisfactory ( χ
2
/
df ¼1.356, GFI ¼0.916, RMSEA ¼0.039, NFI ¼0.933, CFI ¼0.975). The reliability and
validity of the constructs were assessed (Table I). Composite reliability (CR) needs to be
assessed in connection with internal reliability which is similar to Cronbach’sα. The CR
of all constructs were above 0.7 (Table II), satisfying the Bagozzi and Yi (1988) rule of
thumb. Hair et al. (2010) suggested accepting items with loadings of at least 0.6. Since
the loadings associated with each of the indicators were all greater than 0.6 and
significant ( po0.01), individual item reliability was judged acceptable. The
Constructs and indicators Standardized factor loadings CR AVE
Team characteristics 0.956 0.846
The team has star players 0.938
The team has good win/loss records 0.940
The team has a good history 0.923
The team is a good quality team 0.877
Player performance 0.905 0.660
Team players have superior skills 0.953
Team plays hard at all the time 0.945
Team players always try to do their best 0.682
Team gives 100% every game 0.701
Team’s players perform well-executed plays 0.736
Anxiety 0.828 0.546
Nervous 0.766
Anxious 0.784
Uneasy 0.692
Apprehensive 0.710
Anger 0.823 0.613
Irritated 0.617
Furious 0.833
Angry 0.874
Dejection 0.784 0.548
Upset 0.732
Sad 0.737
Disappointed 0.751
Happiness 0.955 0.877
Happy 0.917
Pleased 0.954
Joyful 0.938
Excitement 0.919 0.740
Excited 0.888
Energetic 0.942
Exhilarated 0.860
Enthusiastic 0.738
Behavioral intention 0.908 0.767
The probability that you will attend another sporting
event of your team is 0.908
The likelihood that you would recommend (team name)
game to a friend is 0.874
If you had to attend this game again, the probability you
would make the same choice is 0.845
Notes: Model fit: χ
2
(348) ¼471.791; Q¼1.356; GFI ¼0.916; RMSEA ¼0.039; NFI ¼0.933; CFI ¼0.975
Table I.
Reliability and
convergent validity
tests
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convergent validity was evaluated using the average variance extracted (AVE). The
AVE of all constructs was above 0.5, signifying satisfactory degree of convergent
validity (Fornell and Larcker, 1981).
Discriminant validity is assessed by comparing the shared variance (squared
correlation) between each pair of constructs against the average of the AVEs for these
two constructs. Within each of the possible pairs of constructs, the shared variance
observed is lower than the average of their AVEs (Table II), indicating discriminant
validity (Fornell and Larcker, 1981).
Structural model and hypotheses tests
Fit indices of the structural model showed good fit ( χ
2
/df ¼1.713, GFI ¼0.902, RMSEA
¼0.055, NFI ¼0.913, CFI ¼0.949). Figure 2 show the results of the structural model.
Team characteristics was found to negatively and significantly affect anxiety
(β¼−0.170, po0.01), and positively and significantly affect happiness (β¼0.138,
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
1. Behavioral intention 0.767
2. Team characteristics 0.009 0.846
3. Player performance 0.022 0.373 0.660
4. Anxiety 0.114 0.086 0.055 0.546
5. Anger 0.003 0.001 0.027 0.133 0.613
6. Dejection 0.092 0.004 0.001 0.205 0.187 0.548
7. Happiness 0.104 0.126 0.183 0.039 0.052 0.001 0.877
8. Excitement 0.114 0.106 0.141 0.010 0.063 0.027 0.278 0.740
Note: Diagonals (in italic) represent the AVE and the off diagonals represent the squared correlation
Table II.
Discriminant
validity test
Team
Characteristics
–0.170 –0.054
–0.076
0.160
0.047
0.004
0.138
0.315
0.238 0.123
0.192
0.162
–0.222
–0.035
–0.234
Player
Performance
Happiness
R2=20.3%
Excitement
R2=16.1%
Dejection
R2=0.5%
Anger
R2=3.6%
Anxiety
R2=8.8%
Behavioral
Intention
R2=19.8%
Notes: Solid lines are significant relationships and dotted line is
non-significant relationship. *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001
Figure 2.
Structural model and
hypotheses tests
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po0.05), and excitement ( β¼0.123, po0.05), whereas there was no a significant
relationship between the team characteristics and anger as well as dejection. Therefore,
H1.1,H1.4, and H1.5 are supported whereas H1.2 and H1.3 were not supported.
Regarding the relationship between the player performance and emotions, the player
performance had a significant relationship with anger ( β¼0.160, po0.01), excitement
(β¼0.238, po0.001), and happiness ( β¼0.315, po0.001) thus supporting H2.2,H2.4,
and H2.5. In addition, there was no significant relationship between the Player
Performance, anxiety and dejection, rejecting H2.1 and H2.3. Finally, the emotions of
anxiety ( β¼−0.234, po0.01), dejection ( β¼−0.222, po0.01), excitement ( β¼0.192,
po0.001), and happiness ( β¼0.162, po0.01) have a significant relationship with
behavioral intentions. Therefore, H3.1,H3.2,H3.4, and H3.5 were supported, whereas
H3.3 was rejected. The model explains 8.8 percent of the variance in anxiety,
3.6 percent in anger, 0.5 percent in dejection, 20.3 percent in happiness, 16.1 percent in
excitement, and 19.8 percent in behavioral intention.
Discussion and conclusions
The empirical results testing the relationships between the team characteristics and
emotions demonstrated that the team characteristics have a significant relationship with
anxiety, excitement, and happiness, whereas there was no significant relationship between
the team characteristics and anger as well as dejection. These findings suggest that as the
quality of a team increases, as the number of star players on a team increases, and as a
team develops a good winning record and history, spectators’anxiety during games
decreases and their excitement and happiness increases. Although some of the suggested
relationships are weak, increases in perceived core product quality may yield increases in
excitement and happiness and decreases in anxiety during games. This is consistent with
Trail et al. (2005) in which the variance in emotions by the disconfirmation of expectancies,
using items not dissimilar to team characteristics, was similar. In addition, the result on
the relationship between player performance and emotions suggests that player
performance has a significant relationship with the negative emotion of anger and both
positive emotions of excitement and happiness (a higher player performance implies
increased spectator excitement and happiness experienced during the game). This
suggests that team’s players having superior skills, using their maximum effort and doing
their best in each game could minimally decrease the spectators’anger while increasing
their excitement and happiness with the experience. This is also consistent with Trail et al.
(2005) in which the amount of variation in emotions was minimal and core product quality
had a small correlation with emotions. Notably, this model is among the few studies that
view the core sports product as the construct that has the most influence over customer
emotions. This approach was in order to bridge the gap between the study of spectator
sport and the study of traditional product and service industries. It is possible that the
unique nature of the sport product prevent it from behaving as a traditional product might
behave. Specifically, the core sport product may not have a causal influence over customer
emotions as it often does in other industries.
The results regarding core product quality provide useful implications for sports
marketers. As mentioned in the literature, many sports marketing researchers have
argued that the core sport product is an uncontrollable part of the team sport
consumption experience (Mullin et al., 2007; Masteralexix et al., 2009). Therefore, the
findings of this study may initially appear troubling given that the quality of
the uncontrollable core sport product is critical to generating positive emotions and
preventing negative emotions. Sports marketers cannot control the overall quality of the
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core product in the same manner as typical business executives, but they can utilize the
marketing mix to influence consumer perceptions of the organization overall. Specifically,
sports marketers can highlight other features of the organization to influence consumers’
actions. For example, they can improve the physical environment of the stadium and
other important factors to influence fans to attend games despite poor core product
quality. This practice has been employed by some marketers in the sports industry who
realized that, when faced with an unsuccessful teamin terms of core product quality, they
could highlight other features to influence and maintain their fans.
In addition, this study makes a significant contribution to sports marketing
literature by investigating the specific-emotion approach, rather than a valence-based
approach, to understand the behavioral intentions of spectators. In this regard, the
results of this study suggested that the dimensions of emotions including anxiety,
dejection, happiness, and excitement are related to the fans’behavioral intentions,
whereas there was no significant relationship between anger and behavioral intentions.
The positive emotions of excitement and happiness were positively related to the fans
behavioral intentions, whereas the negative emotions of anxiety and dejection were
negatively related to the fans behavioral intentions. Although the variance explained is
low and some of the suggested relationships are weak, positive emotions of happiness
and excitement cause increases behavioral intentions and decrease in negative emotion
may yield increases in behavioral intentions. The impact of positive emotions on the
spectators’attendance is consistent with previous research indicating that the joy
(happiness and excitement) experienced during a sporting event has a positive
influence on the spectator’s satisfaction and consequently behavioral intentions
(Kuenzel and Yassim, 2007; Madrigal, 1995). On the other hand, on-field performance is
unpredictable and clubs need to identify other critical factors that might stimulate
spectators’emotions to improve satisfaction and positive behavioral intentions.
Previous research has suggested that social facilitation (sharing the experience of the
sporting event with others) and auditory senses (such as the noise of the crowd) are
important predictors of spectators’positive emotions (Kuenzel and Yassim, 2007).
Therefore, club managers should provide socializing opportunities to spectators and
attempt to motivate them to participate in the co-creation process of football games.
Limitations and future research
This study suffered from a range of limitations that restrict the generalization of the
findings and opens directions for future research. First, this particular study focussed
on a sample from only one football league. Future research should focus on more
football leagues and collect data from more matches. Second, this study used the
“SEQ,”which was designed for athletes, not spectators, which may not completely
represent the other different kinds of emotions experienced by spectators during
football matches. Accordingly, future research can re-examine the factorial structure of
SEQ to evaluate its appropriateness to sport spectators. In addition, it may be more
important to include other emotions suggested by previous researchers, such as regret,
disappointment, sadness, love, admiration, and pride to better understand the variety
of emotions experienced during football matches. In addition, team characteristics and
player performance explained a low proportion of the individual emotions. This result
is somewhat different from the existing theoretical backgrounds. For instance, Trail
et al.’s (2005) study explained over 36 percent of the variance in emotions of spectators
of basketball games by the disconfirmation of expectancies. Harrolle et al.’s (2010)
study explained approximately 64 percent of the variance in affective responses of
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spectators of baseball games. Possible interpretations for this are that: first, the context
of the present study is soccer games; and second, this study collected data from
spectators in Iran, where soccer teams do not have unique characteristics/images, so
that spectators may not have the strong emotional attachment toward team
characteristics that fans in other contexts exhibit. Furthermore, in Iran there are a
relatively small number of star soccer players and Iranian soccer teams generally rely
on team strategies rather than on player performance. For this reason, the data analysis
showed that player performance explained a low proportion of the individual emotions.
Even though this research could not derive a strong causal relationship between team
characteristics/player performance and individual emotions, it nonetheless suggests
meaningful research directions for future scholars. During a sports game, numerous
antecedents have direct and indirect impacts on the individual emotions. More
importantly, the antecedents may have very different impacts on emotions according to
the type of sport (e.g. baseball, basketball, soccer, etc.) and the origin country. For this
reason, future research is needed to further investigate more powerful predictors of
individual emotions in different types of sports and in different countries. Nevertheless,
this study supports existing evidence that the core product quality is a critical
construct influencing the spectators’emotions.
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Corresponding author
Sunghyup Sean Hyun can be contacted at: sshyun@hanyang.ac.kr
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