Consumer experience quality: A review and extension of the sport management literature

Highlights

•	This article presents a conceptual framework of consumer experience quality that draws on multiple theories and bodies of literature.
•	A series of propositions are offered to understand the role of consumer experience quality in sport consumer decision-making.
•	The paper also specifies the conditions under which consumer experience quality is more likely to influence attitudinal and behavioral consequences.
•	This article provides necessary conceptual and theoretical clarity to guide future research.

Abstract

Over the last two decades, the number of studies examining the roles of the core sport product, ancillary services, social interactions among consumers, and relationship marketing programs in the sport context has grown. However, it is also true that these topics have been advanced in many independent research endeavors depending on the touch points (e.g., sport, service, social, and communication encounters) being assessed. To integrate this body of research with sport consumer behavior, the purpose of this conceptual paper, which represents a contribution to the 20th anniversary of Sport Management Review (SMR), is to introduce the construct of consumer experience quality as consisting of four important dimensions – core product, service, social network, and relationship investment quality – into the sport management literature. In order to explain the utility of the proposed construct in the sport context, this article presents an integrative conceptual framework that draws on multiple theories and bodies of literature. A series of propositions are offered to not only understand the role of consumer experience quality in sport consumer decision-making, but also to specify the conditions under which sport consumers are more likely to be satisfied with the core sport product and ancillary services, feel and behave in response to brand-related stimuli, and engage in both transactional and non-transactional behaviors. The paper concludes that future research should be directed at testing the propositions offered in the conceptual framework.

Keywords:

• Consumer experience
• Customer experience
• Consumer experience quality
• Brand experience
• Service quality
• Sport consumer behavior

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank George Cunningham and Alison Doherty for their helpful comments and thoughtful suggestions on a previous draft of this article.