635
Views
6
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Articles

Spectators’ points of attachment and their influence on behavioural intentions of women’s national football games

, , , &
Pages 903-923 | Published online: 17 Dec 2016
 

Abstract

Research on women’s football is still, especially in Asia, scarce. The purpose of this research has been to investigate the underlying points of attachment of women’s football spectators and how these influence future behaviour. The points of attachment scale – drawing on social identity theory – developed previously has been modified for the research setting to detect whether they are general determinants or country-specific indicators. Research was conducted in two countries, namely Japan and Germany. Surveys were conducted at two friendlies of the national team in each country (Japan: n = 607; Germany: n = 597). Attachment with the team, coach and women’s sport were defining overall attachment best. Intention to attend matches of the national team was significantly predicted by football attachment and previously attended games, while intention to attend matches of the league was significantly predicted by attachment with the coach and attended league games in the past.

Notes

1. Matsuoka et al., Spectators in Japan Women's National Football Team: Focusing on Characteristics of Stadium Spectators and Attitude toward Nadeshiko League.

2. Klein, ‘Determinanten der Sportaktivität und der Sportart im Lebenslauf’.

3. Weltfussball, Frauen Bundesliga 2011/2012, Zuschauer, Heimspiele.

4. Shilbury et al., Strategic Sport Marketing.

5. Wann and Branscombe, ‘Sports fans: Measuring degree of identification with their team’.

6. Trail et al., ‘Motives and Points of Attachment: Fans vs. Spectators in Intercollegiate Athletics’.

7. Kwon et al., ‘Are Multiple Points of Attachment Necessary to Predict Cognitive, Affective, Conative, or Behavioral Loyalty?’.

8. Howard and Sheth, The theory of buyer behaviour.

9. Blackwell et al., Consumer Behavior.

10. Funk, Consumer behaviour in sport and events: Marketing action.

11. Cialdini et al., ‘Basking in reflected glory: Three (football) field studies’; Wann and Branscombe, ‘Sports fans: Measuring degree of identification with their team’.

12. Bowlby, Attachment and Loss: Vol. I, Attachment.

13. Hogg and Vaughan, Social psychology.

14. Reimann and Aron, Self-Expansion Motivation and Inclusion of brands in the self. Toward a Theory of Brand Relationships; Schouten and McAlexander, ‘Subcultures of Consumption: An Ethnography of the New Biker’.

15. Park et al., ‘Attachment and Brand Attitude Strenght: Conceptual and Empirical Differentiation of Two Critical Brand Equitiy Drivers’.

16. Reimann and Aron, Self-Expansion Motivation and Inclusion of brands in the self. Toward a Theory of Brand Relationships.

17. Funk and James, ‘The psychological continuum model: A conceptual framework for understanding an individual’s psychological connection to sport’.

18. Funk and James, ‘Consumer Loyalty: The Meaning of Attachment in the Development of Sport Team Allegiance’.

19. Wann and Branscombe, ‘Sports fans: Measuring degree of identification with their team’.

20. Bowlby, Attachment and Loss: Vol. I, Attachment.

21. Ahearne et al., ‘Antecedents and consequences of customer-company identification: expanding the role of relationship marketing’; McAlexander et al., ‘Building brand community model of organizational identification’.

22. Funk, Consumer behaviour in sport and events: Marketing action.

23. Madden et al., ‘A comparison of the theory of planned behacviour and the theory of reasoned action’.

24. Coche, ‘What women’s soccer fans want: a Twitter study’; Christopherson et al., ‘Two Kicks Forward, One Kick Back: A Content Analysis of Media Discourses on the 1999 Women's World Cup Championship’; Domínguez-Escribano et al., ‘Motivational variables involved in commitment of female soccer players at different competitive levels’; Hallmann, ‘Women’s 2011 Football World Cup: The impact of perceived images of women’s soccer and the World Cup 2011 on interest in attending matches’; Stewart, ‘A hobby or hobbling? Playing Palestinian women’s soccer in Israel’.

25. Funk et al., ‘Exploring Origins of Involvement: Understanding the Relationship Between Consumer Motives and Involvement with Professional Sport Teams’; Sack et al., ‘Spectator motives for attending professional women’s tennis events: linking marketing and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory’; Zapalac et al., ‘Understanding Women's Collegiate Volleyball Spectators from the Perspectives of Sociodemograpics, Market Demand and Consumption Level’.

26. Kwon et al., ‘Are Multiple Points of Attachment Necessary to Predict Cognitive, Affective, Conative, or Behavioral Loyalty?’; Robinson and Trail, ‘Relationships Among Spectator Gender, Motives, Points of Attachment, and Sport Preference’; Robinson et al., ‘Motives and Points of Attachment of Professional Golf Spectators’; Trail et al., ‘Motives and Points of Attachment: Fans vs. Spectators in Intercollegiate Athletics’; Woo et al., ‘Testing Models of Motives and Points of Attachment among Spectators in College Football’.

27. Guilianotti, ‘Supporters, Followers, Fans, and Flaneurs’; Ross, ‘Segmenting Sport Fans Using Brand Associations: A Cluster Analysis’; Tapp and Clowes, ‘From Carefree Casuals to Professional Wanderers’.

28. Klein, Zuschauerbefragung Frauen-Bundesliga.

29. Woratschek et al., Image-Analysis and Sponsoring-Fit on Woman Soccer in GermanyEmpirical Findings of a Representative Survey among Six German World Cup Cities in 2011.

30. Kugelmann et al., Mädchenfußball unter der Lupe.

31. Robinson et al., ‘Motives and Points of Attachment of Professional Golf Spectators’; Trail et al., ‘Motives and Points of Attachment: Fans vs. Spectators in Intercollegiate Athletics’; Woo et al., ‘Testing Models of Motives and Points of Attachment among Spectators in College Football’.

32. Funk et al., ‘Development of sport interest inventory (SII): Implications for measuring unique consumer motives at sporting events’; Murrell and Dietz, ‘Fan support of sport teams: the effect of a common group identity’.

33. Trail et al., ‘Motives and Points of Attachment: Fans vs. Spectators in Intercollegiate Athletics’.

34. Wann and Branscombe, ‘Sports Fans: Measuring Degree of Identification with their Team’.

35. Murrell and Dietz, ‘Fan Support of Sport Teams: The Effect of a Common Group Identity’.

36. Funk et al., ‘Development of Sport Interest Inventory (SII): Implications for Measuring Unique Consumer Motives at Sporting Events’.

37. Trail et al., ‘Motives and Points of Attachment: Fans vs. Spectators in Intercollegiate Athletics’.

38. Robinson et al., ‘Motives and Points of Attachment of Professional Golf Spectators’.

39. Wann and Branscombe, ‘Sports Fans: Measuring Degree of Identification with their Team’.

40. Funk et al., ‘Development of Sport Interest Inventory (SII): Implications for Measuring Unique Consumer Motives at Sporting Events’.

41. Trail et al., ‘Motives and Points of Attachment: Fans vs. Spectators in Intercollegiate Athletics’.

42. Kwon et al., ‘Are Multiple Points of Attachment Necessary to Predict Cognitive, Affective, Conative, or Behavioral Loyalty?’.

43. Kim and Trail, ‘Constraints and Motivators: A New Model to Explain Sport Consumer Behavior’.

44. Mahony et al., ‘Motivational Factors Influencing the Behaviour of J. League Spectators’.

45. Zapalac et al., ‘Understanding Women's Collegiate Volleyball Spectators from the Perspectives of Sociodemograpics, Market Demand and Consumption Level’.

46. Matsuoka et al., ‘Direct and Interaction Effects of Team Identification and Satisfaction on Intention to Attend Games’; Trail and James, ‘The Motivation Scale for Sport Consumption: Assessment of the scale's psychometric properties’.

47. Mahony et al., ‘Motivational Factors Influencing the Behaviour of J. League Spectators’.

48. Cunningham and Kwon, ‘The Theory of Planned Behaviour and Intentions to Attend a Sport Event’.

49. Hallmann, ‘Women’s 2011 Football World Cup: The Impact of Perceived Images of Women’s Soccer and the World Cup 2011 on interest in attending matches’.

50. Trail et al., ‘Motives and Points of Attachment: Fans vs. Spectators in Intercollegiate Athletics’; Woo et al., ‘Testing Models of Motives and Points of Attachment among Spectators in College Football’.

51. Oshimi et al., Spectators in Japan Women's National Football Team: Focusing on Point of Attachment.

52. Funk et al., ‘Development of Sport Interest Inventory (SII): Implications for Measuring Unique Consumer Motives at Sporting Events’.

53. Hair et al., Multivariate data analysis. A global perspective.

54. Kline, Principles and practice of structural equation modeling.

55. Hu and Bentler, ‘Cutoff Criteria for Fit Indexes in Covariance Structure Analysis: Concentional Criteria vs.New Alternatives’.

56. Ibid.

57. MacCallum et al., ‘Power Analysis and Determination of Sample Size for Covariance Structure Modeling’.

58. Bollen, ‘A New Incremental Fit Index for General Structural Equation Models’.

59. Jöreskog and Sörbom, LISREL 8: Structural equation modeling with the SIMPLIS command language.

60. A measurement model with both samples was also estimated. Model fit was mediocre to poor (χ² = 661.793; df = 104; p = .000; χ²/df = 6.363; SRMR = .092; CFI = .791; RMSEA = .067 with a CI of .062–.072; pclose = .000), which was related to the increased sample size. All six latent constructs loading on points of attachment were significant (PLAYER: β = .484; TEAM: β = .916; COACH: β = .792; SPORT: β = .652; COUNTRY: β = .709; WOMEN’S SPORT: β = 760) which applied as well to their respective indicators. Fornell and Larcker, ‘Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error’; Hair et al., Multivariate data analysis.

61. Homburg and Pflesser, Konfirmatorische Faktorenanalyse.

62. Hair et al., Multivariate data analysis.

63. Hooper et al., ‘Structural Equation Modelling: Guidelines for Determining Model Fit’.

64. Klein, Zuschauerbefragung Frauen-Bundesliga.

65. Woratschek et al., Image-Analysis and Sponsoring-Fit on Woman Soccer in GermanyEmpirical Findings of a Representative Survey among Six German World Cup Cities in 2011.

66. Hallmann, ‘Women’s 2011 Football World Cup: The impact of perceived images of women’s soccer and the World Cup 2011 on interest in attending matches’.

67. J. League, J. LeagueTM Fan Survey 2013. Summary Report.

68. e.g. Robinson and Trail, ‘Relationships Among Spectator Gender, Motives, Points of Attachment, and Sport Preference’.

69. Shapiro et al., ‘An Analysis of Multiple Spectator Consumption Behaviors, Identification, and Future Behavioral Intentions within the Context of a New College Football Program’.

70. Oshimi et al., Spectators in Japan Women's National Football Team: Focusing on Point of Attachment.

71. Shapiro et al., ‘An Analysis of Multiple Spectator Consumption Behaviors, Identification, and Future Behavioral Intentions within the Context of a New College Football Program’.

72. Bowlby, Attachment and Loss: Vol. I, Attachment.

73. Robinson et al., ‘Motives and Points of Attachment of Professional Golf Spectators’.

74. Ahearne et al., ‘Antecedents and Consequences of Customer-company Identification: Expanding the Role of Relationship Marketing’; McAlexander et al., ‘Building Brand Community Model of Organizational Identification’.

75. Kwon et al., ‘Are Multiple Points of Attachment Necessary to Predict Cognitive, Affective, Conative, or Behavioral Loyalty?’

76. Guilianotti, ‘Supporters, Followers, Fans, and Flaneurs’; Robinson and Trail, ‘Relationships Among Spectator Gender, Motives, Points of Attachment, and Sport Preference’.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 53.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 188.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.