The Impact of Fantasy Cricket Motivational Factors on Participants’ Media and Gambling Consumption Behaviour: Fantasy Team Attachment as a Mediator

Abstract

There is a growing discussion in the current literature about fantasy sport users’ attachment to their favourite real-world sport team and self-created fantasy team. The involvement of player-specific fantasy sport enhances fantasy sport users’ knowledge and skills of the competitive sport, eventually altering their traditional sports fandom. This study measures the impact of fantasy cricket motivational factors (FCMFs) on fantasy sport users vis-à-vis fantasy team attachment, sense of competition, and their consumption behaviour on media and gambling. The study found a direct positive impact of FCMFs on fantasy users’ team attachment and sense of competition – and, furthermore, on their media and gambling consumption behaviour. The FCMFs indirectly impact fantasy users’ sense of competition using fantasy team attachment as a mediator. The study provides practical implications for fantasy sport providers to design their future policies in the context of Indian fantasy cricket users.

Keywords:

• Fantasy cricket motivational factors
• fantasy team attachment
• gambling consumption
• media consumption
• sense of competition

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest has to be reported.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jaskirat Singh Rai

Jaskirat Singh Rai (Ph.D., Punjabi University, Patiala, India) is an Assistant Professor of Marketing Management in the department of Chitkara Business School at Chitkara University, Punjab, India. He is researching the field of sports marketing, sports sponsorship, sports celebrity advertising, and fantasy sport. He has published papers in leading journals such as the International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, Sport, Business Management: An International Journal, Journal of Global Business Advancement, etc. He teaches in the area of strategic and marketing research.

Maher N. Itani

Maher N. Itani (Ph.D., North Dakota State University, U.S.) is currently an Assistant Professor of Operations Management at Ajman University, UAE. He has comprehensive experience in areas of supply chain management and possesses a solid knowledge of project development and documented skills in the formulation of project proposals as well as risk-cost benefit analysis reports. He regularly presents papers on a wide variety of supply chain topics such as emergency management systems, risk analysis for the global supply chain, and AI in facility management. His current research area is on identifying the managerial challenges faced by the sports sector post the COVID-19 pandemic.

Brendan Dwyer

Brendan Dwyer (Ph.D., University of Northern Colorado, U.S.) is a professor and the director of research and distance learning at the Center for Sport Leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University. His research interests center on sport consumer behavior, fantasy sports participation, and sports gambling. Currently, Dwyer has articles published in Computers in Human Behavior, Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, European Sport Management Quarterly, Sport Marketing Quarterly, and Journal of Gambling Studies, among others.

Amanpreet Singh

Amanpreet Singh (Ph.D., Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab) is an assistant professor in the programme of Master of Business Administration (MBA) in the School of Management Studies, Punjabi University, Patiala (Punjab), India. His research interests include marketing research, data analysis, and research methodology. His work has appeared in journals such as, International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship, Sport, Business Management: An International Journal, Journal of Cleaner Production, International Journal of Consumer Studies, Journal of Global Business Advancement, and other journals of repute.