Sport Spectator Consumption Behavior

Galen T. Trail
Janet S. Fink
Dean F. Anderson

Description: Competition for the sport consumer dollar has increased tremendously in recent years. A better understanding of why sport spectators and fans consume media and merchandise would benefit sport marketers and managers greatly. To date, no empirically tested model has proposed explanatory and predictive relationships among fan/spectator motives and behavior variables. In addition, no psychometrically sound scales exist to measure these cognitive, affective, and behavioral constructs. The results of this study indicate that a model including such factors as motives, identification, expectancies, disconfirmation or confirmation of expectancies, affective state, and self-esteem behavioral intentions explains approximately 11% of the variance in sport spectator consumption intentions. The scales for the constructs evidenced good internal consistency and construct validity. The implications for sport marketers and managers are also described.