A Gratification Model of Sport Team Mobile Application Usage

Abstract

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to develop a gratification model to encompass the motivations and usage patterns involved with sport team mobile apps. The hypotheses were tested by a structural equation modeling with single-group and multiple-group (i.e., age and gender) levels. The results indicated that of the 11 motivational factors, seven (i.e., Information Seeking , Convenience , Economic Incentives , Entertainment , Fantasy , Curiosity , and Parasocial ) directly influenced Continuance Intention . The findings also revealed some moderating effects—exerting the relationship between motivations and continuance intention—by gender and age. Moreover, as many sport scholars (e.g., Robinson & Trail, 2005) have pointed out the different motivational drivers between different leagues (e.g., National Football League vs. Major League Soccer), a multiple-group factor analysis in the current study also demonstrated that there were significant mean differences among the two groups. The study results shed light on what specific gratifications (i.e., utilitarian, hedonic, and social) users obtain via sport team mobile apps by conducting a first-second factor analysis—integrating a hierarchical concept of sport team app motivations. Overall, the model of sport team mobile apps proposed in this study can be used by sport marketing professionals to assist in enhancing more customer-oriented information systems (IS) for increased sport media consumption.