Abstract
The professional sports events industry is becoming immensely popular due to a global social shift toward larger numbers of spectators at sports events and an ever-increasing variety of such events. This study aimed to investigate the impact of spectators’ perception of corporate social responsibility on regional attachment by applying social identity theory. The present study introduces two mediators, namely, spectators’ pride and team identification, to enlighten the relationship between spectators’ perception of corporate social responsibility and regional attachment, thus contributing to the literature on corporate social responsibility in sports. This quantitative study used a time-lagged approach to collect data in three waves at a time interval of one week and the final sample consisted of 511 respondents (i.e., spectators). Hierarchical regression analysis bootstrapping approach was utilized to analyze the hypothesis. We found that the spectators’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility positively influenced their team identification, and this relationship was mediated by spectators’ pride. In addition, spectators’ pride positively influences regional attachment, and this relationship is mediated by team identification. These findings provide new directions for understanding corporate social responsibility, team identification, spectators’ pride, and regional attachment in sports contexts. The practical and theoretical implications are discussed.
Highlights
Professional sports teams are highly influential organizations in present-day society [1]
This study developed and empirically examined a social identity framework that elaborates how and when perceived corporate social responsibility influences spectators’ Regional Attachment (RA)
The results provide acumens into how spectator’s perceived Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and pride positively influence team identification and regional attachment
Summary
Professional sports teams are highly influential organizations in present-day society [1]. Sports teams are significantly adding economic value globally and regionally, while the sports events have gained momentum in Asia with an estimated revenue of USD 4079 million in 2021. An annual growth rate of 14.0% is projected by 2024 in Asian sports events, resulting in a forecasted market volume of USD 6048 million [2]. Business entities in the contemporary world are increasingly expected to act ethically and morally, as the practice of CSR is becoming more important everywhere, including in professional sports [4]. CSR describes the ethical and philanthropic activities that an organization undertakes beyond any sport services [5].
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