Abstract
Understanding why sport fans socially interact with other fans, participate in team-related discussions, recruit new members, and retain other fans in sport fan communities is a key issue in sport marketing. This conceptual paper suggests that three antecedents (brand equity, consumers’ perceptions of team sponsored fan appreciation events, and perceived rituals and traditions) influence sport consumers’ identification with the fan community that in turn affects four community-related behaviors (fan community engagement, enhanced product use, member responsibility, and positive word-of-mouth). Sport fans will form fan community identification either because of formally organized elements (brand equity and brandfest activities) or because of less formal elements (rituals and traditions). Furthermore, the potential effects of fan community identification on the four community-related behaviors are proposed. Describing a model of fan community identification, the authors develop research propositions regarding the antecedents and consequences of fan community identification.
Published Version
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