Sport governing bodies’ influence on non-transactional fan behaviours

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe purpose of the paper is to present an advanced knowledge of a sport governing body’s – instead of club’s or team’s – influence on non-transactional fan behaviours. A higher understanding is achieved via the development of a global Fan-Relationship-Management-Model and local subgroup-specific models. A partial least squares path modelling approach is used to test the global model among a sample of five hundred and one individuals. Further, a response-based procedure for detecting unit segments is implemented to uncover local models. A series of chi-square tests are conducted to determine whether the local models differ on, for example, demographic measures and the fan’s devotedness to the team. We found three local models. Each local model exhibits different relationship strengths between its variables. These different relationship strengths are not confounded by demographic characteristics, but by a fan’s devotedness. This paper is useful to appreciate the sport governing body’s impact on non-transactional fan behaviours. The insights shared are essential for practitioners, who want to incorporate their sport governing body into a holistic and segment-specific marketing strategy. For the first time, a sport governing body’s influence on non-transactional fan behaviours is examined. The presentation of three local models, based on a response-based procedure for detecting unit segments, is new to the sports management theory.