Team Identity and Indirect Sport Consumption of Soccer Fans

Abstract

Team identity can be perceived as a form of a group or a social identity. This identity can direct fans behavior. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between team identity and indirect sport consumption among the most popular football teams’ spectators in Iran. The statistical population of this study consisted of the fans of Esteghlal and Persepolis teams, 374 of which voluntarily took part. The research instruments were Heere and James (2007) team identity questionnaire and Summers and Morgan (2006) sport consumption questionnaire. After confirming the validity of the questionnaires by experts, the reliability of them was tested in a pilot study by Cronbach's alpha. The results of the study revealed that there was no significant difference between Esteghlal and Persepolis fans in team identity and its components (P>0.05). While there was a significant difference between the two groups in indirect sport consumption and its components (P<0.05). At the same time, the correlation between team identity and indirect sport consumption in the Persepolis fans was stronger than Esteghlal fans. According to the results, it seems that managers of popular clubs like Esteghlal and Persepolis, to make stronger the relation between team Identity and indirect sport consumption of fans should have the necessary attention to factors that create team identity.