Abstract
<p>Fan loyalty is imperative for sports clubs. In fact, fans have more trust in their favorite team will remain loyal to the team. Team managers and sports clubs must win the trust of their fans. Club brand personality is one of the variables that can be used to enhance the trust of the fans. Due to this issue, in this study, the relationship between club brand personality, trust and loyalty of fans have been investigated. The population of this research consists of Persepolis FC fans and 384 persons were evaluated as the statistical sample. To collect the data, the brand personality questionnaire by Tsiotso (2012), the modified questionnaire by Chowdhury and Holbrook (2001), the attitudinal loyalty questionnaire by Gladden and Funk (2003) and the behavioral loyalty questionnaire by Fink et al. (2001) were used. Descriptive and inferential statistics (regression coefficient and Structural Equation Modeling) were used for statistical analysis. The results of structural equation modeling revealed that club brand personality influences on brand trust and it influences behavioral and attitudinal loyalty of the fans. The managers of Persepolis FC can use a brand trust to increase the loyalty of their fans and implement brand personality to gain their trust.</p>
Highlights
A brand is like an iceberg and we cannot see whole parts of it and only a small portion of it is visible
According to the coefficient of determination R2 = 0.408, we can say that about 40% of changes in behavioral loyalty can be explained by the brand trust
The consequences of structural equation modeling exposed that club brand personality impacts on brand trust, and it affects behavioral and attitudinal loyalty of the fans
Summary
A brand is like an iceberg and we cannot see whole parts of it and only a small portion of it is visible. Each sports team can be considered as a brand and fans can be considered as customers (Filo & Funk, 2008) Due to this issue, paying attention to fans is inevitable (Bristow & Sebastian, 2001). The researchers argue that re-purchase does not necessarily mean consumer loyalty, because it possible that a customer buys a product or service in a repetitive manner and shows a loyal behavior; but it is something other than attitudinal commitment to a company (Baloglu, 2002). With this in mind, researchers examined the loyalty from both behavioral and attitudinal aspects. Attitudinal loyalty is considered as an effective component on www.ccsenet.org/res
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