Levels Of Team Identification Research Articles

Team Identification in Esports: The Benefits of Localizing an Esports Team

Abstract: Associating esports teams with a particular city has gained significant attention, with the assumption that esports teams receive benefits from the local fanbase as traditional sports teams take advantage of the local community. The researchers examined whether team identification was important in esports as it is in traditional sports and tested if local and nonlocal fans showed different levels of team identification after localization. The results of path analyses revealed that team identification had a positive impact on team loyalty and consumer behavior. Additionally, team loyalty mediated the positive impacts of team identification, and local residency was a significant moderator, strengthening the effects of team identification. Furthermore, a mixed-model ANCOVA showed that local fans' team identification was higher after localization but no changes occurred in nonlocal fans' team identification. The findings provide empirical evidence that localizing in esports could be beneficial yet occurs without the expected tradeoffs of estranging nonlocal fans.

Why Is My Team Wearing Rainbow Jerseys? Exploring Effects of DEI Messages on Sports Fans’ Responses

The current research explores the impact of fans’ team identification on their emotional responses towards diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives by sporting organisations. Using the theoretical lens of Construal Level Theory (CLT), two experimental studies were conducted in Australia ( n = 386) and the US ( n = 402) to understand how fans’ level of team identification and the framing of communication by sporting organisations influence their emotional responses. The findings suggest that fans with low levels of team identification are more likely to feel disgust towards abstract reasoning for DEI initiatives and are more likely to abandon their support for the team. In contrast, fans with high levels of team identification were less likely to feel disgust and less likely to abandon their support for the team. These results have important implications for both theory and practice. Theoretical implications of this research suggest that CLT can provide a useful framework for understanding the emotional responses of fans towards DEI initiatives. The findings also support previous research suggesting team identification is an important predictor of fan behaviour. Practical implications of this research suggest that sports marketers and organisations should carefully consider their communication strategies when promoting DEI initiatives.

The Power of Peer Leaders: Exploring the Link between Peer Leadership Behaviors and Sustainable Work Outcomes.

Most leadership studies primarily focus on formal leaders, often overlooking the influence of leaders within the team. While prior research has shown that peer leaders can have a beneficial impact on various team outcomes, it is yet unclear which peer leadership behaviors precisely foster a supportive and sustainable work environment. Building upon the recent identification of 10 peer leadership roles and 37 underlying functions, the current study aims to investigate the relationships between these peer leadership roles and functions and key outcomes (i.e., job satisfaction, team cohesion, team effectiveness, and OCB). A total of 31 organizational teams, comprising 182 employees from diverse sectors, participated in a quantitative survey. Employing multilevel modeling analysis, the findings demonstrated that each leadership role and nearly every function predicted at least one outcome, highlighting their significance within organizational teams. Additionally, Necessary Condition Analysis revealed that specific roles and functions were necessary for generating one or more outcomes. Finally, we found that most of the significant relationships remained consistent across teams, regardless of their size, tenure, or level of team identification. These findings refine our understanding of shared leadership and how peer leaders can create a sustainable workplace by fostering employee well-being and productivity in organizational teams.

Sport teams’ promotion of plant-based food consumption among fans

ABSTRACT The study’s goal is to examine the downstream relations of fan awareness of a favorite sport team’s pro-environmental food initiatives, considering fans with different degrees of team identification. Building upon the Awareness-to-Action Continuum, the authors propose two pathways that may help explain reported plant-based food consumption among fans (i.e. eating vegetables, eating vegan food, and avoiding meat), particularly at high (vs. low) degrees of team identification: team value internalization and fan-team personality match. Study 1 surveyed 799 fans of 12 different sport teams from various countries, which had implemented pro-environmental food initiatives in the past. Study 2 used a survey-experimental design to manipulate identification with one selected team from the U.S. (n = 356 fans) and assessed the downstream relations of fan awareness of the team’s pro-environmental food initiatives. The authors control for attitude and subjective norm in their analyses and show that the levels of team identification associate with the relation between fan awareness and reported consumption of plant-based foods via fan-team personality match but not via value internalization. Ironically, the perception of the team’s personality as superior to their own personality among low-identification fans is negatively related to the adoption of a plant-based diet despite high awareness levels.

They Saw a Game! Impact of Consumers’ Self-Serving Bias on Moral Disengagement and Subsequent Tolerant Responses Toward Athlete Scandals

Abstract: This research attempted to examine the tolerant responses of sport fans to scandalized athletes by drawing on fans’ self-serving bias and attribution theory. To this end, we conducted a quasi-experimental study ( n = 219). The results of SEM analysis indicate that fans with a high team identification reported a greater level of external attribution than those with low team identification, while fans with low team identification reported a greater level of internal attribution than those with high team identification. Also, external attribution had positive impacts on moral disengagement, while internal attribution had negative impacts. We found that sport fans become more forgiving by activating moral disengagement. The present study further extends the literature by investigating how the level of team identification can evoke differential consumer responses toward a wrongdoer and enabling practitioners to make informed decisions on whether they should keep ties with troubled athletes.

Visual Congruity in Jersey Sponsorship: The Effect of Created Brand-Color Congruity on Attitude toward Sponsor

Abstract: Despite its rapid growth and the forecast for its ubiquity, an academic investigation into jersey sponsorship is still limited. More importantly, although jersey sponsors today create visual congruity by modifying their logo colors on the jerseys to match the team colors, its role and impact remain unexplored. Thus, the current research examined the effect of created brand-color congruity on attitude toward the sponsor, paying particular attention to perceived sponsor support and team identification. Three experiments across two different league settings showed that created brand-color congruity was a significant predictor for both favorable sponsor attitudes and perceived sponsor support at all levels of team identification. Perceived sponsor support also positively influenced attitudes, confirming the indirect effect of created brand-color congruity. The findings provide theoretical and practical contributions to the marketing and sponsorship literature by signifying the importance of created visual congruity using brand colors.

Investigation of Football Fans' Levels of Team Identification and Respect for Opposite Opposing View

Bu araştırma taraftarların futbol takımı özdeşleşmeleri ve karşıt görüşe saygı düzeylerinin farklı değişkenler açısından incelenmesi amacıyla gerçekleştirilmiştir. Nicel araştırma yönteminin kullanıldığı araştırmada, betimsel tarama modeli tercih edilmiştir. Araştırmanın evrenini Türkiye’deki futbol taraftarları oluşturmaktadır. Kolayda örnekleme metodu ile araştırmaya dahil edilen 326 kadın 537 erkek olmak üzere toplam 863 futbol taraftarı araştırmanın örneklem grubunu oluşturmaktadır. Veri toplama aracı olarak Gülle (2018) tarafından geliştirilen “Sporda Karşıt Görüşe Saygı ve Öz Denetim Ölçeği” ve araştırmacılar tarafından hazırlanan kişisel bilgi formu kullanılmıştır. Taraftarlardan Google Form vasıtasıyla toplanan verilerin demografik özelliklerini saptamak için frekans ve yüzde analizi uygulanmıştır. Veri setinin normal dağılım gösterip göstermediği basıklık (kurtosis) ve çarpıklık (skewness) analizi ile belirlenmiştir. Normal dağılım gösteren verilerin t-testi ve ANOVA testi ile analizi yapılmış ve yoruma tabi tutulmuştur. Sonuçlar incelendiğinde, sporda karşıt görüşe saygı ve öz denetim ölçeğinin iki alt boyutu olan saygı ve nefret alt boyutları ile cinsiyet, yaş, medeni durum, eğitim düzeyi, meslek, taraftar grubuna üye olma, takımın sosyal medya hesabını takip etme ve sosyal medya paylaşımlarından etkilenme durumu değişkenleri arasında anlamlı farklılık tespit edilmiştir. Rakibe yönelik nefret alt boyutunda maçları tribünden takip etme değişkeninde yine anlamlı farklılık tespit edilmiştir. Sonuç olarak taraftarların takımlarıyla özdeşleşme düzeylerinin artması karşıt görüşlere sahip bireylere olan saygının azalmasına neden olduğu söylenebilir.

How Much Are Fans Willing to Pay to Help “Their” Soccer Clubs to Overcome a Crisis? An Analysis of Central European Fans during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Through restrictions and people’s behavioral changes with regard to public events, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive financial impact on professional team sports clubs. Particularly, many smaller clubs that are more dependent on match-day revenues were facing an existential struggle. In this study, we examined the willingness of fans to contribute financially to help their favorite teams to overcome financial difficulties caused by this unforeseen operational risk. Moreover, we investigated the significance of the level of team identification among fans as an antecedent for willingness to pay. Analyzing the data from an online survey with 178 respondents, we found that fans would be willing to participate in fundraising campaigns to support their favorite teams. Among the fans of small clubs, the level of identification drives the willingness to support. On the one hand, the findings are encouraging for clubs as they underscore the potential role fans could play in overcoming the current crisis while showing that including fans in future risk management strategies is a promising approach. On the other hand, for this to be successful, clubs need to unravel and invest in measures for nurturing the fans’ identification with the team.

The effect of director-deputy director promotion focus congruence on team knowledge creation: A social identification perspective.

As a new leadership style, promotion-focused leadership has attracted the attention of theorists and practitioners. Existing research emphasizes the positive value of director personal promotion focus on team creative behavior while overlooking director-deputy director promotion focus fit. Based on Regulatory Fit Theory and Social Identity Theory, this study explored the effect of director-deputy director promotion focus fit on team knowledge creation and the mediating role of team identification. We used polynomial regression and response surface analysis to analyze the data from 674 questionnaires. The results demonstrate that: (1) director-deputy director congruence in promotion focus is positively related to team identification; (2) under the condition of director-deputy director promotion focus congruence, the level of team identification does not significantly increase when director-deputy director promotion focus rises from “low-low” to “high-high”; (3) team identification plays a mediating role in the relationship between director-deputy director promotion focus congruence and team knowledge creation.

All-Inclusive v. Partitioned Pricing in Sports: The Effects of Pricing Format on Ticket Purchasers’ Response

Abstract: Sport organizers may employ one of two common pricing strategies—partitioned pricing (PP) and all-inclusive pricing (AIP)—to present the price of the ticket and associated fees to potential consumers. The study examines differences in spectators' price recall, perceived value, and search intentions when purchasing tickets to attend a regular-season Major League Baseball game based on the pricing format experienced (PP v. AIP), as well as the moderating effect of price tier selected, and participants' level of team identification on the impact of the pricing format. Findings point to both theoretical and managerial implications associated with the significant effect that the pricing strategy has on the outcome variables. Although the moderating effect of price tier and team identification were nonsignificant, both variables had a direct influence on the dependent variables considered.

Empathy and Schadenfreude in Human-Robot Teams.

Intergroup dynamics shape the ways in which we interact with other people. We feel more empathy towards ingroup members compared to outgroup members, and can even feel pleasure when an outgroup member experiences misfortune, known as schadenfreude. Here, we test the extent to which these intergroup biases emerge during interactions with robots. We measured trial-by-trial fluctuations in emotional reactivity to the outcome of a competitive reaction time game to assess both empathy and schadenfreude in arbitrary human-human and human-robot teams. Across four experiments (total n = 361), we observed a consistent empathy and schadenfreude bias driven by team membership. People felt more empathy towards ingroup members than outgroup members and more schadenfreude towards outgroup members. The existence of an intergroup bias did not depend on the nature of the agent: the same effects were observed for human-human and human–robot teams. People reported similar levels of empathy and schadenfreude towards a human and robot player. The human likeness of the robot did not consistently influence this intergroup bias. In other words, similar empathy and schadenfreude biases were observed for both humanoid and mechanoid robots. For all teams, this bias was influenced by the level of team identification; individuals who identified more with their team showed stronger intergroup empathy and schadenfreude bias. Together, we show that similar intergroup dynamics that shape our interactions with people can also shape interactions with robots. Our results highlight the importance of taking intergroup biases into account when examining social dynamics of human-robot interactions.

The Role of Moral Disengagement in the Contagion of Pro-group Unethical Behavior

Pro-group unethical behavior is a kind of behavior that violates moral standards while benefitting the actor’s team. In this study, we enrich the understanding of its causes by investigating whether being exposed to coworkers’ pro-group unethical behavior induces employees to engage in the same unethical behavior. We theorize that employees’ moral disengagement explains the link between coworkers’ pro-group unethical behavior and employees’ pro-group unethical behavior, and that the effect is contingent on the employees’ level of team identification. We conducted three field studies to examine our research model. In Study 1, we obtained evidence supporting the indirect effect of coworkers’ pro-group unethical behavior on employees’ pro-group unethical behavior via moral disengagement. In Study 2, our results also showed the direct effect of coworkers’ pro-group unethical behavior on employees’ pro-group unethical behavior in addition to the indirect effect. In Study 3, our analyses suggested that the proposed indirect effect is contingent on team identification. Employees were more likely to learn pro-group unethical behavior from their coworkers through moral disengagement under high team identification rather than low team identification. These results were consistent with our expectation.

Sports ingroup love does not make me like the sponsor's beverage but gets me buying it.

Previous literature has shown that social identity influences consumer decision-making towards branded products. However, its influence on ones’ own sensory perception of an ingroup (or outgroup) associated brand’s product (i.e. sponsor) is seldom documented and little understood. Here, we investigate the impact of social identity (i.e. team identification) with a football team on the sensorial experience and willingness to buy a beverage, said to be sponsoring the ingroup or the outgroup team. Ninety subjects participated in one of three sensorial experience conditions (matched identity: ingroup beverage; mismatched identity: outgroup beverage; control: no group preference). Each participant tasted the new sponsoring beverage and answered a questionnaire about their subjective sensorial experience of the beverage. EEG and BVP were synchronously collected throughout. Analyses revealed that team identification does not influence subjective responses and only slightly modulates physiological signals. All participants reported high valence and arousal values while physiological signals consistently translated negative affects across groups, which showed that participants reported to be happy/excited about trying the beverage while their physiological signals showed that they were feeling sad/depressed/angry. Crucially, despite a similar sensorial experience, and similar socially desirable report of the subjective experience, only participants in the matched identity group demonstrate higher willingness to buy, showing that the level of team identification, but not taste or beverage quality, influences willingness to buy the said sponsor’s product.

Subgroup Splits in Diverse Work Teams: Subgroup Perceptions but Not Demographic Faultlines Affect Team Identification and Emotional Exhaustion.

We investigate the relationship between (hypothetical) subgroup splits (i.e., faultlines), subjectively perceived subgroups, and team identification and emotional exhaustion. Based on the job demands-resources model and on self-categorization theory, we propose that faultline strength and perceived subgroups negatively affect emotional exhaustion, mediated by team identification. We further propose that subgroup identification moderates the mediation such that subgroup identification compensates low levels of team identification. We tested our hypotheses with a two-wave questionnaire study in a sample of 105 participants from 48 teams from various contexts. We found an effect of perceived subgroups on emotional exhaustion mediated by team identification, but no direct or indirect effect of faultline strength on emotional exhaustion. We also could not find that subgroup identification moderates the effect of team identification on emotional exhaustion. We discuss the need for further research on the link of subgroup splits in work teams and the rise of psychological health issues and derive that measures to prevent burnout should primarily focus on avoiding or reducing subgroup perception whereas affecting the actual demographic composition of work team should be of lower priority.

Spor Pazarlamasında Lisanslı Ürünlerin Tercihinde, Kulüp İmajı, Marka Efangelizmi, Takım Sadakati ve Takımla Özdeşleşme Değişkenlerinin Etkisi (The Effect of Variables on Club Image, Brand Efangelism, Team Loyalty and Team Identification in the Choice of Licensed Products in Sports Marketing)

Purpose – Licensed products, which are a product of the sports industry, increased in the Turkish market as well as all over the world, started to be used as an economic tool and turned into an important income item for the sports clubs. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of club image, brand eFANgelism and team identification levels on fans' intention to purchase licensed products. The mediating role of team loyalty was also considered while determining this effect. Design/methodology/approach – In this context, an online questionnaire was applied to 294 people determined by judicial sampling method in Corum province. The data obtained as a result of the survey were analyzed using descriptive and predictive statistical methods. Confirmatory factor analysis for structural validity of variables and structural equation model for testing research hypotheses were used in data analysis. Findings – According to the results of the analysis, a relationship was observed between club image, team identification and brand eFANgelism. While the image of the clubs had an effect on team loyalty, brand eFANgelism and team identification, no effect was determined on purchase intention It was determined that the brand eFANgelism perceptions of the fans affect their team loyalty and purchase intention. It was found out that the fans' level of team identification did not affect the team loyalty, but had an influence on the purchase intention. Furthermore, it is observed that team loyalty has a positive and direct effect on purchase intention. When the results regarding the mediation effect are considered, the mediating effect of team loyalty cannot be mentioned as the club image does not have a significant effect on the purchase intention of the fans. In addition to this, there is no mediation effect since the team identification level does not have a direct effect on team loyalty. It was determined that the variable of team loyalty had a partial mediating effect on the effect of fans' eFANgelism perceptions on the purchase intention variable. Discussion – It is seen that if the club image is increased, the team loyalty of the fans, their brand efficacy perception and their level of identification with the team will also increase, and in this case, the purchase intention of the fans will increase. If sports clubs want their licensed products to be in greater demand, they must strengthen their level of identification with their fans and turn them into a strong advocate (effangelism).

Examination of The Levels of Team Identification and Respect for Opposite Approach of University Students In Terms of Different Variables

Bu çalışmanın amacı; yarının eğitimcileri olacak olan beden eğitimi spor yüksekokulu ile eğitim fakültesi öğrencilerinin farklı değişkenler açısından takım özdeşleşme ve karşıt görüşe saygı düzeylerini incelemektir. Araştırmanın örneklem grubunu 2018-2019 akademik yıl içerisinde Hatay Mustafa Kemal Üniversitesi bünyesinde öğrenim gören 290 beden eğitimi spor yüksekokulu öğrencisiyle 299 eğitim fakültesi öğrencisi oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmada, öğrencilere yönelik kişisel bilgi formu, Gülle (2018) tarafından geliştirilen ‘’sporda karşıt görüşe saygı ve öz denetim ölçeği’’ ile Wann ve Branscombe (1993) tarafından geliştirilen Günay ve Tiryaki (2003)’nin geçerlik, güvenirlik çalışmasını yaptığı ‘’spor taraftarı özdeşleşme ölçeği’’ kullanılmıştır. Öğrencilerin bu iki ölçekten aldıkları ortalama puanlarının; cinsiyet, düzenli spor yapıp yapmama, izlediği spor dalı, bölüm gibi değişkenler açısından farklılaşıp farklılaşmadığı incelenmiştir. Elde edilen verilerin hesaplanmasında ise SPSS 17 paket programı kullanılmıştır. Verilerin normal dağıldığı saptanmış ve parametrik testlerden olan bağımsız örneklem t testi ile tek yönlü varyans analiz testi (ANOVA) ve Pearson Korelasyon Testi uygulanmıştır. Bu çalışmada anlamlılık düzeyi (p)

“If You Ain’t First, You’re Last!” Understanding Identity Threat, Team Identification, and Advertisement Messages When Your Favorite Team Loses

Three experiments explore how sport consumers respond to sponsor advertisements featuring a team that lost a pivotal game. Drawing from social identity and appraisal theories, the authors hypothesize and find that high identifiers experience stronger negative emotions but less identity threat than low identifiers following their favorite team’s loss. When an advertisement features the losing team, low identifiers show less favorable evaluations toward the brand, whereas high identifiers report more favorable assessments. The results demonstrate that the tendency to hide and escape from the source of threat (losing team) among low identifiers is evidenced in processing marketing communications, whereas high identifiers display more positive evaluations toward the brand when the advertisement acknowledged the loss. The study findings provide implications for sponsors to consider different messaging strategies depending on the level of team identification with the losing team.

A Study on determining the levels of team image, team loyalty and team identification of sports fans

Aim: This study aims to investigate the team image, team loyalty and identification levels of football fans. Methods: Within the framework of the relational screening model, the population of the study chosen by convenience sampling comprises of university students who are the fans of one of the three major soccer teams of Turkey. The sample of the study includes 207 women and 79 men as a total of 286 football supporters between the ages of 17 and 40 (20.93 ± 2.17) studying at the different faculties and high schools of a university. In this study, survey was used as data collection tool. It includes personal information form, team loyalty scale, team image scale and Identification scale of Sport Fans. Pearson Correlation Analysis was used for relationship comparisons, independent sample t-test was used for binary comparisons and one-way variance analysis for multiple comparisons was used as well as descriptive statistics. Results: When gender is taken into account, behavioral loyalty, attitudinal loyalty, sub dimensions of team identification were found to be significant in favour of men. The team image perception of Besiktas supporters is found significantly higher than Galatasaray and Fenerbahce supporters’ perception. Behavioral loyalty, attitude loyalty, team identification, and team image perceptions of supporters who watch the matches in the stadium are higher than in those who never watch. It was found that there is a significant positive correlation between the amount of spending money for football and behavioral loyalty, attitudinal loyalty and sub dimensions of team identification. There is a significant positive correlation between the frequency of attending matches annually and behavioral loyalty, attitudinal loyalty, and sub dimensions of team identification. In addition to these, a meaningful positive high and medium correlation was found between behavioral loyalty, attitudinal loyalty, team identification and team image perception. Conclusion : Finally , it can be concluded that the variables which are gender, watching the matches in the stadiuam , spending money for football and the frequency of attending the macthes have a significant effect on the level of team identification, team loyalty and team image as well as affecting each other positively.

The Verbal Aggression of Spectators at Youth Baseball Games: Investigating the Impact of Competition Level, Team Identification, and Fan Dysfunction

Previous research had found that level of team identification was positively associated with aggression at youth sporting events (Wann, Weaver, Belva, Ladd, & Armstrong, 2015). The current investigation was designed to extend this work by incorporating fan dysfunction into the model (i.e., fans who are confrontational and frequently complain). Spectators at either a recreational or select (i.e., travel) youth baseball game completed a survey packet assessing demographics, team identification with their favorite Major League Baseball team, identification with the youth team, fan dysfunction, and hostile and instrumental verbal aggression directed toward officials and opponents. Results indicated that, contrary to expectations, team identification was not a unique predictor of verbal aggression. Rather, fan dysfunction predicted each form of aggression, aggression toward both targets, and total aggression.

Winning With Personality: Underscoring Antecedents for College Students’ Motives for Team Identification

While collegiate athletic departments seek new ways to engage fans, this study proposes a novel approach for understanding sport fans’ motivations by examining how they moderate the relationship between one’s psychological personality traits and one’s level of team identification. Coupling underlying personality traits to subsequent motivations for team identification provides unique psychographics about the target audience, which may assist marketing professionals by revealing which type of people are drawn to sport, and more importantly, why. College students from three universities were surveyed, and results suggest sport fans’ motivations and team identities both exist due to underlying personality traits, thus advancing sport motivation research while simultaneously examining the role of personality in sport-related behaviors.