The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between sports team evangelism and media fanaticism levels of Atatürk University Faculty of Sports Sciences students. The research was conducted with a total of 320 students studying Faculty of Sports Sciences at Atatürk University. In the study, Sports Team Evangelism (eFANgelism) Scale and Fans' Motivation to Follow Their Teams on Social Media Scale were applied by using the relational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods. Independent Sample T-Test and One-Way Analysis of Variance were used to analyze the data. In cases where a significant difference was observed as a result of One-Way Analysis of Variance, Post Hoc (Tukey) test was applied to find the source of the difference. In order to determine the relationship between the scales, "Pearson Correlation" analyzes were performed and evaluated at the p < .05 significance level. A significant difference was found in the gender variable in the participants' sports team evangelism levels (p < .05). Significant difference wasn't found in the variables of age, sports license status, income level, department, and favorite team. Significant differences were detected in the participants' motivation to follow their teams on social media in terms of gender, sports license status, department and favorite team variables. No significant difference was found in age and income level variables. It was concluded that there was a highly positive relationship between the participants' sports team evangelism levels and their motivation to follow their teams on social media. It can be said that as the participants' level of sports team evangelism increases, their motivation to follow their teams on social media also increases; as the level of sports team evangelism decreases, their motivation to follow their teams on social media also decreases.
Read full abstract