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The path to game-day attendance runs through sports fan rituals
Fazal-e-Hasan, Syed Muhammad Neale, Larry Sekhon, Harjit Mortimer, Gary Brittain, Ian Sekhon, Jaswinder
Fazal-e-Hasan, Syed Muhammad
Neale, Larry
Sekhon, Harjit
Mortimer, Gary
Brittain, Ian
Sekhon, Jaswinder
Abstract
Sports, as a service sector, generates billions of dollars not solely through attendance but through the sale of merchandise, which forms part of a sports fan’s rituals. This study uses a sample of 651 attendees at an Australian Football League game to explore ritual behavior, define the game-day rituals observed, and design a scale to measure sports fan rituals in order to investigate a series of positive relationships, including commitment and personal and social rituals, and social rituals and behavioral loyalty (game-day attendance). The findings support previous research that has found a significant and positive relationship between vicarious achievement, fan association, and commitment, and extends previous research by finding a significant and positive relationship between personal and social rituals and behavioral loyalty. For academic researchers, the findings are important to establish the role of personal and social rituals in consumption and behavioral loyalty while opening future research opportunities in other product categories. For sports marketers, the results indicate the importance of developing and facilitating consumption rituals tied to game-day attendance, with a view to generating uncommon loyalty.
Keywords
vicarious achievement, sports fans, loyalty, personal rituals, social rituals, attendance
Date
2021
Type
Journal article
Journal
Journal of Business Research
Book
Volume
137
Issue
Page Range
308-318
Article Number
ACU Department
Peter Faber Business School
Faculty of Law and Business
Faculty of Law and Business
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Controlled