Executive summary of “Sport fan maximizing: following the best team or being the best fan?”

Citation

(2015), "Executive summary of “Sport fan maximizing: following the best team or being the best fan?”", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 32 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-05-2015-999

Executive summary of “Sport fan maximizing: following the best team or being the best fan?”

Article Type: Executive summary and implications for managers and executives From: Journal of Consumer Marketing, Volume 32, Issue 3

This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives a rapid appreciation of the content of the article. Those with a particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of the research undertaken and its results to get the full benefit of the material present.

The professional sports industry in the USA generates multi-billions of dollars each year. Much of this is attributable to loyal supporters who invest heavily buying tickets to watch their favorite teams and purchase associated merchandise and memorabilia. In addition to the financial aspect, investment in, such as, time and energy is equally significant.

Plenty evidence exists to confirm that some individuals form a strong psychological attachment to a particular team. From a marketing perspective, it is thus important to ascertain factors responsible for such powerful identification. Researchers have, to date, largely focused on important situational and motivational aspects. Many have also presumed that similar antecedents and consequences of identification largely prevail, regardless of the fact that people support different teams. In contrast, little attention has been paid to the likelihood that judgment and decision-making will also be subject to the effects of differences in individual characteristics.

Those who strongly identify with a specific team often develop a considerable sense of social identity with like-minded others. The depth of attachment also makes such fans less prone to abandoning their team during times of failure. Many factors which are essentially outside a supporter’s control have been shown to influence team identification. These include team success, geographical proximity, family and peer socialization and perceived similarity to the supporter.

It is also noted that people differ in the number of teams they engage with. Variation in the level of identification with these different teams is typical as well. Scholars believe that certain factors could explain why this occurs. One such factor could be “maximizing”. Different researchers define maximizers as consumers who seek to find the best possible solution and consider all available options to achieve this goal. This inclination to deliberate extensively prevails, even where simple decisions are concerned. However, evidence suggests that they often remain disappointed and unsatisfied with their choice, even though it is objectively evaluated as being the most ideal.

This tendency to invest significant time, energy and resources prompts some observers to compare maximizers with fans who strongly identify with a team. Emotional consequences are the norm in both cases. For the supporter, that would typically involve the varying affective reactions prompted by the triumphs and failures of their team.

Given this perceived similarity, Norris et al. examine the impact of what they term “sport fan maximizing” on how supporters identify with a team. The aim of such individuals is assumed to be aligning themselves with a winner. Supporting multiple teams or following those which have succeeded in the past are viewed as increasing the prospects of attaining this goal. This strategy also ensures safeguards are in place in the event of one team going into a significant decline.

But the authors point out one important distinction between maximizers and team identification. While the former are prone to readily switch among available alternatives, disengagement from an unsuccessful team would not be typical of the latter. This is partly explained by the fact that the many potential “sociocultural and environmental influences” ensure that many fans do not always choose a particular team entirely through their own free will.

Certain evidence challenges the notion that sport fan maximizing would involve identification with a historically successful team. The current work cites the Chicago Cubs baseball team to illustrate this point. Despite being starved of any notable success for decades, fans remain loyal and sell-out crowds are the norm for home games. This supports the idea put forward by others that team identification is essentially a “stable trait”. In the opinion of Norris et al., other factors might, therefore, explain how sport fan maximizing influences identification with a team. Lack of success could help strengthen their engagement and raise the sense of pride in their loyalty. Helping to increase the “social cohesion” with similar fans is another possibility.

These issues are examined further in the first of two studies. Students at a regional university in Southeastern USA completed a questionnaire requesting demographic information and an indication of what teams in any sport they regularly follow. Responses to various statements were then used to measure sport fandom, identification with their college basketball team, identification with their favorite NFL team and maximizing.

Analysis revealed correlation between maximizing tendency and sport fandom and identification with both the college basketball team and participants’ favorite NFL team. But there was no evidence to suggest that maximizers followed more teams to boost their prospects of “identifying with a winner”. Compared to females, males followed more sports teams, indicated higher levels of fandom and identified more strongly with their favorite NFL team. Little difference between the genders was evident for maximizing tendency or identification with the college basketball team. A significant finding was that maximizers more strongly identified with unsuccessful teams. It is thus argued by the authors that maximizing tendency helps counter what they term “fair-weather fandom”.

Further analysis of the association between maximizing and unsuccessful teams was the aim of the second study, completed online by student participants. Similar information was requested about teams and individual players that subjects followed in various sports in both professional and college contexts. Following this, the students were randomly assigned to a sports story containing either an optimistic or a pessimistic view of the prospects of their university men’s basketball team for the upcoming season. After reading the article, they completed a scale which measured their identification with the basketball team.

Answers revealed little gender difference regarding identification with the team. No significant correlation was found between maximizing tendency and the number or teams or individual players followed. Maximizing had no impact on identification for subjects who read the optimistic preview. However, identification levels were much stronger among those who read the negative preview. Equally revealing was the fact that identification decreased for those low in maximizing tendency when the team was unsuccessful. In the view of Norris et al., strong identification with a successful team is, thus, likelier to be a heuristic rather than indicating maximizing tendency.

Maximizing might enhance the well-being of sports fans even in the face of adversity because of the stronger identification it generates. The authors acknowledge the possibility that maximizing enhances the “evaluative dimension” of team identification which reflects, such as, pride and respect. In contrast, it is not thought feasible that the cognitive-affective dimension is similarly influenced as this relates more to team success.

This work implies that becoming the “best fan” is a primary goal of maximizers in such contexts. These individuals are eager for information and are enthusiastic about increasing their engagement with the team or individual player concerned. As they also tend to purchase more tickets and merchandise, marketers should make them a priority target and dedicate substantial resources to relationship marketing objectives. In addition to influencing purchase decisions, strategies could also encourage involvement in rallies or fan-based activities. Rewarding maximizers for their involvement is a potential way of further strengthening their identification with the team.

Future research might examine the social bonding that fandom can trigger and explore maximizing tendencies in situations where success is either anticipated or occurs following a sustained period of failure.

To read the full article enter 10.1108/JCM-02-2014-0856 into your search engine.

(A précis of the article “Sport fan maximizing: following the best team or being the best fan?”. Supplied by Marketing Consultants for Emerald.)