My Blood Runneth Maroon: Factors Affecting Sports Fan Loyalty

Abstract

It is believed the overall success of institutions of higher learning and their athletic programs rests heavily on the non-guaranteed donations of sports fans. The present study sought to examine the relationships between involvement, satisfaction, psychological commitment and behavioral loyalty in the context of sports fans. After developing a conceptual model that utilized scales from the marketing, leisure and sports fan literature, this study used quantitative methods to collect data from current undergraduate students at Texas A&M University (n = 456).

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to examine the dimensionality of the involvement construct. The EFA extracted 2 dimensions that explained 67 percent of the variance. Cronbach’s alpha results indicated all constructs to be reasonably reliable, ranging from .887 to .928. Two regression analyses were completed as well as a correlation analysis to further examine the proposed hypotheses. Both regression analyses revealed involvement to be the best predictor of psychological commitment (β=.512, p=.0001), and behavioral loyalty (β =.590, p=.0001). All research findings intend to provide theoretical and managerial implications with regard to the involvement, satisfaction, commitment and loyalty of sports fans. The study’s limitations and suggestions for future research are included.