A Path Analytic Model of the Relationships between Basketball Spectator’s Satisfaction, Fan Identification and Future Involvement in Women’s Professional Basketball

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study was to investigate basketball spectator’s perception of service quality and satisfaction that may have influence on fan identification and future involvement at women’s basketball games. Specifically, the study is an attempt to explore the relationship between these output variables (e.g., consumer satisfaction, fan identification and future involvement) and to develop a profile of sport spectator behavior in women's professional basketball games. A total of 281 sport spectators from eight WNBA Eastern Conference games involving teams participated in the study. Results from the path analysis indicated that the model was a close fit to the data. The findings of the study revealed that improving the quality of tangible and intangible service might generate a significant level of fan identification which results in spectators having a strong psychological and behavioral commitment to their favorite teams. Thus, psychological aspects of spectators, such as emotional attachment, values, and attitudes, should be considered a meaningful factor to predict consumer decision-making process to consume a sporting event. The findings also suggest that psychological and emotional affiliation with a team or sporting event might be a first step for spectators to become loyal fans of the WNBA games.

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