Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2011 Sport Brand Community David P. Hedlund Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF EDUCATION SPORT BRAND COMMUNITY By DAVID P. HEDLUND A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2011 Copyright © 2011 David P. Hedlund All Rights Reserved David P. Hedlund defended this Dissertation on October 25, 2011. The members of the supervisory committee were: Jeffrey D. James Professor Directing Dissertation J. Joseph Cronin Jr. University Representative Michael M. Mondello Committee Member Yu Kyoum Kim Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii This dissertation is dedicated to my family. I am grateful for your love, support and understanding throughout this journey. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge my advisor and dissertation chairperson, Dr. Jeffrey D. James, for his insight, guidance, feedback and support throughout the dissertation process and my tenure at Florida State University. My scholar and researcher abilities have been greatly improved due to his guidance and direction. I would also like to acknowledge the other members of my committee: Dr. J. Joseph Cronin, Dr. Michael M. Mondello, and Dr. Yu Kyoum Kim. All of the committee members put in countless hours of work that improved this research. I am indebted to all of them for their efforts and guidance throughout the dissertation process. I appreciate the support and assistance provided by the faculty and staff of the Department of Sport Management, the College of Education, and the Graduate School. The faculty and staff of the Department of Sport Management, especially Dr. Cecile Reynaud, have provided valuable knowledge, encouragement and support over the years. Dr. Yanyun Yang also provided valuable knowledge and assistance with the statistics used in this research. I would also like to acknowledge and thank all of the past and current doctoral students in the Department of Sport Management, especially Michael Naylor, Priscila Alfaro-Barrantes, Dr. Dusko Bogdanov, Dr. Bob Heere, and Dr. Brian Gordon. Each one of these individuals and many of the doctoral students in the Department of Sport Management provided valuable comments and feedback on my research over the years. I would also like to extend my appreciation to the current and former coaching staff of the Florida State University women‘s soccer team (Mark Krikorian, Eric Bell, Mike Bristol, Jean Rettig, and Paul Rogers) for giving me opportunities to volunteer with the team, participate in team activities, and connect with the Athletics Department. I would also like to thank Dean Nancy Marcus, the Congress of Graduate Students, and the Florida State University Graduate School for providing a grant that helped defray the costs associated with the data collection. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude and love to my family and friends, both domestic and abroad, who supported and encouraged my journey. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... xi ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. xii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction of the Research ............................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem .................................................................................................... 3 Significance of the Research ............................................................................................... 6 Purposes of the Research .................................................................................................... 9 Research Questions ............................................................................................................. 9 Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................................... 10 The Antecedents of Consumer Participation in a Sport Brand Community ..................... 11 The Consequences of Consumer Participation in a Sport Brand Community .................. 15 Theoretical Framework ..................................................................................................... 18 Relationship Marketing ..................................................................................................... 19 Social Identity Theory....................................................................................................... 20 Psychological Continuum Model ...................................................................................... 21 Theory of Reasoned Action .............................................................................................. 24 Limitations of the Research .............................................................................................. 26 Definition of Terms .......................................................................................................... 27 Overview of Chapters ....................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE ....................................................................................................... 30 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 30 Brand Community ............................................................................................................. 31 Sport .................................................................................................................................. 36 Sport Consumers ............................................................................................................... 37 Sport Organizations .......................................................................................................... 38 Community ....................................................................................................................... 40 Sense of Community ......................................................................................................... 41 Membership ...................................................................................................................... 45 Influence ........................................................................................................................... 45 Integration and Fulfillment of Needs ................................................................................ 46 Shared Emotional Connection .......................................................................................... 48 Psychological Sense of Community ................................................................................. 49 Geographic Sense of Community ..................................................................................... 51 The Constructs in the Theoretical Model ......................................................................... 54 The Antecedents of Consumer Participation in Sport Brand Community ........................ 56 The Consequences of Consumer Participation in a Sport Brand Community .................. 64 The Hypothesized Model .................................................................................................. 76 The Brand Knowledge-Brand Loyalty Relationship ........................................................ 78 The Brand Knowledge-Brand Image Relationship ........................................................... 78 The Brand Knowledge-Behavioral Intentions Relationship ............................................. 80 v The Brand Satisfaction-Brand Loyalty Relationship ........................................................ 80 The Brand Satisfaction-Brand Image Relationship .......................................................... 81 The Brand Satisfaction-Behavioral Intentions Relationship ............................................. 82 The Brand Identification-Brand Loyalty Relationship ..................................................... 83 The Brand Identification-Brand Image Relationship ........................................................ 84 The Brand Identification-Behavioral Intentions Relationship .......................................... 85 The Sense of Sport Brand Community-Brand Loyalty Relationship ............................... 86 The Sense of Sport Brand Community-Brand Image Relationship .................................. 87 The Sense of Sport Brand Community-Behavioral Intentions Relationship .................... 88 The Brand Loyalty-Behavioral Intentions Relationship ................................................... 89 The Brand Image-Behavioral