Sport şi Societate (May 2017)
THE MEDIATOR EFFECT OF TEAM IDENTIFICATION IN RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTITUDINAL LOYALTY AND BEHAVIORAL LOYALTY: A STUDY ON SOCCER FANS IN TURKEY
Abstract
This study examined the relationships between attitudinal loyalty, behavioral loyalty, team identification, and whether team identification served as a mediator between attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty in a sample of soccer fans. In this study, a structural equation model is proposed for investigates the mediating role of team identification of the relationship between attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty. The data gained through the 261 soccer fans were analyzed by using SPSS, AMOS 22.0 software programs. To validity and reliability of measurement model three different Confirmatory Factor Analysis have been used the path suggested by literature was followed to identify the partial mediation effect of team identification between attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty of soccer fans. As a result, all constructs have a highly significant effect with each other and team identification has partial mediation effect between attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty of football fans. Fan loyalty has a crucial effect on sport clubs’ sustainability as it has the same effect that customer loyalty has on corporate sustainability. It can be said that importance of defining the processes of creating loyal fans for sport clubs has incontrovertibly effect the clubs’ sustainability. In this context the results taken from this research provide the sports marketers with important inferences from the way they need to create the loyal fans.
