Testing Models of Motives and Points of Attachment

Purpose

As the spectator sport market has become large and competition for consumers has increased, the need for understanding spectators' motives and points of attachment has become important for developing effective marketing strategies. The purpose of the study was to examine four different models that explain the relationships among motives and points of attachment and determine a model that explains the most variance in the referent variables. In particular, the motives were divided into different sets of categories based on whether an individual is a fan or a spectator, and it was assumed that fan motives and spectator motives would be related to different points of attachment.

Methods

A total 501 college students responded to the Motivation Scale for Sport Consumption (MSSC) and the Points of Attachment Index (PAI).

Analysis/Results

The RAMONA Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique, available in the SYSTAT 7.0 (1997) statistical package, was used to examine the factor loadings of the items on the specified factors (a confirmatory factor analysis, CFA) and to compare the four models suggested in the study and select the best fitting model (SEM). The results showed that motives can be divided into fan motives and spectator motives, and these motives were related to different sets of points of attachment: organizational identification and sport identification. The choice of Model D showed that Social Interaction and Vicarious Achievement were more likely to be motives for fans of teams, whereas Skills, Aesthetics, Drama, and Knowledge were more likely to be the motives for fans of sport, meaning spectators. In addition, Escape was a motive that seemed to be connected to both groups. Regarding the relationships among motives and points of attachment, the Fan Motives variable was correlated with the Organization Identification variable, whereas the Spectator Motives variable was associated with Sport Identification.

Conclusions

The findings of the study have important practical implications for the marketers. It suggests that there are, in fact, two different market segments, fans of the team and fans of the sport. The latter, who may have limited or no attachment to the marketer's team, would be considered spectators. Therefore, marketers need to identify the target markets and should develop separate marketing strategies based on their target markets. In addition, marketers should recognize what aspect the fans and/or spectators are attached to and incorporate the information into the marketing plans.