C H A P T E R
16
Sport Consumer Behavior
B. Christine Green, University of Texas at Austin
Carla A. Costa, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Chapter 16
Understanding the Individual as a
Sport Consumer
• Segmentation
– Market segments
– Target segments
– Segmenting sport consumers based on their
motives, perceptions, and attitudes
Consumer Needs and Motivation
• Identify and satisfy customers’ unfulfilled
needs
• Participant motivation
• Spectator motivation
• Participant and spectator markets
• Sidebar: A Swim Club in Crisis
Participant Motivation
• Over 100 motives for participating in sport
• Three key motives
– Achievement
– Social
– Mastery
• Extrinsic and intrinsic rewards
Spectator Motivation
• Different reasons for watching and
participating
• Spectator motives vary considerably
– Diversion
– Eustress
Consumer Perceptions
• Perceiving sport as meeting a particular
need or motive
• People tend to act and react based on
perceptions
• Process by which a person selects,
organizes, and interprets stimuli to create a
meaningful picture of the world
Consumer Attitudes
• Marketing efforts
– Directed at shaping people’s perceptions
– Attempting to form or change customers’ attitudes
(continued)
Consumer Attitudes (continued)
• Attitudes
– Expressions of one’s inner feelings that reflect likes
and dislikes
– Based on three components: a person’s
experiences, feelings, and beliefs
• Consumer
– Loyalty
– Involvement
– Identification
Figure 16.1
Group Influences
on the Sport Consumer
• External factors influencing buying
behavior
– People closest to us
– Groups with whom we choose to associate
– Broader society in which we live
• Direct, indirect, and aspirational reference
groups
Consumer Socialization
• Reference groups
– Chosen based on what consumer has learned
– Can affect what a consumer learns subsequently
• Direct and indirect reference groups
influence the ways in which we consume
sport
• Socialization processes: modeling,
prompting, and reinforcement
Situational Influences
on the Sport Consumer
• Isolating influences of internal or external
forces is difficult
• Different contexts and situations result in
different decisions
• A situation is a set of factors . . .
– Outside the individual consumer
– Removed from the product or advertisement
(continued)
Situational Influences on the Sport
Consumer (continued)
• Awareness of how purchase situations
influence consumers
• Situational influences
– Physical surroundings
– Social surroundings
– Task requirements
– Time pressures
– Antecedent states
Consumer Decision Making in Sport
• Common progression in decision-making
process as consumer
– Recognizes a need or problem
– Seeks information to resolve problem or fulfill need
– Determines purchase options
– Evaluates alternatives
– Makes purchase decision
– Engages in postpurchase evaluation
Figure 16.2
Challenges in Sport Consumer
Behavior
• Meaning and emotion of sport consumption
• Globalization of sport
• Virtual consumption
• Compulsive consumption
• Sidebar: Twitter Stimulates Fan Involvement
Practical Application
• Critical thinking in sport consumer behavior
– Encouraging sport participation
• Ethics in sport consumer behavior
– Seeking innovative and inexpensive ways to market
product
Three Review Questions
1. What are the key motives for sport
participation and for sport spectation?
2. You and a friend attend a basketball game
at your university. Why might the two of
you have different perceptions of the
game?
(continued)
Three Review Questions (continued)
3. What are potential group influences on a
person’s decision to attend a sporting
event? Give an example of the way that
each would influence the decision.