Characterizing Consumer Motivation as Individual Difference Factors: Augmenting the Sport Interest Inventory (SII) to Explain Level of Spectator Support.

Abstract

The central focus of this study was to examine how individual difference factors could be used to explain various levels of consumer support for a specific sport property. The present study extends the Sport Interest Inventory (SII) in order to enhance current understanding of consumer motives in relation to sport in general and women’s competitive sport in particular. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the 54-item Sport Interest Inventory, measuring 14 individual difference factors related to spectator interest in soccer. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that five motivational characteristics?a) sport interest, (b) team interest, (c) vicarious achievement, (d) role modeling, and (e) entertainment value—explained 54% of variance in level of spectator support for women’s professional soccer. These results suggest that augmenting traditional spectator measures offers a better understanding of motivational characteristics in different sport situations and of the impact these motivations have on behavior. Implications for marketers of women’s professional sports and of sports in general are discussed.