David Greenslade Investigating the Impact of Relationship Marketing upon a Football Fan's Attitudinal Loyalty as the Antecedent to Behavioural Loyalty; A UK Perspective

‘Investigating the Impact of Relationship Marketing upon a Football Fan’s Attitudinal Loyalty

as the Antecedent to Behavioural Loyalty: A UK Perspective’

A dissertation submitted by

David William Greenslade

in partial completion of the award of

BA (Hons) Events & Leisure Marketing

‘I hereby declare that the dissertation submitted is the wholly work of

David William Greenslade.

Any other contributors or sources have either been referenced

in the prescribed manner or are listed in the acknowledgements

together with the nature and scope of their contribution.’

School of Tourism

Bournemouth University

(2014)

ii

Dissertation Declaration

I agree that, should the University wish to retain it for reference purposes, a copy of my dissertation

may be held by Bournemouth University normally for a period of three academic years. I understand

that once the retention period has expired my dissertation will be destroyed.

Confidentiality

I confirm that this dissertation does not contain information of a commercial or confidential nature or

include personal information other than that which would normally be in the public domain unless the

relevant permissions have been obtained. In particular, any information which identifies a particular

individual’s religious or political beliefs, information relating to their health, ethnicity, criminal

history or gender, has been made anonymous, unless permission has been granted for its publication

from the person to whom it relates.

Ethical and Health & Safety issues

I confirm that the on-line ethics checklist was completed and that any ethical considerations associated

with the proposed research were discussed with my supervisor/tutor and an appropriate research

strategy was developed which would take them into account. I also confirm that any potential health

& safety risks associated with the proposed research were discussed with my supervisor/tutor and

where necessary, appropriate precautions were documented, including an appropriate risk assessment.

Copyright

The copyright for this dissertation remains with me.

Requests for Information

I agree that this dissertation may be made available as the result of a request for information under the

Freedom of Information Act.

Signed: D. Greenslade

Name: David William Greenslade

Date: 01/05/2014

Programme: Events and Leisure Marketing

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Abstract

Marketing in recent decades has experienced a paradigm shift away from product orientation towards

building relationships between customers and businesses, with the point of sale no longer the end of

interactions. The use of relationship marketing to retain customers can result in substantial increases in

profits thus demonstrating the power of effective relationship marketing. However a review of the

current literature surrounding the topics under investigation revealed a lack of research into

relationship marketing within the sport industry. Given the monumental sums of money invested in the

sports industry, coupled with the unique nature of loyalty amongst sports fans and their team, provided

a sizeable research gap in which to investigate.

This dissertation research study provides an investigation into the impact of relationship marketing

upon a football fans’ attitudinal loyalty and subsequently how this may indirectly affect their

behavioural loyalty. A quantitative method with deductive approach was chosen for this research using

two sampling methods; the data collected from the questionnaires was then interpreted thematically

using SPSS for Windows through data frequencies and relationship testing. The key insights found

that fans that interacted with relationship marketing had a significant relationship with behavioural

loyalty, and their identification with their team. The results could not fully support the notion that

relationship marketing had a significant relationship with attitudinal loyalty and therefore cannot

determine whether relationship marketing impact upon attitudinal loyalty will result in increased

behavioural loyalty in terms of attendance. However future research in this area is necessary before

accepting these findings as absolute fact.

The key findings and limitations are found in the conclusion chapter of the dissertation study with

using consolidated tables and conceptual figures. Final recommendations for sports practitioners and

future research involving relationship marketing amongst sport fans are provided in Chapter 5 based

upon the interpretation of the researcher’s findings.

Dissertation word count: 9,963

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Acknowledgements

The researcher would like to devote this section to thank those who have contributed to the completion

of this dissertation.

Firstly, I am indebted to my dissertation supervisor Clive Allen who has given me the support, advice

and direction with positivity throughout every stage of this research process.

I would also like to thank my family and friends for their constant support throughout my University

experience. Without them this would have been impossible to achieve.

Finally, I would like to thank both my course peers and house mates who have offered advice, listened

to my complaints, and kept me sane during the final year of my studies.

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Table of Contents

Dissertation Declaration ii Abstract iii Acknowledgement iv Table of Contents v List of Tables vii List of Figures viii

Chapter 1- Introduction 1

1.1 Relevance of Study 2 1.2 Aims and Objectives 2

Chapter 2- Literature Review 3 2.1 Relationship Marketing 3 2.2 Brand Equity 5 2.3 Loyalty 6

2.3.1 Attitudinal Loyalty 7 2.3.2 Behavioural Loyalty 7 2.3.3 Sport Fan 8 2.3.4 Sport Fan Loyalty 9

2.4 Team Identity 10 2.5 Football Industry 11

Chapter 3- Methodology 13 3.1 Aims and Objectives 13 3.2 Research Context 14 3.3 Research Philosophy 15 3.4 Secondary Data 16 3.5 Primary Research 17

3.5.1 Research Method 17 3.5.2 Survey Design 17 3.5.3 Sampling Method 18 3.5.4 Population 18 3.5.5 Data Analysis 19

3.6 Limitations 19 3.7 Ethical Issues 20

Chapter 4- Data Analysis and Discussions 21

4.1 Demographic Frequencies 22 4.1.1 Age Breakdown 22 4.1.2 Gender Breakdown 23 4.1.3 Region Breakdown 24 4.1.4 Origin of Support Breakdown 25 4.1.5 Factors Preventing Attendance Breakdown 26

4.2 Result Testing 27 4.3 Spearman Rank Correlation Testing 27

4.3.1 Hypothesis 1 Testing 28 4.3.2 Hypothesis 2 Testing 29 4.3.3 Hypothesis 3 Testing 30 4.3.4 Hypothesis 4 Testing 32 4.3.5 Hypothesis 5 Testing 32 4.3.6 Hypothesis 6 Testing 33 4.3.7 Hypothesis 7 Testing 34 4.3.8 Hypothesis 8 Testing 34

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4.4 Mann-Whitney U Test 36 4.4.1 Hypothesis 9 Testing 36 4.4.2 Hypothesis 10 Testing 38 4.4.3 Hypothesis 11 Testing 39 4.4.4 Hypothesis 12 Testing 40 4.4.5 Hypothesis 13 Testing 41

Chapter 5- Conclusions 43

5.1 Consolidated Key Research Findings 43 5.2 Recommendations 46

Chapter 6- References 48 Chapter 7- Appendices 56

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List of Tables

Chapter 2- Literature Review 3 Table 1: Top European Football Club’s Social Media Following 12

Chapter 3- Methodology 13

Table 2: Mapping Sentences process 14 Table 3: Differences between Quantitative & Qualitative research 16

Chapter 4- Data Analysis and Discussion 21

Table 4: Secondary Data Hypotheses 21 Table 5: Null Hypotheses 56 Table 6: Summary of Age Breakdown 22 Table 7: Summary of Gender Breakdown 23 Table 8: Summary of Region of Respondents Breakdown 24 Table 9: Frequency Region of Supported Team 25 Table 10: Frequency Name of Supported Team 25 Table 11: Frequency Region of Supported Team 25 Table 12: Summary of Respondents Factors of Origin Breakdown 26 Table 13: Summary of Factors Preventing Attendance Breakdown 27 Table 14: SPSS Test of Normality 14 Table 15: Attitudinal Loyalty against Behavioural Loyalty 28 Table 16: Summary of Attitudinal Loyalty against Behavioural Loyalty 28 Table 17: RM against Attitudinal Loyalty 29 Table 18: Summary of RM against Attitudinal Loyalty 30 Table 19: RM against Attendance 31 Table 20: Summary of RM against Attendance 31 Table 21: RM against Attendance LAST Season 32 Table 22: RM against Attendance THIS Season 33 Table 23: Summary of RM against Recent Attendance 33 Table 24: RM against Fan Identity 34 Table 25: Summary of RM against Fan Identity 34 Table 26: Fan Identity against Attitudinal Loyalty 35 Table 27: Fan Identity against Behavioural Loyalty 35 Table 28: Summary of Fan Identity against Attitudinal and Behavioural Loyalty 36 Table 29: Website Membership against Attendance Test Statistics 37 Table 30: Website Membership against Attendance Report 37 Table 31: Summary of Website Membership against Attendance 37 Table 32: Loyalty Card Holders against Attendance Test Statistics 38 Table 33: Loyalty Card Holders against Attendance Report 38 Table 34: Summary of Loyalty Card Holders against Attendance 39 Table 35: Age of Fan against RM Usage Test Statistics 39 Table 36: Age of Fan against RM Usage Report 39 Table 37: Summary of Age against RM Usage 40 Table 38: Age of Fan against Attitudinal Loyalty Test Statistics 40 Table 39: Age of Fan against Attitudinal Loyalty Report 40 Table 40: Summary of Age against Attitudinal Loyalty 41 Table 41: Age of Fan against Behavioural Loyalty Test Statistic 41 Table 42: Age of Fan against Behavioural Loyalty Report 41 Table 43: Summary of Age of Fan against Attitudinal Loyalty 42 Table 44: Key Outcomes of Test Variable Relationships 44


Table 45: Recommendations for Practitioners 46 Table 46: Recommendations for Future Research 47

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List of Figures

Chapter 2- Literature Review 3 Figure 1: Literature Review Topic Format Process 3 Figure 2: The Buyer Seller Relationship 4 Figure 3: Why Loyal Customers are More Profitable 5 Figure 4: The Two Elements of Loyalty 7 Figure 5: Top Twenty Money League Clubs Revenue (€) 11

Chapter 3- Methodology 13

Figure 6: Potential Determinants of Fan Loyalty in terms of Attendance 15

Chapter 4- Data Analysis and Discussions 21 Figure 7: Frequency Age Group of Respondents 22 Figure 8: Frequency Gender of Respondents 23 Figure 9: Frequency Region of Respondents 24 Figure 10: Frequency Factors of Origin of Supported Team 25 Figure 11: Frequency Factors to Prevent Attendance 26


Figure 24: Conceptual Relationships between Test Variables 44

Chapter 7- Appendices 56 Figure 12: Visual Representation of SPSS Data Normality 57 Figure 13: RM against Behavioural Loyalty 57 Figure 14: RM against Behavioural Loyalty (LAST Season) 58 Figure 15: RM against Behavioural Loyalty (THIS Season) 58 Figure 16: RM against Attitudinal Loyalty 59 Figure 17: RM against Fan Identity 59 Figure 18: Fan Identity against Behavioural Loyalty 60 Figure 19: Fan Identity against Attitudinal Loyalty 60 Figure 20: Attitudinal Loyalty against Behavioural Loyalty 61 Figure 21: Attitudinal Loyalty against Behavioural Loyalty 61 Figure 22: Attitudinal Loyalty against Behavioural Loyalty (LAST Season) 62 Figure 23: Attitudinal Loyalty against Behavioural Loyalty (THIS Season) 62 Figure 25: CRM Conceptual Map 63 Figure 26: Questionnaire Design 64

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1.0 Introduction

In recent years there has been a significant paradigm shift from product focus to becoming

progressively more concerned with development and maintenance of long-term customer relationships

(Berry 1983; Grönroos 1994, 2000; Morgan and Hunt 1994; Buttle 1996; Sheth and Parvatiyar 1999).

The concept of ‘relationship marketing’ (RM) is the processes by which organisations create and

sustain longitudinal customer relationships (Berry 1983). This is referred to as an ‘on-going process’

that encourages the engagement in ‘cooperative and collaborative’ interactions (Sheth and Parvatiyar

1999; Palmatier 2008) that over time will change repeated behaviours into ingrained habits (Kapferer

2005).

Sport is a billion dollar industry, with numerous challenges for sports marketers who must try to

nullify negative team performance, and develop fan loyalty through longitudinal relationships

(Deloitte 2014; Tsiotsou 2013). A fan’s loyalty with their football team however is said to be unique

when compared to a consumer loyalty with brands or commodities due to its irrational and

unpredictable nature (Oliver 1999). Being a sports fan is said to go “far beyond the bounds of simply

regular or spasmodic match attendance” with deeper unseen interlinking bonds between fan amd their

favoured sport’s team (Edge 1998, p18).

This dissertation was largely influenced by studies that investigated factors affecting fan loyalty

behaviour within a sports team, such as attitudinal loyalty, involvement and fan identification (Bee and

Havitz 2010; Laverie and Arnett 2000; Neale and Funk 2006; Tsiotsou 2013; Wakefield 1995). The

aim of this dissertation is to gain an understanding of the phenomenon ‘fan loyalty’ within UK football

so that football clubs can more successfully leverage this relationship for marketing purposes. The

results will look to provide insights into RM’s application to the sports industry which is an area of

literature that is currently limited (Bühler and Nüfer 2010; Stavros et al. 2008).

The structure of this dissertation will follow:

1. Firstly, the researcher will state the aim and objectives of this dissertation.

2. Next, a critical review of the current literature surrounding RM, sports fan loyalty and fan

identity within the context of football.

3. An appropriate research methodology will follow, detailing the exact research approach

adopted, and to what extent the approach may be limited

4. The key results will be displayed conceptually against the research hypotheses, with

discussion as to what the results indicate using relevant literature comparisons.

5. Finally, a critical summary of the results will be provided with recommendations for

practitioners and future research.

2

1.1 Relevance of Study Marketing has experienced a shift away from a product orientation focus towards service and

interaction (Grönroos 1994; Kotler 1991; Sheth and Parvatiyar 1999. It is important that the sport

industry adapts to this shift using CRM through RM methods as fan loyalty is a key feature of a

football clubs future in respect to their financial contributions (Deloitte 2014). However sports

literature indicates a lack of research in RM in sports with the need to move beyond direct focus upon

behavioural loyalty and include variables that influence attitudinal loyalty (Bee & Havitz 2010; Bühler

& Nüfer 2010; Laverie & Arnett 2000; Neale & Funk 2006; Tsiotsou 2013; Wakefield 1995). This

research will investigate the impact of RM upon fans of UK football teams’ attitudinal loyalty as an

antecedent to their behavioural loyalty in terms of their attendance to live matches involving their

team. Humphrey (2009) suggests that information gained through research studies involving RM and

team identification will be crucial to sports marketers; particularly informing those sports clubs that

operate on a smaller scale to use the most efficient money –orientated resources in their promotions to

encourage fan spending.

1.2 Aim and Objectives

Objectives

1. Critically analyse existing theory

involving fan loyalty and relationship

marketing.

2. Develop

understanding between fan loyalty

and relationship marketing within a football context.

3. Select an appropriate research philosophy to obtain a

relevant sample of football fans for investigation.

4. Critically appraise

the impact of relationship marketing upon fan loyalty with recommendations for


Aim

To investigate the impact of relationship marketing upon fan's attitudunial loyalty as an antecendent to behavioural loyalty in terms of their attendance to live matches involving their team.

3

Chapter 2.0 Literature Review

RM is an emerging paradigm shift in marketing that has had a dramatic impact upon the relationship

between companies and their customers with far more tailored and personal involvement than in the

past (Berry 1983; Grönroos 2000; Morgan and Hunt 1994; Buttle 1996; Sheth and Parvatiyar 1999).

However the sports industry is yet to fully embrace the relationship marketing through customer

relationship management despite numerous literature highlighting huge financial benefits (Bühler and

Nüfer 2010; Reichheld 1996; Winer 2001). The purpose of this literature review is to address

objectives 1 and 2 by critically reviewing the existing key literature relevant to this dissertation study

and the extent to which current research may be limited, before identifying a viable research gap. This

literature review will start with the broad concept terms before narrowing towards the specific research

gap that this dissertation study will contribute, to as shown by Figure 1 below.

Figure 1: Literature Review Topic Format Process

2.1 Relationship Marketing RM’s origin is widely attributed to Berry (1983) and is described as the marketing activity efforts to

establish, develop and maintain long-term successful relationships (Buttle 1996; Morgan and Hunt

1994). With the growing importance of long-term, strategic relationships it seems inevitable that an

increased emphasis will be placed upon RM skills within organisations (Webster 1992). This shift in

the marketing paradigm from a transactional to a relationship focus has led to the adoption of the term

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and practice of RM (Bühler and Nufer 2012, Christopher et al. 1991; Gummesson 2002; Sheth and

Parvatiyar 1999). Grönroos (1997) believes that if marketers are to compete in an ever growing and

competitive marketplace they must look beyond the traditional marketing philosophy; and adds that

although methods such as the Four Ps may have been useful from a management perspective at one

time, they were never applicable to all markets and to all types of marketing situations which has led

to the progression of RM theory.

The basic premise of RM tools is to create value for the parties involved through an interaction

process between suppliers, customers, competitors and others through a mutual exchange and

fulfilment of promises (Grönroos 1997; Gummesson 2002). RM has been driven by technological

advances in recent years through customised direct marketing such as social media interactions,

creating a greater potential for ‘emotional bonding from economic exchange’ between consumer and

organisation (Sheth and Parvatiyar 1999; Winer 2001).

“The sale cannot be the end of the process for the seller anymore” (Winer 2001, p391).

The progression is demonstrated by “The Buyer-Seller Relationship” by Levitt (1986) in Figure 2

whereby “C” illustrates RM whereby the buyer and seller have become interdependent with both the

seller and buyer depending on the other in some way.

Figure 2: The Buyer Seller Relationship (adapted from Levitt 1986, p113-114)

Satisfaction is one of the requirements of customer loyalty with many studies showing a positive

relationship between loyalty and profitability (Palmatier 2008; Srivastava et al. 1998; Winer 2001).

Loyal customers stimulate revenue growth, are less expensive to serve, will refer new customers to the

organisation and are often more willing to pay a price premium (Winer 2001). Reichheld (1996) found

that increases in profits as high as 95% can occur from as little as a 5% increase in retention rates

demonstrating the power that effective RM can produce. Figure 1 displays a conceptualised graph of

the potential increases from loyal customers by Reichheld (1996). The graph steadily increases over

time to increase annual customer profit and nullifies the acquisition cost.

Seller Buyer

Buyer Seller

Seller Buyer

A

B

C

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Figure 3: Why Loyal Customers are More Profitable (taken from Reichheld 1996, p39)

Winer (2001, p98) identifies the methods by which satisfaction from customer relationship

management can be gained through “Customer Service, Frequency/Loyalty Programs; Customisation;

Reward Programs and Community Building”. However difficulties that arise include how companies

manage their image as an ally, not an enemy, and how to obtain knowledge based on customer and

environmental factors to sustain this relationship over time (Palmatier 2008; Ramkumar and

Saravanan 2007). The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as the process responsible

for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably and the key to this will be

through meeting consumer needs to strengthen customer loyalty (Chartered Institute of Marketing

2014).

2.2 Brand Equity A brand is said to be a name, term, symbol, design, or combinations of these that identifies a seller’s

products and differentiates them from a competitors’ products (Aaker 1991; Bauer et al. 2005). A

definition of Brand Equity comes from Keller (1993, p2), as a key academic in branding literature, as

“the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the marketing of the brand”.

Hattula et al. (2012) believes there is a lack of scientific studies on the role of marketing and brand

building activities in sports clubs particularly in considering the interrelationships between brand

equity and sport-related success. This is surprising given that the brand is often considered the most

important asset of sport clubs (Bauer and Sauer 2004) and that brand equity is said to be the key

indicator of sport-related and managerial capabilities in a sports company (Madden et al. 2006).

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The challenge for sport clubs is to compete in foreign markets to improve revenue such as Manchester

United and Real Madrid as Europe’s most valuable football teams competing in European

competitions and selling merchandise internationally (Kerr and Gladden 2008). Gladden and Milne

(1999) exploring the influence of sporting success on brand equity in their study of National Hockey

League, National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball found that both athletic success

and brand equity had significant positive effects on attendance and merchandise revenues.

Because loyalty has been found to determine brand performance (Tsiotsou 2013); this dissertation will

look to investigate the importance of a football club’s brand equity, in terms of the perceived success

and popularity of the team, against the loyalty of the fan of the club.

2.3 Loyalty Customer retention has moved from the periphery of an organisation’s concern as perceiving

customers simply as an audience toward seeing them as key assets (Christopher et al. 2013).

Academics such as Bee and Havitz (2010) have noted that by efficiently maintaining relationship with

sport consumers the relative cost of customer retention processes are substantially lower than those of

acquisition. The key to retention is through the development of brand loyalty to exhibit consumer

repeat purchasing behaviour consistently in the future (Oliver 1999). A conceptualisation of brand

loyalty that is widely accredited by academics is given Jacoby and Chestnut (1978, p.165)

“The (a) biased, (b) behavioural response, (c) expressed over time, (d) by some decision-

making unit, (e) with respect to one or more alternative brands out of a set of such brands,

and (f) is a function of psychological (decision making evaluative) processes.” Jacoby and

Chestnut (1978, p.165)

The definition helps to split loyalty into two distinct forms as ‘attitudinal loyalty’ and ‘behavioural

loyalty’ as also considered in previous research by Oliver (1999) and Bee and Havitz (2010);

conceptualised below in Figure 2.

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Figure 4: The two Elements of Loyalty

2.3.1 Attitudinal Loyalty Attitudinal loyalty is seen as the consumer exhibiting positive or favourable beliefs towards a

product/service (Agustin and Singh 2005). It is said to be a process of psychological attachment

leading to increased intention to repurchase (Iwasaki and Havitz 2004; Mahony et al. 2000).

Attitudinal loyalty suggests that customers have favourable perceptions of products however this is

just an indication of a consumer’s opinion rather than the act of actual purchase (Neale and Funk

2006). The ‘Attitudinal’ component is said to distinguish ‘true brand loyalty from simply repeat

buying’ (Eagly and Chaiken 1993). However in sport Bee and Havitz (2010) suggest the ‘attitudinal

component’ of loyalty is an antecedent to ‘behavioural loyalty’ with the initial attraction to a sport

likely to influence their psychological to a sport-specific sport event.

This psychological attraction is said be as a result of the level of involvement in terms of motivation,

arousal or interest towards a recreational activity or product, usually evoked by a particular stimulus of

situation (Bee and Havitz 2010; Havitz and Dimanche 1997; Rothschild 1984). Research suggests that

involvement has a significant affect upon psychological commitment in terms of fans’ team

attachment (Bee and Havitz 2010; Tsiotsou and Alexandris 2009) and therefore indirectly the

attitudinal loyalty which the authors argue acts as the antecedent to behavioural loyalty.

2.3.2 Behavioural Loyalty Behavioural loyalty in the last few decades has dominated much of the literature within sports

management and sports psychology research (De Schriver ad Jensen 2002; Hill and Green 2000;

Hansen and Gauthier 1989). Behavioural loyalty refers to the actual behaviours that individuals exhibit;

often including repeat purchasing of a product/service from the same supplier, positive

recommendation and repetitive behaviours (Bee and Havitz 2010; Dick & Basu, 1994). Many

researchers believe that consumer repeat purchases best captures loyalty toward the brand of interest

(Kahn et al. 1986; Ehrenberg 2000; Funk and Pastore 2002).

Attitudinal Element

Behavioural Element

Loyalty

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The present study will consider behavioural loyalty in terms of frequency of attendance as the author

believes that following a similar approach to past sport research studies involving fan loyalty and

identification (Laverie and Arnett 2000; Murrel and Dietz 1992; Neale and Funk 2006; Tsitosou 2013;

Wakefield 1995). A study by Russell (1997) scanned crowd size data from the inter-war period finding

that the majority of football team’s support was in direct correlation to the success of the team. This is

reiterated by Sutton et al. (1997) who concluded that successful teams attract fans and teams often

gain admirers when teams perform well. However the concept of RM is a relatively new phenomenon,

and even more so in a sporting context with the growing number of channels in which to view sport,

and so the present study will consider RM’s impact upon attitudinal loyalty as an antecedent to

behavioural loyalty in terms of the fan’s frequency of attendance.

2.3.3 Sport Fan A ‘sport fan’ within the context of sports fandom is said to be those individuals who are interested in

and follow a sport, team, and/or athlete Wann et al. (2001). This is not be confused with a ‘sport

spectator’ who actively witness a sporting event in person or through some form of media (Jones

1997). The main differences between a sport fan and sport spectator lie in terms of their interest and

devotion in that a spectator of a sport will quickly forger the spectacle whereas a fan’s interest is so

intense that it often occupies great parts of the day (ibid).

It is also important for sport marketers to identify the key differences between ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’

sport consumption so as to understand the specific needs of each segment of fans and formulate

strategies to best reach them (Funk and Pastore 2002; Mullin et al. 2007). Wann et al. (2001) identified

the fact that only some sport fans will actively try to witness a live sporting event on and defines

‘direct sport consumption’ as involving actual attendance at a sporting event with the potential to

impact the result. Whereas Kenyon (1969) refers to ‘indirect sport consumption’ as involving exposure

to sport through some form of mass media, such as television or the radio.

Tapp and Clowes (2002) also included segmentation in their exploration of football supporters in

which they identified a number of segments such as “professional wanderers, repertoire fans, and

carefree casuals”. These segments are important to consider, particularly when investigating behaviour

and attendance as indicators of fan loyalty, because repertoire fans who occasionally attend their

team’s matches may still see themselves as loyal supporters despite also watching matches not

involving their team (ibid).

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2.3.4 Sport Fan Loyalty Oliver (1999) emphasised the need to consider that loyalty in the context of sports consumption may

be different from loyalty towards a brand, vendor or store. For example a study by Parker and Stuart

(1997) into fan loyalty in football found that customer loyalty was comparatively higher than in other

sectors. However Funk et al. (2004) notes that there does not appear to be much agreement within

literature to which factors best explain and predict the behaviour of consumers in a sporting context.

The sport business as a whole needs willing fans to spend their time, emotions and money on their

favourite team as they form part of a unique joint product (Bühler and Nüfer 2010; Morrow 1999),

with Bauer et al. (2005, p14) assertion that “it is beyond question that the most significant asset of a

team sports club is a stable following”.

Reported income generated from attendances at sport matches over a season can contribute as much as

75% to the overall revenue of some sport teams through ticket sales, and indirectly through sales of

merchandise, concessions, advertising rights and sponsorship deals (Neale and Funk 2006). Neale and

Funk (2006) suggest that it is unrealistic to make assumptions on consistent income received from

sport spectators as their frequency of visits is likely to be sporadic; therefore sports marketers have

always been more concerned with increasing attendance at games through building loyal fans.

Gantz et al. (2012) considered fan loyalty in terms of attendance exploring the in- person and virtual

co-viewing of sports stating that “across viewing settings, sports fanship is a social phenomenon”,

suggesting that when fans fill the stadium they are contributing both to positive atmosphere as well as

providing a sizeable financial aid to the club. However it is important to consider that worldwide

thousands of fans cannot, or prefer not, to attend live performances but will follow their team through

television, radio, newspapers and the internet (Phua 2010; Laverie and Arnett 2000). This reaffirms

the importance of RM as fans that do not financially support a team through their attendance can still

financially support their team through shirt sales or online club website membership. The club

therefore must go beyond the idea that a fans love for the sport will be enough to sustain loyalty to a

given team, but that involvement and connection to the players or club are crucial (Billings 2011;

Tsiotsou 2013).

Wann et al. (1996) found that although significant persons and geographical reasons were the most

common reasons for the initial support of a team, lack of team success was the greatest reason for the

discontinuation of support. Success impact upon spectator attendance is the most extensively

researched relationship, with the majority recognising a strong positive association between the two

(Neale and Funk 2006). Neale and Funk (2006) found fans with a stronger attitudinal loyalty to their

team are more likely to be unaffected from their team’s poor performances on the pitch, which could

further emphasise the importance of RM as the vast majority of teams are likely to go without success

for sustained periods of time. Bee and Havitz (2010) stress the importance of marketers using image

10

management and wide dissemination of consistent information that is easily acceptable so as to

strengthen psychological commitment and therefore possibly increase behavioural loyalty indirectly.

2.4 Team Identity Team identification is the extent to which a fan feels a psychological connection to a team linked

heavily to a fan’s social identity and the degree to which a fan believes the team is an extension of his

or herself (Theodorakis et al. 2012; Wann et al. 2001; Wann and Branscombe 1993). Strongly

identified fans typically have a greater level of involvement with their team, embraced team successes,

have better expectations of results and were more willing to invest in the club (Wann and Branscombe

1993). These qualities are highly desired by marketers; especially in sport where emotional bonds with

a team are not fully understood (Bühler and Nüfer 2012).

Humphrey (2009) suggests that the information gained from team identification is critical to sport

marketers when promotional resources are limited as they must be efficient with money-orientated

promotions particularly to those fans with low team identification to try to offset negative moods after

losing performances. Models/scales have been developed to try to ascertain the extent to which a fan

identifies with a team such as Wann and Branscombe’s (1993) “Sport Spectator Identification Scale”

which uses behavioural, affective and cognitive reactions to validate team identification.

Sheth and Parvatiyar (1999) believe that for a successful relationship to form between a sport

organisation and its fans there must be a process that facilitates ‘engagement’ and ‘collaboration’.

Theodorakis et al. (2012) adds that to successfully influence strong levels of team identification

sports marketers should look to develop strategic campaigns that influence fan’s cognitive and

affective responses, alongside influencing perceptions of a team’s values; reiterating the purpose

of the study to investigate attitudinal loyalty (cognitive processes) as an antecedent to

behavioural loyalty (affective responses) through the use of RM.

How fans originally identified with their team could have a significant impact upon how susceptible

(if at all) they will be to specific relationship marketing methods. However discrepancies are very

much evident when considering origin of identifying with a team with several studies focusing on the

origin of fan involvement found significant persons to have the greatest influence (McPherson 1976;

Smith et al. 1981; Wann et al. 1996; Wann et al. 2001). In contrast Jones (1997) found that

traditionally geographical reasons were the greatest influence towards the identification of a favourite

team; which could suggest that a fan is born into a football club which could result in strong place

marketing used by sports marketers. Higham and Hinch (2010) suggest a possible shift in younger

football fans team identification away from lower-level teams. A fan’s hometown or place of birth

seems to have less significance on the team a young football fan will support, with increasingly

younger fans opt to support more popular/successful teams with a perceived higher quality of football

experience; which could have serious implications for smaller clubs (ibid).

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2.5 Football Industry The European football market alone is valued at more than £13billion (Deloitte 2014), however

research on RM in sports is very limited which appears strange given the unique nature of fan in sport

in comparison to other business sectors (Bühler and Nufer 2012; Tapp and Clowes 2002). RM in most

sports lags behind other industries in implementing customer relationship management techniques

(CRM) and is often misused in application because communication, trust and dialogue have been

traditionally difficult between fans and a club (Adamson et al. 2006; Grönroos 2006, Chadwick and

Clowes 1998). Adamson et al. (2006) suggest that in order to establish deeper relationships the

football industry must treat supporters as customers whilst however recognising them as fans.

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur have floated shares on the stock market as the commercial

pressures continue to place larger emphasis upon profits (Chadwick and Clowes 1998). However the

importance in RM efforts to drive attendance is illustrated in the breakdown of revenue of the top

European football clubs. The graph shown below (See Graph 2) illustrates the top twenty football

clubs for 2012/13 season in terms of their revenues by source (Deloitte 2014).

Figure 5: Top Twenty Money League Clubs’ Revenues (€) (Taken from Deloitte 2014,

p11)

Although match day gate receipts are the smallest of the three incomes it still represents a huge

revenue stream, this is highlighted through the majority of Italian teams who do not have full

12

ownership of their stadiums, inhibiting their ability to generate revenue through gate receipts. An

example is shown by the highest placed Italian team AC Milan in 10th position with only 10% of total

revenue raised through gate receipts despite their success that includes 18 European trophies (Deloitte

2014) and their social media RM efforts illustrated in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Top European Football Club’s Social Media following (Information taken from

Deloitte 2014 report p9)

Club Facebook Likes (m) Twitter Followers (m)

FC Barcelona 52.4 10.9

Real Madrid 49.1 9.9

Manchester United 39.6 1.7

Chelsea 21.7 3.3

AC Milan 19.3 1.7

Arsenal 19 3.4

Liverpool 14.7 2.3

Bayern Munich 11.6 0.9

Juventus 9.5 0.9

Galatasary 9.4 3.5

Gray and Wert-Gray (2012) state that in recent years RM efforts by sports organizations have become

increasingly prominent with anticipated benefits including higher customer loyalty, improved

complaint resolution and increased willingness to support teams and events through consumption

behaviours such as attendance. A good example of attempted RM within an English football club is

Manchester City FC who installed a CRM system with the aim of becoming one of the leading

football clubs in the world both on and off the pitch (Martin 2010). The programme holds details of

the members in a database for third party promotional offers to reward the fans with allocation of

tickets and other personalised mailings. However literature is limited to suggest that these methods

positively contribute to increased loyalty from fans in terms of their consistent attendance to live

matches (Ramkumar and Saravanan 2007).

13

Chapter 3 – Methodology

This methodology section will addressed Objective 4 set in chapter 1 of this dissertation study by

outlining the research approach that the dissertation study followed whilst highlighting areas that may

exhibit limitations. It includes a reasoned explanation as to why the particular sampling approach was

chosen with reference to relevant past literature and research studies to support the decision. A section

will be devoted to examining in detail the method of analysis, including the statistical tests, to enable a

complete comprehensive. This dissertation study’s research design followed the process considered

the layers of research design or “Research Onion” by Saunders et al. (2012, p128). The course of

action involves understanding outer layer research philosophy, possible methodologies, selection of

strategies and the constraints incurred to ensure that the core data collection technique used in this

research project are appropriate and coherent (ibid).

3.1 Aim and Objectives

Objectives



marketing.

2. Develop








Aim


14

3.2 Research Context One of the most important tasks of the research design is said to be undertaking an initial description

of the domain or area involved (Clark et al. 1999). The chosen method to achieve this will be through

the use of a ‘mapping sentence’, which is described as the initial description of the research expressed

and wholly encompassed in one sentence providing a clear and concise methodology foundation

(Clark et al. 1998).

Balnaves and Caputi (2001, p41) consider the importance of differentiating between establishing

relationships and establishing causation by ‘mapping our thoughts’ about possible relationships

between different phenomenon. For the results of this study to be useful, the research must clearly

define the boundaries of the area whilst identifying the main components with the probable

relationships (Clark et al. 1998). To check the logic of the relationships between phenomena the

information should be presented graphically (Balnaves and Caputi 2001). Using information gained

from Clark et al. (1998) and Balnaves and Caputi (2001) the following table (Table 2) has been

provided and subsequently a mapping conceptual diagram (Figure 6).

Mapping Sentence:

“To investigate whether relationship marketing usage impacts upon the attitudinal loyalty of

the fan and subsequently the behavioural loyalty in terms of attendance; with considerations

to the level of identity of the fan and the fans demographic information [gender/age/location]”

Table 2: Mapping Sentences process (adapted from Clark et al. 1998, p47)

Stage Description of Process

1 Describe all the variables in the area of interest and by so doing define the parameters of the

study.

2 Describe the range of variation that is possible for each variable

3 Describe the nature of the relationship between the variables e.g, casual, antecedents of,

consequence of, similar to, different from, etc.

4 Display the logical sequence of the methodology.

5 Cover all variable (of all types).

6 Cover all the variation within each variable.

15

Figure 6: Potential determinants of fan loyalty in terms of attendance (adapted from

Balnaves and Caputi 2001)

3.3 Research Philosophy Researchers should be aware of the philosophical commitment they make when adopting a research

strategy and the impact incurred from this decision upon the research assumptions involving human

knowledge and the nature of the realities the researcher will encounter (Johnson and Clark 2006;

Saunders et al. 2012). A positivist approach was adopted as the study will seek out initial conditions,

processes, cause, and effects (Hudson and Ozanne 1988). This is because the researcher believed it

would be logical to follow the approach in key previous research into sport fan identity, sport fan

motivation and relationship marketing in sports which used the positivist approach (Wann 1995; Wann

et al 1999; Branscombe and Wann 1991; Tsiotsou 2013; Melnick and Wann 2011; Ravald and

Grönroos 1996).

The basic processes of reasoning in research science are said to be either deductive or inductive; with

inductive data associated more with qualitative research (Balnaves and Caputi 2001; Gratton and

Jones 2010). Qualitative research looks to understand, give description and draw conclusions within a

social reality using methods such as interviewing and observations (McGivern 2009; Sarantakos 2005).

However given that this dissertation study has set a specific research question, and will use numerical

data to measure observations a deductive quantitative method is far more appropriate (Aliaga and

Gunderson 2000; Balnaves and Caputi 2001; Bryman 2008; McDonald et al. 2012; Walliman 2011),

this is because it measures social phenomena to provide facts and determine relationships through

samples to try to generalise populations (Clark et al. 1998; Gratton and Jones 2010; Saunders et al.

2012). Also the researcher believed it was not feasible to use a qualitative research method given the

Relationship Marketing

Attitudinal

Loyalty

Behavioural

Loyalty

Fan

Identification

16

time constraints to carry out in depth interviews with a large enough sample size to present a strong

enough conclusion.

A table displaying key differences in ‘Quantitative’ and ‘Qualitative’ research adapted from Gratton

and Jones (2010) is shown below.

Table 3: Differences between Quantitative and Qualitative research (adapted from

information found in Gratton and Jones 2010)

Quantitative Research Qualitative Research

Uses numerical analysis to measure social

phenomena to provide ‘facts’.

Relies on non-numerical analysis to provide

understanding.

Assumes a single, objective social reality. Assumes social reality is a subjective experience.

Assumes social reality is constant across

different times and settings.

Assumes social reality is continuously

constructed and related to the immediate social

context.

Uses statistical analysis to determine casual

relationships.

Objectives are description, understanding and

meaning.

Studies samples with the intention of generalising

to populations.

Uses smaller samples, or ‘cases’.

Researcher is objective, and ‘detached’ from the

subjects under investigation.

Data are rich and subjective.

The setting is often contrived. The location of the research is often natural.

Data is collected using inanimate objects, for

example pen and paper.

Flexible approach to data collection; often non-

traditional approaches, e.g. content analysis.

Associated with the positivist approach. The researcher is the data collection instrument.

Generally deductive. Associated with the interpretative approach.

Generally inductive.

3.4 Secondary Data It is widely accepted that secondary data in the form of a literature review is key to the success of a

research study and so an extensive examination of current literature that was concentrated specifically

around sport fan loyalty, sport fan identity and relationship marketing was performed in chapter 1 of

this dissertation study to provide the foundation for the researcher’s knowledge (Creswell 2003;

Marczyk et al. 2010; Gratton and Jones 2010; Walliman 2005). By gathering key broad concepts and

theories the researcher was more able to identify a significant gap in the literature that justifies the

need for this dissertation study whilst highlighting trends in research approach and potential

limitations (Bryman 2004; Cottrell and McKenzie 2010; Mitchell and Jolley 2012). Current literature

upon relationship marketing in sports is lacking (Nufer and Bühler 2010) with limited specific

sports given full investigation into causality of relationship marketing effects.

17

3.5 Primary Research

3.5.1 Research Method The selected research method was the use of an electronic self-administered survey (Gaiser and

Schreiner 2009) in the form of a questionnaire designed using ‘Google Forms’ (See Figure 26 in

Appendices). This was chosen as the most appropriate method primarily because of its ability to reach

a varied demographic, low cost and provides anonymity to avoid researcher bias (Balnaves and Caputi

2001; Brace 2008; Gratton and Jones 2004; Walliman 2005). Other strengths of Google Forms include

that it enables cloud-based data storage for greater reliability and security through password protection.

The results collected from Google Forms can then be translated directly into Microsoft Word Excel for

analysis and SPSS relationship testing.

Given that quantitative research focuses on high volumes of numerical data Veal (2006) believes that

questionnaires are the best method to collect this data. Questionnaires as a method of data collection

can be a very flexible tool but must be implemented carefully in order to fulfil needs of the research

study; this is because survey research emphasis is largely upon representativeness (Long 2007,

Walliman 2005). Balnaves and Caputi (2001) warn that quantitative methods require detachment of

the observer for the outcomes to be reliable and so self-administered surveys have been selected.

3.5.2 Survey Design The survey design is vital to the success of this dissertation study which will look to collect relevant

and reliable data through a series of theme specific questions that can be tested against one another for

a rich, in-depth analysis to answer the research question (Balnaves and Caputi 2001). The online

survey obtained information upon the respondent’s basic demographic information, the level of

identity with their football club, the origin of their support, the extent to which they experience RM

from their team, and both attitudinal and behavioural loyalty.

Primarily the study will examined the impact of RM against their attitudinal loyalty, and behavioural

loyalty (in terms of physically attending live matches) to determine any significant relationships and

provide an answer the research aim. The answers could provide insights as to which RM approaches

are best in influencing behavioural loyalty, and the extent to which RM can affect the fan’s attitudinal

loyalty.

Further tests examined the extent to which Fan Identity has significant relationships with RM,

Attitudinal Loyalty and Behavioural Loyalty helped to identify the importance of sports marketers

building a connection with their fans to avoid switching behaviour. Tapp and Clowes (2002) proposed

the idea of ‘repertoire fans’ who consider themselves strong fans but will only watch live games on

occasion opting to attend other matches and sports. This could have serious implications among

18

smaller sized football where reliance on attendance for revenue is far greater than larger English

Premiership teams (Bauer 2005; Bühler and Nüfer 2010; Morrow 1999).

As a sub-plot, the results received will provided interesting comparisons between the respondents

demographic variables in terms of their RM usage such as age and home town region to indicate

which groups are more/less susceptible to RM so that sports marketers can adopt a more differentiated

and tailored approach to gain their attendance (Adamson et al. 2006; Billings 2011; Chadwick and

Clowes 1998; Grönroos 2006).

3.5.3 Sampling Method A sample is said to be a sub-set of larger grouping of a population (Clark et al. 1998); where the

population is the collective term describing the total quantity of cases of the type which are the subject

of this study (Walliman 2005). Therefore the sampling method is vital to the success of a research

study as it will determine the extent to which the results will be representative to the characteristic of

the larger groups of which they are part (Armour and MacDonald 2012; Clark et al. 1998).

The primary sampling approach that was used for this dissertation study was using non-probability as

the population will not be chosen randomly but purposively. It is a widespread belief that the best

sample is a random sample however this is rarely possible for sport research (Armour and MacDonald

2012); this is because it would be near impossible to ascertain a complete contact list of UK football

fans that have attended a football match involving their team. Armour and MacDonald (2012) states

that a common approach to sport-related research is using volunteer or convenience sample with

representation often better achieved through purposive or stratified samples. Purposive sampling

involves selecting elements based on the researcher’s judgement about which elements will facilitate

the investigation (Adler and Clark 2007). This dissertation study had a number of requirements in

which to be applicable such as describing themselves as a current fan of a UK football club and also to

have attended a minimum of one live match involving the UK football club they support.

Convenience samples are said to be inappropriate for generalisation to the greater population with

scepticism at how indicative of the target population their sample is (Churchill and Iacobucci 2002).

For this reason the research process also included non-probability sampling in the form of snowball

sampling as respondents were asked to forward the link to the online survey to their contacts which

allowed for access to football communities that would be otherwise impossible to enter such as invite

only football club groups and forums (Saunders et al. 2012).

3.5.4 Population In order to select an appropriate sample for valid results the population must be defined (Veal 2006;

Gratton and Jones 2004). In this study, the population consisted of fans of UK football clubs that have

19

attended a minimum of one live football match involving their supported football club. The sample

size included 104 respondents which allowed for partial representation of the population however the

very small amount of both female respondents and respondents aged over 35 will mean that the sample

is not fully representative of an average football fan. This does not mean however that the results did

not provide rich insights but that the approach was exploratory in nature using the demographic data

that had been received.

3.5.5 Data Analysis The collected secondary data was first analysed the basic demographic information visually using

frequency graphs and tables constructed using simple Microsoft Excel program to provide a solid

foundation to interpret how far the data would be accurate when used in testing. Next SPSS.19

software identified that the population was not of a normal distribution (See Table 14) using the

Shapiro-Wilk test (Field 2009). Therefore following non-parametric tests, Spearman Rank Correlation

and Mann-Whitney U test to test against the null hypotheses by identifying significant relationships

between the variables. The reasons for the selection of these particular tests are explained in chapter 4.

3.6 Limitations Saunders et al. (2012) states that “good theory has the power to explain and predict” however notes

that it may also be limited by the scope of the research approach. The main limitation associated with

the use of non-probability sampling was the extent to which the results were generalizable in terms of

their representation of the entire football fandom population.

A probability sampling method could possibly have reached a wider demographic providing a better

representation of more Northern-England/Welsh/Scottish football clubs included in the results.

However given the constraints including time and cost, as well as the requirement to have attended a

minimum of one match to be applicable, convenience sampling with added snowballing was far more

appropriate.

The population contained a large proportion of student respondents which will help to gain insights

into whether success and/or popularity of the football club have affected the origin of their support. It

will also impact whether they attend more games based on continued success and/or popularity. Most

importantly, as notoriously heavy social media users, the student population sample should provide

valuable insight into whether relationship marketing has a significant impact on live match

attendances.

20

3.7 Ethical Issues Although this dissertation study has few serious ethical concerns, the researcher feels that it is

important to consider potential ethical breaches that may arise from any section of the research design

are considered with methods in place to maintain anonymity and data protection of the respondents.

The researcher completed a Bournemouth University ethics checklist that identified any ethical

considerations that needed to be changed attributed with the research before the distribution of

questionnaires was made live.

The research process involved the collection of personal demographic data such as age and location

and so the data was stored the demographic information securely with a password encryption. All

respondents were voluntary, and were made aware before they begin the questionnaire of the purpose

of the study, and that the data will not be passed onto a third party.

21

4.0 Data Analysis and Discussions

With reference to Objective 4 this section will critically appraise the impact of relationship marketing

upon fan loyalty through the analysis of the data collected through both primary and secondary

research. This chapter will first identify the key demographic information in the form of frequency

tables to provide an insight into how wide the scope of results reached. Next the thematic secondary

data collected will be tested using SPSS to determine whether the hypotheses should be accepted or

rejected with indications to the extent in which they may be limited, and the implications for sports

marketers. There were 104 applicable responses collected through secondary data that will be used to

address Objective 4 by testing the following Hypotheses in Table 4 below through the Null

Hypotheses (See Appendices Table 5).

Table 4: Secondary Data Hypotheses

Number Hypothesis

1 “Attitudinal Loyalty will have a significant relationship with a fan’s Behavioural Loyalty”

2 “RM usage will have a significant relationship with a fan’s Attitudinal Loyalty”

3 “RM usage will have a significant relationship with the fan’s total attendance at live

matches involving their supported team”

4 “RM usage will have a significant relationship with the fan’s total attendance LAST season

at live matches involving their supported team”

5 “RM usage will have a significant relationship with the fan’s total attendance THIS season

at live matches involving their supported team”

6 “RM usage will have a significant relationship with the level of identity the fan has with their

football club”

7 “Fan Identification will have a significant relationship with the fan’s Attitudinal Loyalty”

8 “Fan Identification will have a significant relationship with the fan’s Behavioural Loyalty in

terms of their attendance”

9 “Fan’s that have been a member of their clubs website will have a significant relationship

upon the number of times they have attended live matches involving their team ever”

10 “Fan’s that currently owned or had owned a loyalty card in the past will have a significant

relationship upon the number of times they have attended live matches involving their

team ever”

11 “The age of the football fan will have a significant impact upon their RM usage”

12 “The age of the football fan will have a significant impact upon the strength of their

attitudinal loyalty to their team”

13 “The age of the football fan will have a significant impact upon their Behavioural Loyalty in

terms of their attendance”

22

4.1 Demographic Frequencies

4.1.1 Age breakdown Figure 7: Frequency Age Group of Respondents

Table 6: Summary of Age Breakdown

Number Insight

1 The most popular age of respondents between 23-28 followed by 18-22.

2 Older age demographic far less represented resulting in less generalizability to a wider population.

3 Could suggest the research method was received by less older fans because of older generations

less frequent users of social media sites.

4 If true, sports marketers must be aware of potential age segments less susceptible to social media

marketing tools.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

18-22 23-28 29-34 35-40 41-46 47-52 53-58

23

4.1.2 Gender Breakdown Figure 8: Frequency Gender of Respondents

Table 7: Summary of Gender Breakdown

Number Insight

1 Gender represented predominately by male respondents with 93 (83% of the sample)

therefore the results cannot be representative of female population perspectives.

2 Lack of female respondents could be due to the nature of the study which as a stereotype

has a stigma that football is dominated by male participation and spectators.

3 This could have serious repercussions for sports marketers within the football industry as

potential revenue could be halved if females do not interact with clubs.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Male Female

Male

Female

24

4.1.3 Region Breakdown Figure 9: Frequency Region of Respondents

Table 8: Summary of Region of Respondents Breakdown

Number Insight

1 The sampling method using purposive-convenience approach with the addition of

snowballing has likely influenced the large proportion of respondents born in the South-

East of England (See Figure 9); as the researcher is from this region.

2 Results difficult to generalise to the entirety of the UK however the results could provide

insights into team supported against the region of the fan.

3 Team supported suggests popularity/success is the most dominant reason, similar as

findings by Wann et al. (1996) and Neale and Funk (2006).

4 Illustrated by 54 respondents stating a team residing in London and 32 stating a team in

the Northern England (See Table 9). In these regions four of the top five teams currently

compete within the top tier English Premiership league (See Table 11), have rich

histories of winning trophies and have an enormous fan base both nationally and

internationally.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

East Midlands

East of England

London

North West

Northern Ireland

Outside UK

South East

South West

Wales

West Midlands

Yorkshire & Humber

25

Table 9: Frequency Region of Supported Team

Top 5 Region of Supported Team

South East London East Middlands North West Other

10 54 3 32 6

Table 10: Frequency Name of Supported Team

Top 5 Most Supported Team

Arsenal Brighton Chelsea Liverpool Manchester United Tottenham

15 7 14 7 22 12

Table 11: Frequency Region of Supported Team

League in which Supported Team Currently Plays

English Premiership

English Championship English League 1 or Lower

Outside English League

82 17 4 1

4.1.4 Origin of Supported Breakdown Figure 10: Frequency Factors of Origin of Supported Team

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Popularity Success Hometown Friends/Family

26

Table 12: Summary of Respondents Factors of Origin Breakdown

Number Insight

1 Figure 10 reveals influence of friends/family as most commonly stated reason for origin of

a fans’ support.

2 Hometown as an origin was the least stated reason may explain the high volume of

London and Northern England supported teams such as Manchester United and Arsenal

(See Table 10) despite the vast majority of respondents region of birth in the South-East

of England (See Figure 9).

3 This evidence fully supports the past research that friends/family (McPherson 1976;

Smith et al. 1981; Wann et al. 1996; Wann et al. 2001), and supports Hinch and Higham

(2010) research that younger generations of fans are beginning to shift their support to

more successful teams; particularly as the majority of the respondents of this study were

aged 18-28 (See Figure 7).

4.1.5 Factors Preventing Attendance Breakdown Figure 11: Frequency Factors to Prevent Attendance

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Cost

Family

Change Interest

Participating Sport

Ticket Availability

Time

Travel

Work/Education

Other

27

Table 13: Summary of Factors Preventing Attendance Breakdown

Number Insight

1 Cost was the most commonly stated response as prevention to attendance at live

matches (29%). Price of tickets however is likely to continue to rise in the future.

2 Effects of recent economic pressures may have impacted disposable income however

Russell (1997) in his study of crowd size from the inter-war period found that the majority

of football teams’ support was in direct correlation to the success of the team.

3 These findings may be limited to fans in the South-East as Tables 9, 10 and 11 displays

that the allegiance of fans lies in the successful teams residing in London and Northern

England requiring substantial travelling fees and demanding highly priced match tickets

because of their top tier status and prestige.

4 Sports marketers should be aware of the likely large catchment of fans that lie within the

South-East and could develop promotions that entice the fans to purchase match day

tickets in the future if they feel value for money or receive discounted journeys/tickets.

4.2 Result Testing The program SPSS.19 was used to code the data collected from the questionnaire so that relevant tests

can investigate the Hypotheses that were set in the beginning of this Chapter 4 (Field 2009). First the

author identified the type of tests that would be relevant for the collected data (parametric/non-

parametric) by performing a test of normality to reveal whether the variables have a normal

distribution (Field 2009). Using the Shapiro-Wilk test against the RM variable resulted in p<0.005 (an

example See Figure 12 and Table 14 in Appendices) indicating a deviation from normality therefore

for the remainder of this chapter all tests will be non-parametric (Field 2009).

4.3 Spearman Rank Correlation Testing For the following section Spearman Rank Correlation was the most appropriate test in which to test

the hypotheses as there was no requirement of normality, it tested the strength of a monotonic

relationship between paired data, and used ordinal level or ranked data (Field 2009; Pallant 2010). All

Spearman Rank Correlation tests include a visual representation of the relationship between the

variables via a scatter graph using SPSS to better conceptualise the type of relationship (i.e.

positive/negative/none correlation) to be found in the Appendices of this Dissertation Study (See

Figures 13-23 in Appendices).

28

4.3.1 Hypothesis 1 “Attitudinal Loyalty will have a significant

relationship with a fan’s Behavioural Loyalty” As the impact of RM upon Attitudinal Loyalty is being investigated as the antecedent to Behavioural

Loyalty it is crucial to establish if there is already a significant relationship between Attitudinal

Loyalty and Behavioural Loyalty. It is predicted that those fans with a strong Attitudinal Loyalty will

result in an increase in Behavioural Loyalty as their psychological interest will motivate them to seek

involvement by attending more matches live involving their team (Bee and Havitz 2010; Eagly and

Chaiken 1993; Mahony et al. 2000).

A Spearman Correlation was run to determine the relationship between Attitudinal Loyalty and

Behavioural Loyalty in terms of attendance. There was no statistically significant relationship

between Attitudinal Loyalty and Behavioural Loyalty. (rs= -0.024, n= 104, p= 0.809> 0.05)

Table 15: Attitudinal Loyalty against Behavioural Loyalty

Attitudinal (V3) Attendance

ever

Spearman's rho

Attitudinal

Correlation Coefficient 1.000 -.024

Sig. (2-tailed) . .809

N 104 104

(V3) Attendance ever

Correlation Coefficient -.024 1.000

Sig. (2-tailed) .809 .

N 104 104

Table 16: Summary of Attitudinal Loyalty against Behavioural Loyalty

Number Insight

1 Results suggest that Attitudinal Loyalty has a statistically significant relationship with

Behavioural Loyalty in terms of attendance at live matches involving the fan’s supported

team and so the null hypothesis (nH1) must be accepted.

2 Implications may suggest that a fans’ Attitudinal Loyalty does not directly result in

attendance and therefore team performances or PR may not affect purchases of match

tickets.

3 The limited scope of the sample enveloping a small spread of fans’ region (See Figure 9)

is likely to have impacted the regularity of attendance to live matches because of travel

distances (See Table 10).

4 Also the strength of Attitudinal Loyalty is likely to be strong and unwavering given the

likely success of the team that the fan supports, illustrated by Table 11, with the huge

majority of teams stated within the top tier of the English League.

29

4.3.2 Hypothesis 2 “RM usage will have a significant relationship

with a fan’s Attitudinal Loyalty” It was hypothesised that RM would positively influence the strength of a fan’s attitudinal loyalty; this

is because football clubs require satisfied fans much like any other business requires satisfied

customers in order for repeat purchasing and loyalty over alternatives. It is near impossible to

guarantee the success of the team and so the impact of failures upon fans must be minimised using

processes such as RM to encourage interaction and community building. The RM mean set of

questions were tested against the attitudinal set of questions.

A Spearman’s correlation was run to determine the relationship between RM and fan’s attitudinal

loyalty. There was no statistically significant relationship between RM and Fan Identity. (rs= 0.161,

n= 104, p= 0.000< 0.52)

Table 17: RM against Attitudinal Loyalty

RM Attitudinal

Spearman's rho

RM

Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .161


N 104 104

Attitudinal

Correlation Coefficient .161 1.000


N 104 104

30

Table 18: Summary of RM against Attitudinal Loyalty

Number Insight

1 The results from this study indicated that RM does not appear to have a significant

relationship with a fan’s attitudinal loyalty and the null hypothesis (nH2) must be

accepted.

2 However there are a number of reasons as to why this result may be unreliable:

a) Firstly perhaps the current means by which RM is administered by football clubs is not

effective enough to influence attitudinal loyalty of fans; or even perhaps attitudinal loyalty

is largely only affected by results of the team on the pitch; not off it.

b) Secondly the sampling procedure limited the respondents to predominately South-East

England (See Figure 6) supporting clubs that were a great distance away (See Table 11)

and so perhaps their attitudinal loyalty differs to those who live in close proximity.

c) Finally the questions to ascertain RM usage within the questionnaire were limited to

key methods at the discretion of the author after a review of literature however these

could not hope to cover all angles that fans experience RM from their club.


with the fan’s total attendance at live matches involving their

supported team” The second hypothesis of this study predicted that RM would increase a fan’s attendance to live

matches involving their team. This is because RM end efforts are to facilitate and drive attendance to

live matches involving their team through ticket selling, direct marketing and promotions. The RM

mean were tested against total attendance ever.

A Spearman Correlation was run to determine the relationship between RM and attendance. There was

a weak positive monotonic relationship between RM and attendance (rs= 0.302, n= 104, p= 0.001<

0.05)

31

Table 19: RM against Attendance

(V3) Attendance

ever

RM

Spearman's rho

(V3) Attendance ever

Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .302**


N 104 104

RM

Correlation Coefficient .302** 1.000


N 104 104

*Monotonic= “A Monotonic function is one that either never increases or never decreases as its

independent variable increases” (Field 2009)

Table 20: Summary of RM against Attendance

Number Insight

1 The results from this study indicated that RM does appear to have a statistically

significant relationship with a fan’s total ever attendance at a live match involving their

team and so the null hypothesis (nH3) must be rejected.

2 It is likely that those fans that regularly attend games will also want to interact and involve

themselves with RM to feel a greater part of the club.

3 Also however it is important to consider that perhaps increased interaction and

involvement with RM would increase attendance through the promotion and sale of

tickets through greater access to information and payment routes.

4 For the future it is critical that sports marketers are aware of which methods are the most

successful, which methods must be adapted to individually suit the fan and how to keep

the methods fresh to avoid irritating the fan (Funk and Pastore 2000; Mullin et al. 2007;

Tapp and Clowes 2002).

32


with the fan’s total attendance LAST season at live matches

involving their supported team”

& 4.3.5 Hypothesis 5 “RM usage will have a significant relationship

with the fan’s total attendance THIS season at live matches

involving their supported team” As RM is a relatively new phenomenon within marketing and particularly so within the sports industry,

RM was tested against both last season and this season total attendance to try to ascertain any

relationship that greater interactions resulted in higher attendances. After reviewing the literature the

author predicts that football fans that are more involved with their football teams will have attended

more matches both last season and this season. The RM mean set of questions was tested against total

attendance LAST season; and THIS season.

A Spearman Correlation was run to determine the relationship between RM and Attendance last

season. There was a moderate positive monotonic relationship between RM and Attendance last

season (rs= 0.447, n= 104, p= 0.000< 0.000)

Table 21: RM against Attendance LAST Season

RM (V4) Attendance

LAST season

Spearman's rho

RM



N 104 104

(V4) Attendance LAST

season



N 104 104

A Spearman Correlation was run to determine the relationship between RM and Attendance this

season. There was a weak positive monotonic relationship between RM and Attendance this season

(rs= 0.388, n= 104, p= 0.000< 0.000).

33

Table 22: RM against Attendance THIS Season

RM1 (V5) Attendance

THIS season

Spearman's rho

RM1



N 104 104

(V5) Attendance THIS

season



N 104 104

Table 23: Summary of RM against Recent Attendance

Number Insight

1 The results suggest a significant statistical relationship between both RM usage and

recent attendance at live matches involving their supported football team and so the null

hypothesis (nH4 & nH5) must be rejected.

2 Given the assumption that sports marketers’ use of customised direct marketing in the

form of RM and the recent surge of social media promotions it seems logical to deduct

that RM indeed results in attendance at live matches to an extent.

3 However it must be noted that the huge majority of respondents stated that the team they

support to be very successful English top tier teams (See Table 11) and so their

successes could also be argued to have contributed to the high attendances of their fans.


with the level of identity the fan has with their football club” The literature review highlighted the likelihood that fans that had a higher level of team identification

would be more involved with their supported teams through their increased interactions with RM and

so it was hypothesised by the author that there would be a significant relationship between the two.

The RM mean set of questions was tested against the Fan Identification mean set of questions.

A Spearman Correlation was run to determine the relationship between RM and Fan Identity. There

was a moderate positive monotonic relationship between RM and Fan Identity. (rs= 0.584, n= 104,

p= 0.000< 0.05)

34

Table 24: RM against Fan Identity

RM1 Identity

Spearman's rho

RM1



N 104 104

Identity



N 104 104

Table 25: Summary of RM against Fan Identity

Number Insight

1 The results suggested a moderate positive relationship between RM and fan identity

suggesting that more identified fans interacted with RM with a significance of 0.000 and

so the null hypothesis (nH6) must be rejected. However which variable is the antecedent

to the other is unknown; does RM influence the extent to which a fan forms strong team

identification or, is it simply that fans that have strong team identification will look to

interact with RM because they desire greater involvement with their team.

2 It is the author’s opinion that the most probable answer would be a combination of the

two given the review of literature (Theodorakis et al. 2012; Wann et al. 2001; Wann and

Branscombe 1993); but future studies into the extent that RM could build stronger team

identification with fans would undoubtedly be useful to sports marketers in building

loyalty.

To determine whether fan identity can indeed build loyalty the following two hypotheses were set and

will now be tested.

4.3.7 Hypothesis 7 “Fan Identification will have a significant

relationship with the fan’s Attitudinal Loyalty”

& 4.3.8 Hypothesis 8 “Fan Identification will have a significant

relationship with the fan’s Behavioural Loyalty in terms of their

attendance” Fans with stronger team identification will be more likely to interact and attend live matches involving

their football team because they will want to experience as much connection with their team as

possible, are more impressionable to sell tickets to and apportion greater importance to football. Fan

35

Identification mean set of questions against Attitudinal Loyalty mean set of questions; and

Behavioural Loyalty Attendance.

A Spearman Correlation was run to determine the relationship between Fan Identity and Attitudinal

Loyalty. There was a weak positive monotonic relationship between Fan Identity and Attitudinal

Loyalty. (rs= 0.294, n= 104, p= 0.001< 0.05)

Table 26: Fan Identity against Attitudinal Loyalty

Identity Attitudinal

Spearman's rho

Identity



N 104 104

Attitudinal



N 104 104

A Spearman Correlation was run to determine the relationship between Fan Identity and Attendance.

There was a moderate positive monotonic relationship between Fan Identity and Attendance

(rs= 0.418, n= 104, p= 0.000< 0.05)

Table 27: Fan Identity against Behavioural Loyalty

(V3) Attendance

ever Identity

Spearman's rho (V3) Attendance ever Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .418**


N 104 104

Identity Correlation Coefficient .418** 1.000


N 104 104

36

Table 28: Summary of Fan Identity against Attitudinal and Behavioural Loyalty

Number Insight

1 Both attitudinal and behavioural loyalty has a statistically significant relationship with fan

identity allowing and so the null hypotheses (nH7 & nH8) must be rejected.

2 The extent to which a fan identifies with their supported team has a significant impact

upon their attitude and behaviour which means that sports marketers must try to

influence team identification however they can.

3 Using these results it is clear that smaller clubs struggle to attract the younger generation

of fans as the majority of young respondents supported top flight successful teams such

as Manchester United (See Table 11).

4 Finally studies in the future should try to pinpoint exact determinants that can positively

influence fan identification to increase fan satisfaction and possibly spending into the

club.

4.4 Mann-Whitney U Test Another non-parametric test was used for the following hypotheses below because of the nature of the

variables that were required to be investigated against each other. The Mann-Whitney U test is a

nonparametric statistic test most frequently used to assess whether two independent groups are

significantly different from each other (Field 2009; Pallant 2010). The test will determine the

likelihood that two samples come from the same population in respect to their medians (Gold 1999).

4.4.1 Hypothesis 9 “Fan’s that have been a member of their clubs

website will have a significant relationship upon the number of

times they have attended live matches involving their team ever” This hypothesis investigates the impact of direct RM through the football team’s website against the

behavioural loyalty (attendance) of the fan. It is predicted that as websites facilitate the sales of tickets

that if the fan is currently/in the past been a member then they will have attended more live matches

involving the football team they support. The median value was required for each variable and so a

further SPSS test comparing means was completed in every test with the table named ‘Report’. The

total attendance ever at live matches was tested alongside website membership past/present.

37

Table 29: Website Membership against Attendance Test Statistics

V3 Attendance

Ever

Mann-Whitney U 541.000

Wilcoxon W 1244.000

Z -4.751

Asymp. Sig. (2-tailed) .000

Table 30: Website Membership

against Attendance Report

V3 Attendance Ever

V30 Website Member N Median

1.00 37 5.00

2.00 67 25.00

Total 104 13.00

Effect Size: (Medium-Large Effect)

A Mann-Whitney U Test revealed a significant difference in the attendance of fans that were a

current/past website member (Md = 25, n =67) and fans that have never been a website member (Md =

5, n = 37), U = 541, z = –4.751, p = 0.000, r = -0.465).

Table 31: Summary of Website Membership against Attendance

Number Insight

1 The results indicate that fans that had been a member of their clubs website had a

statistically significant relationship with the number of times they had attended live

matches involving their team and so the null hypothesis (nH9) must be rejected.

2 The fans that had ever been a member of their club’s website had attended five times as

many matches involving their team according to the mean score. This is likely to be a

result of direct sales of match day tickets through the website.

3 Sports marketers must devote huge time and effort through creative professionals to

create websites that engage the visitor to interact and collect personal details of the fan

so that CRM databases can use RM to better target the fans with relevant information

such as the current system implemented at Manchester City FC (Martin 2010).

38

4.4.2 Hypothesis 10 “Fan’s that currently owned or had owned a

loyalty card in the past will have a significant relationship upon the

number of times they have attended live matches involving their

team ever” In a similar vein to Hypothesis 8 it was predicted that those fans that had ever owned a loyalty card

would have been more likely to attend a larger number of live football matches involving their team.

This is because loyalty cards enable the fan greater ease of buying match day tickets as a priority fan

when they are on release and are often at a lower price which would encourage fans to attend more

games than those fans without a loyalty card. The total attendance ever at live matches was tested

alongside website membership past/present.

Table 32: Loyalty Card Holders against Attendance Test Statistics

Effect Size: (Large Effect)

A Mann-Whitney U Test revealed a significant difference in the attendance of fans that were a

current/past Loyalty Card Holder (Md = 60, n =33) and fans that have never held a Loyalty Card (Md

= 10, n = 71, U = 313.5, z = –6.003, p = 0.000, r = -0.589.

V3 Attendance

Ever


Wilcoxon W 2869.500

Z -6.003


Table 33: Loyalty Card Holders

against Attendance Report

V31 Loyalty Card N Median

1.00 71 10.00

2.00 33 60.00

Total 104 13.00

39

Table 34: Summary of Loyalty Card Holders against Attendance

Number Insight

1 With a significance of 0.000 the results indicate a definite statistically significant

relationship between owning a loyalty card and attendance at live matches involving the

fan’s supported team and so the null hypothesis (nH10) must be rejected.

2 Although this RM method was far less popular among respondents than a website

member of a football team, the effect size was very large (r > 5) with the median number

of times attending a match was 60 which is in huge contrast to fans without the loyalty

card at a median of just 10.

3 Sports marketers should investigate firstly why this is? Before developing customised

strategies targeting those without loyalty cards to purchase one. The difficulty will be in

the profit margins as often loyalty cards offer discount prices on tickets compared to

those without who will pay full price, however if they attend a minimum of just two

matches the club is likely to make a profit.

4.4.3 Hypothesis 11 “The age of the football fan will have a

significant impact upon their RM usage” With RM a relatively new phenomenon; particularly so in the world of sport it is predicted that the

older generations would not be as heavy users of RM methods such as through social media which

younger generations have known nearly their whole life. It is by this assumption and the review of

literature that the author predicts that younger generations of football fans will interact and involve

themselves with RM more than older football fans. The RM mean set of questions was tested

alongside the age of the football fan (18-28; 29+).

Table 35: Age of Fan against RM Usage Test Statistics

RM


Wilcoxon W 1164.500

Z -1.879


Table 36: Age of Fan against

RM Usage Report

RM

V39D2 Age N Median

18-28 77 3.4000

29+ 27 2.8000

Total 104 3.4000

40

Effect Size: (Small Effect)

A Mann-Whitney U Test revealed no significant difference in the RM usage of fans that were

younger, 18-28, (Md = 3.4, n =77) and fans that are older, 29+, (Md = 2.8, n = 27, U = 786.5, z = –

1.879, p = 0.060, r = -0.184)

Table 37: Summary of Age against RM Usage

Number Insight

1 Surprisingly the presumption that younger generations would use social media and

interact with RM more has been proven to have no statistically significant relationship and

so the null hypothesis (nH11) must be accepted.

2 However it is important to consider the impact of significantly less respondents aged 35+

which has most probably had an influence upon the results of this test.


significant impact upon the strength of their attitudinal loyalty to

their team” The review of literature suggested a recent shift of loyalty from younger generations of football fans

towards more popular/successful teams than the older football fan generation whose loyalty is more

likely to remain steadfast. For this reason the author predicted that the age of the fan will have a

greater psychological impact upon a younger fan’s attitudinal loyalty as they are more likely to

develop switching behaviours. The Attitudinal Loyalty mean set of variables was tested against the

Age of the football fan (18-28; 29+).

Table 38: Age of Fan against Attitudinal Loyalty Test Statistics

Attitudinal


Wilcoxon W 1368.000

Z -.370



Attitudinal Loyalty Report

Attitudinal

V39D2 Age N Median

18-28 77 4.0000

29+ 27 3.7500

Total 104 3.7500

41

Effect Size: (Small Effect)

A Mann-Whitney U Test revealed no significant difference in the attitudinal loyalty of fans that were

younger, 18-28, (Md = 4, n =77) and fans that are older, 29+, (Md = 3.75, n = 27, U = 990, z = –0.370,

p = 0.060, r = -0.036).

Table 40: Summary of Age against Attitudinal Loyalty

Number Insight

1 Again, as above, the null hypothesis (nH12) must be accepted as the presumption that

older generations would have a significantly stronger attitudinal loyalty than younger

generations has been proven to have no relationship in this instance; with the age range

of respondents likely to have had a substantial effect.


significant impact upon their Behavioural Loyalty in terms of their

attendance” While it may seem unfair to test age ranges of fans against their total attendance ever given the

younger generations have not had the same amount of time and opportunities to attend live matches;

by testing the paired mean of attendance at live matches LAST season and THIS season against age

can indicate which age generation CURRENTLY displays the greatest behavioural loyalty in terms of

their attendance currently.

Table 41: Age of Fan against Behavioural Loyalty Test Statistic

Current Attendance


Wilcoxon W 3724.000

Z -2.394



Behavioural Loyalty Report

Current Attendance

V39D2 Age N Median

18-28 77 1.0000

29+ 27 3.0000

Total 104 1.0000

42

Effect Size: (Small-Medium Effect)

A Mann-Whitney U Test revealed a significant difference in the Current Attendance of fans that were

younger, 18-28, (Md = 1, n =77) and fans that are older, 29+, (Md = 3, n = 27, U = 721, z = –2.394, p

= 0.017, r = -0.235)

Table 43: Summary of Age against Attitudinal Loyalty

Number Insight

1 The null hypothesis (nH13) must be rejected as the significant figure = 0.017 > 5% which

means that this data indicates that Age has a significant impact on their Behavioural

Loyalty in terms of attendance.

2 The difference between the two in terms of their median score is only twice more in the

older generations and so sports marketers should try to increase this figure by using

processes such as RM; particularly website memberships and loyalty cards as shown

above to reach the younger generations so as to improve this attendance in the future.

43

5.0 Conclusions

To conclude this dissertation study, this final chapter reflects upon the aims and objectives that were

set in chapter 1 of this research study.

The author believes that through critical analysis of primary and secondary data the research aim has

been answered. This has been achieved through sequential research chapters devoted to addressing the

four objectives, with indications as to how far the information in this study is relevant and how future

studies could use the information from the results of this study. The following chapter will provide a

consolidated summary of key findings with reference to the research aim, and the extent to which the

findings may be limited. It will also provide recommendations for sports marketer practitioners and

future studies involved in this research area.

5.1 Consolidated Key Research Findings Figure 24 displays the conceptual framework of variables that were investigated to answer the aim of

the research study, with Table 45 displaying the strength of the relationship between the variables (if

at all).

Objectives



marketing.

2. Develop








Aim


44

Figure 24: Conceptual Relationships between Test Variables

Table 44: Key Outcomes of Test Variable Relationships

Relationship

Investigated

Strength of Relationship

R1 RM had a moderate positive relationship with Fan Identity

R2 RM did not appear to have any significant relationship with Attitudinal Loyalty.

R3 RM had a weak positive relationship with Behavioural Loyalty.

R4 Attitudinal Loyalty did not appear to have any significant relationship with

Behavioural Loyalty

R5 Fan Identity had a weak positive relationship with Attitudinal Loyalty.

R6 Fan Identity had a moderate positive relationship with Behavioural Loyalty.

RM did not appear to have any significant relationship with Attitudinal Loyalty (R2), therefore from

the evidence of this study, the impact of RM upon a fan’s attitudinal loyalty cannot be conclusively

proven to be the direct antecedent to behavioural loyalty in terms of attendance at live matches

involving the fan’s supported team. Interestingly, Attitudinal Loyalty and Behavioural Loyalty did not

reveal a statistically significant relationship suggesting that intention may not directly link to actions

(R4). Although these results cannot confirm RM’s impact upon Attitudinal Loyalty as the antecedent

to Behavioural Loyalty in terms of attendance, it is important to consider that the this study has

numerous factors within that may have limited the extent to which the results are valid, reliable and

generalizable to the greater population. This is mainly due to time and money constraints experienced

by the author resulting in the adoption of a purposive sampling approach that may not have been far

reaching enough demographically.

With literature revealing attitudinal loyalty stems from the level of involvement with their club (Bee

and Havitz 2010; Hunt et al. 199l; Alexandris and Tsiotsou 2012) this study must highlight the fact

that the majority of the respondents were born in the South of the UK but supported teams from

45

London and the North of England (See Table 11) which implies that interaction and involvement

would be much harder and probable to be less than lose living in closer proximity. However all the

tests involving RM usage of fans resulted in a weak/moderate significant relationship with

Behavioural Loyalty (R3) in terms of their attendance, suggesting that the impact of RM is likely to

have an impact upon ticket sales. If RM can drive attendance through retention consistently, then

based on research by Reichheld (1996) profits could dramatically increase, and less money will need

to be spent upon obtaining new fans (See Figure 3).

The tests involving Age did not appear to have a significant relationship when tested against other

variables. This may have been affected by the majority of respondents aged between 18-28, suggesting

that the distribution of the web based survey reached a greater number of younger fans or perhaps that

older fans were less willing to take part. In whichever case the older fans were far less represented

within the study and so future studies should look to investigate older fans impact of RM usage upon

both Attitudinal Loyalty and Behavioural Loyalty for a more fair set of results. By including a large

number of fans aged 18-30 the results revealed valuable insights into the origin of support among

younger aged fans (See Figure 10) with friends/family and success the highest stated reasons. The data

is particularly relevant given that the vast majority of respondents residing in South-East England

where there are scarce few large and successful football teams which suggests that the success of a

club influences fan loyalty.

RM had a moderate significant relationship with Fan Identification (R1), this could be vital for sports

marketers as they try to nullify the effect of negative performances upon a fan’s attitudinal loyalty

(Tapp and Clowes 2002; Tsiotsou 2013). Both attitudinal and behavioural loyalty displayed

weak/moderate relationships with fan identification (R5 & R6); and given that fans who identify

strongly with their team often attribute the failures of their team internally (Wann and Branscombe

1993), sports marketers should look to provide interaction and involvement between fans and the club

to avoid switching behaviour to alternate teams or sports (Hirt et al. 1992; Miller and Ross 1974;

Wann et al. 2001; Wann and Branscombe 1992). However as these studies may be outdated and the

fact that sports marketers cannot control the outcome of their team’s results (Humphrey 2009) and so

RM through forms such as web forums and social media as an outlet to vent frustrations could provide

sports marketers insights into their fans’ attitudes. These methods also allow the gain of involvement

and information to the fans by explanations on performances which may help reduce negative attitudes

through gaining involvement and answers (Sheth and Parvatiyar 1999).

The variables that revealed the strongest relationships with were highly significant results were when

investigating the fans that had ever been a member of their website, and fans that had ever owned a

loyalty card, against their Behavioural Loyalty in terms of their attendance to live matches involving

their supported team. Both football club’s websites and loyalty cards facilitate the sale of tickets

however the extent to which the fans attend live matches was very highly represented. Sports

46

marketers, particularly at smaller clubs, should devote great time and efforts towards improving their

branding strategies through creative and interactive methods to increase fan loyalty, creating barriers

to competition and ultimately generating greater sales and profits (Humphrey 2009; Sheth and

Parvatiyar 1999; Tsiotsou 2013). It is important to consider the previously stated limitations with

particular reference to the age of the respondents as the younger generations are more likely to sign up

both the club website and loyalty card as they are more frequent internet users.

The female demographic was also far less represented which would not have been affected too greatly

by the sampling method as it was far too low to have only been seen by just eleven female respondents

and so deeper reasons must be responsible such as possible un-interest in the subject area or simply

that there are considerably less female football fans in the South.

5.2 Recommendations With reference to research structure and the consolidated key conclusions noted above the following

recommendations are outlined to sports marketers (Table 45) and future studies (Table 46).

Table 45: Recommendations for Practitioners

Number Description 1 The results suggest a significant relationship involving fan identity against RM, and both attitudinal

and behavioural loyalty. Therefore sports marketers should consult the literature to become aware of the factors contributing to strengthening the extent to which a fan feels a psychological connection to their team as an extension of themselves. The success of teams appears to be important to the extent to which fans identify positively with their team; particularly given that these results encompassed a large number of successful teams in the top tier league of English football. However success cannot be guaranteed and so literature suggests that clubs should provide opportunities that facilitate engagement and interaction between fan and club (Sheth and Parvatiyar 1999) with branding key for smaller market teams (Tisotsou 2013). Evidence from this study suggests that website memberships and loyalty cards may be the best relationship marketing tool to achieve this.

2 With the majority of respondents in this study aged between 18-30 and located in the South of England sports marketers should be aware that the vast majority support the more successful teams which are located in London and Northern England which will be of great concern to local Southern teams in how to better build relationships at an early age to younger fans. With results indicating that ‘hometown’ was the least stated factor of origin in supporting a team, sports marketers for smaller teams should try to improve their branding through the adaption of their marketing campaigns to include soccer schools, volunteer community work and emphasis upon place marketing to build hometown pride (Humphrey 2000; Tsiotsou 2013). For the larger, more successful teams, sports marketers should be aware of the wide scope in which their fans can reside who may become disillusioned at their lack of connection to their team because of the distance separating them. With the rapid increase in technologies; particularly social media sports marketers could bridge this distance through CRM (Figure 25 in Appendices) using regular, personal updates to strengthen the fans overall loyalty to their team (Tsiotsou 2013).

47

Table 46: Recommendations for Future Research

Number Description

1 To approach the same investigation into “RM’ impact upon attitudinal loyalty as the antecedent to behavioural loyalty” using a non-probability sampling method to widen the scope of respondents demographically across the UK to achieve a more reliable representation of the population resulting in more accurate data.

2 A mixed research method that includes qualitative data after using quantitative tests would provide richer insights into how and why RM affects fan loyalty and fan identification.

3 Using more open ended questions within the questionnaire to probe the respondents into deeper explanations. This is because the majority of respondents from this study were avid football fans keen to share their thoughts and opinion with the researcher after the questionnaire had finished.

4 To develop a theoretical framework to gain a better understanding of RM’s impact upon attitudinal loyalty as the antecedent to behavioural loyalty.

5 As much of the literature may be outdated, future research should explore origin of fan loyalty in current younger fans in order to appraise the possibility of a shift toward selecting more successful/popular teams than home teams (as proposed by Higham and Hinch 2010)

6 To investigate both female fans, and older fans usage of RM to establish their preferred interaction methods and how this could impact both their attitudinal and behavioural loyalty.

48

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56

7.0 Appendices

Table 5: Secondary Data Null Hypotheses

Number Null Hypothesis

nH1

“Attitudinal Loyalty will have no significant relationship with a fan’s Behavioural Loyalty”

nH2 “RM usage will have no significant relationship with a fan’s Attitudinal Loyalty”

nH3 “RM usage will have no significant relationship with the fan’s total attendance at live

matches involving their supported team”

nH4 “RM usage will have no significant relationship with the fan’s total attendance LAST

season at live matches involving their supported team”

nH5 “RM usage will have no significant relationship with the fan’s total attendance THIS

season at live matches involving their supported team”

nH6 “RM usage will have no significant relationship with the level of identity the fan has with

their football club”

nH7 “Fan Identification will have no significant relationship with the fan’s Attitudinal Loyalty”

nH8 “Fan Identification will have no significant relationship with the fan’s Behavioural Loyalty

in terms of their attendance”

nH9 “Fan’s that have been a member of their clubs website will have no significant

relationship upon the number of times they have attended live matches involving their

team ever”

nH10

“Fan’s that currently owned or had owned a loyalty card in the past will have no

significant relationship upon the number of times they have attended live matches

involving their team ever”

nH11

“The age of the football fan will have no significant impact upon their RM usage”

nH12

“The age of the football fan will have no significant impact upon the strength of their

attitudinal loyalty to their team”

nH13

“The age of the football fan will have no significant impact upon their Behavioural

Loyalty in terms of their attendance”

Table 14: SPSS Test of Normality

Tests of Normality

Kolmogorov-Smirnov

a Shapiro-Wilk

Statistic df Sig. Statistic df Sig.

RM .070 104 .200* .971 104 .024

- The results indicated that because the (Sig) P value = 0.024 < 0.05 deviation from normality

indicating that the responses are not suitable for distribution to the whole population and so

non-parametric tests should be used.

57

Figure 12: Visual Representation of SPSS Data Normality

Figure 13: RM against Behavioural Loyalty

58

Figure 14: RM against Behavioural Loyalty (LAST Season)

Figure 15: RM against Behavioural Loyalty (THIS Season)

59

Figure 16: RM against Attitudinal Loyalty

Figure 17: RM against Fan Identity

60

Figure 18: Fan Identity against Behavioural Loyalty

Figure 19: Fan Identity against Attitudinal Loyalty

61

Figure 20: Attitudinal Loyalty against Behavioural Loyalty

Figure 21: Attitudinal Loyalty against Behavioural Loyalty

62

Figure 22: Attitudinal Loyalty against Behavioural Loyalty (LAST Season)

Figure 23: Attitudinal Loyalty against Behavioural Loyalty (THIS Season)

63

Fig 25: CRM Conceptual Map (Adapted from Winer 2001)

CRM Satisfaction

Frequency/ Loyalty Programs

Customization

Reward Programs

Community Building

Customer Service

64

Figure 26: Questionnaire Design

Dissertation Research Survey

Thank you for agreeing to take part in this survey. The survey should only take between five to ten

minutes of your time or can be completed at a later date. The information collected will remain

confidential. The information collected from this survey will be used for a student’s dissertation study

investigation into fan loyalty and attendance at football teams matches. For this reason all respondents

MUST support a UK based football team AND have attended a minimum of one live match involving

their team to be applicable. By completing this survey, you are giving your consent to participate in

this study.

(1) How often do you attend any level of live sporting events?

Please select the answer that best reflects your attendance level

Weekly

Fortnightly

Monthly

Yearly

Almost Never

(2) How often do YOU attend ANY level of live football matches involving ANY football club?

Please select the answer that best reflects your attendance level

Weekly

Fortnightly

Monthly

Yearly

Almost never

(3) Approximately how many times have you EVER attended a live match involving the football

club you support?

(4) Approximately how many times have you attended ANY live match involving the football

club you support LAST season?

(5) Approximately how many times have you attended a live match involving the football club

you support THIS season?

(6) Are YOU currently (or have you ever been) a season ticket holder of YOUR football club?

65

Please select the extent to which you agree with the following statements

Strongly

Disagree Disagree Unsure Agree Strongly Agree

(7)

"Attending

football

LIVE is

MORE

enjoyable

than other

forms such

as on

television

or online"

(8) "I

would like

to attend

more LIVE

matches

involving

my

football

club in the

future"

(9) "When

my

football

club is

enjoying a

successful

season I

feel

MORE

encouraged

to attend

live

matches"

(10)

"When my

football

club is

NOT

enjoying a

successful

season I

feel LESS

encouraged

to attend

live

66

Strongly


matches"

(11) What factors prevent you from attending live matches involving your football club?

Please tick any of the options that apply to you

Time

Cost

Work/Education

Travel

Family Commitments

Ticket Availability

Other:

(12) What do you consider to be the biggest factor that stops you from attending live matches

involving your football club?

(13) How important is it to you that your football club wins?

Please select the answer which best reflects your opinion

1 2 3 4 5

Not Important

Very Important

(14) How important is being a fan of you football club to you?


1 2 3 4 5

Not Important

Very Important

(15) How strongly do you see yourself as a fan of football?


1 2 3 4 5

Not Strong at all

Very Strong

(16) How strongly do you see yourself as a fan of your team?


1 2 3 4 5

Not Strong at all

Very Strong

(17) How important is the success of your football club?


67

1 2 3 4 5

Not Important

Very Important

Please select the extent to which you agree with the following statements

Strongly


(18) "My

friends/family

had a big

influence on

my decision

to start to

support my

football club"

(19) "My

home town

had a big

influence on

my decision

to start to

support my

football club"

(20) "The

popularity of

my football

club had a big

influence on

my decision

to start to

support my

football club"

(21) "The

success of my

football club

had a big

influence on

my decision

to start to

support my

football club"

(22) Are you now, or have you ever been a member of your football clubs website?

No

Yes

(23) Do you own, or have you ever owned a loyalty card for your football club?

No

Yes

68

Please select the most suitable answer to the following questions*Required

Daily Weekly Monthly Yearly Never

(24) How often do

you visit your

football clubs

website?

(25) How often do

you use social

media to find

information about

your football club?

(26) How often do

you receive e-

mails/post from

your football club?

(27) How often do

you use social

media to interact

with your football

club?

(28) How often do

you follow your

football club

through the

television, radio,

the newspapers, or

through contact

with other fans?

(29) How often do

you interact with

other fans of your

football club using

a web forum?

(30) How often do

you display or wear

your football clubs

name/merchandise?

69

Personal Information

What is your gender?

Male

Female

Other

Please provide the age category that you are part of

18-22

23-28

29-34

35-40

41-46

47-52

53-58

59+

Please select the region that you were born in UK

N/A

South West

South East

London

East of England

East Midlands

West Midlands

Yorkshire and the Humber

North West

North East

Wales

Scotland

Northern Ireland

David Greenslade Investigating the Impact of Relationship Marketing upon a Football Fan's Attitudinal Loyalty as the Antecedent to Behavioural Loyalty; A UK Perspective

Documents

dissertation research

dissertation declaration

use of relationship

abstract marketing

personal information

proposed research

lack of research

appropriate research