Choi, June Kyu (2013) Psychological process of loyalty formation towards professional sport brands : the differences and similarities between domestic and overseas customers. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

The way consumers perceive professional sport brands and form their loyalty
towards the brands has been one of the central interests of researchers and
practitioners. Despite growing importance of overseas markets for the brands, those
studies have been limited in domestic market context, and the issue has been underresearched
in overseas consumer context. This research investigates loyalty
formation process towards the brands in both domestic and overseas consumer
contexts, particularly focusing on the attitudinal aspect of brand loyalty, and
compares the two groups of consumers. It argues that these two types of consumers
are likely to be different in the psychological process of forming loyalty towards the
brands.
A conceptual model which consists of the hypothesised relationships amongst the
types of brand associations and brand loyalty is proposed and tested empirically.
Data for the empirical test is collected from 537 fans of a professional sport brand
(Arsenal FC). Exploratory factor analysis is conducted in order to validate the
measurement scale in the two market contexts and the professional sport (football)
setting. Confirmatory factor analysis is administered for checking the fit of
measurement models and structural equation modelling is used to test the proposed
hypotheses empirically.
The results show that, at the level of attitudinally loyal fans, domestic consumers and
overseas consumers have not only dissimilarity but also similarity in the loyalty
formation. The two types of consumers display dissimilarity in terms of the
relevance of attributes to their perception of benefits. However, those two types of
consumers exhibit similarity in terms of the needs they seek to satisfy in the brand
consumption. This research provides useful implications to marketers of the brands
by suggesting an insight on consumers with high attitudinal loyalty in the overseas
markets. The research also provides limitations of the study and suggestions for
future research.

Item Type:	Thesis or Dissertation (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HF Commerce
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Sports -- Marketing -- Research, Branding (Marketing), Soccer -- Marketing, Brand loyalty -- Psychological aspects -- Research
Official Date:	May 2013
Dates:	Date Event May 2013 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Warwick Business School
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Bridgewater, Susan
Extent:	xvii, 352 leaves.
Language:	eng

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