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Understanding fan motivation for interacting on social media

Author

Listed:
  • Constantino Stavros
  • Matthew D. Meng
  • Kate Westberg
  • Francis Farrelly

Abstract

•Contribute to emerging research on the nature of social media use by fans.•Detail key motives fans exercise from the social media enabled connection to the team.•Discuss how social media can be used to further facilitate interaction in sport.•Identify implications for sport managers to further relational goals with fans.Social media provide fans with an additional means to engage with their team and are a valuable forum for sport organizations to better understand fan motivations and strengthen fan relationships. This study contributes to emerging research on the nature of social media use by revealing the motivations underpinning the desire of fans to communicate on the Facebook sites of several National Basketball Association (NBA) teams. Our findings indicate that fans exercise four key motives as they draw value from the social media enabled connection to the team: passion, hope, esteem and camaraderie. Further, and in light of our understanding of these motives, we identify how this platform can be used to facilitate interaction, a key construct in relationship marketing. A content analysis, using a netnographic methodology, was undertaken to explore online comments by fans of eight purposefully selected NBA teams over a two-week period during the off-season. This period represents strong potential for isolating highly identified fans who are motivated to seek engagement and interaction. Implications for sport managers to further relational goals are identified.

Suggested Citation

  • Constantino Stavros & Matthew D. Meng & Kate Westberg & Francis Farrelly, 2014. "Understanding fan motivation for interacting on social media," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 455-469, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:rsmrxx:v:17:y:2014:i:4:p:455-469
    DOI: 10.1016/j.smr.2013.11.004
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    Cited by:

    1. Karol Król & Dariusz Zdonek, 2021. "Most Often Motivated by Social Media: The Who, the What, and the How Much—Experience from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-20, October.
    2. Nicolas Scelles & Boris Helleu & Christophe Durand & Liliane Bonnal & Stephen Morrow, 2017. "Explaining the Number of Social Media Fans for North American and European Professional Sports Clubs with Determinants of Their Financial Value," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 5(4), pages 1-19, November.
    3. Popp, Bastian & Woratschek, Herbert, 2016. "Introducing branded communities in sport for building strong brand relations in social media," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 183-197.
    4. C, Deep Prakash & Majumdar, Adrija, 2023. "Predicting sports fans’ engagement with culturally aligned social media content: A language expectancy perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    5. Sveinson, Katherine & Hoeber, Larena, 2020. "“So begins the demise of #Superman from Metropolis”: Consumers’ Twitter reactions to an athlete’s transgression," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 810-823.
    6. Westberg, Kate & Stavros, Constantino & Farrelly, Francis & Smith, Aaron C.T., 2020. "Fan empathy as a response to athlete transgressions," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 719-735.
    7. Kharouf, Husni & Biscaia, Rui & Garcia-Perez, Alexeis & Hickman, Ellie, 2020. "Understanding online event experience: The importance of communication, engagement and interaction," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 735-746.
    8. Adam C. Merkle & Catherine Hessick & Britton R. Leggett & Larry Goehrig & Kenneth O’Connor, 2020. "Exploring the components of brand equity amid declining ticket sales in Major League Baseball," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 8(3), pages 149-164, September.
    9. Berta Benito-Colio & Francisco Tomás González-Férnandez & Carlos Martínez-Cantallops & Eduardo García-Mármol, 2022. "The Engagement of the Social Networks in the ACB Basketball League," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-9, October.
    10. Olzhas Taniyev & Farah Ishaq & Brian Gordon, 2018. "Investigating the Differences in Twitter Content and Effectiveness Between Individual and Team Sport Athletes," International Journal of Business Administration, International Journal of Business Administration, Sciedu Press, vol. 9(4), pages 89-102, July.
    11. Nicolas Scelles & Boris Helleu & Christophe Durand & Liliane Bonnal & Stephen Morrow, 2017. "Explaining the Number of Social Media Fans for North American and European Professional Sports Clubs with Determinants of Their Financial Value," Post-Print halshs-02110645, HAL.
    12. Mohsen Behnam & Geoff Dickson & Vahid Delshab & Anna Gerke & Parvaneh Savari Nikou, 2023. "The moderating effect of fan engagement on the relationship between fan knowledge and fan co-creation in social media," Post-Print hal-03969039, HAL.
    13. Tomu Tominaga & Yoshinori Hijikata & Joseph A. Konstan, 2018. "How self-disclosure in Twitter profiles relate to anonymity consciousness and usage objectives: a cross-cultural study," Journal of Computational Social Science, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 391-435, September.
    14. Annamalai, Balamurugan & Yoshida, Masayuki & Varshney, Sanjeev & Pathak, Atul Arun & Venugopal, Pingali, 2021. "Social media content strategy for sport clubs to drive fan engagement," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    15. Yadav, Jitendra & Yadav, Rambalak & Sahore, Nidhi & Mendiratta, Aparna, 2023. "Digital social engagements and knowledge sharing among sports fans: Role of interaction, identification, and interface," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    16. José María Lamirán-Palomares & Tomás Baviera & Amparo Baviera-Puig, 2020. "Sports Influencers on Twitter. Analysis and Comparative Study of Track Cycling World Cups 2016 and 2018," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-23, September.
    17. Kari L. J. Goold & Reynafe N. Aniga & Peter B. Gray, 2020. "Sports under Quarantine: A Case Study of Major League Baseball in 2020," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    18. Camie Heleski & C. Jill Stowe & Julie Fiedler & Michael L. Peterson & Colleen Brady & Carissa Wickens & James N. MacLeod, 2020. "Thoroughbred Racehorse Welfare through the Lens of ‘Social License to Operate—With an Emphasis on a U.S. Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-23, February.
    19. Xinghua Wang & James J. Zhang & Guandong Song & Xia Wan, 2020. "Push and Pull Factors Influencing the Winter Sport Tourists in China: The Case of Leisure Skiers," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(2), pages 21582440209, June.
    20. Næss, Hans Erik, 2017. "Authenticity matters: A digital ethnography of FIA World Rally Championship fan forums," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 105-113.

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