Engaging fans in social media through team brand associations: the mediating role of sport team identification

Introduction: Because of the importance of having engaged sport fans on social media, research has also focused on the antecedents of fan social media engagement. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between team brand associations (i.e., benefits, produ...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Yannis Lianopoulos, Thomas Karagiorgos, Apostolia Ntovoli, Vassilis Kassis
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: FEADEF 2025-08-01
Series:Retos: Nuevas Tendencias en Educación Física, Deportes y Recreación
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Online Access:https://revistaretos.org/index.php/retos/article/view/116836
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Summary:Introduction: Because of the importance of having engaged sport fans on social media, research has also focused on the antecedents of fan social media engagement. Objective: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between team brand associations (i.e., benefits, product related attributes, and non-product related attributes) and individuals’ engagement with their favorite team on social media (i.e., consumption, contribution, and creation activities), while also considering the mediating role of sport team identification. Methodology: A quantitative approach was followed by using an electronic questionnaire, which was disseminated through a football-related Facebook page. The sample consisted of 213 fans of football teams who were followers of this page. Results: The findings indicated that benefits predicted the consumption and contribution dimensions of social media engagement, while non-product related attributes predicted only the consumption facet. Benefits and non-product related attributes were also found to be related to sport team identification. Sport team identification was shown to be associated with benefits and non-product related attributes, while it also acted as a mediating variable in the relationships between benefits and social media dimensions and in the relationships between non-product related and social media engagement dimensions. Conclusions: This research uncovers how team brand associations can be related to fan social media engagement and offers practical implications to sport managers aiming to engage their fans on social media.
ISSN:1579-1726
1988-2041