The relationship between website sport consumption motives and future behavioural intentions among soccer fans

Abstract

Knowledge and skill in addressing website consumption motives are essential aspects in contemporary sport marketing. There is growing body of literature on website consumption motives in sport. However, there is a dearth of research on the relationship between website consumption motives and future behavioural intentions to use team websites. This study examined the relationship between website consumption motives and future intentions of using the sports team websites. The study used a conveniently selected sample of 219 soccer fans who regularly visit the website of a team in the South African Premier Soccer League. Eight website consumption motives namely information, entertainment, escape, pass time, fanship, team support, economic factors and technical knowledge were extracted using exploratory factor analysis. Spearman’s correlations showed that future intentions were significantly and positively related to information sharing and entertainment. Escape and pass time showed moderate correlations with future intentions to use the team’s website. The regression analysis shows that information sharing, entertainment and the escape motive were the primary predictors of future behavioural intentions among fans to use their team’s website. The findings of the study are significant in that they may enable sport marketers to implement strategies of satisfying the needs of their online customers, thereby ensuring that the sport organisation’s marketing goals are accomplished.

Keywords: Team sport, Website, sport, consumption, motives, Premier Soccer League.