Willingness of sport fans to participate in socially responsible community programmes of professional sport organisations

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has gained increased research interest in recent years. It has evolved globally from a charitable activity into a strategic tool for organisations to protect their reputation, develop brand loyalty and foster competitive advantage. The aim of this study was to develop and empirically test a model to explain the willingness of sport fans to engage in CSR community programmes of professional sport. A model was developed, which proposed that willingness to participation was affected by 4 attitudinal and cognitive variables: fan identification; perceived relevance of the programme; attribution of motives by community members; and attitude toward social responsibility of professional sport. Data were compiled and the model was empirically tested. The 4-variable model explained 61.7% of the variance in the willingness of community members to participate in socially responsible programmes of professional sport. Social demographic differences were explored. Regression analysis revealed that all the hypothesised effects of the independent variables, except altruistic attribution of motives of professional sport on willingness to participate in CSR programmes, were supported.

Key words: Corporate social responsibility; Sport fan; Professional sport; Programmes.