Bastian Popp

The sport value framework – a new fundamental logic for analyses in sport management

Research question: Sports economic theory and management models have frequently been criticised for not sufficiently explaining phenomena in sport management. This article addresses this gap by proposing a conceptual framework that can be used to understand sport management problems and derive appropriate strategies. Research methods: The framework proposed in this conceptual article has been developed through a critical review of existing literature on sport management and theoretical considerations based on the service-dominant logic. Results and findings: The sport value framework (SVF) provides 10 foundational premises on value co-creation in sport management and suggests three levels for its analysis. The main contribution is a new and better theoretical basis for explaining phenomena in sport management compared with traditional sport economic thinking. Moreover, the SVF provides guidance in structuring research in sport management. Implications: The framework encourages researchers and practitioners to rethink their strategies by applying a different logic that captures the complexity of sport management.

Relationship building through Facebook brand pages: the multifaceted roles of identification, satisfaction, and perceived relationship investment

Social media offers significant scope for consumer engagement and brand building. This paper adds to the extant literature by developing an integrative framework of key drivers of consumer-brand relationships in Facebook brand pages (FBP) including different targets of identification and perceived relationship investment. The empirical study confirms that consumer identification with the FBP, identification with other FBP users, and satisfaction with the FBP significantly influence loyalty towards the FBP. The perceived level of a brand’s investment in the relationship with the consumer both directly influences FBP loyalty and moderates key relationships. Overall, the results provide managerial guidance to strengthen the FBP and consumer-brand relationships by devoting resources and implementing suitable tactics. Our findings highlight that a large portion of business success may be beyond managers’ direct control, and is dependent on non-paying customers who use the FBP, thus influencing holistic brand meaning.

We love to hate them! Social media-based anti-brand communities in professional football

Social media has promoted anti-brand communities, which build around the shared aversion to a specific brand. The purpose of this paper is to investigate social media-based anti-brand communities and their effects on the sports team brand in question.,The authors conducted a netnographic study of Facebook-based anti-brand communities that oppose a professional football team.,The netnographic study reveals characteristics and drivers of Facebook-based anti-brand communities that oppose a professional football team. The research further identifies co-destructive behaviours of anti-brand community members that harm the sports team brand and even its sponsors. However, the findings also reveal that anti-brand communities may play a positive role in sport, as they strengthen the relationship between fans of the opposed brand and this brand and foster rivalry among football fans.,This research establishes the relevance of social media-based anti-brand communities for sports brands. Recommendations are made for team sport brands with regards to how to deal with the phenomenon of anti-brand communities.,While the previous research on anti-brand activism focused on either offline movements or movements using traditional websites, this research is the first to investigate the pivotal role of social networking sites for anti-brand activism. The paper further uncovers unique motivational, attitudinal, and behavioral patterns of fans that meet in communities opposing not only the rival team, but also the brand associated with the team. Findings show ways to better understand and deal with such anti-brand communities in sports.

How context shapes value co-creation: Spectator experience of sport events

ABSTRACT This paper applies the perspective of service-dominant logic, specifically value co-creation in service ecosystems to the context of sports. It builds on the notion that co-created value can only be understood as value-in-context. Therefore, a structural model is developed and tested for different contexts of spectating live broadcasts of football games during the Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cup 2014. The context-specific contributions of the co-creating actors, spectators’ experience evaluations, and the resulting context-specific value perceptions from the spectators’ perspective are identified. The results highlight that the relative influence of the main co-creating actors and the relative importance of the value dimensions differ across contexts. Service providers (in sports) should identify how consumers evaluate experience and which dimensions of value are most important to them in the context under consideration. This will help them to successfully facilitate value co-creation, make meaningful value propositions, and achieve strategic benefit for themselves.

Is it really all about money? A study on incentives in elite team sports

ABSTRACT Research question: A key task for sports managers of elite sports clubs is to create an ideal environment that enables athletes to perform at their best. Therefore, we investigate the relationship among monetary incentives, organizational support, and athletic performance in elite team sports. Research methods: This study is the first in sports management to calculate the relative effects of non-monetary incentives of organizational support and monetary incentives on individual performance through job satisfaction. Furthermore, we apply an innovative measurement approach of player performance by using individual performance ratings of coaches. We collect questionnaires from 315 athletes and 34 coaches of 19 professional football, ice hockey, and handball clubs in Germany. Results and findings: Two variables of organizational support – namely, integration of family and private problem support – show strong positive effects on athletes’ job satisfaction. Whereas prior studies have focused mainly on monetary incentives, this study reveals a strong relevance of organizational support. Furthermore, the results confirm a strong relationship between player satisfaction and individual performance. Implications: Sports managers need to recognize the relevance of non-monetary incentives of organizational support and integrate them into their management repertoire to improve job satisfaction and, consequently, facilitate top performance of their players. Further research should focus on the effects of non-monetary incentives and other aspects of organizational support. In addition, researchers should use individual performance ratings of coaches, rather than other measures, to evaluate player performance because of their expertise and superior background information.

Identifikation von Servicelücken bei Dienstleistungsunternehmen

Die herausragende Bedeutung der Dienstleistungsqualitat fur den okonomischen Erfolg eines Dienstleistungsunternehmens ist in der betriebswirtschaftlichen Literatur unumstritten (Stauss 1999, S. 5). Nach den Uberlegungen der Service-Profit-Chain (Heskett et al. 1994) ist eine hohe Dienstleistungsqualitat Vorraussetzung fur eine hohe Kundenzufriedenheit und damit die Basis fur eine langfristige Kundenbindung. Selbst wenn nicht verhindert werden kann, dass auch sehr zufriedene Kunden den Anbieter wechseln (Trommsdorff 2004, S. 129f.), mussen hohe Zufriedenheitswerte erzielt werden, damit diese Kunden die Dienstleistung weiterempfehlen. Die Ausrichtung der Dienstleistungsqualitat sollte sich demnach an der Gesamtzufriedenheit mit dem Dienstleister orientieren. Zur Erreichung einer hohen Kundenzufriedenheit sind die Identifizierung von Servicelucken und die Ableitung von Handlungsempfehlungen notwendig. Damit stellt die Messung und Analyse der Dienstleistungsqualitat eine unabdingbare unternehmerische Aufgabe dar.

Investigating the role of identification for social networking Facebook brand pages

Abstract This study highlights the multiple roles of identification in a Facebook context. We differentiate and monitor the impacts of three key targets of identification, specifically, the identification with: a brand’s Facebook page, other users of this Facebook brand page, and identification at the conventional consumer-brand level. In this study, the relevance of each target was investigated with its impact on the level of loyalty to a Facebook brand page and word-of-mouth in favor of this page. Another level was examined at the broader brand level with the constructs of brand loyalty and word-of-mouth brand being integrated. The findings clearly illustrate that each target of identification has varying impacts on overall brand loyalty and word-of-mouth. Additionally, in some cases there is more of a mediated effect through loyalty and word-of-mouth towards the brand’s social networking page. Future researchers should include separate identification targets in new studies. Also, the inclusion of loyalty and word-of-mouth allows numerous managerial diagnostic benefits to be assessed.

Nature and Multifaceted Consequences of Facebook-Based Anti-brand Communities in Sport : an Abstract

The Internet has given rise to anti-brand communities which are forming around common aversions toward brands. We illuminate this phenomenon in the context of social networking sites and consider effects on sponsorships of the opposed brand. Therefore, we conduct a mixed method study of Facebook-organized anti-brand communities using the brand FC Bayern Muenchen and its main sponsor Deutsche Telekom. Our findings reveal that community membership negatively influences both attitude and purchase intention toward the sponsor of the anti-brand. Consequently, we establish the relevance of anti-brand communities for both the brand and their sponsors and derive marketing implications.

Nature and Consequences of Social Media-Based Anti-Brand Activism against Sponsors and Investors of Sport Teams

Social networks such as Facebook have become a fundamental venue for positive sport-related interaction. However, social media provide also a perfect platform for negative communication and anti-brand communities which are forming around common aversions toward a specific brand (Hollenbeck and Zinkhan 2006). Emerging research suggests negative consequences of anti-brand communities opposing a sport team, both for the team itself and for its sponsors (Hickman and Lawrence 2010). While most anti-brand communities in sport build around a disliked team, some oppose a sponsor or investor of the team. Research on image transfers (Meenaghan 2001) and balance theory (Dalakas and Levin 2005) provides a suitable theoretical framework for a rationale of interrelationships between the anti-brand community and the team.

Social Network-Based Anti-Brand Communities Opposing Sponsors of Sport Teams

ID: EASM-2015-293 (836) All authors: Bastian Popp (corresp), Chris Horbel, Claas Christian Germelmann Date submitted: 2015-03-27 Date accepted: 2015-04-14