Cody T. Havard

Sport and disaster relief: a content analysis.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore disaster relief activities implemented by high-profile sport organisations and athletes. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 70 newspaper and magazine articles reporting the disaster relief efforts of sport organisations and athletes in various regions were identified and analysed through a content analysis. Findings – The authors find 11 forms of activities that sport organisations and athletes have implemented to provide social support in post-disaster situations. These forms are classified based on type of post-disaster social support: eight forms are categorised as tangible support, while the other three are categorised as emotional support. Research limitations/implications – The findings are based on the analysis of the news media that predominantly reported North American cases, and the current list of disaster relief activities may exclude some activities ignored by these specific data sources. Using the forms of disaster relief activities iden...

Roles of sport and cause involvement in determining employees’ beliefs about cause-related sport sponsorship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the roles of employees’ involvement with the sponsored sport and cause in determining their beliefs about cause-related sport sponsorship. Design/methodology/approach – Respondents completed a survey that included the measures of sport involvement, cause involvement, and sponsorship beliefs adapted from previous studies. The final sample included 131 attendees who identified themselves as employees of sponsors of a cause-related sport event in a web-based post-event survey. A multiple regression analysis was performed to test hypotheses. Findings – Despite the prevailing logic that companies can enhance the perception of goodwill by sponsoring sport that is important to their employees, employees’ sport involvement was found to have no effect on their sponsorship beliefs. In contrast, cause involvement alone explained a large amount of the variance in those beliefs. Originality/value – The findings contribute to the literature by indicating that how em...

Sport Fan Evaluations of a Major League Baseball Season: Key Predictors and Influence on Future Evaluations and Consumption Behaviors

ABSTRACT The current study examined fan evaluations of Major League Baseball team performance for a previous season as well as predictions of, and consumption expectations for, an upcoming season. With respect to evaluations of the recently completed season, appraisals were positively predicted by team identification, actual wins, and the number of playoff series played; evaluations were negatively predicted by simply making the playoffs. As for expectations for the next season, evaluations of the previous season, team identification, and actual wins were key predictors as those with more positive evaluations, higher levels of identification, and rooting for teams with fewer wins expected better performances from their team. Regarding consumption, team identification and expectations for the upcoming year were frequent predictors of a variety of consumption forms (e.g. attendance at home games, television viewing).

Perceptions of highly identified fans regarding rival teams in US intercollegiate football and men’s basketball

Havard et al. (2013) developed and validated the sport rivalry fan perception scale (SRFPS) as a way to measure fan perceptions of four aspects regarding a rival team (indirect competition, academic prestige, sportsmanship, sense of satisfaction through direct competition). The current study investigated differences in SRFPS subscale mean scores of highly-identified intercollegiate football and men’s basketball fans in the USA regarding type of favourite team, proximity to favourite team, season ticket holder status of favourite team, and the outcome of the most recent rivalry contest. A series of MANCOVAs indicated that favourite team (football or basketball), season ticket holder status, and outcome of the most recent rivalry contest contributed to significant differences in rival perceptions after controlling for team identification. Discussion focuses on implications of these findings for academics and practitioners, as well as areas for future research.

Reinvestigating the Impact of Conference Realignment on Rivalry in Intercollegiate Athletics

The current study quantitatively investigated how fan perceptions and willingness to consider committing anonymous acts of aggression toward participants of the rival teams differed between a rival in a current conference and an anticipated one in a new conference. A sample of 168 online fans of teams affected by conference realignment were administered a survey containing the Sport Rivalry Fan Perception Scale (SRFPS: Havard, Gray, Gould, Sharp, 8c Schaffer, 2013) and questions regarding willingness to consider committing anonymous acts of aggression (Wann, Haynes, McLean, 8c Pullen, 2003; Wann, Petersen, Cothran, 8c Dykes, 1999; Wann 8c Waddill, in press). Two-way MANOVA revealed significant differences existed regarding one SRFPS subscale, and ANOVA indicated that fans were more likely to consider committing anonymous acts of aggression toward participants of the current than anticipated rival team. Discussion centers on academic and sport marketing implications of the findings and potential areas for future research