David P. Hedlund

Memorisation of Rugby World Cup sponsors: The Home Team Sponsor's Advantage

ABSTRACT A challenge for mega sporting events such as the Rugby World Cup is to ensure that team sponsors are not confused with event sponsors. The purpose of this research is to (1) measure consumer identification rates of mega-event sponsors and misidentification rates of product-category competitors, and (2) investigate the impact of different retrieval cues on identification rates of mega-event sponsors. Data about Rugby World Cup 2011 sponsors were collected from 608 students at a large New Zealand university using quasi-experimental design. The percentage of the full sample that correctly identified event sponsors across the recognition and recall mechanisms varied considerably. Different retrieval cues had no effect on the recognition rates. The key finding is that Adidas, Air New Zealand and Hyundai/Ford—all prominent, longstanding sponsors of the All Blacks—were consistently misidentified as official RWC sponsors.

Conceptualising and measuring fan identity using stakeholder theory

ABSTRACT Research question: Building on identity theory and stakeholder theory, this study explores the concept of fan identity based on self-perceived levels of power, urgency, internal and external legitimacy, and examines their effects on behavioural intentions. Research methods: Data were collected from professional football fans (n = 532). A confirmatory factor analysis analysed the psychometric properties of the constructs, and a subsequent structural equation model examined the effects of fan identity on three behavioural intention measures. Results and findings: The results indicate acceptable psychometric properties of the multidimensional construct of fan identity composed of power, urgency, internal legitimacy and external legitimacy. Power and internal legitimacy were significantly related to the intentions to attend more games and to purchase merchandise, with internal legitimacy also influencing intentions to recommend games to others. Implications: This study provides the first exploration of fan identity as a multidimensional construct. The findings provide sport managers with useful insights on how to measure fan identity. This study serves as a catalyst for future research to understand the linkages between professional sport teams and their fans.