The Mediating Role of Brand Equity in the Relationship between Experiential Marketing and the Behavioral Intentions of the Spectators of Iran’s Professional Football league

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D Student of Sport Management at Campus Kish University of Tehran

2 Professor of sport management, Faculty of Sport Sciences and Health, University of Tehran

3 . Professor of sport management, Faculty of Sport Sciences and Health, University of Tehran

Abstract

Spectators are an important part of sports events. With this knowledge, marketers have always attempted to recognize their demands, requests, and behavioral intentions to clarify the reason and quality of spectators’ behaviors during their presence in sports events. The aim of the present research was to examine the impact of experiential marketing on the behavioral intentions of the spectators of the Iranian professional football league through the satisfaction of the event. The methodology of the study was a descriptive correlative type, which was implemented in the field. The statistical population of the research was the spectators of the teams present in the seventeenth Iranian football premier league (2017-2018). Among sixteen clubs present in the premier league, eight clubs were selected based on geographical zoning (stratified sampling method) and questionnaires were distributed among them (917 people) and then collected. To collect data, questionnaires of Experiential Marketing by Tasser, Chiaw, and Wang (2007), the Brand Equity by Acer (2009), and the Behavioral Intentions by Theodrakis et al. (2013) were used. In order to confirm the validity of the tools for measuring the components related to the main variables of the research in the studied society, content validity and structure of the confirmatory factor analysis approach were used. And to verify the reliability of the tools, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used, the values ​​of which are 0.89, 0.76, and 0.91 for the questionnaires of experiential marketing, brand equity, and behavioral intentions, respectively. Data analysis was done using the structural equation model (Smart PLS software) at the significance level of P < 0.05. The results revealed that experiential marketing has a positive and significant effect on brand equity (0.63) and behavioral intentions (0.20). Brand equity played the role of mediating variable in the relationship between experiential marketing and behavioral intentions, and finally, the research model was confirmed. According to the results of the research, it can be stated that part of spectators’ behavioral intentions can be justified through experiential marketing and brand equity. Therefore, it is suggested that the authorities provide the necessary grounds for increasing these variables. To achieve this goal, sports clubs should try to improve their interaction with sports spectators.

Keywords

Main Subjects


  1. Elahi A. The performance of the organization of the professional league of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its comparison with the Japan Professional Football League. Tehran: University of Tehran; 2004.
  2. Pearson G. An ethnography of English football fans. Cans, Cops and Carnivals. 2012.
  3. Kimble CE, Cooper BP. Association and dissociation by football fans. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 1992;75(1):303-9.
  4. Merkel U. Football fans and clubs in Germany: conflicts, crises and compromises. Soccer & Society. 2012;13(3):359-76.
  5. Eddy T. Measuring effects of naming-rights sponsorships on college football fans’ purchasing intentions. Sport Management Review. 2014;17(3):362-75.
  6. Mahony DF, Moorman AM. The impact of fan attitudes on intentions to watch professional basketball teams on television. Sport Management Review. 1999;2(1):43-66.
  7. Biscaia R, Correia A, Rosado A, Maroco J, Ross S. The effects of emotions on football spectators' satisfaction and behavioural intentions. European Sport Management Quarterly. 2012;12(3):227-42.
  8. Smith A, Reynolds N. Affect and cognition as predictors of behavioral intentions towards services. International Marketing Review. 2009;26(6):580-600.
  9. Maiyaki AA, Mokhtar SSM. Determinants of customer behavioural responses in the Nigerian retail banks: Structural equation modeling approach. African journal of Business management. 2012;6(4):1652-9.
  10. Zeithaml VA, Berry LL, Parasuraman A. The behavioral consequences of service quality. the Journal of Marketing. 1996:31-46.
  11. Schmitt B. Experiential marketing. Journal of marketing management. 1999;15(1-3):53-67.
  12. Yazıcı T, Kocak S, Altunsöz IH. Examining the effect of experiential marketing on behavioral intentions in a festival with a specific sport event. European Sport Management Quarterly. 2017;17(2):171-92.
  13. Enrique Bigné J, Mattila AS, Andreu L. The impact of experiential consumption cognitions and emotions on behavioral intentions. Journal of Services Marketing. 2008;22(4):303-15.
  14. Lee TH, Chang YS. The influence of experiential marketing and activity involvement on the loyalty intentions of wine tourists in Taiwan. Leisure Studies. 2012;31(1):103-21.
  15. Smilansky S. Experiential marketing: A practical guide to interactive brand experiences: Kogan Page Publishers; 2017.
  16. LaSalle D, Britton TA. Priceless: Turning ordinary products into extraordinary experiences: Harvard Business School Press Boston, MA; 2003.
  17. Li A, Yang D, editors. Business Advertising Strategy in Experiential Marketing. Management and Service Science (MASS), 2010 International Conference on; 2010: IEEE.
  18. Chang PL, Chieng MH. Building consumer–brand relationship: A cross‐cultural experiential view. Psychology & Marketing. 2006;23(11):927-59.
  19. Brakus JJ, Schmitt BH, Zarantonello L. Brand experience: what is it? How is it measured? Does it affect loyalty? Journal of marketing. 2009;73(3):52-68.
  20. Elahiari E. Investigating the Effect of Empirical Marketing on Brand Branding. Hormozgan: University of Hormozgan; 2017.
  21. Keller KL. Brand synthesis: The multidimensionality of brand knowledge. Journal of consumer research. 2003;29(4):595-600.
  22. Tsaur S-H, Chiu Y-T, Wang C-H. The visitors behavioral consequences of experiential marketing: An empirical study on Taipei Zoo. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing. 2007;21(1):47-64.
  23. Aaker DA. Managing brand equity: simon and schuster; 2009.
  24. Theodorakis ND, Alexandris K, Tsigilis N, Karvounis S. Predicting spectators’ behavioural intentions in professional football: The role of satisfaction and service quality. Sport management review. 2013;16(1):85-96.