Differences between male and female sport event tourists: A qualitative study

International Journal of Hospitality Management xxx (2009) xxx–xxx

G Model

HM-900; No of Pages 14

Differences between male and female sport event tourists: A qualitative study

Po-Ju Chen *

Rosen College of Hospitality Management, University of Central Florida, 9907 Universal Boulevard, Orlando, FL 32819-1450, United States

A R T I C L E I N F O

Article history:

Available online xxx

Keywords:

Gender differences

Gender equality

Self-actualization

Social support

Volunteering

ZMET

A B S T R A C T

This qualitative study, using the Zaltaman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET), investigated

differences between male and female sport event tourists. Study participants cited different attributes,

consequences, and values with respect to the five themes that emerged from this study: loyalty,

socialization, self-actualization, volunteering, and equality through sport. The use of a grounded

qualitative research approach made it possible to discover that the act of sport spectating could give

sport event tourists the opportunity to reach other goals (e.g., social responsibility, self-actualization and

healthy lifestyle). This study made several unique contributions to event tourism research. The most

important finding, however, had to do with self-actualization. Socialization, travel, volunteering, and

promoting gender equality and other social responsibilities through sport enable people to reach their

potential and achieve a healthy lifestyle. These singular findings have implications to sports event

management and marketing strategies.

� 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Hospitality Management

journal homepage: www.e lsev ier .com/ locate / i jhosman

1. Introduction

Over 11 million sport fans attended the National CollegiateAthletic Association (NCAA) Women’s Basketball games during the2008–2009 season (NCAA, 2009), an increase of more than 3million from the 1999–2000 season (NCAA, 2000). At the sametime, the number of female sport fans has been growing rapidly(Dietz-Uhler et al., 2000; James and Ridinger, 2002; Robinson andTrail, 2005; Wann, 1995; Wann and Hamlet, 1995; Wann et al.,1999; Wann et al., 2001; Wann et al., 2004). While men’s collegiatesports programs suffer from shrinking revenue, women’s collegiatesports programs continue to receive more revenue than ever. Forexample, corporate sponsorship revenues for women sports eventsreached over $1 billion in 2005 (Horrow, 2005). While this ispositive news for women’s sports, the situation presents adilemma for sports event marketers, because of the notabledifferences between male and female spectators’ sport consump-tion behavior (James and Ridinger, 2002; Wann, 1995; Wann et al.,1999; Wann et al., 2001; Wann et al., 2004; Won and Kitamura,2006). For example, ‘‘For females, being a sport fan meansattending, watching, and cheering at sporting events, preferablyin the company of family and friends. For males, being a sport fanmeans playing sports and acquiring sports information’’ (Dietz-Uhler et al., 2000, p. 214). The differences may also extend,however, to their enduring support for specific teams, including

* Tel.: +1 407 903 8029; fax: +1 407 903 8105.

E-mail address: [email protected].

Please cite this article in press as: Chen, P.-J., Differences between mHospitality Manage. (2009), doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2009.10.007

0278-4319/$ – see front matter � 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2009.10.007

membership in fan clubs and the purchase of team merchandise(James and Ridinger, 2002).

Gibson (1998, p. 108) defines sport tourism as ‘‘Leisure-basedtravel that takes individuals temporarily outside of their homecommunities to play, watch physical activities, or venerateattractions associated with these activities.’’ Higham (2005)adopted the definition of sport tourism as ‘‘travel to play sports(active sport tourism), travel to watch sports (sport event tourism),and travel to visit or venerate famous sports-related attractions(nostalgia sport tourism) (Delpy, 1998; Gibson, 1999)’’ (p. 39).Thus, a sport event tourist is a sport spectator or participant whotravels to attend or play at Olympic Games, professional footballgames, college basketball, and the like. Sport events such as collegebasketball competitions held year-round are considered small-scale sport events (Gibson et al., 2003; Higham, 1999). Sport fansare most likely to behave as tourists while attending out-of-townsport events (Gammon and Robinson, 2003; Gibson et al., 2003).Thus, out-of-town attendees, individuals or groups who ‘‘travelaway from home and work locality’’ (Standeven and De Knop,1999, p. 39), of major sport events such as Olympic Games orsmall-scale sport events such as collegiate basketball games aresport event tourists (Gibson, 1998, 1999).

Sport event tourists, are large in number, and therefore have aneconomic and social impact upon the event destinations (Gammonand Robinson, 2003; Gibson, 1999). For example, more than 3.5million tickets to the 2004 Athens Olympics were sold (VitalStatistics, 2004) during the events. Furthermore, sport marketershave considered collegiate sports, such as football, men’s andwomen’s basketball, as revenue-producing sports. Among thecollegiate sports, football, men’s and women’s basketball programs

ale and female sport event tourists: A qualitative study. Int. J.

mailto:[email protected]

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2009.10.007

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02784319


P.-J. Chen / International Journal of Hospitality Management xxx (2009) xxx–xxx2

G Model


are the top producers of revenue. For example, Robinson and Trail(2005, p. 58) noted that ‘‘Fans attending National CollegiateAthletic Association (NCAA) Division I athletic events contributeapproximately $500 million’’ to the small-scale sport events’revenue. Hence, understanding small-scale sport event tourists’behavior is vital to the sport industry management and marketerswho want to develop a fan base in order to maintain or increasetheir share of the sports market (Bowdin et al., 2006; Mullin et al.,2000). Therefore, researchers have paid more attention to thestudy of behavioral differences in male and female sport fans (e.g.,Dietz-Uhler et al., 2000; James and Ridinger, 2002; Wann et al.,2001; Won and Kitamura, 2006). However, less attention has beenpaid to comparing male and female sport fans’ attitudes andbehaviors with respect to their attending sport events (Andersonet al., 2007) and their high-level involvement with specific teams(James and Ridinger, 2002). Additionally, sport fans’ decision totravel to attend sport evens are ‘‘a function of more than strongmotives, emotional connections, and a strong attachment to aplayer or team,’’ but also their passion and involvement whichshould be ‘‘weighed against a variety of broader cultural, economicand physical factors and circumstances’’ (Smith and Stewart, 2007,p. 169). For instance, male and female sport event tourists’ travelmotives differ (Funk et al., 2007; Pearce, 2002). McGehee et al.(1996) found that women travel most likely for culturalexperiences, family, and prestige; men tend to travel for sportand adventure. A variety of rarely investigated cultural constructsand personal values are also important determinants of sport eventtourists’ travel behavior. That is, rarely have researchers investi-gated gender differences in sport event tourists’ underlyingbehavior such as value development (building of loyalty, character,and altruism), self-actualization (personal growth); social respon-sibility (enhance the host community and promote social change);support for women’s opportunities (equality through sport);vicarious achievement (empowerment, social status and self-esteem) (Filo et al., 2008; Funk et al., 2007; Mansfield, 2007;McDonald et al., 2002). Hence, it is also important to investigatethe constructs that have rarely been researched in order tounderstand male and female sport event tourists’ differences assport fans.

Despite the increased recreational and economic contributionsfrom small-scale sport tourism, few studies have examined theunderlying behaviors of sport event tourists who travel to suchevents (Hinch and Higham, 2001). Therefore, this study investi-gated the differences of male and female sport fans’ behavior of awomen’s basketball club (‘‘the Club,’’ Lady Lion Cager Club). Therationale for this study is as follows. First, the attendance atwomen’s college basketball continues to increase (NCAA, 2009).Second, the yearly sport events held by this women’s collegebasketball qualified as small-scale event tourism. Third, women’scollege basketball fans, by maintaining membership in their Club,demonstrated an enduring relationship with the Women’s Basket-ball Team (‘‘the Team’’) and therefore had an emotional attach-ment to the Team and high involvement with sport (cf. Shank andBeasley, 1998). Fourth, most members were highly committed tothe activities associated with supporting the Team and frequentlytraveled to away games. Thus, members were devoted fans, hadengaged in sport tourism, and had perhaps experienced thebenefits of being sport tourists (cf. Standeven and De Knop, 1999;Tapp, 2004). Fifth, such fans constitute an important segment ofthe sports event tourism market (Kahle et al., 2001; Gibson, 1998;Preuss et al., 2007).

The under-utilization of qualitative methodology is moreapparent in tourism and hospitality research (DeCrop, 1999; Rileyand Love, 2000; Walle, 1997). Qualitative research methodsprovide researchers with the tools to achieve a better under-standing of the social and cultural contexts of people’s real lives


(Myers, 1997). Researchers have suggested that qualitative datacollection methods can provide rich data about consumers’feelings, thoughts, intentions, and behaviors (Aaker et al., 2000).Furthermore, qualitative researchers can obtain insights into theunderlying cognition, affects, and overt behavior that quantitativemethodology rarely achieves (Spiggle, 1994; Schwandt, 1997). Inaddition, qualitative methodology scholars (e.g., Glaser, 1998,2004; Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Strauss and Corbin, 1998) haveprofoundly shown that theories could be derived from datacollected systematically and analyzed through a set of groundedresearch processes. That is, qualitative research relies on thecollection of qualitative data such as text and pictures and theutilization of interpretive processes. By iteratively comparing datawith existing relevant literature, new theory might emerge. Thus, abetter understanding of the social and cultural contexts of thesampled sport event tourists’ real lives associated with being sportfans might be achieved. Furthermore, this qualitative study might‘‘discover tourists’ inner experiences and underlying behaviorsthat could lead to alleviating the industry’s inability to translateresearch findings and theoretical knowledge directly into prac-tices’’ (Chen, 2008, p. 33). The study findings, therefore, will refinethe theory associated with sport fans and advance the develop-ment of marketing strategy for sport tourism.

In summary, the study objective was threefold: to investigategender differences in sport event tourists’ behavior (emphasizingareas that have rarely been studied), to seek a conceptual model ortheory for the in-depth understanding of sport event tourists’behavior (i.e., focusing on sport fans), and to contribute to the callfor increasing the utilization of qualitative methodology inhospitality and tourism research.

2. Conceptual background

This research adopts a qualitative methodology approach withinterpretive processes. Specifically, the researchers do not know inadvance which literature will be appropriate and most relevant tothe emerging theory (Glaser, 1998, 2004; Glaser and Strauss, 1967;Strauss and Corbin, 1998). Therefore, most relevant literature willbe utilized in later discussions in this paper as the needs emerge.The following is a brief review of the literature serving as aconceptual background.

2.1. Sport fan motives

Recent studies on sport fans have been conducted in variousspecialized areas such as social psychology and psychology (Smithand Mackie, 2000; Trail et al., 2000). These theoretical constructsinclude, for example, self-efficacy (self-confidence, empower-ment), self-esteem (psychological evaluation of the relationshipbetween different sets of attitudes towards one’s self), and self-schemata (one’s repeated social behavior) (Douvis and Douvis,2000). Individuals’ perceived benefits are the most importantdeterminants of being a sport fan (End, 2001; Wann et al., 1999).These benefits, for example, include a sense of belonging (Finket al., 2002; Wann et al., 1999), identity (Sutton et al., 1997), self-esteem (Robinson and Trail, 2005; Sloan, 1989), excitement andrecreation (End et al., 2004; Sloan, 1989), enjoyment and pleasure(Fink et al., 2002), involvement (Kerstetter and Kovich, 1997).

Scholars have identified the following perceived benefits asmotivations for individuals becoming sport fans: entertainment(e.g., Fink et al., 2002; Sloan, 1989), eustress (e.g., Smith and Stewart,2007; Wann, 1995; Wann et al., 2001), self-esteem (e.g., Sloan, 1989;Tajfel, 1982), group affiliation (Sloan, 1989; Wann, 1995; Wannet al., 1999), family (Dietz-Uhler et al., 2000; James and Ridinger,2002), economic (Armstrong, 2002; Wann et al., 1999), aesthetic(Fink et al., 2002; Wann et al., 1999); and escape (Sloan, 1989; Wann



P.-J. Chen / International Journal of Hospitality Management xxx (2009) xxx–xxx 3

G Model


et al., 1999). Entertainment and eustress (i.e., positive stress andpsychological arousal) motives are the most common; the economicmotive is the rarest (James and Ridinger, 2002; Wann et al., 2001).Self-esteem, entertainment, group affiliation, and family have directassociations with sport fans’ socialization behaviors. Many research-ers find social group affiliation and self-esteem as important parts ofindividuals’ motivations for being sport fans (e.g., Milne andMcDonald, 1999; Sloan, 1989).

2.2. Gender differences and similarities

Female and male spectators appreciate athletic competition indifferent ways and for different reasons. The literature contains anumber of studies focusing on the differences in the behavior ofmale and female sport fans (e.g., Dietz-Uhler et al., 2000; James andRidinger, 2002; Wann et al., 2001). Wann (1995) and Wann et al.(1999) found that female fans most likely to have higher levels offamily motivation and males, with higher level of eustress, self-esteem, escape, economic and group affiliation motives. Familyand social interaction are more important to females than to males.For example, Dietz-Uhler et al. (2000) found that females prefer toattend games with family and friends; this is consistent with otherscholars’ findings (e.g., Wann, 1995; Wann et al., 1999). However, ashort time later, James and Ridinger (2002) found that both menand women are equally likely to spend time with family andfriends at games. They also found that there were no significantdifferences between males’ and females’ entertainment needs; thiscontradicted other researchers’ findings (e.g., Wann, 1995; Wannet al., 1999). Others found that males and females are equally likelyto seek escape stress and boredom by attending sport events(James and Ridinger, 2002; Robinson and Trail, 2005).

2.3. Sport fan loyalty

The majority of sport spectator loyalty research has beenconducted only within the last two decades. Some of the mostrelevant studies are briefly examined here. Wakefield and Sloan(1995) find team loyalty to be a determining factor in spectators’desire to attend the game. Mahony et al. (1999) find that loyalty tosport teams could be determined by knowing a fan’s personalitycharacteristics. Mahony et al. (2000) develop the PsychologicalCommitment to Team Scale for measuring sport consumers’behavioral and attitudinal loyalty. Tapp (2004) evaluates theloyalty of football fans and finds that emotional attachment andsocial identity are the two most salient antecedents of loyalty.Researchers suggest that the benefits that individuals sought (e.g.,excitement) and identifications (e.g., social identity) are the mostinfluential variables for sport fans becoming loyal to a particularteam (e.g., Tapp, 2004).

2.4. Sport-fan-socialization

Sport-fan-socialization is the social process by which fansdevelop their ‘‘social selves’’ by learning to behave in a social worldthat is associated with sport. Therefore, ‘‘a fan’s social role may belearned through interactions between young consumers and sport-fan-socialization agents such as their families, schools, and peers’’(Hunt et al., 1999, p. 443). According to McPherson (1975) and Wannet al. (2001), individuals learned the values, beliefs, attitudes, andnorms of sport fandom from numerous fan-socialization agents.McPherson (1975) found that males were influenced primarily bytheir friends and secondarily by family and school. For females,family was the leading agent, closely followed by friends and then bythe community. School did not appear to be a significant agent forfemales. Contrary to McPherson’s study, Wann et al. (2001) foundthat schools were the dominant socialization agent for females. That


is, school might have become the most influential socialization agentin the USA as a consequence of the passage of Title IX in 1972 (Wannet al., 2004). Melnick and Wann (2004) also found that femaleNorwegian students were more likely to report school as thesocialization agent while males more likely to be influenced by theirfriends. Sport may also be an important means by which individualsacquire personal traits and qualities; proper sports socialization maytherefore be a key to sport participants’ well-being (Goldman, 1984;Wann et al., 2004).

3. Research design

This study adopted the qualitative methodology to elicit studyparticipants’ feelings and thoughts represented by their mentalmodels. The elicited data (text data from interviews and images)were used to investigate gender differences in sport event tourists’behavior and to seek a conceptual model or theory for theunderstanding of sport event tourists’ behavior.

Because rich data were required for this study, the ZaltmanMetaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) was utilized. ZMET is amethodology built upon grounded theories, which provide built-insupport for validity and reliability (Zaltman and Coulter, 1995). Itsin-depth interview technique allows a more extensive explorationof participants’ feelings and thoughts. Another important featureof ZMET is that the participant, not the researcher, supplies thestimuli (i.e., visual or sensory images). ‘‘By controlling the stimuli,participants are better able to represent their thoughts and feelingsand identify issues that are both important to them and potentiallyunknown to the researcher’’ (Coulter et al., 2001, p. 6). Consumers’thinking is represented by the dominant constructs that drive theirthoughts and behavior and may be considered as units of thoughtthat are essentially metaphors (Ortony, 1993). Metaphors are thepaths leading to the revelation of consumers’ feelings and thoughtsand provide the relationships among constructs. Researchers canuse these constructs and their relationships to generate diagrams.Diagrams represent the mental models that depict the interrelatedconcepts or constructs of the individual or the sample group understudy. These ‘‘underlying metaphorical meanings of the themesrevealed in participants’ mental models through ZMET could bedirectly translated into hospitality and tourism marketingstrategies’’ (Chen, 2008, p. 46). For a detailed description of ZMET,see Chen (2008), Christensen and Olson (2002), and Zaltman andCoulter (1995).

3.1. Data collection

Criterion sampling was used to meet the participant selectioncriteria, sufficiency and saturation (Miles and Huberman, 1994).ZMET interview procedures provide guidelines for data collection toachieve theoretical saturation. When the interviewer discoveredthat the discussions ‘‘became conceptually repetitive and no newdata emerged,’’ theoretical saturation was considered to have beenachieved (Riley, 1995, p. 639). ZMET suggests six interview steps toelicit key constructs and their interrelationships. Each step providesa different opportunity to validate concepts presented or revealimportant ideasand concepts thatprevious stepsmighthave missed.

Based on past researchers’ experiences about the optimalnumber of participants for this type of study (e.g., Christensenand Olson, 2002; Guest et al., 2006), 33 members (17 females and 16males) of a women’s basketball club were selected. Each participantwas invited to a 2-h, face-to-face interview. Each interview wasconducted under the graphical image-guided conversation and usedprobes in laddering (Reynolds and Gutman, 1988) for eliciting non-verbal communications, hidden feelings and thoughts, and foreliciting deep constructs and their relationships. The interviewconversation was recorded and then transcribed.




G Model


3.2. Qualitative rigor and trustworthiness

This qualitative research’s trustworthiness and rigor wasinitially inherited from ZMET and enforced with groundedqualitative research strategies. ZMET data elicitation procedures(e.g., purposive sampling; self-correcting mechanisms) and datainterpretation (e.g., coding) were designed to provide the study’srigor and trustworthiness (i.e., validity, reliability, and credibility)(Zaltman and Coulter, 1995). In addition, this study also adoptedthe grounded qualitative research strategies suggested by quali-tative research scholars (e.g., Lincoln and Guba, 1985; Miles andHuberman, 1994). The grounded qualitative research strategiesincluded in this study were engaging participants in interviewprocesses, triangulation across methods, triangulation across data(text and images), and triangulation across researchers (twointerviewers and three researchers) (cf. DeCrop, 1999). Thus, thisstudy’s rigor and trustworthiness (credibility, transferability,dependability, and conformability) (cf. Lincoln and Guba, 1985)were maximized.

3.3. Data analysis and findings

Participants’ transcripts were analyzed to collect labels (con-structs) that they used to describe their feelings and thoughtsabout being a sport event tourist. Participants’ feelings, thoughts,and behaviors were analyzed to derive concepts. This analysisbegan with ‘‘Open coding’’ processes which deal with the labelingand categorizing of phenomena as described by the transcribedtext data and images. Each emerging concept was compared toconcepts indicated by other participants. If one or more conceptsresembled the same phenomenon, then the resembling conceptswere grouped into ‘‘central construct.’’ Next, each participant’stranscripts were read and reread to discover the relationshipsbetween the central constructs. When two constructs were foundto be interrelated, a linkage between the two was established(construct dyad). For example, the statement from a participant:‘‘the only thing that keeps me from making a game is bad weatherand I do mean it has to be bad. I used to make all the bus trips’’(Female, 60s[age], #11[participant]) is relevant to the construct‘‘Commitment.’’ The statement from the same participant, ‘‘We’rethe hardcore fans [and] will always be there [at games] throughthick or thin. We don’t turn our back on them [players] whenthey’re not doing well’’ is relevant to the construct ‘‘Being loyal.’’These two statements can be translated as ‘‘since we go to each andevery game [and hence we committed ourselves to support theteam,] and we are loyal fans of the team.’’ Now we can see thatthere is a relationship (a linkage) between these two statements,and a linkage was made between the construct ‘‘Commitment’’ andthe construct ‘‘Being loyal.’’ This is considered as a construct dyad.

In this study, construct dyads created ‘‘an overall mental modelof each participant’s thoughts and feelings’’ (Christensen andOlson, 2002, p. 484) about being a member of the Club. These stepswere iteratively processed and compared to literature as suggestedby Glaser (1998, 2004). These process steps examine and re-examine each coding interpretation to verify that it is wellsupported by both recorded verbatim and image evidence.Thereby, well-grounded interpretations of data were achieved(Christensen and Olson, 2002; Strauss and Corbin, 1998). A‘‘construct’’ is a label that represents a grouping of ideas andconcepts developed from the analyses of the data. This initialanalysis resulted in over 300 constructs representing the affect andcognition dimension of sport event tourists. To facilitate otherresearchers’ review of the validity of the initial constructs, the‘‘codebook’’ approach by using ‘‘lexicon’’ analysis (i.e., theassociated text of each initial construct was shortened to form alexicon) was adopted (cf. Francis and Kucera, 1982). Three


researchers then reviewed the results of the initial analysis.Utilizing the codebook and reviewed literature as guides, thisreview process combined and eliminated a number of initialconstructs and resulted in 50 final constructs. Finally, a consensusmap was created for each participant. A consensus map is adiagram showing connection links between the elicited constructs.Then, a proprietary software package was used, based on 16 males’individual consensus maps, to create the male global consensusmap. Similarly, based on 17 female’s individual consensus maps, afemale global consensus map was created. The software packagetracks the number of participants connected to each construct andproduces maps at different levels of consensus. The consensus levelindicates the minimum number of participants mentioned eachconstruct shown on the map. A map generated at the lowest level(i.e., one), the map would show all 50 constructs with theirlinkages and it would be impossible to understand. This studyfound the maps at a consensus level of 5 were most meaningful andintelligible. Hence, both of the maps (males and females) werecreated at the consensus level of 5. These global consensus maps,representing important concepts (i.e., metaphors) and relation-ships between concepts, contained the most meaningful andinterpretable data (Reynolds and Gutman, 1988). Therefore, themaps reflect the researchers’ understanding of how the metaphorsand mental models (concepts and ideas) were organized and linkedin participants’ minds.

In an effort to understand gender-based differences, the twoglobal consensus maps were used to profile the differences. Theresulting differences are depicted in the male- and female-themedgender-relevance consensus maps (Fig. 1). Twenty constructs areshown in these two maps (Table 1). Each themed gender-relevancemap represents its corresponding global consensus map butwithout those constructs and linkages that were irrelevant togender differences. The 20 constructs included in these two maps,at a consensus level of 5, indicated that each construct shown onthe female and male maps was mentioned by at least five of the 17female participants or 16 male participants, respectively. ‘‘Typi-cally, for a construct to be included on the consensus map, it musthave been mentioned by at least one-third of the participants and aconstruct pair must have been mentioned by at least one-quarterof the participants. As a consequence, the consensus map, onaverage, captures 80% of the constructs mentioned by eachparticipant’’ (Zaltman and Coulter, 1995, pp. 44–45). In this study,over 55% of the females (17) and 45% of the males (16) mentionedthe 20 constructs (Table 1) as shown on the two consensus maps.Consequently, the maps represent at least 80% of the sampledpopulation’s overall feelings and thoughts. Furthermore, thevalidation, based on ZMET guidelines, for the elicited constructsin this study showed the ‘‘high level of consensus amongparticipants’’ (above 80%) (Zaltman and Coulter, 1995, p. 47).

Both groups’ transcripts were reread and compared with thedifferences shown on the gender-relevance consensus maps andeach difference that was discovered was then compared with theliterature. The reiterative analyses of the themed consensus mapsand the comparison processes revealed the main differences. Fivethemes emerged from the data sets: loyalty, socialization,volunteering, self-actualization, and equality through sport. Thefollowing sections discuss the relevant evidence from the data set,the themed gender-relevant consensus maps, and highlight genderdifferences in each of the five themes in association with sporttourists’ end-values.

4. Results

As discussed earlier, the gender-relevant consensus mapsrepresent at least 80% of the sampled population’s overallfeelings and thoughts (Zaltman and Coulter, 1995). Thus, the



Table 1Constructs list for male and female consensus maps, gender-relevance.

Constructs General meanings

A family tradition Watching Lady Lion Basketball games has been a family affair for some families.

Admiration coach Members praise the coach who makes the team successful.

Being loyal Club members’ self-described loyalty to the Team.

Capable women Women believe that they can do anything that men can do.

Club activities/functions Activities and functions, such as socials and fundraising, bus trips to away games, offered by the Club.

Commitment Club members committed to support the Team.

Equality through sport Female sport fans are able to challenge the dominant ideology of the male sport world.

Enjoying/having fun Having a good time.

Friendship/attachment About friendship and making friends through attachment to the Club.

Happiness One of the end-values that Club members valued.

Opportunity to travel Club members travel to the competition site to watch and support the Team.

Quality of basketball program Admiration for Women’s Basketball program.

Satisfied/fulfilled Refers to members’ satisfaction with and fulfillment associated with their contributions to the team and the Club.

Self-actualization Individual’s desire to maximize his or her potential that the individual is capable.

Sense of accomplishment One of the end-values that Club members pursued. Accomplishing goals, results in a sense of pride.

Socialization People getting together for socials.

Social support Social support helps people to cope with stresses and maintain a positive attitude.

Supporting the team Club members’ support for the players/team.

Team’s goals References to goals for the individual players and overall team.

Volunteering Participants volunteered for social cause as well as for promoting Club management and socials.

Fig. 1. Male and female consensus maps, gender-relevance.


G Model


credibility and validity of discussions presented in this sectionwere based on this ‘‘high level of consensus among participants’’(Zaltman and Coulter, 1995, p. 47). Furthermore, proceduresand strategies intended to enhance credibility was inheritedfrom ZMET and ‘‘a variety of strategies to reduce threats toreliability and validity’’ (LeCompte and Goetz, 1982, p. 55) wereincorporated in research design (sample criterion, data collec-tion, data analysis, qualitative rigor and trustworthiness) assuggested by qualitative methodology scholars (e.g., Lincoln andGuba, 1985; Miles and Huberman, 1994).

4.1. Loyalty

Scholars have suggested that personally relevant values (i.e.,benefits such as emotional needs) and identifications (e.g., social


identity) are the most influential factors for sport fans becominghighly involved with and committed to their teams (Bristow andSebastian, 2001; Laverie and Arnett, 2000; Madrigal, 1995; Wannand Branscombe, 1995). Thus, the perceived and actual benefitsavailable through membership with the Club contributed to thedevelopment of enduring loyalty and, ultimately, to a sense ofsatisfaction and fulfillment among Club members (cf. Mahonyet al., 1999, 2000; Tapp, 2004). The term ‘‘loyalty’’ here refers to thestudy participants’ defined Loyalty (cf., Tapp, 2004). Club members(over 82%) consistently mentioned their commitment to the Team.Their ‘‘Commitment’’ to the Team was reflected in their attendanceat every home or away game and in participation in Club activities(behavioral loyalty; cf., Iwasaki and Havitz, 2004). Concomitantly,most participants claimed that they attended all games andparticipated in all Club activities because of being committed




G Model


(‘‘commitment’’) loyal fans (‘‘Being loyal’’) (attitudinal loyalty; cf.,Gounaris and Stathakopoulos, 2004; Mahony et al., 1999). Allparticipants who discussed their loyalty to the Team also claimedthat they were happy and satisfied (cf. Madrigal, 2003). Evidence aspresented below indicates that, most, if not all, participants wereloyal (to the Team and the Club) sport event tourists.

Referring to the themed male gender-relevance consensus map(male map) and female gender-relevance consensus map (FemaleMap) as depicted in Fig. 1, the construct ‘‘Commitment’’ serves asthe linkage between the construct ‘‘Being loyal’’ and the construct‘‘Club activities functions.’’ These similar male- and female-themed paths could be interpreted as: ‘‘Club members whocommitted to support the Team and attended all Club functionsand activities (including travel to away games) are loyal sportevent tourists.’’ However, there were differences in attitudinal andbehavioral loyalty between females and males. For females, the‘‘Being loyal’’ construct, as shown on the Female Map, was initiatedfrom construct ‘‘Club activities function’’ and via five separatepaths to the construct ‘‘Being loyal.’’ The first path is linked viaconstruct ‘‘Commitment.’’ The second path shows the linkagesbetween these two end constructs (i.e., ‘‘Club activities functions’’and ‘‘Being loyal’’) are (intermediate constructs and in sequence):‘‘A family tradition,’’ ‘‘Socialization,’’ and ‘‘Friendship/attachment.’’The third path intermediate constructs are ‘‘A family tradition,’’‘‘Socialization,’’ ‘‘Enjoying/having fun,’’ and ‘‘Friendship/attach-ment.’’ The fourth path intermediate constructs are ‘‘Self-actualization,’’ ‘‘Enjoying/having fun,’’ and ‘‘Friendship/attach-ment.’’ The fifth path intermediate constructs are ‘‘Opportunityto travel,’’ ‘‘Self-actualization,’’ ‘‘Enjoying/having fun,’’ and‘‘Friendship/attachment.’’ In addition to those different paths, adirect linkage is shown between ‘‘Being loyal’’ and ‘‘Happiness,’’and then linked to other end-values constructs (‘‘Satisfied/fulfilled’’ and ‘‘Sense of accomplishment’’). However, only onepath links males’ ‘‘Club activities functions’’ to ‘‘Being loyal’’ viaconstruct ‘‘Commitment.’’ Furthermore, males’ end-values con-structs were linked from ‘‘Club activities function’’ via constructs‘‘Admiration coach’’ (sport knowledge and techniques) and‘‘Team’s goal’’ (i.e., the championship goal). That is, males’ loyaltywas derived mainly from motives such as seeking sport knowledge,higher level of eustress, sport achievement (winning competi-tions), and social identification (cf. Mahony et al., 1999). Forfemales, their multi-paths linkages shown in Female Mapdemonstrate that, in addition to personal benefits representedby those end-values, many other influential factors (e.g., family,socialization, entertainment, enjoyment and pleasure, attachment,opportunity to travel, and self-actualization) affect females’loyalty. These different theme paths of females and males arediscussed below and in later sections (i.e., socialization, opportu-nity to travel, and self-actualization).

Female participants perceived that travel offered opportunitiesfor socialization, enjoyment, entertainment, relaxation, culturalexperience, knowledge exploration and cultural learning, and self-expression (Funk et al., 2007). Team identity (self-expression) is adeterminant for individuals to become loyal fans (Laverie andArnett, 2000; Madrigal, 1995). Females’ identity salience can alsobe seen by a female’s statement: ‘‘[I am] very proud to be a LadyLions fan. Everybody who knows us knows that we travel withthem, the Lady Lion Basketball team’’ (Female, 20s, #3). Anotherwas always excited about the Team’s achievement. She stated:‘‘they [the Team] got into the Big Ten. They have done well almostevery year’’ (Female, 40s, #4). She went on to express her empathywhen the Team did not do well: ‘‘you go out and first of all you cansee the ladies play a wonderful game. Doesn’t matter if they win orlose you know they try; they do their best.’’ Similarly, her viewabout supporting the Team was echoed by other femaleparticipants: ‘‘You’re always there for them [players]. They need


to know that there are loyal fans who will still smile and appreciatethem tomorrow even if they have lost’’ (Female, 60s, #11). Thus,female participants’ sense of achievement and empathy demon-strated their important social identity for becoming loyal fans.

According to Pritchard (1999), individuals’ attitudes of attach-ment represent commitment and commitment leads to loyalty.Many female participants asserted their loyalty to the Teamthrough their unshakeable commitment by saying:

I also feel we should attend all the games, all the events. Andthere’s a commitment (Female, 40s, #14). I enjoy watchingthem so I feel that I should do what I can to support; That wouldbe responsibility (Female, 20s, #3); I feel a responsibility to goto the banquet. . . . it’s my responsibility to honor the girls(Female, 60s, #11).

Travel opportunities provided by the Club had been a majorcontributor for Club members being loyal sport event tourists. Onemember stated: ‘‘I enjoy traveling. And being part of the Cager Clubgives you a chance to travel because the Club does sponsor bustrips to follow the team as they play out-of-town. . . . traveling withthe Cager Club and going to see the team play, helps me meet oneof my overall lifetime goals’’ (Female, 40s, #10). One femalemaintained her loyalty by following the Team as an sport eventtourist and by not missing any game. Her loyalty might be viewedas ‘‘blind loyalty’’ because of her unconditional support of the Team(cf. Tapp and Clowes, 2002). She said, ‘‘We pretty much follow theteam, pretty much anywhere. I didn’t miss a game whether it’shome or away. No matter where the game was, what the weatherwas (Female, 60s, #1). The evidence of females’ ‘‘blind loyalty’’ tothe Team was further revealed: ‘‘This picture with Club membersin the background, you can see Austin’s very first trip to the Big Tenbasketball tournament. He’s only 10 weeks old. We took himeverywhere we went. We chose not to give up [traveling to awaygames] when we had him’’ (Female, 30s, #17). Furthermore,females were more likely to indicate that they enjoyed watchingthe Team play whether or not the Team won, as long as the playersdid their best and as long as the fans were attending the gameswith family and friends. One female said: ‘‘We’re there to showloyalty and for the excitement and the fun, the camaraderie withthe other members of the club’’ (Female, 40s, #15). A woman in herforties (#4) stated, ‘‘Overall it’s sheer pleasure but there are thoselittle moments when you do get disappointed. When they lose agame then things aren’t sheer pleasure. . . . But overall you reallyenjoy being there.’’ Being there at the games, home or away, was afamily tradition for many female fans. She continued: ‘‘This issomething that we do together as a family.’’ Another femaleexpressed her view on family: ‘‘the Club is a family.. . . It was someplace that we could go as a family’’ (Female, 40s, #6). Some femaleClub members considered the players to be members of anextended family (players and fans). One female described the effectof the extended family: ‘‘the girls [players] have come back [aftergraduation] and said, ‘I really felt like I’m a member of the familybecause of the friendship and the help that you have given me’’’(Female, 50s, #13).

As shown on Male Map, male members’ loyalty was primarilyfor the support of the Team and did not have direct or strongassociations with happiness, opportunities of socialization, enjoy-ment, entertainment, relaxation, cultural experience, knowledgeexploration and cultural learning as females did. For males, ‘‘Clubactivities functions’’ links directly to ‘‘Admiration coach’’ and‘‘Team’s goal’’ (i.e., the championship) and then to ‘‘Sense ofaccomplishment’’ (see Fig. 1). That is, males obtained their end-value ‘‘Happiness’’ through the quality of the basketball program(e.g., high level of play), the achievement of the Team, acquiringsport knowledge, and their self-expression (i.e., team identity)




G Model


rather than through their loyalty to the Team. Males were morelikely to reference game techniques, the importance of winning,and their team identity. Scholars have acknowledged that playingsports and acquiring sports knowledge are more important to malesport fans than to females (e.g., Dietz-Uhler et al., 2000; Robinsonand Trail, 2005). One male member learned sport techniquethrough the Teams’ coaches and players. He reported: ‘‘I learned alot about sports by noticing the length that they went to in theirvideotaping and the videotape analysis’’ (Male, 50s, #22). Teamidentification is the most influential variable for male Clubmembers becoming highly involved with and committed to theTeam (cf. Bristow and Sebastian, 2001; Laverie and Arnett, 2000).One man in his forties (#28) expressed his high level of teamidentification by saying: ‘‘They [the Team] have a goal. The fansshould support the team. I’m not a spectator. I’m a fanatic fan. . . .

When the team accomplishes something, I feel I’ve helpedaccomplishing that goal. Half of everything that I have, had LadyLion Basketball [logo] on it because I’m proud of the program.’’

Male members also liked to see variety and high levels of playmore than females did. As one male member said, ‘‘Because I playsports I enjoy playing it at high levels. So, I enjoy seeing a sportplayed at high levels. You can’t get to the Final Four unless you havea high level of play’’ (Male, 60s, #19). Male members recognized,however, that they were more interested in the actual competitionthan their female counterparts were. As one suggested, ‘‘I’ve playedall kinds of sports all of my life. I like competition. And I like tocompete and play a game where you keep score’’ (Male, 50s, #22).In this study, some males’ loyalty was derived mostly from theappreciation of high level of play and not from ‘‘blind loyalty’’ asfemales’ loyalty did.

4.2. Socialization

Socialization was examined in two related but separatediscussions: social support and fan-socialization agent. Referringto social support, the majority of Club members thought that socialrelationships among members and between members and theplayers were important to all members because social supportprovides channels for individuals’ coping with stresses and offers apositive attitude toward life (Rowe and Kahn, 1987). Socialinteraction provides a means for social support. Club members’had opportunities for social interaction through Club activities. Infact, almost all of Club activities and functions, including travellingto watch away games, involved intensive social interactions. Themost valued Club membership benefit was the opportunity forClub members to socialize with each other and with players. Withthese abundant opportunities, Club members developed friend-ships with each other and with Team players over time. While bothfemale and male members enjoyed Club socials and friendshipsamong members and players, the end-values on the Female Mapshow that ‘‘Social support’’ is linked to ‘‘Friendship/attachment’’and ‘‘Socialization.’’ The same linkages were not observed formales. Thus, there were distinctive differences between male andfemale perspectives of social support. The differences might beexamined from the sources that facilitated their social support. Formales, ‘‘Social support’’ represented an end-value as the conse-quence of being members of the Club and did not have any strongsocial support agent. On the other hand, female participantsobtained social support from multiple social support agents (i.e.,‘‘Being loyal,’’ ‘‘Club activities functions,’’ ‘‘Socialization,’’ and‘‘Friendship/attachment’’ as depicted in Fig. 1).

Social support might be examined along three domains:attachment (e.g., social ties, friends and family and social network),responses (provision of emotional support, tangible care andmaterial), and cognitive appraisal (availability and adequacy ofperceived social support) (House and Kahn, 1985). Female


participants were clear about their needs in social support andin their willingness to provide emotional support, tangible care,and material. As one female participant stated, ‘‘I think that friendsare the reason why I’m in the Cager Club, because of thecompanionship. If you have problems, they are right there to helpyou. If they have problems, you want to go to them. It’s like afamily’’ (Female, 40s, #7). Another female expressed her viewabout the importance and long lasting supportive social group bysaying ‘‘It makes everybody happy. They get to talk about the Cluband what’s going to happen next, or what’s happened.’’ On theother hand, males had a different perspective. Iwasaki et al. (2005)suggested the importance of leisure travel as a technique forcoping with stress. However, some male members were proud tobe members of and identified with the Club (social facilitation) butwithout mentioning social support. Males’ social facilitation,which promotes their ‘‘social gratification of being with otherswho enjoy the same activity’’ (Milne and McDonald, 1999, p. 24),was more important to them than the benefit of social support. Forexample, one male member said, ‘‘It feels good belonging to agroup that likes the same sport, especially with a team that’s verysuccessful’’ (Male, 40s, #26). Another male participant dismissedthe idea about the need for social support. He stated: ‘‘I am workingall day and working all week, and then I go on one of these trips . . .

most things you do in a working day world are somewhat stressful. . . I’m very good at relieving stress. I can get relief from stress. . . .

my lifestyle is very busy [and] stressful . . . To me it’s stimulating’’(Male, 50s, #22). Thus, males viewed travelling to away games andsocialization with the other members primarily as a way ofsupporting the team’s achievement and of building self-expression(group affiliation) and team identity.

Most participants believed that ‘‘family’’ was their sport-fan-socialization agent. To emphasize that ‘‘family’’ was her socializa-tion agent, one member said, ‘‘What really got me started were myparents. They started going to the games when I was a student’’(Female, 40s, #9). Another female member who wanted to raise thenext generation of basketball fans stated, ‘‘We can get children tobe aware that there is a women’s basketball program. That’scarrying on a tradition’’ (Female, 50s, #12). Others described theirsport socialization agents as a family tradition:

We definitely have a women’s basketball fan in the making.Rachael just loves coming to the games. Now her little brotherlikes [to go] too. He’s two (Female, 20s, #3); I grew up lovingbasketball. When I was a child we attended basketball games atthe local colleges (Male, 40s, #20); and ‘‘There are four of mygrandchildren. Well they have enjoyed so many of the gamesthat we take them to (Female, 40s, #7).

These anecdotes are ample evidence that ‘‘family’’ was the mostpopular sport-fan-socialization agent among participants, malesand females.

4.3. Volunteering

Volunteering is an activity evolves with its society (Wearing,2001). It is based on the voluntary action of individuals with thepurpose of helping others without a primary financial incentive(Stebbins, 1992). The concept of community spirit and the closefamily ties kept many members in the Club for years. Most Clubmembers had a strong sense of social responsibility. Participantsassumed many social responsibilities and Club operationalobligations during their tenure of Club membership. Theyvolunteered their time and efforts for Club management andoperational tasks as well as charity and other prosocial (a sense ofempathy and caring) work. Club members, including Club boardand committee members, and member volunteers worked hard in




G Model


carrying out their duties. Their voluntarism made them happy andgave them a sense of accomplishment.

While both females and males volunteered for altruisticreasons, for females, engaging in ‘‘Club activities function’’ and‘‘Supporting the Team’’ are linked to ‘‘Volunteering.’’ Males, on theother hand, linked the idea of ‘‘Volunteering’’ only to supporting‘‘Club activities/functions’’ (see Fig. 1). This difference implied thatmale members viewed volunteering as a necessary task in theoperation of the Club and that they were not volunteeringspecifically to express ‘‘blind loyalty’’ or strongly pursuing socialresponsibility as females did. This difference was furthersupported. For example, some female participants saw volunteer-ing for the Club as their third job. One female was typical:

I like being busy and doing all kinds of stuff that I do to supportthe basketball team. What is funny is that I call the Lady LionCager Club volunteering that I do my third job. I’m a wife andmother first, then an employee at my office and then Lady LionBasketball. So it’s my third job dealing with the merchandiseand working at the Stadium helping on other committees. So it’sa lot of work but it’s a work of love for the team (Female, 30s,#17).

While most Club members volunteered for prosocial reasonsand supported the Team and the Club, female members exhibitedgreater social responsibility (e.g., altruism) than males. Theyengaged in fundraising, soliciting donations for scholarships, andselling merchandise to subsidize Club activities and travel to awaygames, and players’ scholarships. They contributed goods (e.g.,pastries, food and gifts) for fundraising, for social functions and asgifts to the Team players. They also invested services in the formsof guidance to help the players, encouragement for players to dotheir best, helping players to achieve their goals. For example,females expressed a strong desire to help the players: ‘‘It gives me agood feeling that I’ve helped in a very small way,’’ and ‘‘Well, it justmakes me feel better that I’ve helped somebody’’ (Female, 60s,#11). In addition, female members tended to view the Teamplayers as family members or friends. As one female member said,‘‘We like to be the other mothers to them . . .because most of themare far away from home and we enjoy babying them, giving themattention’’ (Female, 60s, #1). Another described herself as asurrogate mother to a player: ‘‘So we’ve sort of adopted her. . . . Andshe had said after she graduated, ‘you made my life so much easier.When I got homesick I called you and talked to you’’’ (Female, 50s,#13). This type of volunteering was apparently motivated simplyby kindness and love.

Other differences in volunteering were noted with respect toroles adopted. Females were more likely to have served on theboard of officers. As one said, ‘‘I’ve just been elected second vice-president. And I am still on the social committee. I help with all thesocials that we have and do little extra things. Help with some ofthe bus trips, and just about anything that I’m asked to do’’ (Female,20s, #3). This is one of many female participants who viewedvolunteering promotes self-actualization (i.e., personal growth)and self-fulfillment (cf. Stebbins, 1992).

In contrast, some male members did not seem as enthusiasticabout helping as females did. For example, one male member, inexplaining his volunteering said, ‘‘What did I do for the Club or do inthe Club? Nothing. I just attend the meetings and take part and helpto do something, that’s all.’’ Another male said, ‘‘Well if you belong toa group you should be active in the group. Sometimes you have 20%of the people that belong to the group do all the work.’’ Hence, itappears that females’ motivations were much more altruistic thanthose of the males. In summary, female members had stronger andwere more likely to express their altruistic motivations for carryingon social responsibilities than males did.


4.4. Self-actualization

The need for self-actualization is the individual’s desire tomaximize his or her potential Maslow (1943, 1970). To fulfill thisdesire, an individual can seek knowledge, experiences, or self-fulfillment. Sport and recreation may enhance individuals’adoption of a healthy lifestyle in order to fulfill their desire tomaximize their potential (Goldman, 1984; Thomas et al., 1996).Both male and female members enjoyed exploring and learningwhile traveling with the Team and participating in Club activities.However, their emphases on the resources for exploring andlearning differed. For females, ‘‘Self-actualization’’ was linked to‘‘Enjoying/having fun,’’ and ‘‘Opportunity to travel’’ (see FemaleMap). For males, ‘‘Self-actualization’’ was linked to ‘‘Club activitiesfunctions’’ via construct ‘‘Socialization’’ (see Male Map). In otherwords, males obtained the benefits from self-actualization throughsocial interactions and females enjoyed exploring and learningwhile traveling to away games and participating in Club activitiessuch as Club board members. For example, two females stated:

I enjoy traveling. Being part of the Cager Club gives you a chanceto travel to follow the team, as they play out-of-town. . . .

Traveling and going to see the team play helps me to meet oneof my overall lifetime goals. It broadens your horizons. You getto learn new things and it just makes you a more well roundedperson (Female, 40s, #9); I went to Grand Rapids and got to seethe Gerald Ford Museum there. Plus I saw a butterfly farm(Female, 50s, #13).

A few males enjoyed traveling and learning but that wasconsidered exceptional. As one male noted: ‘‘If we have abasketball event to go to it means that we have more socialcontact with the other fans. . . . most people in the Cager Club don’tgo to the trips with that idea. They only go ‘cause they want towatch the basketball game’’ (Male, 60s, #18). Most males thoughtthat their exploring and learning opportunities were obtainedprimarily through socialization. Male members enjoyed the socialsand believed that people could learn from them. One member, forexample, believed that he had learned from the socials and alwaysenthusiastically brought his grandchildren along. He explained:‘‘This [a picture] is a social given by the Cager Club. I took mygrandchildren to the games and the socials. . . . The college sportsare a very important part of living, important part of learningliving. And I think that they could gain from it’’ (Male, 70s, #23).Another male emphasized that he learned about the techniques ofsports through his association with the Team and throughobserving ‘‘what the coaches were trying to accomplish. It tookmy understanding of the game to a new level’’ (Male, #50s, #22).Additional comments about males’ emphasis on socialization inlearning are ‘‘Attending the games, learning about what’s going onwith the team, what’s going on with the program. . . .I socialize’’(Male, 50s, #29), and ‘‘For instance this fellow sitting right here[pointing to a picture] is a veteran. He talked one day for hoursabout his war experience. It was so educational’’ (Male, 30s, #28).Thus, males’ and females’ attitudes toward and interests inpursuing self-actualization also differed.

4.5. Equality through sport

Both female and male Club members thought highly of thewomen’s basketball program and saw it as an important vehicle forthe pursuit and achievement of gender equality. Females, however,had linked ‘‘Equality through sport’’ to the construct ‘‘Capablewomen.’’ That is, females placed greater emphasis on women’scapabilities than males did. For example, female participantsrecognized discrimination against women and thought that




G Model


women are now making intelligent decisions about genderequality. One stated, ‘‘We need to be taking care of our futuregenerations. And I think it’s important that women show that theyare intelligent . . . you do all the things that men can do’’ (Female,60s, #11). Another said, ‘‘We realize the discrimination that hasbeen against women.’’ Recognizing that the fight for genderequality is an uphill struggle, she continued, ‘‘The University does avery good job of recognizing their women’s sports. Women have anuphill fight’’ (Female, 40s, #14). Female members believed thatwomen could do anything that men did, especially in sports: ‘‘Weare just as equal as they are when it comes to these sports and wecertainly should be. It’s just very important to have that equalrecognition, that equal standing and that equal respect’’ (Female,40s, #7).

Male members supported gender equality as much as femalesdid, but without referring to women’s capabilities. A male memberthought that women were the pioneers in the gender equalitymovement and praised their efforts: ‘‘. . . She [my wife] felt thatwomen should be respected and so forth and treated equally. So Ijust kind of became aware of that kind of thing.’’ (Male, 50s, #27).Furthermore, male members were pleased that federal law hadhelped with the gender equality movement. As one male membersaid ‘‘With the coming of Title IX and the University really being atthe forefront of the development of equality in women’s sports’’(Male, 40s, #24).

5. Discussion

The study results revealed differences between male andfemale sport fans. Gender differences in sport event tourists’underlying behavior were found in five themed areas: loyalty,socialization, volunteering, self-actualization, and equalitythrough sport. The following section discusses these five themedareas and other noteworthy findings that resulted from thisgrounded qualitative research.

The study adopted the generally accepted approaches inanalyzing the loyalty of sport fans. The multidimensional loyaltyconstruct consists of both attitudinal and behavioral components(Backman and Crompton, 1991; Dick and Basu, 1994). Theattitudinal component of loyalty is best represented as psycho-logical commitment (Iwasaki and Havitz, 2004; Pritchard, 1999).The behavioral component of loyalty might be defined on the basisof Oliver’s (1999) concept. The four clear but interrelatedantecedents of loyalty for sport tourists: satisfaction, attachment,involvement and commitment were also utilized in analyzing theloyalty construct for this research (cf. Backman and Crompton,1991; Dick and Basu, 1994; Gounaris and Stathakopoulos, 2004;Iwasaki and Havitz, 2004; Madrigal, 1995, 2003; Mahony et al.,1999; Oliver, 1996, 1999; Pritchard, 1999).

Oliver (1999) defined loyalty as ‘‘a deeply held commitment tore-buy or re-patronize a preferred product/service consistently inthe future’’ (p. 37). Participants’ strong psychological attachmentto the Team and the Club provided support for the notion that‘‘attachment’’ could be one dimension of loyalty (cf., Backman andCrompton, 1991; Beatty and Kahle, 1988; Dimanche and Samdahl,1994; Kim et al., 1997; Laverie and Arnett, 2000; Morgan and Hunt,1994). Scholars have also suggested a strong link betweencustomer satisfaction and loyalty (e.g., Oliver, 1996; Mahonyet al., 1999) and many researchers regard satisfaction as aprecursor of loyalty (e.g., Dick and Basu, 1994; Oliver, 1996). Inthis study, participants who stated that they have enduring loyaltyto the Team also had extensive involvement with the Clubactivities. Their high levels of commitment and involvement weredemonstrated by their attitudes toward not to miss any home oraway games, or pursuing social responsibilities such as volunteer-ing for and managing Club operations. Club members believed, for


example, that their personal involvement with players and staffincreased their commitment and loyalty to the Team. They alsobelieved that their enthusiastic support helped the Team to reachits goals (e.g., Final Four); for these reasons they were satisfiedloyal fans. Thus, their attachment, satisfaction, their high levels ofinvolvement, and their intense commitment to the Team enabledthem to maintain their enduring loyalty. Thus, the findingssupported many scholars’ notion that satisfaction, attachment,involvement and commitment could be the four clear butinterrelated antecedents of loyalty.

Most loyalty-related constructs resulted in this study wereconsistent with findings in literature (e.g., Mahony et al., 1999;Tapp, 2004; Tapp and Clowes, 2002). While both behavioral andattitudinal components existed in male and female Club members’description of loyalty, there were some differences in both theattitudinal and behavioral aspects of loyalty between females andmales. The findings indicated that being loyal to the Team wasmore important to females than to males. For females, their multi-paths linkages shown in the Female Map demonstrate that, inaddition to personal benefits represented by those end-values(personally relevant higher end-values), many other influentialfactors affected females’ loyalty: family, socialization, entertain-ment, enjoyment and pleasure, attachment, opportunity to travel,social responsibility, equality through sport, and self-actualization.For males, the findings revealed that loyalty was derived fromfewer influential factors. The factors that influenced them mostwere based on motives such as seeking sport knowledge, higherlevel of eustress, sport achievement, and social identification (cf.Mahony et al., 1999). Those factors that influenced females’ loyaltyalso affect males’ loyalty, but less so, thereby contributing togender differences in sport event tourists’ loyalty and otherbehaviors.

Tapp (2004) found that fanatic sport fans’ ‘‘loyalty to the clubwas active and consciously expressed and in many cases a sizeablepart of their self image’’ (p. 207). Fanatic sport fans possess strongpsychological attachment and high level of loyalty to theirparticular teams (Branscombe and Wann, 1991; Madrigal,1995). This study’s findings revealed that both males and femaleswere ‘‘fanatic’’ fans and that their reasons for being so were closelytied to their identity salience (cf. James and Ridinger, 2002; Laverieand Arnett, 2000; Mahony et al., 1999; Tajfel and Turner, 1986;Tapp, 2004). In this study, both female and male participantspossessed strong team identification. Therefore, this study’sparticipants behaved in many ways that were similar to thosereported in past research. James and Ridinger (2002, p. 262) notedthat sport fans with a strong team identification ‘‘attend moregames and predict more future success for their team (Murrell andDietz, 1992; Wann and Dolan, 1994), are more knowledgeableabout the team’s players and history (Wann and Branscombe,1995), and are persistent in their commitment to a team (Dietz-Uhler and Murrell, 1999; Wann and Schrader, 1996).’’

The study findings also revealed that ‘‘Happiness’’ (e.g.,satisfaction) had a close relationship with fans’ identity salienceand that their end-values were the consequence of socializationand loyalty to the Team. Female members’ identity salience arosefrom their attachment to both the Team and the Club social group(cf., Laverie and Arnett, 2000). Their identity salience might haveinfluenced the level of their loyalty (cf., Mahony et al., 1999).Thus, females’ identity salience was an important factor inmaintaining their level of loyalty to the Team. For male members,happiness was directly associated with the Team’s high level ofplay and its achievement of goals (e.g., Final Four and thechampionship). In other words, males’ identity salience wasprimarily influenced by the Team’s achievements. These findingssuggest that the success of the Team was the most importantfactor in males’ maintenance of their identity salience and




G Model


therefore their level of loyalty (cf., Tapp, 2004); for females,socialization was the most important factor in maintaining theiridentity salience and loyalty to the Team.

Club members said that their loyalty to the Team was as intenseas their loyalty to their family. They remained loyal ‘‘no matterwhat’’ and had ‘‘loved’’ the Team for years. Therefore, theantecedent of devoted fans’ loyalty was ‘‘love,’’ and their loyaltyis ‘‘lasting.’’ Their definition of loyalty is consistent with that ofJacoby and Kyner (1973), who suggested that loyalty is a functionof psychological processes and an individual biased behavior onalternative choices that are expressed over time. These females’described construct consisted with both attitudinal and behavioralcomponents of loyalty. They love and caring attitudes towardpursuing social causes (e.g., attitudes toward the causes of genderequality and toward volunteerism) formed the basis for theirattitudinal component of loyalty and their consistent love andcaring practices (e.g., promoting the extended family practice suchas serving surrogate parents to Team players) contributed to thebehavioral component of loyalty.

Female members valued social opportunity more than malesdid. Social opportunities included travel, Club social functions, get-togethers with family and friends, and the chance to receive andoffer social support. Overall, Club members believed that theirsense of self was developed and maintained by interactions withother members (cf. Laverie and Arnett, 2000; Murrell and Dietz,1992; Wann et al., 2001). Interactions and friendships facilitatedthe social support that led to their enjoyment and emotional well-being (see Carstensen, 1996). However, social support was moreimportant to female members’ enduring involvement with theTeam and the Club than it was for male members. Participants,especially females, enjoyed the feeling of belonging to a group withshared interests and goals. In addition, females felt much morestrongly than males did about the social support that theyconsistently received from other members of the Club andconsistently offered to the Team players and other members. Ingeneral, female Club members’ sense of self was developed andmaintained by interactions with other members and the Teamplayers. Interactions and friendships facilitated the social supportthat led to their emotional well-being (cf. Carstensen, 1996) and‘‘self protective effects of emotion-focused and problem-focusedcoping . . . for adjustment and personal growth’’ (Iwasaki et al.,2005, p. 4). Therefore, social support was more important to femalemembers’ high-level involvement with the Team and the Club thanit was for male members. In this sense, group affiliation was asimportant to female members as it was to male members,contradicting Wann et al.’s (1999) findings.

To understand why sport fans become passionate, lifelong fans,it is helpful to examine the sport-fan-socialization process (Wannet al., 2001). Most study participants reported that their interest inwomen’s basketball was cultivated through their family members.Some members described their interest in basketball as a familytradition that they wished to pass on to future generations. Mostresearches found that schools were the dominant socializationagent for females while males more likely to be influenced by theirfriends (e.g., Melnick and Wann, 2004; Wann et al., 2001). Theevidence revealed in this study suggests that ‘‘family’’ was themost popular sport-fan-socialization agent for both males andfemales. Contrary to the most recent research (e.g., Melnick andWann, 2004; Wann et al., 2001), school did not emerge as theleading socialization agent in this study.

The sport fans in this study welcomed opportunities to exploreand learn, to seek esthetic experiences, to obtain self-fulfillment,and to adopt a healthy lifestyle in order to maximize their potentialthrough sport-related activities (cf., Goldman, 1984; Maslow,1943, 1970; Thomas et al., 1996). Volunteering, traveling, andsocializing offered many opportunities for Club members to


achieve self-actualization. Females enjoyed the chance to exploreand learn through traveling, while males thought that theirexploring and learning opportunities were primarily obtainedfrom social interaction. This finding is consistent with the work ofDouvis et al. (1998) who found that females and males exhibiteddifferent patterns of interest in sport tourism. However, withrespect to social responsibility (e.g., charity work and volunteer-ing) this study found major differences between male and femaleparticipants.

Club members’ desire to acquire knowledge or skills and toachieve the desired social identity was the major influential factorin their enduring participation as volunteers (cf., Stebbins, 1992).Volunteering offered altruistic opportunities for Club members todevelop ‘‘self’’ identity (Wearing, 2001). While altruism was theprimary reason for volunteering among both males and females,the latter expressed a greater desire to help the players andsupport the Team. Another difference in volunteering wasassociated with the roles that males and females assumed.Females volunteered to serve on the Club board of officers bothfor altruistic reasons and for self-actualization (e.g., acquiring clubmanagement skills). The findings also indicated that femaleswillingly and seriously practiced social responsibility (e.g.,volunteering, social support, and prosocial tasks). The findingssuggest that females’ motivations were more altruistic than thoseof males. However, this is not to imply that any male member inthis study was devoid of altruism. Males did volunteer for sociallyresponsible causes such as raising money for cancer research, andfor scholarships, and among other social causes.

Social issues can also be an opportunity for self-actualization.This study has provided evidence that while both female and malemembers were strongly supportive of gender equality, the way inwhich they thought about the issue differed. Both female and malemembers viewed the women players as capable of achievingequality through sport, thought that the women’s basketballprogram was an important part of pursuing and achieving genderequality, and believed that fans had an essential part inchampioning equality. However, females were more insistentabout equal recognition and believed that women could dowhatever men could do, especially in sports. This result wasremarkable given the fact that, in previous years, women athletestended to be ignored, trivialized, stereotyped, devalued, or, at best,treated with ambivalence (Blinde et al., 1991).

This study found that females were fans of women’s basketballprimarily for social reasons. Female members valued loyalty to theteam, social support, social responsibility and gender equality.However, male members were more interested in the actualcompetition and sport knowledge. The most important finding ongender difference, however, had to do with ‘‘self-actualization.’’Socialization, acquiring knowledge, volunteering, and promotinggender equality through sport enable people to reach theirpotential in life.

6. Conclusions and implications

Male and female study participants cited different attributes,consequences, and values with respect to the five themes thatemerged from this study: loyalty, socialization, self-actualization,volunteering, and equality through sport. As a whole, femaleparticipants valued these attributes more than male participantsdid. While men were motivated by high levels of eustress, groupaffiliation, entertainment stimulation, and showed themselves tobe highly interested in the actual competition, women valuedbeing loyal to the team, social support, social responsibility,altruism, and support for gender equality. Female fans’ motivationhad most to do with two themed constructs: ‘‘Social support’’ and‘‘Self-actualization.’’ Socializing (e.g., social interaction, social




G Model


responsibility), acquiring knowledge (e.g., knowledge and skills forvolunteering), volunteering, and gender equality through sportwere the essentials for maximizing their potential in life andachieving a healthy lifestyle.

The study results showed the multidimensional loyaltyconstruct consisting of both attitudinal and behavioral compo-nents. The findings also revealed major differences in theattitudinal and behavioral aspects of loyalty between femalesand males. The loyalty construct was examined based on the fourclear but interrelated antecedents of loyalty for sport tourists:satisfaction, attachment, involvement and commitment. Interest-ingly, this study also discovered that one of the antecedents offemales’ loyalty was ‘‘love,’’ which is consistent with Jacoby andKyner’s (1973) definition of loyalty. This antecedent of loyalty,consisting both attitudinal and behavioral components, was thedriving force for their pursuit of their most valued socialresponsibility (altruism, social support and volunteering) andself-actualization through women’s sport. It is suggested thatfuture studies should investigate whether the ‘‘love’’ construct isan antecedent or simply a moderator of one or more antecedents ofsport event tourist’s loyalty.

This study’s findings of sport event tourists’ underlyingbehavior were consistent with past research, except those genderdifferences associated with the five themes. However, there weretwo constructs that contradicted past research findings: (1) thegroup affiliation was as important to female members as it was tomale members (cf. Wann et al., 1999); and (2) ‘‘family’’ was themost popular sport-fan-socialization agent, not ‘‘school’’ asreported by recent research (cf. Melnick and Wann, 2004; Wannet al., 2001). It is suggested that future studies should investigatethe underlying causes of these contradictions.

The most important finding, however, had to do with ‘‘self-actualization.’’ Socialization, travel, volunteering, and promotinggender equality through sport enable people to reach theirpotential and a healthy lifestyle. These findings echo, in manyways, the calls for management and marketing strategy withinnovated actions from the literature on sport event tourism. Sporttourism has become a ‘‘major element in destination competi-tiveness. . . . there is a huge family market within sport eventtourism’’ (Getz, 2007, p. 161, 187). Sports event management andorganizers must recognize sport tourists’ ‘‘interpersonal needs(social interaction) and/or personal needs (enhanced knowledge,new experiences, fulfillment of fantasies) (Getz, 1991, 2005)’’(Bowdin et al., 2006, p. 193). Moreover, Goldman (1984) andThomas et al. (1996) also argue that sport and recreation agenciesshould emphasize individuals’ self-actualization. Sport eventorganizers and marketers need to develop an applied psychologyof sport strategy (e.g., develop interpersonal competencies, learnmanagerial skills, perform social responsibility endeavor) that willpromote self-actualization and healthy lifestyle. This study’sfindings on gender differences, therefore, have implications forand impact on sport event management and marketing strategies.

Most researchers agree that loyalty to an activity is a two-dimensional construct comprising both psychological attachmentand behavioral consistency (Backman and Crompton, 1991). Thisstudy found that both behavioral and attitudinal componentsexisted in Club members’ description of loyalty, providingadditional support for the contention that the psychologicalattachment and behavioral/consistency dimensions of loyaltyshould be integrated and operationalized into a paradigm toassess participants’ loyalty to selected recreational activities.However, consumers’ loyalty is a complex and difficult-to-manageconstruct and therefore, sport fans’ self-described loyalty mightnot be reliable from the marketing point of view (e.g., Shoemakerand Lewis, 1999; satisfied consumers might not be loyal).Marketers ‘‘need to look under the surface of supporter loyalty


to uncover a belief system that is closer to concepts like self image. . . than it is to product satisfaction, service delivery and the like.’’(Tapp, 2004, p. 213). The five themes revealed by this researchshould be considered as the underlying ‘‘belief system’’ ofmarketing strategies. As suggested by Chen (2008), marketersand sports club managers can translate the themes representingsport tourists’ inner experiences and the underlying behaviorsdiscovered by this study directly into marketing practices.Marketing strategies for sports tourism would benefit fromtranslating these five themes into strategies. For example, thestrategies might include: opportunities for socialization both enroute to and at the event site; planning activities that offer socialsupport and volunteering; providing activities involving familymembers; choosing event sites offering opportunities to acquiringknowledge (e.g., museums and volunteering) for self-actualiza-tion; and most importantly, opportunities for pursuing a healthylifestyle.

Additionally, gender similarities and differences with respectto the five themes presented in this research might then be used tofine-tune these managerial and marketing strategies. Sport eventorganizers and marketers can translate these five themes directlyinto practical club operational and marketing strategies (cf. Chen,2008). For example, the major gender differences associated withthe five themes that this study revealed might be viewed as the‘‘subculture’’ of the Club and used to expand the range ofconsumption options that it offers. In other words, the strategy forattracting male sport fans to an event could consist of (1) thedesign of a high quality sport program (see the path from ‘‘Clubactivities functions,’’ to ‘‘Supporting the team’’ via ‘‘Admirationcoach,’’ ‘‘Quality of basketball program’’ shown on Male Con-sensus Map-Gender-Relevance); (2) opportunities to interactwith their ‘‘Team’’ players and coaches for social purposes as wellas learning of competing strategies (see the path from ‘‘Clubactivities functions,’’ to ‘‘Sense of accomplishment’’ via ‘‘Admira-tion coach,’’ and ‘‘Team’s goals’’). To attract female sport fans, thestrategy should emphasize the female subculture of socialresponsibility. In other words, the consumption options shouldemphasize their higher level needs, such as opportunities forpromoting equality through sport (e.g., for promoting players’education), volunteering at the sport club (e.g., for acquiring clubmanagerial skills) or at the event site (e.g., for charity fundraising).In this example, the marketing strategy should be obtained bytranslating the three themed paths (shown on Female ConsensusMap-Gender-Relevance) from ‘‘Club activities functions’’ to‘‘Supporting the team’’ (via ‘‘Quality of basketball program,’’‘‘Volunteering,’’ ‘‘Commitment,’’ and ‘‘Being loyal’’). That is, thegender-relevance maps offer multiple choices of themed pathsthat can be translated directly into the Club’s managerial/operational and marketing actions.

However, with respect to gender issues, future research shouldaddress whether these findings arise primarily from gender orfrom sport fan behavior. While these independent variables maycorrelate, it would be interesting to conduct a more thoroughinvestigation of past and current fan behavior to understand therole of sports in each fan’s life and how underlying fan behaviorsaffect his or her perspective on gender issues.

In summary, this study makes several unique contributions toevent tourism research. First, most gender studies of sport tourismfocus on behaviors and motivations, and are based on positivistepistemology (Mansfield, 2007; Weed, 2005, 2006). Thesequantitative and ‘‘atheoretical approaches produce largely descrip-tive research about what sports tourists do which does notadequately contribute to an understanding of why the sportstourist behaves in particular ways’’ (Mansfield, 2007, p. 135). Thisgrounded qualitative study has explained some of the ‘‘whys’’ bydocumenting sport tourists’ underlying attitudes and behaviors




G Model


(e.g., the formation of the five themes). This study’s use of agrounded qualitative research approach also made it possible todiscover that the act of sport spectating could give sport eventtourists the opportunity to reach other goals (e.g., socialresponsibility, self-actualization and healthy lifestyle). Second,this grounded qualitative study revealed tourists’ inner experi-ences and underlying behaviors (also represented by male andfemale gender-relevance consensus maps) that can be used totranslate directly into practices as described by Chen (2008). Third,the majority of sport fan studies focus on a few specific behavior ormotivations. Many important variables such as cultural constructsand personal values that affect sport event tourists’ behavior havebeen overlooked (cf. Filo et al., 2008; Funk et al., 2007; Mansfield,2007; McDonald et al., 2002). Many of those rarely studiedconstructs such as value development (building of loyalty,character, and altruism), self-actualization (personal growth),social responsibility (enhance the host community and promotesocial change), support for women’s opportunities (equalitythrough sport) emerged from this study. These constructs assistedthis study in unearthing the embedded five themes of genderdifference. Lastly, ‘‘the under-utilization of qualitative methodol-ogy is more apparent in tourism and hospitality research (DeCrop,1999; Walle, 1997)’’ (Chen, 2008, p. 32). This grounded qualitativeresearch answered the call for the increasing utilization ofqualitative research methodology in tourism studies (Chen,2008; DeCrop, 1999; Riley and Love, 2000) in order to achieve abetter understanding of the social and cultural contexts of people’sreal lives (Aaker et al., 2000; Myers, 1997).

Finally, one of the limitations of this study is, due to its adoptionof qualitative research, its inability to ensure representativenessand generalizability of the sample population. Because of theselected study’s participants were devoted sport club fans, thequalitative data set could not be statistically manipulated to berepresentative of all sport event spectators. Future research mayuse the issues identified here for the construction of qualitative orquantitative research instruments and use larger and more diversepopulations of sport event spectators (e.g., with both non-devotedand devoted fans) for further examination of the behavior of sportevent tourists.

Acknowledgements

The author is deeply indebted to Dr. Deborah Kerstetter,Associate Professor at the Pennsylvania State University, for herguidance, inspiration, and especially for her assistance in thisresearch. The author wishes to extend her sincere appreciation toDr. Jerry Olson, founding partner of Olson Zaltman Associates, LLCand Earl P. Strong Executive Education Professor of Marketing atthe Pennsylvania State University, and to Dr. Gerald Zaltman,founding partner of Olson Zaltman Associates, LLC, and the JosephC. Wilson Professor of Business Administration at the HarvardBusiness School, for their guidance, assistance and their permis-sions to use the patented Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique(ZMET) and the proprietary software package for this academicresearch. In addition, the author expresses her appreciation to theanonymous reviewers of the manuscript for their constructivecriticisms and valuable suggestions.

References

Aaker, D.A., Kumar, V., Day, G.S., 2000. Marketing Research, 7th ed. John Wiley &Sons, New York.

Anderson, D.F., Trail, G.T., Kwon, H.H., 2007. Gender differences in sport consumerbehavior among college students. In: Humphrey, J.H. (Ed.), Issues in Contem-porary Athletics. Nova Publishers, New York, pp. 145–162.

Armstrong, K.L., 2002. Race and sport consumption motivations: a preliminaryinvestigation of a black consumers’ sport motivation scale. Journal of SportBehavior 25 (4), 309–330.


Backman, S.J., Crompton, J.L., 1991. The usefulness of selected variables for pre-dicting activity loyalty. Leisure Sciences 13, 205–220.

Beatty, S.E., Kahle, L.R., 1988. Alternative hierarchies of the attitude–behaviorrelationships: the impact of brand commitment and habit. Journal of theAcademy of Marketing Sciences 16, 1–10.

Blinde, E.M., Greendorfer, S.L., Sankner, R.J., 1991. Differential media coverage ofmen’s and women’s intercollegiate basketball: reflection of gender ideology.Journal of Sport and Social Issues 15 (2), 98–114.

Bowdin, G.A.J., Allen, J., O’Toole, W., Harris, R., McDonnell, I., 2006. EventsManagement, 2nd ed. Elsevier, UK.

Branscombe, N., Wann, D., 1991. The positive social and self-concept consequencesof sports team identification. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 15 (1), 115–127.

Bristow, D.N., Sebastian, R.J., 2001. Holy cow! Wait ‘till next year! A closer look atthe brand loyalty of Chicago Cubs baseball fans The Journal of ConsumerMarketing 18 (3), 256–275.

Carstensen, L.L., 1996. Socio-emotional selectivity: a life span developmentalaccount of social behavior. In: Mertens, M.R., Brannigan, G.G. (Eds.), TheDevelopmental Psychologists: Research Adventures Across the Life Span.McGraw-Hill, New York, pp. 251–272.

Chen, P.-J., 2008. Exploring unspoken words: using ZMET to depict family vaca-tioner mental models. Advances in Hospitality and Leisure 4, 29–51.

Christensen, G., Olson, J.C., 2002. Using the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique(ZMET) to map consumers mental models. Psychology and Marketing 19 (6),477–502.

Coulter, R.A., Zaltman, G., Coulter, K., 2001. Interpreting consumer perceptions ofadvertising: an application of the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique.Journal of Advertising 30 (4), 1–21.

DeCrop, A., 1999. Triangulation in qualitative tourism research. Tourism Manage-ment 20, 157–161.

Dick, A.S., Basu, K., 1994. Customer loyalty: toward an integrated conceptualframework. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 22, 99–113.

Dietz-Uhler, B., Harrick, E., End, C., Jacquemotte, L., 2000. Sex differences in sport fanbehavior and reasons for being a sport fan. Journal of Sport Behavior 23 (3),219–231.

Dimanche, F., Samdahl, D.M., 1994. Leisure as symbolic consumption: a concep-tualization and prospectus for future research. Leisure Sciences 16, 45–53.

Douvis, J., Douvis, S., 2000. A review of the research areas in the field of sportmarketing: foundations, current trends, future directions. The Cyber-Journal ofSport Marketing 4 (2/3). Retrieved May 30, 2009, from http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2000/cjsm/v4n2-3/douvis43.htm.

Douvis, J., Yusof, A., Douvis, S., 1998. An examination of demographic and psycho-graphic profiles of the sport tourist. The Cyber-Journal of Sport Marketing 2 (4.)Retrieved October31,2006, fromhttp://www.cjsm.com/Vol2/douvisyusof24.htm.

End, C.M., 2001. An examination of NFL fans’ computer mediated BIRGing. Journal ofSport Behavior 24 (2), 162–181.

End, C.M., Kretschmar, J.M., Dietz-Uhler, B., 2004. College students’ perceptions ofsports fandom as a social status determinant. International Sports Journal 8 (1),114–124.

Filo, K., Funk, D.C., O’brien, D., 2008. The influence of social responsibility on sporttourists. Paper presented at The Council for Australian University Tourism andHospitality Education (CAUTHE) 2008 Conference. Australia, February 11–14,2008, pp. 1–11.

Fink, J.S., Trail, G.T., Anderson, D.F., 2002. An examination of team identification:which motives are most salient to its existence. International Sports Journal 6(2), 195–207.

Francis, W.N., Kucera, H., 1982. Frequency Analysis of English Usage: Lexicon andGrammar. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA.

Funk, D.C., Toohey, K., Bruun, T., 2007. International sport event participation: priorsport involvement; destination image; and travel motives. European SportManagement Quarterly 7 (3), 227–248.

Gammon, S., Robinson, T., 2003. Sport and tourism: a conceptual framework.Journal of Sport Tourism 8 (1), 21–26.

Getz, D., 2007. Event Studies: Theory, Research and Policy for Planned Events.Butterworth-Heinemann, UK.

Goldman, R., 1984. We make weekends: leisure and the commodity form. SocialText 8, 84–103.

Gounaris, S., Stathakopoulos, V., 2004. Antecedents and consequences of brandloyalty: an empirical study. Journal of Brand Management 11 (4), 283–306.

Gibson, H.I., 1998. The wide world of sport tourism. Parks & Recreation 33 (9),108–114.

Gibson, H.I., 1999. Sport tourism: the rule of the game. Parks & Recreation 34 (6),36–43.

Gibson, H.I., Willming, C., Holdnak, A., 2003. Small-scale event-sport-tourism: fansas tourists. Tourism Management 22 (3), 181–190.

Glaser, B.G., 1998. Doing Grounded Theory: Issues and Discussions. Sociology Press,Mill Valley.

Glaser, B.G., 2004. Remodeling grounded theory. Forum: Qualitative Social Research5 (2) Art. 4. Retrieved January 8, 2007 from http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/2-04/2-04glaser-e.pdf.

Glaser, B.G., Strauss, A.L., 1967. The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies forQualitative Research. Aldine, Chicago, IL.

Guest, G., Bunce, A., Johnson, L., 2006. How many interviews are enough? Anexperiment with data saturation and variability. Field Methods 18 (1), 59–82.

Higham, J., 1999. Commentary—sport as an avenue of tourism development: ananalysis of the positive and negative impacts of sport tourism. Current Issues inTourism 2 (1), 82–90.


http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2000/cjsm/v4n2-3/douvis43.htm

http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2000/cjsm/v4n2-3/douvis43.htm

http://www.cjsm.com/Vol2/douvisyusof24.htm

http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/2-04/2-04glaser-e.pdf

http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/2-04/2-04glaser-e.pdf



G Model


Higham, E.S., 2005. Sports Tourism Destinations: Issues, Opportunities and Analy-sis. Butterworth-Heinemann, UK.

Hinch, T.D., Higham, J.E.S., 2001. Sport Tourism: a Framework for Research. Inter-national Journal of Tourism Research 3 (1), 45–58.

Horrow, R., 2005. March Madness: Business of the Women’s Tournament, NBC SportNews, Retrieved November 28, 2008 from http://www.sportsline.com/general/story/8322725/2.

House, J.S., Kahn, R.L., 1985. Measures and concepts of social support. In: Cohen,S., Syme, S.L. (Eds.), Social Support and Health. Academic Press, New York,pp. 83–108.

Hunt, A.K., Bristol, T., Bashaw, R.E., 1999. A conceptual approach to classifying sportsfans. The Journal of Services Marketing 13 (6), 439–445.

Iwasaki, Y., Havitz, M.E., 2004. Examining relationships between leisure involve-ment, psychological commitment and loyalty to a recreation agency. Journal ofLeisure Research 36 (1), 45–72.

Iwasaki, Y., MacKay, K., Mactavish, J., 2005. Gender-based analyses of coping withstress among professional managers: leisure coping and non-leisure coping.Journal of Leisure Research. 37 (1), 1–28.

Jacoby, J., Kyner, D., 1973. Brand loyalty vs. repeat purchasing behavior. Journal ofMarketing Research 10 (1), 1–9.

James, J.D., Ridinger, L.L., 2002. Female and male sport fans: a comparison of sportconsumption motives. Journal of Sport Behavior 25 (3), 260–278.

Kahle, L., Duncan, M., Dalakas, V., Aiken, D., 2001. The social values of fans for men’sversus women’s university basketball. Sport Marketing Quarterly 10 (2), 156–162.

Kerstetter, D.L., Kovich, G.M., 1997. The involvement profiles of Division I women’sbasketball spectators. Journal of Sport Management 2, 234–249.

Kim, S., Scott, D., Crompton, J., 1997. An exploration of the relationships amongsocial psychological involvement, behavioral involvement, commitment, andfuture intentions in the context of birdwatching. Journal of Leisure Research 29,320–341.

LeCompte, M.D., Goetz, J.P., 1982. Problems of reliability and validity in ethno-graphic research. Review of Educational Research 52 (1), 31–60.

Laverie, D., Arnett, D., 2000. Factors affecting fan attendance: the influence ofidentity salience and satisfaction. Journal of Leisure Research 32 (2), 225–246.

Lincoln, Y.S., Guba, E.G., 1985. Naturalistic Inquiry. Sage, Beverly Hills.Madrigal, R., 1995. Cognitive and affective determinants of fan satisfaction with

sporting event attendance. Journal of Leisure Research 27 (3), 205–227.Madrigal, R., 2003. Investigating an evolving leisure experience: antecedents and

consequences of spectator affect during a live sporting event. Journal of LeisureResearch 35 (1), 23–45.

McDonald, M.A., Milne, G.R., Hong, J.B., 2002. Motivational factors for evaluatingsport spectator and participant markets. Sport Marketing Quarterly 11 (2), 100–112.

McPherson, B., 1975. Socialization into the role of sports consumer: a theory andcausal model. Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 13 (2), 165–177.

Mahony, D.F., Madrigal, R., Howard, D.R., 1999. The effect of self-monitoringbehavioral and attitudinal loyalty towards athletic teams. International Journalof Sport Marketing and Sponsorship 1, 146–167.

Mahony, D.F., Madrigal, R., Howard, D.R., 2000. Using the psychological commit-ment to team (PCT) scale to segment sport consumers based on loyalty. SportMarketing Quarterly 9 (1), 15–25.

Mansfield, L., 2007. Involved-detachment: a balance of passion and reason infeminisms and gender-related research in sport, tourism and sports tourism.Journal of Sport & Tourism 12 (2), 115–141.

Maslow, A., 1943. A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review 50, 370–396.

Maslow, A., 1970. Motivation and Personality, 2nd ed. Harper and Row, New York.McGehee, N., Loker-Murphy, L., Uysal, M., 1996. The Australian international

pleasure market: motivations from a gendered perspective. The Journal ofTourism Studies 7, 45–57.

Melnick, J.M., Wann, D.L., 2004. Sport fandom influences, interests, and behaviorsamong Norwegian University students. International Sports Journal 8 (1), 1–15.

Miles, M., Huberman, M., 1994. Qualitative Data Analysis, 2nd ed. Sage, ThousandOaks, CA.

Milne, G.R., McDonald, M., 1999. Sport Marketing: Managing the Exchange Process.Jones and Bartlett, Amherst, MA.

Morgan, R.M., Hunt, S., 1994. The commitment-trust theory of relationship market-ing. Journal of Marketing 58 (July), 20–38.

Myers, M.D., 1997. Qualitative research in information systems. MIS Quarterly 21(2), 241–242.

Mullin, B., Hardy, S., Sutton, W., 2000. Sport Marketing, 2nd ed. Human Kinetics,Champaign, IL.

Murrell, A., Dietz, B., 1992. Fan support of sports teams: the effect of a commongroup identity. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology 14, 28–39.

NCAA, 2000. WEBA Attendance. Downloaded on August 30, 2008. From http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/resources/file/ebbfcf4a620d59f/2000_w_basket_attend.pdf?MOD=AJPERES.

NCAA, 2009. WEBA Attendance. Downloaded on June 2, 2009. From www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa?key=/ncaa/ncaa/ncaa+news/docs/womens+basketball+2008_09+attendance_06_02_09.

Oliver, R.L., 1996. Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer. IrwinMcGraw-Hill, Boston, MA.

Oliver, R.L., 1999. Whence consumer loyalty? Journal of Marketing 63, 33–44.Ortony, A., 1993. Metaphor and Thought, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press,

New York.


Pearce, P.L., 2002. Motivation for pleasure vacation. In: McIntosh, R., Goeldner,C., Ritchie, J.R. (Eds.), Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies. 9th ed.John Wiley and Sons, UK, pp. 241–259.

Pritchard, M.P., 1999. A structural analysis of commitment and its antecedents.Paper and poster presentations made at the 1999 Leisure Research Symposium,Nashville, Tennessee, USA, 20–24 October.

Preuss, H., Seguin, B., O’reilly, N., 2007. Profiling major sport event visitors: the 2002Commonwealth Games. Journal of Sport & Tourism 12 (1), 5–23.

Reynolds, T.J., Gutman, J., 1988. Laddering theory method, analysis, and interpreta-tion. Journal of Advertising Research 28 (1), 11–31.

Riley, R.W., 1995. Prestige-worthy tourism behaviour. Annals of Tourism Research22 (3), 630–649.

Riley, R.W., Love, L.L., 2000. The state of qualitative tourism research. Annals ofTourism Research 27 (1), 164–187.

Robinson, M.J., Trail, G.T., 2005. Relationships among spectator gender, motives,points of attachment, and sport preference. Journal of Sport Management 19,58–80.

Rowe, J.W., Kahn, R.L., 1987. Human aging: usual and successful. Science 237,143–149.

Schwandt, T.A., 1997. Qualitative Inquiry: A Dictionary of Terms. Sage, ThousandOaks, CA.

Shank, M.D., Beasley, F.M., 1998. Fan or fanatic: refining a measure of sportsinvolvement. Journal of Sport Behavior 21 (4), 435–443.

Shoemaker, S., Lewis, R.C., 1999. Customer loyalty: the future of hospitality market-ing. International Journal of Hospitality Management 18 (4), 345–370.

Sloan, L.R., 1989. The motives of sports fans. In: Goldstein, J.H. (Ed.), Sports, Games,and Play: Social and Psychological Viewpoints. 2nd ed. Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ,pp. 175–240.

Smith, E.R., Mackie, D.M., 2000. Social Psychology, 2nd ed. Worth Publishers,New York.

Smith, A., Stewart, B., 2007. The travelling fan: understanding the mechanisms ofsport fan consumption in a sport tourism setting. Journal of Sport & Tourism 12(3), 155–181.

Spiggle, S., 1994. Analysis and interpretation of qualitative data in consumerresearch. Journal of Consumer Research 21 (4), 491–503.

Standeven, J., De Knop, P., 1999. Sport Tourism. Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL.Stebbins, R.A., 1992. Amateurs, Professionals, and Serious Leisure. McGill-Queen’s

University Press, Montreal and Kingston, QC/ON.Strauss, A.L., Corbin, J., 1998. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and

Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory, 2nd ed. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.Sutton, W.A., McDonald, M.A., Milne, G.R., Cimperman, A.J., 1997. Creating and

fostering fan identification in professional sport. Sport Marketing Quarterly 6(1), 15–19.

Tajfel, H., 1982. Social psychology of inter-group relations. Annual Review ofPsychology 33, 1–39.

Tajfel, H., Turner, J.C., 1986. The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In:Worchel, S., Austin, W. (Eds.), Psychology of Intergroup Relations. 2nd ed.Nelson-Hall, Chicago, IL, pp. 7–24.

Tapp, A., 2004. The loyalty of football fans—We’ll support you evermore? Journal ofDatabase Marketing and Customer Strategy Management 11 (3), 203–215.

Tapp, A., Clowes, J., 2002. From ‘‘carefree casuals’’ to ‘‘professional wanderers’’:segmentation possibilities for football supporters. European Journal of Market-ing 36 (11/12), 1248–1269.

Thomas, D.R., Chalip, L., Voyle, J., 1996. Enhancing wellbeing through sport andrecreation. In: Thomas, D., Veno, A. (Eds.), Community Psychology and SocialChange: Australian and New Zealand Perspectives. 2nd ed. Dunmore Press,Palmerston North.

Trail, G.T., Anderson, D.F., Fink, J.S., 2000. A theoretical model of sport spectatorconsumption behavior. International Journal of Sport Management 1, 154–180.

Vital Statistics, 2004. Vital Statistics of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Embassy ofGreece, Washington, DC, USA Retrieved June, 19, 2009 from http://www.greekembassy.org/Embassy/Content/en/Article.aspx?office=1&folder=30&article=13974.

Wakefield, K.L., Sloan, H.J., 1995. The effects of team loyalty and selected stadiumfactors on spectator attendance. Journal of Sport Management 9, 153–172.

Walle, A.H., 1997. Quantitative versus qualitative tourism research. Annals ofTourism Research 24 (3), 524–536.

Wann, D.L., 1995. Preliminary validation of the sport fan motivation scale. Journal ofSport and Social Issues 19, 377–396.

Wann, D.L., Branscombe, N., 1995. Influence of identification with a sports team onobjective knowledge and subjective beliefs. International Journal of SportsPsychology 26, 551–567.

Wann, D.L., Dolan, T., 1994. Attributions of highly identified sports spectators.Journal of Social Psychology 134, 783–792.

Wann, D.L., Hamlet, M., 1995. Author and subject gender in sport research. Inter-national Journal of Sport Psychology 26, 225–232.

Wann, D.L., Melnick, M.J., Russell, G.W., Pease, D.G., 2001. Sports Fans: The Psy-chology and Social Impact of Spectators. Routledge, New York.

Wann, D.L., Schrader, M.P., Wilson, A.M., 1999. Sport fan motivation: questionnairevalidation, comparisons by sport, and relationship to athletic motivation.Journal of Sport Behavior 22 (1), 114–139.

Wann, D.L., Waddill, P.J., Dunham, M.D., 2004. Using sex and gender roleorientation to predict level of sport fandom. Journal of Sport Behavior 27(4), 367–377.

Wearing, S., 2001. Volunteer Tourism: Experiences that Make a Difference. CABIPublishing, Wallingford, UK.


http://www.sportsline.com/general/story/8322725/2

http://www.sportsline.com/general/story/8322725/2

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/resources/file/ebbfcf4a620d59f/2000_w_basket_attend.pdf%3FMOD=AJPERES



http://www.ncaa.org/wps/ncaa%3Fkey=/ncaa/ncaa/ncaa+news/docs/womens+basketball+2008_09+attendance_06_02_09



http://www.greekembassy.org/Embassy/Content/en/Article.aspx%3Foffice=1%26folder=30%26article=13974





G Model


Weed, M., 2005. Sports tourism theory and method: concepts, issues and epis-temologies. European Sport Management Quarterly 5 (3), 229–242.

Weed, M., 2006. Sports tourism research 2000–2004: a systematic review ofknowledge and a meta evaluation of methods. Journal of Sport and Tourism11 (1), 5–30.


Won, J., Kitamura, K., 2006. Motivational factors affecting sports consumptionbehavior of K-league and J-league spectators. International Journal of Sportand Health Science 4, 233–251.

Zaltman, G., Coulter, R.A., 1995. Seeing the voice of the customer: metaphor-basedadvertising research. Journal of Advertising Research 35 (4), 35–51.



Differences between male and female sport event tourists: A qualitative study

Documents

Transcript of Differences between male and female sport event tourists: A qualitative study