Exploring Factors that Affect Purchase Intention of Athletic Team Merchandise.

Abstract

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to test a structural model to determine which psychosocial constructs affected the purchase intention of athletic team merchandise (ATM). Results from the analyses indicated that the twelve-factor ATM model fit the data from collegiate athletic events well, explaining the various impact factors that lead to purchase intention of athletic team merchandise among sports consumers. Based on values theory, identity theory, attitude theory, and satisfaction theory that influence product consumption, this study suggests that consumer intentions to purchase athletic team merchandise are significantly associated with personal values, team identification, brand/product attitude, product attributes, expectancy, previous purchase, and satisfaction. Given the finding that team identification had marginal impact on attitude toward brand and/or product in general, it is suggested that sport marketers should select appropriate brands for the products that represent their team or athletic department. Fitness of brand image may suggest an alternative explanation for future studies.Key words: values, team merchandiseTrends in the Sport Merchandise IndustryEstimates of the total production and consumption of sporting goods and services reached $560 billion at the end of the 1990s (Howard & Crompton, 2004). During the same time period, Howard and Crompton (2004) also estimated direct sales of team merchandise within stadiums and arenas to be approximately $9 billion. More recently, Brochstein (2006) indicated that this market trend has continued to grow as it reached $13 billion in 2005. Increased evidence of team merchandise sales has been seen at various levels of sports including minor league baseball (e.g. the 2004 merchandise sales were close to $40 million; Broughton, 2005). The sales of sporting goods have continued to grow, as it has become a $76 billion industry by the end of 2010 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). By the same token, Lee and Trail (2012) indicated that wearing athletic team merchandise by fans during events and on non-event days as leisure wear has become very common. As such, sales of athletic team merchandise have become a lucrative and synergistic business for sport franchises.Limitations in the LiteratureWe recognized several issues related to limitations that were involved in this study. First, there are few research findings that explain specific consumption activities such as athletic team merchandise purchasing. Second, existing studies fail to provide quantifiable information that systematically explains what triggers individuals to consume athletic team merchandise. More specifically, those studies tended to focus on narrow topics by accounting for only a few constructs, which often resulted in explaining only a small amount of variance (Lee & Trail, 2012). For example, personal values are a common construct used to explain consumption behavior because they are central to one's thought processes and are typically enduring. As a result, they are less likely to be affected by other external sources (e.g. specific consumption situations like retail shopping). However, personal values have not explained a large amount of variance in licensed merchandise consumption behavior (amount of variance explained was about 10% in Lee & Trail's 2011a study). For instance, personal values may not be immediate antecedents of behavior due to their conceptual abstractness, suggesting the need for additional research to study potential mediation or moderation functions that may explain the structural relationships better.Review of Relevant LiteratureValues theory. This theory elaborates on relationships among a diverse range of values that affect human behavior. Personal values are defined as established beliefs that result in a specific mode of behavior or of existence [that] is preferred to an opposite mode of behavior or end-state (Rokeach, 1973a, p. …