Article2021

Football fans and stakeholder theory – A qualitative approach to classifying fans in Germany

26 citations0/0 files storedSport Business and Management An International Journal

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Sports, Gender, and Society Physical Education and Sports Studies Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification

Abstract

Purpose Public debates and scholarly literature on football fandom are often characterised by generalisation and lacking differentiation. The changing ethnography of fans, affected by the rapid commercialisation and internationalisation of the game, reinforces the demand for contemporary classification criteria and fan typologies that take the complexity and heterogeneity of fans into account and draw a more differentiated picture of fans and sub-groups. Design/methodology/approach Based on the grounded theory methodology and a systematic literature review on stakeholder theory, stakeholder classification criteria and football fandom, the authors conduct and analyse 14 semi-structured expert interviews with fan managers employed by German professional football clubs. Building on the analysis, the authors identify, present and discuss ten contemporary criteria and five corresponding typologies for the classification of football fans. Findings The grounded theory analysis suggests that football fans can be characterised according to ten classification criteria. Building on the analysis, the authors derive five fan typologies that differ in their characteristics along the continua of the identified criteria. Typologies comprise (1) active fans, (2) consuming fans, (3) event fans, (4) corporate fans and (5) passive followers. Originality/value The paper enlarges prior knowledge on the behavioural and attitudinal characteristics of fans as individuals and adds knowledge regarding relationships within fan groups, and regarding formal and non-formal relations between fans and clubs. The results provide scholars with a framework for further scientific investigation and practitioners with a concept for a more sophisticated and differentiated approach to managing fan relations.

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References

1997Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience: Defining the Principle of who and What Really Counts 1995The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation: Concepts, Evidence, and Implications 1995A Stakeholder Framework for Analyzing and Evaluating Corporate Social Performance 1983Stockholders and Stakeholders: A New Perspective on Corporate Governance 2008Stakeholder Theory: Reviewing a Theory That Moves Us 1991Business Ethics and Stakeholder Analysis 1998A Stakeholder Theory of the Modern Corporation 2002Supporters, Followers, Fans, and Flaneurs

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