Toward a better understanding of core and peripheral market demand for women’s spectator sports: An importance-performance map analysis approach based on gender

Abstract

Although the concept of market demand has been extensively examined in the literature, most scholarly efforts have been devoted to understanding men’s spectator sports. There is scant research that investigates market demand for women’s spectator sports with a focus on gender dynamics. This study sought to fill that gap through developing a formative–formative hierarchical component model of core and peripheral market demand for a women’s professional tennis event (the Wuhan Open) and examining their differing impacts on future attendance intentions based on gender. Results derived from the importance-performance map analysis (IPMA) indicated that the most important core market demand components were player quality and economic consideration. However, only women considered game schedule important, while only men deemed venue characteristics and peripheral services important. Our study highlights the necessity and merits of deciphering market demand for women’s spectator sports in a more nuanced manner and contributes to the growing marketing literature on women’s sports fandom. Managerially, we offer practical implications per the IPMA for more effective and efficient integration of marketing initiatives.

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