A cross national analysis of sport consumption

A cross national analysis of sport consumption

Sport consumption is an area of research receiving increasing attention from marketing academics due to the increasing demand from corporate investors for a greater understanding of sport consumers and their motivations for consumption. This paper considers sport consumption patterns of three large national groups to explore the consistency of consumption and to further examine the cross national validity of Sport Enthusiasm – a construct developed through this research as a predictor of sport consumption.

Following a review of the hedonic and sport consumption literature, data for this study was collected via a self-completion questionnaire, which was delivered to potential respondents in Australia, Malaysia and the USA by university students. Whilst these countries were initially chosen for convenience they do provide interesting contrasts. Certainly, Australia and the USA are both known for their high levels of direct and indirect sport consumption per capita and the Chinese-Malaysian sample provides information from a small Asian country with a strong sport consumption culture, though maybe less direct sport consumption opportunities than the other two countries. The final sample of 2,980 responses comprised 1,359 Australians, 916 Malaysians and 705 North Americans.

Descriptive data analysis showed that whilst the three sample groups differed slightly in terms of their demographic profiles, their sport consumption profiles were significantly different. Specifically, those in the American sample had significantly higher levels of both direct and indirect consumption than the other two groups whilst the Australian group consumed significantly more direct sport than the Malaysian group and the Malaysian group consumed significantly more indirect sport than the Australian group.

Data used to develop the Sport Enthusiasm scale was analyzed using factor analysis and the seven items in the scale were all consistent in terms of their contribution to the final measure. The Cronbach Alpha measures for this scale were also above 0.8 for all three countries. Following this, regression analysis confirmed that Sport Enthusiasm predicted sport consumption more consistently than either gender, age or nationality for all three samples. Further, that in relation to Sport Enthusiasm, females are just as enthusiastic about sport as males even though their consumption patterns for sport varied. Also of interest was the finding that young females tended to be as highly involved with sport and as enthusiastic about sport as young males.

In conclusion, this research provides valuable contributions to both sport marketing practioners and sport marketing academics. It has found that Sport Enthusiasm – a measure that both practioners and academics alike can use easily – is a powerful predictor of sport consumption, and further that sport consumption itself is variable with nationality. Finally, this research has supported other findings that show that consumption of sport does vary with age and gender, but that Sport Enthusiasm does not, thus providing sport marketers with a useful tool to consider in the design and delivery of strategic sport marketing activities.

Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions.