Social network through sport team:

A test in national high school baseball tournament

Abstract

  So far, little attention has been paid to the way sport consumers evaluate their community networks (i.e., social network quality). Therefore, the following three objectives were set for this study: (1) to quantify multidimensionally the evaluation of community ties through sports as social network quality, (2) to examine the influence of social network quality on conative loyalty, and (3) to examine the relationship between social network quality and to clarify the causal relationship between social network quality and attachment to the region where one currently resides, as well as the relationship including conative loyalty. Then, the relationships among social network quality, attachment to the region, and conative loyalty were examined. The data were collected from an online survey panel that followed for the prefectural teams in a national high school baseball tournament. The results showed that social network quality and attachment to the region were significant antecedents of conative loyalty. Furthermore, the results suggest that the positive effect of social network quality on intention to continue support is mediated by attachment to the region. This result extends previous studies focusing on consumer experience quality and allows for a new measurement of consumer experience quality, which is an evaluation of the quality of social relationships.