Abstract
This investigation focused on the “Oita” community, in which four professional sport teams exist. The purpose of this study was to clarify sports spectator behavior using the conception of place attachment. Place attachment is a concept that explains the emotional or affective bonds between a person and a particular place. The data for this study were collected through an internet survey from the fans of a professional sport team. The place attachment indicator included fifteen scale items based upon leisure research. Principal components analysis with varimax rotation was used to identify place attachment components and yielded two main components: place identity and place dependence. The scale reliability was examined using Cronbach’ s alpha. Three spectator types were identified by involvement level: high - medium - low involvement spectators. The findings of analysis for the three subgroups include the following: high involvement spectators have place identity, and place dependence that is higher than medium and low involvement spectators. High and medium involvement spectators have intention to attend other professional sports games that is higher than low involvement spectators. The results of this study indicate that the conception of place attachment enhances understanding of sport spectator behavior.
