The purpose of this special issue is two-fold. The first objective is to show the latest progress in sport marketing research, which has been attracting attention and growing in recent years, and to indicate future research directions. The second objective is to provide an opportunity for researchers and practitioners in brand management to learn about methods and ideas for developing enthusiastic fans and building relationships with customers through sport marketing research. This special issue contains four excellent sport marketing articles.

Sport marketing research is pursued in both business administration and commercial science as marketing research related to the business of sport and as the primary domestic and international field of research in sport management studies. These areas of study are co-creation partners in innovation, and it is important to consider the definition of sport marketing to develop sport marketing research. The aim of this study is to assist in this inquiry by presenting the background to the development of sport marketing as sport business and as an academic field. Sport marketing is defined by taking account the current state of the sporting world in Japan and is identified as being characterized by a “sport product” and a “sport consumer.” The specificity of each of these and future directions toward development of the concept of sport marketing are also discussed.

The popularity of rugby has increased over the last few years due to the success of the Japanese national team and the hosting of an international event. This study targeted the rugby spectator market, which is assumed to be becoming more complex in the face of the opportunity to expand the fan base. To reaffirm the effectiveness of market segmentation for sport consumers, the study aimed to explore spectator segments using cluster analysis. Furthermore, the attributes, spectating behavior, and future spectator behavioral intentions were examined for each identified cluster. Questionnaire surveys were administered in the stadium to spectators who attended rugby games, obtaining a valid sample of 3,140. Two-Step cluster analysis using variables related to past sports-related experience, knowledge, and reasons for watching the game revealed five valid clusters. Each cluster had different characteristics in terms of demographic attributes, spectating behavior, and future behavioral intentions, suggesting the potential usefulness of this approach for marketing strategies in the sport spectator market.

The WE League was founded in September 2021 as the first professional women’s football league, with 11 participating clubs. The WE League did not adopt a promotion/relegation system, but instead has a closed league system and, for the first time in East Asia, a fall/spring season schedule. The WE League has the mission of both growing the game of football and solving social issues, include gender equality and women’s empowerment. This study shows that the WE League has achieved a collective impact, in which stakeholders such as the league, clubs, players, marketing partners and media are connected by the strength of weak ties, enabling purpose-based management to support the growth and development of the league.

In the U.S., there has been growth of research methods utilizing the “Generational Cohort Theory,” which proposes that people who are brought up in the same era should share the same values. However, there are only a few case studies using this segmentation method in Japan. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify the characteristics of each generation of fans at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan and to determine the influence of the four generational categories of the “Generational Cohort Theory” (Generation Z, Generation Y (Millennials), Generation X, and Baby Boomers) on their motivations and satisfaction with the games, using regression analysis. This analysis reveals the sports spectating characteristics of each of these four groups, and provides information on female fans, who have been a difficult target to tackle in the rugby fan marketing field, and niwaka (bandwagon) fans, who demonstrate an enthusiastic but short-term interest in the sport that only lasted during the World Cup 2019 period. The results of this study define the characteristics of each generation of fans and allow consideration of marketing strategies for sports spectating.

In recent years, research focusing on consumer reactions to threats due to self-discrepancy has received growing academic interest. These threats and consumer reactions are discussed in terms of compensatory consumption in consumer research. A synthesis of the findings in a review of studies on compensatory consumption published between 2017 and 2022 identified three issues related to: (1) determinants of coping strategies, (2) successive compensatory consumption, and (3) ways to avoid specific coping strategies. The future research agenda is discussed based on these issues raised in prior research.

How does a company restore trust and performance when it has been scandalized? Axas Corporation, a temporary staffing company for IT engineers, received an administrative action from the Department of Labor in 2018. As of 2022, knowledge of the company’s philosophy and vision has become more widespread, and its business performance continues to grow. In this paper, we follow Axas’s efforts chronologically and find Kotter’s (1995, 2012) 8-step process of corporate transformation. In particular, we confirmed that the unintended scandal itself further accelerated the internal branding process. We conclude that (1) internal branding is an effective tool for transforming organizational culture, and that Axas (2) showed short-term results, (3) reversed the crisis to increase its centripetal force, and (4) promoted interpretation of its philosophy and vision at the frontline, which (5) provided new growth opportunities through a change in the business model.

The value of sharing is defined as the value that customers evaluate for the practice of using the same product with others. It may seem natural that providers of goods-sharing services promote value of sharing. However, few companies are engaged in this activity. We first define value of sharing and discuss why only a few companies actively promote this value based on previous studies. Next, as a case study of a company that, in contrast to many firms, strongly promotes the value of sharing, we introduce the challenges of Laxus Technologies, Inc. and its social raison d’etre. Finally, we outline the implications of this case study.