ECSS Paris 2023: OP-SH04
Introduction Sports sponsorship has become a vital strategy in corporate marketing. While sponsorships involving sports events, organizational entities, and venue naming rights are common, athlete endorsements often yield superior results. However, conflicts between athletes and sponsoring brands frequently arise, which few of the previous researches in Chinese Taipei have been discussed from the perspective of athlete endorsements. This paper supplements this perspective, aiming to understand the overview of corporate sponsorship of badminton in Chinese Taipei, the current status of athletes receiving corporate sponsorship and their understanding of sponsorship. The goal is to foster mutually beneficial relationships between corporations and athletes. Method This study employs a semi-structured interview method. Data collection is based on the theoretical framework formed around the four major benefits of sports sponsorship proposed by Howard and Crompton (1995), the basic standards of endorsers proposed by Micik and Shanklin (1994), and the "FRED (representing Familiarity, Relevance, Esteem, and Differentiation)" principle of ideal endorser selection factors proposed by Cheng (2001). Ten top badminton players from Chinese Taipei, who have participated in the Olympic event, are selected for interviews. Data analysis involves coding the interview text according to the interview outline, followed by classification, reorganization, and comparison with existing literature. Results (1) Enterprises and corporate teams have established performance-oriented signing mechanisms, tending to provide excellent sponsorship resources for top athletes. They primarily assess athletes based on the professionalism of their sports projects, competition results, social image, and potential when selecting athletes as brand endorsers or training targets. (2) Athletes have a certain understanding of the traits of endorsers and how to maintain good relationships with sponsors, but their understanding of sponsorship concepts and long-term partnerships with sponsors is limited. (3) Sponsorship conflicts often occur when athletes receive sponsorships from similar enterprises, which are often caused by competition between enterprises. Discussion To promote better cooperation and reduce sponsorship conflicts, athletes should understand the basic concepts of sports sponsorship and the traits required of endorsers. Management departments should address issues such as lack of resources for athletes and encourage enterprises to invest in sports sponsorship to improve athletes competitive levels and promote sponsoring enterprises. References Cheng, S. T. (2001). Analysis of sports marketing warfare: marketing competition on the field. Taipei City: Hanwen. Howard, D. R., & Crompton, J. L. (1995). Financing sport. Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology. Miciak, A. R., & Shanklin, W. L. (1994). Choosing celebrity endorsers. Marketing Management, Chicago, 3(3), 50-60.
Read CV Yuancheng TsengECSS Paris 2023: OP-SH04
Introduction The scale of live-streaming users reached 765 million, and the transaction scale in 2022 reached 3.5 trillion in China. Live streaming has offered new opportunities for retailers to increase their sales (Zheng et al., 2023). Many sporting goods brands began to take advantage of live-streaming platforms to improve product sales volume. Previous research focused on the anchors’ features how to impact the purchase intention; however, the underlying mechanism by which scene feature influences consumers’ purchase intention is still unknown. Thus, this study aims to explore the relationship between purchase intention (PI) and scene features，which include visual appeal (VA), presence (PR), scene-product matching (SM) in the sporting goods field. Flow experience (FE) and sport identification (SI) as mediating and moderating variables respectively. Methods Data were collected through snowballing referrals on social software (i.e., WeChat and QQ) and several anchor’s fan groups of sporting goods e-commerce live streaming via an online questionnaire from March 10 to 20, 2023. 340 valid questionnaires were gathered. Using structural equation modeling to analyze the path influence relationship between the variables and test hypotheses through SPSS26.0 and AMOS 26.0. Results Firstly, VA (β = 0.24, p = 0.008), PR (β = 0.31, p < 0.001) and SM (β = 0.39, p < 0.001) positively impact FE. From the perspective of the path that scene features affect PI, VA (β = 0.31, p = 0.009), PR (β = -0.03, p = 0.751), and SM (β = 0.32, p = 0.003). Moreover, FE contributes positively to PI (β = 0.26, p = 0.036). The variances explained for FE and PI are 0.67 and 0.82, respectively. Secondly, FE has a significant mediating effect between scene features (i.e., VA, PR, SM) and PI; the mediating effect accounts are 45.3%, 72%, and 44.4%, respectively. Thirdly, the regression coefficient of interaction term (FE×SI) is 0.001 (t = 0.16, p = 0.987), indicating that the model’s explanatory power is weak. Discussion This study totally proposed 11 hypotheses while two were refused. We suggested that sporting goods vendor create an attractive and matching scene to enhance PI. An authentic outdoor environment as the scene can give consumers a more immersive feeling than using a virtual store. PR has no significant effect on PI, which echoes previous conclusion. The consumer is relatively rational and objective, and needs more factors to stimulate the purchase intention. Moreover, a strong sales atmosphere makes consumers who watch e-commerce live streaming to get pleasure may have antipathy. Contrary to prior research in the United States. SI has no significant moderating effect between FE and PI. Consumers with low SI can buy sporting goods for fitness activities. In addition, the main crowd is young people, who buy it for liking sporting trend culture or impulse buying. References Zheng, S. et al., (2023). J. Retail. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2022.103240
Read CV zhengyu liECSS Paris 2023: OP-SH04
Introduction: The fitness industry in Taiwan has experienced rapid growth over the past decade. As customers increasingly demand high-quality service from fitness centers, it has become imperative for these establishments to provide top-notch sports and recreation services. Given that service quality is central to the mission of sport and recreation centers, understanding the nature of service quality is of paramount importance. Customers play a significant role in focusing on service quality and identifying what they perceive as quality in the fitness market, especially in terms of satisfaction and behavioral intention. In the fitness industry, consumers participation in exercise, engagement with specific sports centers, and involvement in fitness center services indicate the importance of involvement. Service encounters influence the leisure experience of participants and act as antecedents of activity involvement. Involvement represents an internal state variable that reflects the amount of arousal and interest to engage in an activity and serves as a mediator of consumer behavior. This study aims to explore the relationship among service quality, involvement, satisfaction, and behavior in fitness centers in Taiwan. Additionally, it seeks to examine the mediating effect of participant involvement between service quality, satisfaction, and behavioral intention. Method: For this study, a questionnaire was designed to investigate the service quality, involvement, satisfaction, and behavior intention of fitness center participants, utilizing a five-point Likert-type scale. First, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was employed to extract the main items of service quality and involvement. Subsequently, the primary factorial dimensions of service quality and involvement were incorporated into Structural Equation Modeling to examine the relationships among service quality, involvement, satisfaction, and behavior intention. Finally, the mediation effect of involvement between service quality, satisfaction, and behavior intention was also tested. Results: In the EFA, there were initially 21 items for motivation, resulting in the extraction of four factor dimensions: Employees, Ambience, Price, and Convenience. According to the Structural Equation Modeling, the results showed that service quality positively and significantly influences satisfaction, behavior intention, and involvement. Involvement positively and significantly affects behavior intention but does not significantly influence satisfaction. Through bootstrapping within a 95% interval, it was found that both the direct and indirect effects are significant for both satisfaction and behavior intention. Involvement partially mediates the relationship between service quality, satisfaction, and behavior intention. Discussion: Service quality holds significant importance in the fitness industry in Taiwan. To enhance customer satisfaction and behavioral intention, fitness center managers should closely monitor the quality of the ambience and employees within the physical environment. Participants perceive the importance of engaging in an activity based on perceived quality in fitness centers, and involvement mediates the relationship between service quality, satisfaction, and behavioral intention. A higher level of customer involvement corresponds to greater input into the service delivery process and, consequently, the final outcome.
Read CV Chin-Huang HuangECSS Paris 2023: OP-SH04