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Top1. Introduction
Sports fans share a unique relationship with their favourite sports teams (Hassan & Nambudiri, 2021). Engagement, in both real and virtual worlds, is expected to co-create value for individuals in such a relationship (Popp, Germelmann, & Jung, 2016). Sports organizations have positioned themselves on social media to benefit from fans’ engagement with their favourite sports teams, athletes, and sports entities. These electronic engagements (e-engagements) take various shapes, from “liking” pictures on Instagram to engrossed sports-related discussions on Facebook and Twitter (Filo, Lock, & Karg, 2015; Williams & Chinn, 2010). Interestingly, the literature on e-engagement of sports fans is at a nascent stage. The current study addresses the lacuna in the existing literature on sports and e-engagement by exploring and examining factors that foster e-engagement of sports fans with their favourite sports teams.
The COVID pandemic has changed the way we play and watch sports. The unprecedented pandemic, as well as the lockdowns to arrest its spread, has impacted sport teams and entities with immediate financial losses due to the lack of live spectators (Grix et al., 2020; Nasajpour et al., 2020). To illustrate this, session 13 of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a popular India-based cricket league, had to move to foreign shores owning to the health crisis and losses incurred (Sahni, 2020). Stadiums are deserted as spectators remain in their homes, sticking to their television screen or computers for a comfortable, safe place to watch sporting events (Goldman, 2020).
In fact, COVID has affected nearly every live sporting event. Unfortunately, the effects will continue far longer than what was anticipated. Participation in physical spaces like stadiums creates and supports an atmosphere that is conducive to fans’ formation of a group identity (Mastromartino et al., 2020). Still, the same seems to hold true for virtual spaces like social media platforms. For example, these digital platforms allow fans to engage in everyday discussions on their favourite sports teams or athletes (Weinberg, 2009). Although the pandemic’s scenario has restricted physical movement of fans, virtual platforms serve as an alternative option. Social media platforms facilitate in the communication, connection, and collaboration between fans on a larger scale (Mastromartino et al., 2019). Through these digital spaces, fans have their voices heard in ways that were not possible through physical interaction or other traditional means (Mastromartino et al., 2020). Therefore, fans’ e-engagement seems unavoidable.
The current study uses e-engagement and social media engagement interchangeably. The study holds significance for research and practice in contemporary times as more sports entities use social media platforms to disseminate information about athletes and teams. Similarly, sports fans will continue to indulge in discussing and sharing sports-related information with other social media users. Sports markets and entities can benefit from examining factors that foster the e-engagement of sports fans. Understanding these factors will help these entities strategize ways to strengthen their relationship with sports fans (potential consumers of products and services). Study also holds theoretical implications for research on topics such as authenticity in sport (Hassan & Nambudiri, 2021).
The current study was developed as part of a larger research project, which began with a qualitative study through which authors explored the factors that foster social media engagement for sports fans. A theoretical model was developed based on qualitative interviews conducted with 57 sports fans. The model has been hypothesized (based on the existing literature) and tested using primary data in the current study.