Frame of the research. Emotions are crucial elements in sports spectatorship and understanding in-depth how they characterized stakeholders’ experiences is crucial for better addressing marketing and communication strategies. Purpose of the paper. Adopting the social identity approach, this study explores the intense role of emotional attachment in football fans concerning the identification with the team (i.e. fanship) and with the fellow fans (i.e. fandom); fans’ subjective well-being perceptions is also investigated here. Methodology. 22 semi-structured interviews were individually conducted with fans of two Italian Serie A teams. Both convenience and snowball sampling were performed to recruit diverse participants. A manual coding was conducted via NVivo 14 software. Results. No major discrepancies between fans of the two teams were observed in terms of fanship, except for a sense of higher identification with the city for fans of the team sharing the name with the hometown. Although one team expressed more considerations relatively to other fellow fans, these considerations were frequently oriented to detaching from specific political sub-groups. Fans of both teams underline both the positive and negative emotions attached to the beloved teams; obsessive and irrational attitudes are highlighted and refer to the feeling of feeling protected and safe with respect to the problems of daily life (i.e., sheltered) and the need to vent. Managerial implications. Understanding how fans personally communicate their distinct identifications either with the team or with the surrounding fan community as well as the peculiarities of their emotional attachment to the team might be highly beneficial for marketers and managers working in the football industry. Originality of the paper. This study investigates both fanship and fandom and explores the role of emotions in team identification through in-depth qualitative research methods. Furthermore, it fills the gaps concerning team identification research in the Italian football-centric sports system.
Exploring fans’ social identities, emotional attachment and subjective identity: A social identity approach to Italian football consumer-brand identity
MURA R.
2024-01-01
Abstract
Frame of the research. Emotions are crucial elements in sports spectatorship and understanding in-depth how they characterized stakeholders’ experiences is crucial for better addressing marketing and communication strategies. Purpose of the paper. Adopting the social identity approach, this study explores the intense role of emotional attachment in football fans concerning the identification with the team (i.e. fanship) and with the fellow fans (i.e. fandom); fans’ subjective well-being perceptions is also investigated here. Methodology. 22 semi-structured interviews were individually conducted with fans of two Italian Serie A teams. Both convenience and snowball sampling were performed to recruit diverse participants. A manual coding was conducted via NVivo 14 software. Results. No major discrepancies between fans of the two teams were observed in terms of fanship, except for a sense of higher identification with the city for fans of the team sharing the name with the hometown. Although one team expressed more considerations relatively to other fellow fans, these considerations were frequently oriented to detaching from specific political sub-groups. Fans of both teams underline both the positive and negative emotions attached to the beloved teams; obsessive and irrational attitudes are highlighted and refer to the feeling of feeling protected and safe with respect to the problems of daily life (i.e., sheltered) and the need to vent. Managerial implications. Understanding how fans personally communicate their distinct identifications either with the team or with the surrounding fan community as well as the peculiarities of their emotional attachment to the team might be highly beneficial for marketers and managers working in the football industry. Originality of the paper. This study investigates both fanship and fandom and explores the role of emotions in team identification through in-depth qualitative research methods. Furthermore, it fills the gaps concerning team identification research in the Italian football-centric sports system.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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