MASTER’S THESIS

Master thesis: sport spectator preferences
Figure 7: Hierarchical structure of emotions
(Faullant, 2007, Laros & Steenkamp, 2005)
Emotions form an important substrate of consumption and they are a key for successful
sport event experiences (Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982). The experimental
perspective indicates that in a sport consumption experience, consumers consume
in order to create feelings, experiences and emotions rather than solve a
problem (Mowen, 1988). The consumption of sport as a spectator results in an
emotion related component of the consumption experience. These facets of consumer
behavior relate to the multisensory aspects of the consumer experience
(Addis & Holbrook, 2001, Hirschman & Holbrook, 1982). Research has indicated,
that the greater the level of affiliation felt by the fans with the respective sporting
combatants, the greater the level of emotion and the more vocal the fans are
(Wann, Carlson and Schrader, 1999). Affiliation, involvement of sport spectators
to their favorite athletes or club are factors affectioning sport consumer satisfaction
and loyalty. There are many researches on emotions and consumer satisfaction
(Westbrook, 1987, Oliver, 1993, Mano/Oliver, 1993, Price et. al. 1995, as
cited in Faullant, 2006). Some of these researches show that emotions and also
the variation in intensity of emotions influence the consumer satisfaction. The
more the product or the consume situation is linked to emotions, the higher the
satisfaction varies through emotions (Faullant, 2007, p. 94). Margidal (1995,
2003), found out, that fans who view their associations with a particular team as
most important to their self-identification, tend to experience greater pleasure and
enjoyment from the sport, and, in turn, intensify and increase their participation.
Theoretical foundation of sport spectators and event experience page 28