MASTER’S THESIS

Master thesis: sport spectator preferences
3.3 The fan motivation scale
The fan motivation scale (SFMS) is an established tool to measure fan motivation.
Wann developed the questionnaire in 1995, because work in this research
field was rather subjective. “The questionnaire, labeled the Sport Fan motivation
Scale (SFMS), contains twenty-three items divided into eight subscales (each
subscale represent on of the aforementioned motives). The group affiliation, aesthetic,
self-esteem, economic, eustress, escape, and entertainment subscales
contain three items each, while the family subscales (subscale is comprised of
two items” (Wann, et al., 2001, p. 42)
The original questionnaire is listed in the appendix.
To determine the most common sport spectator motives four studies have compared
the scores of the SFMS. The highest scores were found in these studies by
the entertainment motive, lowest motive were found with the economic motive.
(Wann, et al, 2001). Answers are ranked at the SFMS on an eight point Likert
scale (1= this is not at all descriptive of me to 8= this is very descriptive of me).
Wann et al (2001) present a table to compare study scores of the SFMS to other
studies in the fan motivation research.
Table 3: Comparison Table
(Wann, et al., 2001, p. 45)
Wann, 1995, Wann & Ensor, 1999a, Wann, Lane, et al., 1998, Wann & Rochelle,
1999, Wann, Schrader, et al., 1999 (as cited in Wann, 2001) indicate the SFMS
scale is reliable and valid. Trail et al. (as cited in Wann, 2001) suggest that no
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