The Effects of Perceived Team Performance and Social Responsibility on Pride and Word-of-Mouth Recommendation

Abstract

Although pride is considered an important concept in the business marketing literature, this emotional construct has not been explored in the context of sport fan behavior. In particular, very few studies have investigated the antecedents and consequences of pride. To fill the conceptual void, in the current study, the researchers investigated the relationships among pride, team performance/corporate social responsibility (CSR), and word of mouth (WOM) recommendation. The moderating effect of team identification was also examined. The results suggest that both fans’ perception of team performance and CSR significantly influence pride and WOM recommendation. In particular, fans’ perceived team performance was found to be a very important predictor of pride among the low involvement group. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.