The Effect of Fans' Perception of Social Responsibility of Sports Clubs on the Place Attachment: Mediating Role of Fans' Pride and Team Identity

Poster Presentation
Paper ID : 1817-SSRC
Authors
Master of Physical Education, Sports Management, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Shahid Chamran University, Ahvaz, Iran
Abstract
Introduction: The purpose of the present research was to determine the effect of the role of social responsibility of sports clubs on football spectators' perception of place attachment through the mediation of spectators' pride and team identity.

Methods: The descriptive-correlation research method was applied in terms of purpose and was conducted in the field. The statistical population included all fans of football teams of the Premier League of Khuzestan province. Due to the uncertainty of the statistical population, 375 people were selected as a sample by simple random method using Morgan's table. The data collection tools included the questionnaires of spectators' perception of social responsibility by Brown and Dassin (1997), place attachment by Yuksel et al. (2010), fan pride by Dekrup and Derbax (2010), and team identity by Coven et al. (2007). Electronically distributed and collected. Face and content validity was checked and confirmed using the opinion of 5 sports management experts Reliability of questionnaires; Fans' understanding of social responsibility, team identity, audience pride, and place attachment were confirmed using Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.92, 0.88, 0.93, and 0.91, respectively. For statistical analysis, descriptive statistics methods and structural equation model inferential statistics tests were used using spss and smartpls software.

Results: The findings of the research showed that the fans' understanding of social responsibility has a positive and significant effect on the pride of the fans, and the pride of the spectators has a positive and significant effect on the place attachment. Also, the role of fans' pride as a mediating variable in the relationship between fans' perception of social responsibility on place attachment was confirmed, and fans' perception of social responsibility on place attachment was confirmed through fans' pride.

Conclusion: According to the findings of the research, the role of social responsibility of sports clubs on football fans' perception of place attachment can be predicted with the mediating role of fans' pride and team identity in football teams of the Premier League of Khuzestan province.
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