The Impact of Cognitive Component on Affective Component of Team Reputation: Emphasizing on Difference Between Viewers And Spectators of Persian Gulf Pro League

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Sports Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University

2 Assistant Professor Department of Physical Education, Faculty of Physical Education, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.

3 Assistant Professor of Sport Management, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of cognitive components on the emotional component of the reputation of Iranian Premier League football teams, taking into account the difference between spectators and viewers. Marketing decisions have potential effects on reputation. Good reputation is an intangible valuable asset that can play an effective role in reducing shareholders' doubts about investment, strengthening competitive advantage, and increasing public trust. By examining the trend of team reputation formation, it becomes clear that sports team reputation has attracted the attention of marketing, organizational behavior, strategic management, economics and sociology fields. What exactly creates team reputation and how it can be evaluated is a matter of discussion. Despite different definitions of reputation, they all include common concepts such as how to deal with stakeholders' expectations, building reputation over time and being influenced by the current and past status of the team. In this study, the latest structure of team reputation based on fans' opinions has been used which includes six dimensions: team performance, team history, social responsibilities of the team, fan orientation, quality management and financial health.
The performance of a team is concerned with the perception of its supporters regarding the quality of the team's results, which ultimately contributes to the success of the team. In sports teams, performance is recognized as product quality. Product quality is the most important dimension in evaluating reputation. On the other hand, team performance over time also helps to develop team reputation. Therefore, all past team activities that contribute to creating and establishing team reputation help. Social responsibilities include supporters' perception of the extent of the team's commitment to building relationships with society and ultimately helping to develop societal values. Sports teams gradually demonstrate their value to society by engaging in social responsibilities, but this does not necessarily mean that stakeholders will connect with team values. Teams can develop their marketing communications that positively impact their performance with strong financial capabilities; therefore, it is predictable that sports teams' financial health can affect their reputation. Stakeholders regularly update their information about how teams are managed through media and news agencies. Team management is described as structures, processes, and legal principles of internal and external environments. Team management, which is applied in this study under the name of management quality, is one of the dimensions of team reputation. Supporters relate their emotions and feelings to team products and services; without this emotional connection, most teams do not differ for supporters.
The present study was applied and quantitative in terms of data analysis, utilizing a descriptive-correlational approach. Using a structural equation modeling approach, the study aimed to investigate the differences in team reputation evaluation between two football media viewers and spectators inside the stadium. Accordingly, a team reputation questionnaire consisting of 6 dimensions and 19 items, as well as an emotional component of team reputation consisting of 4 items, were translated through a three-stage process and sent to seven experts in the field of sports management whose research area was sports marketing for formal and content validity. Both questionnaires were distributed among 30 participants in the first stage using a Likert scale with five values to calculate Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient.
In this study, spectators were divided into two groups: the first group consisted of 678 fans who attended the stadium during the 96-1395 season (spectators), and the second group consisted of 540 fans who watched the games on television (viewers). According to the findings of the research, path coefficients for "team performance on team reputation", "social responsibilities on team reputation", "quality of management on team reputation", and "financial health on team reputation" were higher among viewers than stadium spectators. The path coefficient for "team history on team reputation" was higher among stadium spectators than viewers. The path dimensions of service quality and financial health did not have a significant effect on emotional components in both groups. In stadium spectators, the path coefficient for social responsibilities did not have a significant effect on emotional components, while in viewers, it could explain approximately 2.5% of emotional component changes.
The present study demonstrated that media consumers' perception of the Iranian Premier League was higher for teams with greater fame. News media reports dedicated to teams (referred to as media visibility) have an impact on audience perception of important team features. It is evident that the emotional component of fame is a psychological structure that relates to the consumption of sports by spectators and viewers. Sporting events involve cognitive experiences (cognitive component), physiological changes (motivational component), and practical tendencies (behavioral component). This indicates that the emotional component can ultimately translate into supportive behaviors by spectators and viewers. The findings showed that social responsibilities have a greater impact on team fame for viewers compared to spectators. This means that social responsibility activities are more important in evaluating team fame for viewers. The results of the present study showed that viewers overestimated team fame and had a greater impact on the emotional component of fame than spectators. It is clear that teams, as part of the economic system, rely on news media to cultivate their fame. Therefore, the notion that with the emergence of social media, teams' need for mass media has decreased should also be viewed with skepticism.
One of the practical recommendations of the present study, based on the obtained results, is that sports teams should pay more attention to media in order to create and enhance their reputation. Therefore, developing a program for improving the media relations of teams can help increase their popularity. Another practical recommendation of the present study is to undertake some social responsibility actions, such as allocating a special place for disabled and veteran individuals or considering low-cost tickets for working children on game days to promote team reputation. However, there were limitations in implementing this research. One of the limitations was the lack of access to sound and vision data center to obtain data such as the number of hours of broadcasting football matches in Iran's Premier League by team and television network

Keywords


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