文章基本信息

标题：Destined to succeed? Team identification and the attributional bias of NFL fans.
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作者：Dwyer, Brendan ; Eddy, Terry ; LeCrom, Carrie W. 等
期刊名称：Journal of Sport Behavior
印刷版ISSN：0162-7341
出版年度：2014
期号：December
出版社：University of South Alabama
摘要：Being a fan in today's media saturated sport marketplace can be an emotional roller coaster, and often times, the conclusion of the season can be most maddening. From front office firings and coaching changes to ring ceremonies and White House visits, media commentators and pundits overreact to any number of seasonal outcomes (Lewis & Proffitt, 2012; Reese, 2001). From a fan's perspective, making sense of a successful or unsuccessful season not only influences one's relationship with the team, but also impacts one's self- and social identity. Previous research in this area has recognized internal and external attribution and team identification as important factors within a sport fan's affective, cognitive, and behavioral response to team success and failure (Wann & Dolan, 1994; Wann & Schrader, 2000). However, these studies have been limited to single game outcomes and have not examined the impact of attributable factors for an entire season. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the moderating impact of team identification on the attributional bias of two groups of sport team fans that experienced opposite seasonal outcomes (success/ failure). The following sections outline the importance of this area of study and formulate the problem under examination.

Team Identification

Team identification is an important psychological construct that has been at the forefront of research in various sport-related fields. Team identification has been defined as a fan's psychological connection to a team and involves the degree to which the fan views the team as an extension of themselves (Wann et al., 2011). The concept of team identification is a common application of social identity theory, which says that an individual's self-concept is partially derived from knowledge of their membership in social groups (both formal and informal), along with the emotional and value significance attached to the membership (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). Through these group memberships, the individual adopts the values and beliefs of the social group, which creates a social identity that is shared with other members of the group. It should be noted that social identity impacts fan behaviors regardless of the role an individual plays in the group, as fans still perceive themselves to be part of the group even when they are not active participants in an organized collective (Reysen & Branscombe, 2010). Identification with a team has been found to be a strong predictor of numerous spectator affective, cognitive, and behavioral reactions, including social well-being (Wann, 2006; Wann, Waddill, Polk, & Weaver, 2011), team-related purchasing history and future purchasing intentions (Bodet & Bemache-Assollant, 2011; Fink, Trail, & Anderson, 2002; Judson & Carpenter, 2005; Lock, Taylor, Funk, & Darcy, 2012; Robinson & Trail, 2005; Sutton, McDonald, Milne, & Cimperman, 1997; Trail, Anderson & Fink, 2005), and sponsorship-related outcomes (Gwinner & Swanson, 2003).