Advances in Environmental Biology

Advances in Environmental Biology, 8(13) August 2014, Pages: 1426-1435
AENSI Journals
Advances in Environmental Biology
ISSN-1995-0756 EISSN-1998-1066
Journal home page: http://www.aensiweb.com/AEB/
Pattern of Identification with Athlete Brand Image among Female and Male
University Students
1Bahram
Yoosefi, 2Behesht Ahmadi, 3Sahar Amiri, 4Keivan Shabani Moghaddam
1
Faculty member of Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
PhD student of sport management, Iran
3
M.sc of sport management, Iran
4
Faculty member of Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
2
ARTICLE INFO
Article history:
Received 25 September 2014
Received in revised form
8 November 2014
Accepted 14 November 2014
Available online 23 November 2014
Keywords:
ABI, Athlete, brand image,
identification, marketable lifestyle
ABSTRACT
Athlete Brand Image (ABI) consists of three main dimensions: athletic performance,
attractive appearance, and marketable lifestyle. The aim of this study was to consider
the relationship between athlete brand image and assimilation with the athlete. 530
students (241 females and 289 males) completed the Scale of Athlete Brand Image and
a corrected version of Cohen and Perse‟s Identification Scale. Structural equation
modeling (SEM) showed that from athlete brand image dimensions, athletic
performance and marketable lifestyle had significant path coefficient affecting
identification with athletes. These dimensions reflect athletic abilities in sport fields and
treatment of athletic expertise as well as athlete‟s personality and social perception
toward athletes. Thus, to improve the level of fan identification with athlete, besides
strengthening skills and performance-related abilities in sport competitions, athletic
celebrities and their managers are recommended to focus a large part of their activities
on creating athlete‟s marketable lifestyle. This is attainable through moral behavior
both in and out of competition field, sensitivity in sociocultural topics, good leadership
and good example for being a fan, social responsibility, and showing respect for fans
and spectators.
© 2014 AENSI Publisher All rights reserved.
To Cite This Article: Bahram Yoosefi, Behesht Ahmadi, Sahar Amiri, Keivan Shabani Moghaddam, Pattern of Identification with Athlete
Brand Image among Female and Male University Students. Adv. Environ. Biol., 8(13), 1426-1435, 2014
INTRODUCTION
Identification is one of key topics in educational psychology, social psychology, and sports psychology
[76]. Since it deals with favoritism in sports and its consequents in sports marketing, this concept is considered
an inter-discipline concept of the humanities. In terms of sports marketing, fans can be considered as a type of
sports consumers [4,41,40] but what distinguishes fans from other sports consumers is their regular consumption
[70,39]. In the literature of sports marketing, loyalty and identification are considered as fans‟ main behaviors
[23]. In fact, a sports fan is a zealous sports consumer that utilizes regularly sports goods and services [4].
Extreme and mild favoritism denote fans‟ identification levels. Team identification is defined as the amount of
mental dependency observed in fans with respect to a team or team performance [70]. In addition, fans might
identify with an athlete [76]. This is a rather broad concept that a sports fans consider a specific team or athlete
as introducer of themselves, thus getting inspired by him/her and praising him/her. As this increases, it is due to
the deep mental bonding that the individual establishes with her favorite sport or team, thus seeing herself as
loyal to it. This loyalty manifests itself in cognitive, emotional, and behavioral dimensions of the individual, and
the individual finds herself a loyal fan [44].
Literature Review:
Many researchers have proven the role of favoritism in the amount of sport consumption. These studies
showed that the more favoritism in a person, the more hours of sport consumption such as using video games,
watching TV, reading magazines, etc [18,76,21,27,22] will be. By the way, every fan always wishes to see her
favorite team‟s victory and always wants that her favorite team/athlete win against competitors, especially the
main competitor. Therefore, it is not a very complicated and mysterious concept that high-level teams often
receive greater ticket sale, more financial support, advertising, and share compared with lower-level teams.
Corresponding Author: Keivan Shabani Moghaddam, Faculty member of Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
Tel: +98 83382535322 E-mail: [email protected]
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Advances in Environmental Biology, 8(13) August 2014, Pages: 1426-1435
Spectators watch a sports match to see their team‟s victory, believing that the victory of their favorite team is the
same as their own victory [14,17]. Studies for sports marketing and sports consumption psychology suggest that
by determining favoritism level of athlete and sports teams as predictor variables, an individual‟s consumption
in sports and related products can be predicted. For example, Solberg and Hammervold [64] stated in a research
that a sport with the highest number of fans has the highest number of spectators [64]. In fact, hours of watching
football-related programs, given its high number of fans, are more than those for other programs. Clingan [18]
found that a positive relationship exists between favoritism and hours of online sport websites [18]. In their
study, Aelbaum et al [3] concluded that there is a positive relationship between favoritism and other social
activities (e.g. watching TV, participation in sport activities, and sport video games). Given the fact that loyal
consumers, often recognized as zealot fans in sports, are very important for the success of sport clubs and teams,
attempts of sport marketing researchers have been mostly focused on identifying the factors affecting fan loyalty
[29,25,9,33,38]. The aim of the present study is to measure the probable effect of athlete brand image on the
extent of identification with the athlete. The reason for the importance of this topic is that researchers believe
that identification is a key event in fan loyalty [63,72,76]. Also, identification is a powerful incentive for
presence of spectators and fans in sport events and intention for buying sport-related goods [33,51] and nonsports products [12]. On the other hand, identification with athlete has a significant relationship with team
identification [76]. Also, it has a significant effect on sponsorship activity [37]. However, most investigations
concerning identification in sports have been conducted on identification with sport teams, and little attention
has been paid identification at the fan-athlete level [76]. This is despite the fact that sport celebrities rather than
sport clubs and teams play a significant role in formation of community‟s connection with sports in different
economic, cultural, and social dimensions. For instance, most considerations show individual role of famous
athletes and branding on one of the main income resources of sports and athletes i.e. products endorsement. Or
famous athletes act as leaders and pioneers of charitable activities. Athlete brand is one of the concepts that has
recently entered sport marketing literature. In study entitled Branding Athletes: Exploration and
conceptualization of athletes brand image, Arai, Jae Ko and Ross [6] offered a conceptual model of the
dimensions of athlete brand image. In another investigation entitled Athlete brand image: Scale development
and model test, Arai, Jae Ko & Kaplanidou [6] considered dimensions of the athlete brand image. Based on the
structured equation modeling, researchers obtained a reasonable balance between data from the conceptual
model and scale description of athlete brand image dimensions. The mentioned study has been conducted
according to economic value model based on Keller [46]‟s brand equity model. According to Keller‟s model
[46], with respect to their connection with the product, brand characteristics are divided into two sets of productrelated characteristics and non-product-related characteristics. Product-related properties include attributes that
affect product performance or service in customer‟s view. These attributes affect significantly the choice of
products and services, facilitating purchase decision making [46]. Non-product-related properties are properties
that have no direct effect on product performance, but are important in terms of purchase decision making [46].
Athlete brand here is defined as description of customers‟ awareness about athlete brand and evoking its
properties. The conceptual model suggested by Arai, Jae Ko and Ross [46] and also the tested athlete brand
model by Arai, Jae Ko & Kaplanidou [46] have three initial dimensions: athletic performance, attractive
appearance, and marketable lifestyle. As a sports and distinguished figure, athletes must appear with excellence
in their respective sport field. Therefore, primary characteristic of athlete brand must be athlete performance.
Athlete performance involves attributes and characteristics related to his/her performance and includes the
following four subscales: rivalry, sport expertise, competition style, and chivalry. Athletic performance is
considered as a product-related characteristic, which is athletes‟ primary role with the aim of enhancing athletic
performance and developing their brand situation according to continuity of their success. On the other hand,
other characteristics that do not deal with the athlete‟s athletic performance have been considered as nonproduct-related characteristics that include the two dimensions of attractive appearance, and lifestyle. Attractive
appearance, as a “commercial sign” of product brand, is the main challenge of most branding activities [5],
consisting of the three sub-dimensions of physical attractiveness, symbol, and body fitness. Physical
attractiveness is considered as the primary element of athlete brand image and in the Ohanian‟s source
credibility model, it is propounded alongside and even prior to trustworthiness and expertise, as the primary
dimension of endorsement source credibility, suggesting that attractive athletes can fulfill customer expectations
[55]. Till and Bustler [69] believe that irrespective of product type, attractive endorsers have a significant effect
on brand treatment and intention to purchase endorsed products. According to Keller [46], marketable lifestyle
is one of non-product-related attributes that addresses the athlete‟s non-athletic aspects. This human brand
includes his/her personality attributes in general and consists of three sub-dimensions: life story, role model, and
relationship effort. In fact, figures not only attain their success in the area of athletic performance, but also they
are noticed by their distinguished lifestyle too [16]. In modern media culture, non-athletic area of an athlete‟s
life can also play a special role in understanding the athlete‟s personality. Furthermore, attributes not related to
sport discipline have a strong effect on athlete brand image in customers‟ minds and brand value generation [6].
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The main idea in these studies was that researches for documenting the role of favoritism, team
identification, and loyalty in consumers‟ behavior are needed, and on the other hand, due to scarcity and
sparseness of these considerations, the need for proper and scientific studies is felt to consider the relationship of
favoritism and identification in the area of sports marketing. Hence, the main goal for this study is to analyze the
plausible effect of the triple dimensions of athlete brand that according to the model of Arai, Jae Ko &
Kaplanidou [6] consists of athletic performance, attractive appearance, and marketable lifestyle on identification
with athlete in the framework of the structural equation model.
Theoretical Framework:
Statistical population and sample:
Statistical population for the present study consists of the students of Razi University and Islamic Azad
University of Kermanshah that were taking courses in Physical Training 1 or 2 in first semester of the 20132014 academic year. Since structural equation modeling experts suggest that population size in these studies be
at least 200, assuming missing data and use of maximum likelihood (ML), 600 people were selected in current
study through multi-stage sampling as the study sample. They completed the questionnaire, with 530
questionnaires filled completely, which were used in the study, and 70 removed due to being incomplete and
having missing data.
Measurement:
Cohen & Perse‟s [19] Identification Scale has been used to determine individuals‟ identification with
athletes. In the main version, this section consists of 10 questions that are able to measure people‟s experiences
when facing athletic personalities. For instance, the Identification Scale measures people‟s experiences in front
of athletes, as though the sport event is happening for the very individuals. In other words, sport
spectator/viewer attributes the athlete‟s role to himself/herself. Therefore, study participants were asked to recall
the process of identification with their favorite athlete. The questions have been rated based on the 5-item Likert
Scale, from 5 (strongly agree) to 1 (strongly disagree). For example, the questionnaire consists of questions such
as, “when I see my favorite athlete, I forget myself and get completely attracted to him” or “when watching a
match, I feel excitements of my favorite athlete”.
To determine questionnaire validity, the exploratory factor analysis was used by analyzing primary
components. Results showed that correlation matrix‟s determinant was a non-zero figure equal to 0.023, more
than 0.001. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) criterion was equal to 0.755 and more than 0.70. Also, the result of
Bartlett‟s test of sphericity was significant. This means that variables had correlations high enough to offer a
logic basis for the analysis. Finally, from a total of 10 questions, 6 had significant factor loadings, which were
used in the analysis and 4 questions with binary loadings less than 0.40 were removed. In terms of reliability of
the identification questionnaire in former studies, the Cronbach‟s alpha has been variable from 0.83 to 0.86. In
the work of Ironheart (2007), Cronbach‟s alpha of the identification questionnaire was 0.93. In this study alpha
was obtained to be 0.89. The questionnaire used for athlete brand image was obtained by Arai, Jae Ko &
Kaplanidou [6], which includes three primary dimensions: athletic performance, attractive appearance, and
marketable lifestyle. This questionnaire has 30 items, measuring 10 scales including rivalry, athletic expertise,
competitive style, chivalry, attractive appearance, symbolic feature, body fitness, life story, role model, and
relationship effort in 7-choice spectrum of -1 (strongly disagree) to -7 (strongly agree). The athlete brand image
questionnaire was translated separately into Persian by two experienced professors of physical education fluent
in two languages, and then the translated scale was translated into English by two other professors. To ensure
more about integrity of the translation and conformity of the two English and Persian versions, existing
challenges were removed during a common session. Therefore, after a multistage consideration, review, and
applying necessary changes and corrections, the reliability of this questionnaire was confirmed by 5 faculty
members. Next, the survey was conducted experimentally on a 20-member group of students, who expressed
their opinion on their understanding of questions once they completed the questionnaire. After applying
necessary changes, the final questionnaire was obtained. It took approximately 10 minutes to fill the
questionnaire. Also, Cronbach‟s alpha for the athletic performance scale, attractive appearance, and marketable
lifestyle was 0.88, 0.87, and 0.71 respectively. Also, standardized coefficients, non-standardized coefficients
and their meaning, and the expressed variance values of measurement model of athlete brand image dimensions
were good and acceptable (table 4).
Application method:
Permissions were received from university authorities. Then, by researchers‟ attending in general physical
education classes, after getting oral permission, and stating that there are no obligations on cooperation and
filling of the sheets, participants completed respective questionnaires. It is worth mentioning that the aim and
instructions of filling the questionnaire was explained again orally despite the fact that it had been written in
questionnaires. Respondents were asked to get researchers‟ help in case they had any queries or problems about
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Advances in Environmental Biology, 8(13) August 2014, Pages: 1426-1435
questions. In the work of Arai et al [6] respondents focused on athletic figures, whose image was ordered on the
questionnaire. But in this survey, respondents were asked to answer the questions according to the athletic figure
in their own mind.
Analysis:
Data was analyzed using SPSS® and LISREL 8.5. To describe data, descriptive statistics, mean, and
standard deviation were used. To determine validity and reliability of the questionnaires, factor analysis and
Cronbach‟s alpha were used. Also, Pearson‟s correlation coefficient and, in line with supplementary analyses,
structural equations were used to model causative relationships, and the desired model was offered. Finally,
multivariate variance analysis was used according to the gender factor for comparing study variables.
Findings:
A total of 530 people including 241 female university students with average age of 21.41±2.18 years and
289 male university students with the average age of 22.83±4.25 years formed the statistical population for this
study. In tables 1 and 2, descriptive criteria (mean and standard deviation) and correlation matrix of observed
variables are presented. Given correlations observed in table 1 and 2, the relationship between variables is
significant, and since the principal condition for using the structural equation model in findings analysis is
existence of correlation among variables, relationship pattern was analyzed in the model.
Also, mean and standard deviation and correlation coefficient of hidden variables of the study are shown in
table 3. Results of fit indices of the model are presented in table 4. Indices included normed chi square i.e. chi
square with the degree of freedom of 3.27, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.06,
goodness of fit index (GFI) of 0.93, adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI) of 0.91, normed fit index (NFI) of
0.93, non-normed fit index (NNFI) of 0.92, comparative fit index (CFI) of 0.94, and incremental fit index (IFI)
of 0.94. Given acceptable values presented in table 3, appropriate fit of the study model is inferred.
Tables 5 and 6 show standardized and non-standardized coefficients and their significance. All standard
coefficients for the micro-scales of athlete brand image and identification have high values. T significance test
also showed that all factor loadings or obtained path coefficients were significant (P<0.01). Furthermore,
structural coefficients between athletic performance, marketable lifestyle, and identification are positive and
statistically significant. Also, the coefficient between attractive appearance and identification is negative and
insignificant.
Table 1: Mean, standard deviation and correlations among variables in model.
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
0/32**
0/42**
0/64**
0/32**
0/16**
0/35**
0/60**
0/25**
0/07
0/28**
0/55**
0/62**
0/28**
0/18**
0/34**
0/ 06
0/32**
0/47**
0/39**
0/16**
0/20*
**
**
**
**
**
**
0/31
0/30
0/32
0/24
0/43
0/52
0/35**
0/58**
0/22**
0/55**
0/37**
0/40**
0/47**
0/53**
0/43**
P<0.01* :P<0.001**
1
0/66**
0/46**
0/65**
0/26**
0/22**
0/33**
0/12*
0/48**
0/56**
sd
0/91
0/98
1/09
0/91
1/12
1/24
1/08
1/32
1/08
1/03
Table 2: Mean, standard deviation and correlation among observed variable of identification
6
5
4
3
2
1
0/43**
0/44**
0/32**
0/41**
0/41**
0/32**
**
**
**
0/39
0/27
0/39
0/44**
0/50**
0/39**
0/30**
0/40**
0/43**
P<0.01* :P<0.001**
sd
1/11
1/08
1/16
1/03
1/09
1/07
Table 3. Mean, standard deviation and correlation among variables
4
3
2
1
Sd
0/22**
0/57**
0/36**
0/78
0/16
0/58**
0/98
0/35**
0/86
0/77
mean
5/95
5/70
5/70
5/85
5/28
5/04
5/45
4/39
5/26
5/53
Athletic expertise
Competitive style
Rivalry
Chivalry
Attractive appearance
Symbolic feature
Body fitness
Life story
Role model
Relationship effort
mean
3/01
3/34
3/41
3/67
3/15
3/48
Question1
Question2
Question3
Question4
Question5
Question6
M
variables
5/80
Athletic performance
5/26
Attractive appearance
5/06
Marketable lifestyle
/36
Identification
)p =0/01( * ‫) و‬p =0/001( **
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Table 4: Tested fit indices of the study.
Index
ChiRoot mean
square/degree
square error of
of freedom
approximation
(RMSEA)
Admissible
<5
<0.08
value
Model
3.27
0.06
Goodness
of fit
index
(GFI)
>0.90
Adjusted
goodness
of fit index
(AGFI)
>0.85
Normed
fit index
(NFI)
0.93
0.90
Table 5: Expressed variance of athlete brand image dimensions.
SE
B
β
𝑅2 T
0/72
22/58
0/03
0/85
0/85
0/64
20/89
0/03
0/80
0/80
0/24
11/71
0/04
0/47
0/49
0/66
21/43
0/03
0/82
0/82
0/64
19/84
0/04
0/90
0/80
0/59
18/85
0/05
0/95
0/77
0/57
18/72
0/04
0/83
0/76
0/39
12/36
0/06
0/82
0/62
0/39
14/86
0/04
0/67
0/63
0/71
17/71
0/04
0/85
0/85
Comparative
fit index
(CFI)
Incremental
fit index
(IFI)
>0.90
Nonnormed
fit index
(NNFI)
>0.95
>0.90
>0.90
0.92
0.92
0.94
0.94
Sub-variable
Athletic performance
Athletic performance
Athletic performance
Athletic performance
Attractive appearance
Attractive appearance
Attractive appearance
Marketable lifestyle
Marketable lifestyle
Marketable lifestyle
Table 6: standardized and non standardized and their significance and expressed variance of identification.
SE
B
β
Sub variable
𝑹𝟐 T
0/40
11/48
0/05
0/65
0/64
identification
0/53
12/80
0/05
0/74
0/72
identification
0/39
11/50
0/055
0/64
0/62
identification
0/42
11/89
0/056
0/67
0/65
identification
0/40
11/44
0/056
0/64
0/63
identification
0/42
11/57
0/057
0/67
0/65
identification
Variable
Athletic expertise
Competitive style
Rivalry
Chivalry
Attractive appearance
Symbolic feature
Body fitness
Life story
Role model
Relationship effort
Observed variables
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Question 6
Table 7: Results of MANOVA test for comparing research variables among boy and girl students.
Identification
Marketable lifestyle
Attractive appearance
Athletic performance
M±SD
M±SD
M±SD
M±SD
3/21±0/72
4/98±0/78
5/19±1/04
4/98±0/78
3/49±0/79
5/14±0/93
5/32±0/93
5/14±0/93
P=.000
P=.033
P=.128
P=.033
Pilla,s Trace(4,525)=.030,f=5.28,p<0.000
Girls
Boys
ANOVA
Fig. 1: Model path coefficients in the case of standard approximation.
Discussion:
According to the theory of social identity, people look for identity of a person who has distinguished
individual abilities and traits, and they also try to acquire social identity such as belonging to groups and
membership of social organizations and clubs. This theory has formed expression of the concept of sport coidentification and favoritism, which, as one of considerable topics, has been drawing attention of academic
researchers in sports marketing as well as executive managers of sport clubs. While people usually seek to fulfill
and determine the need for acquiring their social identity and this way, they also fulfill basic needs such as sense
of belonging, social integration, and self-esteem [67], in many cases, people seek role models to determine
effective and appropriate features in formation of individual identity and desirable self-concept, so that by
identification, they can reduce the distance between their perceived self and the ideal desirable self they have in
mind [65,47]. Undoubtedly, desirable role models for individuals depend to a great extent on taught values and
emphasis on societies‟ education system, and of course, the media that have traversed boundaries of countries.
Given such traits as success in sport fields, and by creating conditions to make alternative experiences happen in
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fans, having hot newsworthy lifestyles, drawing media attention to their behavioral aspects and acquisition of
enormous income, they are strong role models for youths and adolescents. It is noteworthy that identification
necessarily does not require to establish formal relationships [60]. Thus, in the current consideration, the
contribution of athlete brand image on identification with athlete was considered. In current study, data
possessed a good fitness with the default model according to fitness indices (table 3). Results of model test
showed that from athlete brand criteria, factors of athletic performance and marketable lifestyle have a
significant effect on the amount of identification with athlete in investigated samples of this study. Athletic
performance refers to athletes‟ abilities in the competition field, i.e. such criteria as exhilarating competition
style, possession of distinguished skills, expertise in sports, and chivalrous behavior in athletic environments.
One of the items that is propounded as cultivating identification with athlete, is creation of opportunities for
acquiring alternative experiences [65]. Actually, in such circumstances, by identification and sharing his/her
thoughts and feelings with his/her favorite athlete, an individual reduces the distance between the real self and
the ideal self, thus boosting his/her self-confidence [76]. Also, according to studies conducted regarding
effectiveness of famous people‟s endorsement including that of athletes, belief in expertise has been mentioned
as one of the sources of trust in message origin (commercial and non-commercial). Nonetheless, path
coefficients showed that marketable lifestyle has stronger effect on identification with athlete brand. This
criteria specifically refers to famous athletes outside competition fields. Also, this finding underlines the
importance of athletes‟ success in terms of role-modeling in social activities, acquisition of social prestige,
feeling responsible in social relations, having appropriate relationship with fans, and attempt to appreciate and
respond to fans. It is worthy of note that based on factor loading (figure 1), among the triple dimensions of
marketable lifestyle, the biggest contribution concerns role model and then attempt to establish appropriate and
worthy relationship with fans and spectators. In this regard, maybe it could be inferred that criteria of athletic
performance and success distinguish a star athlete from other players in the competition field. This topic is an
introduction to popularizing athletic figures and distinguishing an athlete‟s other life aspects. But in the views of
most sport spectators and fans, the distinction of star athletes or their branding relative to other athletes involves
their success and acceptability in and out of sport field. On the other hand, attractive appearance had an
insignificant path coefficient that inversely related to identification with athletes. In other words, possession of
beautiful face, attractive appearance, and traits alike had no significant effect on identification with famous
athletes. In line with results of the current survey, in the survey of Arai et al [6], athlete brand image had a
significant impact coefficient that affected psychological commitment within the sample group under study (427
college students). Although in that survey, also, marketable lifestyle had the highest impact coefficient and
attractive appearance had the least impact on athlete brand image, impact of each of the three dimensions on
psychological commitment could not be clearly recognized since in the mentioned survey the athlete has been
considered as the third order criterion. To a high extent, in confirmation of the findings of this survey, results of
the work of Stevens et al [66] could be addressed. In a qualitative study on Canada‟s generation Y (those born
between 1977 and 1994, who, besides age domain focused on adolescence and youth, possess the far-reaching
power of media tools), the mentioned researchers found that, in the opinions of that survey‟s respondents, traits
of heroes include 5 features with concepts of personal features, social traits, athletic skills, endorsement
situation, and adhesion to other factors. Survey of Braunstein & Zhang [12] also corroborated that determinative
criteria in star athletes include trustworthiness, possession of a lovely personality, sport expertise, and their
social attractiveness. Therefore, these criteria predict sport consumption such as watching directly a sport event,
indirect watching of an event, reading sport journals, and also endorsement effect of products from famous
athletes within the age group of 10-24. Also, Bush et al [13] found that famous athletes, as effective models,
predict behavioral intention to purchase, which in turn involves oral advertising, and brand loyalty in the
adolescence age group. Dixon & Flynn [24], in a content-based survey, evaluated positive and negative
attributes of endorsing athletes among 272 British college students, and the results of their study showed six
groups of factors as effective variables in sport endorsers. Noticeably, while none of the samples under
investigation addressed attractiveness, the first set of extracted concepts were considered as desirable or
undesirable traits in endorsing athletes in terms of their role modeling and moral/immoral behavior in and out of
the competition field. Also, in addition to physical and mental competence, the quality of interpersonal
relationships had been considered as the third group of important contexts.
On the other hand, Fink et al [30] showed that players‟ non-customary and impropriate behavior outside of
match fields have negative effects on team fans and identification with athlete as well as on his team. Also, in
conducted surveys, impropriate behaviors of athletes have been stressed as a threat to investments of companies
and institutes for using athletes in endorsement [73,36]. For instance, after Tiger Woods‟ moral/family issues
were revealed and popularized, five companies who supported him lost about 2-3 percent of their market value
[49].
Since the topic of athlete brand is one of the emerging concepts in sports social psychology literature as
well as sports marketing that can, like many other concepts, be considered as antecedent, consequence, or
mediator of other variables, this study can theoretically be considered a step toward development and deepening
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of this concept in sports marketing. Regarding practical results of the present study, it could be stated that, since
identification has been emphasized by researchers as a key antecedent, and if according to the various surveys
mentioned earlier, we accept that identification with teams and athletes and subsequently the quality of sport
favoritism affect sports consumption and consumption of relevant products, then in terms of strategic
programming in marketing, it is extremely important to note which behavioral criteria and attributes of famous
athletes affect athlete identification and favoritism. As said earlier, identification is in fact a scope, where sport
fans consider a specific team or athlete as descriptor of themselves, thus getting inspirations from him and
praising him. As this increases, due to deep mental connection that an individual establishes with the favorite
athlete/team, he/she sees himself/herself loyal to the athlete/team thereby he/she gets affected. Therefore, it is
recommended for team managers, sport clubs and famous athletes that if an athlete wants to have appropriate
effects on others and especially sport fans, he will be able to convert spectators to fans once, besides intra-field
successes, he establishes good relationship with people, acts as a suitable role model for his fans and tries to
accept social responsibilities. Also, since athletes are under the magnifying lens of media, a branded athlete
must, besides utilizing media opportunities for boosting his brand -- attempt to avoid margins that scratch
his/her credibility. Since star athletes are noticed by media and media culture of today has reduced the pace of
news propagation considerably, this topic and possession of the state of a role model and high public relations
are important for famous athletes.
Conclusion:
Results concerning gender factor showed that male students identify with their favorite athletes more
significantly than female students. Also, the mean of the factor of marketable lifestyle was higher in boys
compared with girls (table 8). This result can be analyzed in two angles. First, the concept of gender and roles
expected and perceived of gender among women and men is formed in a set of values, cultural-social variables,
and direct/indirect educations. In a patriarchal society sport is often considered a masculine subject. Second,
typically in Muslim communities like Iran, due to religious, cultural, and social reasons, female athletes do not
usually find media personalities and hence, a female athlete‟s brand image has little exposure to introduction.
Nonetheless, like men, today‟s women are active in many sport fields and as a considerable part of the
community, they affect the country‟s sport, and their sport interests cannot be ignored. Means of descriptive
findings regarding aspects of athlete brand and identification with athlete shows domains higher than mean
spectrum of measurement in women (table 8). This finding can mean that despite the role of gender in
identification with athlete, women also identify with branded and favorite athletes at a considerable level.
Results interpretation and analysis for each study depends on perception of its limitations. The deterministic
nature of present study justifies usage of the term effect merely based on path coefficients and statistical
analyses, considering calculation of error probabilities. Thus, a closer interpretation of findings depends on
supplementary and similar studies with a bigger statistical population. The sample studied in this survey
consisted merely of college students, who are among major customers and target markets in sport as well as
main sport marketing audiences [61,54]. Nonetheless, the results require subsequent society-oriented
considerations with more coverage in order to be generalized.
As the final conclusion, results of the present study stress that in order to deepen and extend the
identification relationship of fans and supporters with them in society, in addition to expanding sport abilities,
famous celebrities must have more focus on a marketable lifestyle, which is based on generating appropriate
social image through establishing good relationships with spectators and fans, performing leadership roles for
sport fans, pioneering in social charitable activities, and responsibility.
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