Chengcheng Wang School of Economic and Management, Shanghai University of Sport, 399# Changhai Road, Yangpu District, Shanghai, 200438, China Fax: 021-5125-3515 Email: [email protected]

Hirotaka Matsuoka* Waseda University, 3-4-1 Higashifushimi, Nishitokyo, Tokyo 202-0021, Japan Fax: 042-451-1015 Email: [email protected] *Corresponding author

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the motives of spectators of Chinese professional football, in particular, the Chinese Super League (CSL). Based on the results of a focus group and a comprehensive literature review, a 12-motive, 38-item scale was developed. Questionnaires were distributed among CSL spectators in Shanghai. The 333 usable questionnaires were divided into two groups, and two confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to validate the scale. Finally, a 9-motive, 24-item scale was developed. Results indicated that sport interest, achievement, and socialisation were the most important motives for CSL spectators. Further, male spectators were more interested in football than female spectators were, attended more games, and were more willing to attend future games. Similar to previous studies, female spectators were more motivated by individual players. The results of the multiple linear regression showed that achievement could explain 30.8% of the dependent variable of intention of future attendance. Suggestions and implications for sport managers and marketers are given.

Keywords: motives; Chinese Super League; CSL; Chinese spectator.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Wang, C. and Matsuoka, H. (2014) ‘Motives of sport spectators in China: a case study of the Chinese Super League’, Int. J. Sport Management and Marketing, Vol. 15, Nos. 1/2, pp.57–74.

Biographical notes: Chengcheng Wang is a PhD graduate from Waseda University and a lecturer at School of Economic and Management, Shanghai University of Sport, China.

Hirotaka Matsuoka is a Professor in the Faculty of Sport Sciences at Waseda University. His research interests include sport marketing and sport consumer behaviour.

58 C. Wang and H. Matsuoka

1 Introduction

Since 1978, China has moved from a closed, centrally planned system to a more market-oriented one. After more than 30 years of development, in 2010, China became the second largest economy in the world after the USA. Along with the successful hosting of the 29th Olympic Games, the sport markets in China have been gaining more attention from global marketers and managers. National Basketball Association (NBA) and Italian Super Cup have already brought some games to China and have benefited from these activities. In addition, a large number of Chinese sports fans watch NBA, National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), Major League Baseball (MLB), Barclays Premier League, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Championship, and other top professional sports from around the world through TV or the internet. According to the ‘General Administration of Sport of China’, the sports industry accounted for 0.55% of the GDP in 2010 and grew at a faster rate than the GDP did. However, little is known about the spectators of professional sports in China. More research studies in this area are needed.

Rosner and Shropshire (2004) noted that professional sports teams generate revenue from four principal sources: tickets sales or gate receipts, broadcasting rights, licensing income, and stadium-related revenues (e.g., luxury boxes, concessions, and stadium- naming rights). The Sports Business Group at Deloitte splits revenues into three categories: revenue derived from match-day (i.e., largely derived from gate receipts, including season tickets and memberships), broadcasting (i.e., both domestic and international broadcasting rights), and commercial sources (i.e., sponsorships and merchandising). This group formed the Deloitte Football Money League during the 2012/2013 season. According to the report, the Barclays Premier League gained 40% of its total revenues from broadcasting, 50% from tickets sales, and only 10% from merchandising and sponsorship. In particular, Manchester United, which won the England Domestic League championship in the 2012/2013 season, and came in third in the 2013 Deloitte Football Money League, gained 32% of its total revenues from broadcasting, 31% from match-day and 37% from commercial sources. In China, tickets sales, merchandising, sponsorship, and broadcasting are considered the main revenues for football clubs of the Chinese Super League (CSL) (Xu et al., 2009). According to the Report on the Commercial Values of the CSL, 84% of the CSL’s total revenues came from merchandising and sponsorship, 12% from tickets sales, and 4% from advertising in the stadium. However, due to the dominance of the state-owned broadcaster, CCTV5, less revenue is generated from the broadcast rights of domestic sporting events in the national television market in comparison to broadcasters in other countries. Consequently, Chinese clubs gained little revenue from broadcasting.

It seems inadequate to assert that the proportions of revenues sources for the Barclays Premier League are better than those of the CSL. A rational hypothesis could be that if each source contributes a relatively equal share to the total revenues, to some extent, the team could diversify its risk, and reduce the potential impact of each factor, such as adverse conditions in the sponsorship market. One difference between the two leagues is that, the CSL relied heavily on sponsorship. A virtuous circle exists between sport managers, marketers, and sponsors: popular events expand the fan and participant base, which in turn increases the popularity or awareness of the products from the sponsors’ company, which in turn attracts more sponsors and fosters more events. Therefore, the CSL might increase the proportion of its revenue that comes from tickets sales by using

Motives of sport spectators in China 59

its existing sponsorships more effectively to increase attendance rates. In other words, sport marketers and managers in the CSL should emphasise attracting more spectators.

According to figures published by the CSL, the average attendance at games during 2011–2012 seasons was 18,740 spectators. A sports economy company in Brazil noted that during the 2010–2011 seasons, the average attendance for the CSL was 17,651 spectators. The CSL attracted more spectators than any other Asian professional football league. However, when considering attendance rates, the CSL had no superiority to other Asian leagues, such as the J-League. Some sport managers and marketers may attribute the low attendance rates to the large capacity of the stadiums. Though the large capacity of the stadiums did have a negative influence on the attendance rates, the fact that two clubs once sold out tickets indicates the possibility for the clubs to attract more spectators.

Since motive underlies behaviour (Hawkins and Mothersbaugh, 2010), a comprehensive understanding of consumption motives could help marketers to better understand their customers, more effectively segment the market, and develop relevant marketing strategies. It is important for football clubs to learn about the characteristics and motives of their spectators.

Numerous studies in the USA and some European countries have been conducted on scales for evaluating the motives of sport spectators (Wann, 1995; Trail and James, 2001; Funk et al., 2001). In China, however, there is no such scale. As cited in Mooij (2004), “People across cultures can do the same thing for different reasons or motives, and people in different countries may do different things for the same reasons”. In addition, the national cultural and economic ideology differences among countries might have great impact on people’s behaviour (Ralston et al., 1997). Therefore, the motives of Chinese sport spectators might differ from those of Western spectators.

The purpose of this study was to explore motives of spectators of the Chinese professional football (CSL). In addition, the relationship between motives and the intention of future attendance was discussed. Finally, implications and suggestions for sports marketers and managers were provided.

2 Review of literature

2.1 Professional football in China

Football is the most-watched sport in China. According to a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit, from January to August 2009, the number of broadcasting hours devoted to football was much greater than any other sport. There are two professional leagues, the CSL and the China League One (Chinese Jia League), and both receive considerable attention from the state-owned broadcaster, CCTV5, and other local television stations.

As the highest tier of professional football in China, the CSL was created in 2004 by rebranding the Chinese Football Association Jia-A league. After nearly ten years of development, and especially after the anti-corruption movement in 2010, the image of the CSL has improved a great deal, and the average attendance rate has increased gradually. However, due to the dismal performance of the national team and the influence of match-fixing, pitch violence, and bribery, the number of football spectators has decreased in comparison to the era of the Jia-A league (Figure 1).

60 C. Wang and H. Matsuoka

Figure 1 Average attendance rate from Jia-A league (1994 ~ 2003) to CSL (2004~2012) (see online version for colours)

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2.2 Sport spectators’ motives

Motive refers to an activated state that creates a desire to take a specific pathway to achieve a goal-directed behaviour (Mowen and Minor, 1998). According to the push-pull concept, a two-dimensional approach to motive is proposed. Crompton (1979) noted that push motives represent the recognition of unsatisfied internal social-psychological needs, while pull motives reflect the seeking of external experiences that can satisfy these needs. Therefore, sport spectators’ motives could be defined as needs that are satisfied from attending a game. There are five methodological approaches to measure those needs: scaled activity, interest, and opinion [AIO]; motive research methods [in-depth guided interviews and projective tests]; focus groups; qualitative research; and ethnography (Engel et al., 1995). Previous studies mainly used AIO to explore the motives of sport spectators.

Wann developed the sport fan motivation scale (SFMS) in 1995, which is an 8- motive,23-item scale, including eustress, self-esteem, escape, entertainment, economic, aesthetics, group affiliation and family motives. In 1999, Wann et al. used the SFMS to conduct three studies: the first study computed Pearson’s correlations on the relationships involving age, level of sport fandom, education level, and SFMS scores to reaffirm the criterion validity of the SFMS; the second study explored the motivational differences between different types of sports (individual vs. team; aggressive vs. non-aggressive); and the third study confirmed the hypothesis that individuals with extrinsic athletic motivation have higher levels of extrinsic fan motivation and individuals with intrinsic athletic motivation have higher levels of intrinsic fan motivation. Further, Wann et al. (2008) used the SFMS to examine the sport spectating motives of 886 college students and compiled motivational profiles of fans of different sports.

Trail and James (2001) developed a 9-motive scale, the motivation scale for sport consumption, (MSSC), which included achievement, knowledge, aesthetics, drama, escape, family, physical attraction, skill and social motives. James et al. (2009) used the MSSC to examine the motives of American and Japanese baseball spectators and compared the motives of spectators in the two countries. This study re-confirmed the reliability of the MSSC not only in an English-speaking country, but also in a non- English speaking country.

Motives of sport spectators in China 61

The sport interest inventory (SII) was used to explore the motives of spectators of women’s sports. Funk et al. (2001) developed a 10-factor SII to examine the motives of spectators who were interested in the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Funk et al. (2002) used open-ended questions to determine four additional motives for women’s professional soccer spectators and confirmed the 14-factor SII by examining the level of continued interest in the US women’s team subsequent to the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Funk et al. (2003) finally developed the SII into an 18-motive scale, including the following motive categories: community support, escape, interest in sport, support women’s opportunity, entertainment value, aesthetics, bonding with family, achievement, drama, bonding with friends, customer service, interest in player, role model, socialisation, interest in team, sport knowledge, excitement, and wholesome environment.

2.3 Team attachment

Team attachment refers to one’s psychological attachment to a team (Kwon and Armstrong, 2004). Though it might just be one aspect of identification (Robinson and Trail, 2005), to some extent, team attachment is equal to team identification. It was noted that highly identified fans are more attached to the team (Mitrano, 1999; Sutton et al., 1997). Wann and Branscombe (1990) suggested that different levels of team identification could explain the phenomena of die-hard and fair weather fans. Since fair weather fans only associate with the team when it is performing well, they might be the cause of attendance fluctuations. Therefore, it is important for sport managers and marketers to know the level of their fans’ attachment and then adapt appropriate marketing strategies for different market segments.

3 Method

3.1 Focus group

As Wang and Matsuoka (2012) noted, the demographic characteristics of Chinese sport spectators could only be known from previous studies. Therefore, the purpose of the focus group was to determine the possible motives of Chinese sport spectators.

Questionnaires with open-ended questions were used to accomplish this purpose. Participants were asked how many times they had attended a sporting event the year before they came to Japan, and the kinds of factors that motivated them to attend sporting events.

Data was collected from Chinese students enrolled in the Waseda University and Tsinghua Alumni Association in Japan. Emails were sent through Google groups on June 22, 2012. The introduction of the authors, the purpose of the study, and instructions for completing the questionnaire were explained in the email, and the link for replying to the questionnaire was attached at the end of the email. On June 29, 2012, a second email was sent through Google groups again to remind the members of the two groups to answer the questionnaire. By July 10, 2012, 121 Chinese students replied. Forty of them (20 males, 20 females) replied that they had attended at least one sporting event and gave some detailed information about their motives for attending sporting events.

62 C. Wang and H. Matsuoka

Based on the responses from the focus group and previous studies, 12 motives were extracted for this study, namely aesthetics, achievement, drama, sport interest, family bonding, interest in player, support the city, escape, knowledge, socialisation, entertainment, and wholesome environment. Aesthetics refers to the beauty, grace, or other artistic characteristics of a sport (Wang and Matsuoka, 2012). Achievement refers to the desire to be associated with those who succeed, such as a winning team (Trail and James, 2001). Drama refers to the excitement associated with a close game (Mahony et al., 2002). Sport interest represents the enthusiasm toward the sport (Funk et al., 2002). Family bonding refers to the need to spend time with family members (Wann, 1995). Interest in player corresponds to the desire to see a sport star (Funk et al., 2001). Support the city refers to the spectator’s attachment to the city that contributes to the attendance (Funk et al., 2002). Escape refers to the desire to get away from daily life though the game (Wann, 1995). Knowledge signifies the desire to learn about the techniques, tactics, or rules of the sport (Trail and James, 2001). Socialisation refers to the desire to communicate with social beings (James and Ross, 2004). Entertainment denotes the ability of the spectator to afford and enjoy the game (Funk et al., 2003). Wholesome environment refers to the atmosphere around the stadium (Funk et al., 2003).

3.2 Scale development

Items for each factor were generated from previous scales. Except for socialisation and knowledge, which contained four items, the other ten factors contained three items each. Each of the items for the 12 motivational factors were assessed according to a 7-point Likert-type scale (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree).

Since the previous scales were all in English, the English version of the scale (12 motives with 38 items) was translated separately into Chinese by two Chinese PhD students in sport sciences. Subsequently, the two Chinese versions of the scale were translated back into English by two other Chinese PhD students, who also majored in sport sciences. Finally, the authors and the four Chinese PhD students deliberated and decided the wording of the final version of the Chinese scale. The back translation results showed that the questionnaire was consistent in its content.

3.3 Instrument

A questionnaire survey was conducted to accomplish the aims of the study. ‘Demographic information’, ‘experience’, ‘motives’ and ‘intention of future attendance’ were the main sections of the questionnaire.

In the demographic section, participants were asked to provide their personal information, such as gender, age, educational background, and income.

In this study, experience referred to the spectators’ past attendance and their sports experience. Participants were asked whether they were fans of Shanghai Shenxin or Shanghai Shenhua, two professional football teams in the CSL, whether they had experience playing football, the kinds of tickets they usually held, and their travel time from their house to the stadium.

Finally, the participants were asked to evaluate their past attendance frequency, indicating home game attendance, frequency of game viewing on television, and the

Motives of sport spectators in China 63

frequency with which they read team news on the internet during the season. They were also questioned about their future intentions, indicating how likely they were to attend home games of the team, watch games on TV, and read team news on the internet.

3.4 Participants and data collection

Data were collected outside each stadium before the games on October 6, 2012 (Shanghai Shenxin vs. Tianjin Taida) and October 20, 2012 (Shanghai Shenhua vs. Changchun Yatai). For each game, ten volunteers from universities or colleges around the stadiums were recruited. They were told the purpose of the data collection and trained to distribute and collect questionnaires. Only ticket holders were targeted to participate. During the first game, 338 questionnaires were distributed and 324 (95.9%) of them were collected; 257 questionnaires were distributed during the second game and 234 (91.1%) of them were returned. In all, 558 questionnaires were collected in the two games, and 478 (85.7%) of them were fully completed. However, due to the possibility that holders of free tickets came to the game only because they had a ticket, only data from the participants who paid for their tickets was included in this study. This procedure yielded a final sample of 333 valid respondents.

3.5 Procedure

First, the 333 valid respondents were sorted by gender and age; then, they were numbered in sequence. Finally, respondents with odd numbers were labelled as group 1 (N = 167), and the others were labelled as group 2 (N = 166). A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted using data from group 1 to verify the scale. Using data from group 2, a CFA was conducted again to confirm the revised model. The motives of the CSL spectators are reported in the following section. Finally, a multiple linear regression was conducted to explore the relationship between the motives and the intention of future attendance. Suggestions and implications for sport managers and marketers are discussed at the end of this study.

4 Results

4.1 Descriptive statistical results

Questionnaires from the two games showed that 78.0% (n = 238) of the respondents were male and 22.0% (n = 67) were female. The ages for the participants ranged from 12 to 62 with an average age of 26.9. The majority of respondents were young people who were less than 30 years old (22.2% were under 20; 30.4% were between 21 and 25; 23.4% were between 26 and 30). In reference to the respondents’ educational background, 41.2% graduated from junior college and 28.9% had received a Bachelor’s degree. In addition, except for the 96 students (29.3%) who did not have any income, 44.8% of the participants had a monthly income of more than RMB 3,000 (equivalent to USD 490). Detailed demographic information is shown in Table 1.

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Table 1 Demographic information (n = 333)

n %

Gender Male 238 78.0 Female 67 22.0

Age (M = 26.9) 12~20 73 22.2 21~25 100 30.4 26~30 77 23.4 31~35 33 10.0 36~62 46 14.0

Education Junior High 22 6.8 Senior High 66 20.3

Junior College 134 41.2 Bachelor 94 28.9 Master~ 9 2.8

Income (RMB) (RMB 6.13 = $ 1)

0~1,250 96 29.3 1,250~1,800 12 3.7 1,800~2,300 26 7.9 2,300~3,000 47 14.3 3,000~5,200 97 29.6

5,200~ 50 15.2

Table 2 Experience (n = 333)

n % Fan type Fan of home team 241 72.4

Fan of other teams 43 12.9 Not a fan 49 14.7

Playing experience Now/often 79 25.2 Past/often 81 25.8 Sometimes 96 30.6

Never 58 18.5 Time 0~30mins 169 52.8

31~60mins 93 29.1 61~90mins 20 6.3 90mins~ 38 11.9

Notes: Playing experience refers to participant’s experience of playing football. Now/often = often play football right now; Past/often = used to play football; Sometimes = only play football sometimes; Never = never play football.

In addition to demographic information, participants were asked about their past attendance experience and their experience playing football. Among the 333 participants, 72.4% were fans of the home team and 12.9% were fans of other teams (the away team,

Motives of sport spectators in China 65

other teams of the CSL, or other countries’ professional football teams). Only 14.7% were not fans of a particular team. Further, 18.5% of the participants had never played football. Finally, most of the participants (81.9%) could travel to the stadium within one hour. Detailed information about the respondents’ experience is reported in Table 2.

4.2 Scale refinement

Since the Motives of Sport Spectator Scale used in this study was developed in previous studies, and the translated version of this scale was used for the first time to evaluate the motives of sport spectators in China, evidence for the reliability and the construct validity of the scale was needed. Therefore, a CFA and a Cronbach’s internal consistency analysis were conducted. The correlations between items, AVE values, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients are reported in Table 3. The correlations between factors ranged from –.11 to .97, and 14 of them were above .85 (Kline, 2005), revealing a low discriminant validity among the 12 factors. In addition, the AVE values for socialisation (.37), escape(.34), interest in player (.39), and entertainment (.32) were far below the ideal cut-off of .5 (Hair et al., 2010). Moreover, some of the model fit indices were below the acceptable limits (CFI = .782; IFI = .789; RMSEA = .081). However, the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from .60 to .84. As Hair et al. (2010) noted, in exploratory studies, the lower limit for Cronbach’s alpha is .60; thus, the internal reliability of the 12-factor model was moderate. In order to improve the model, the scale was refined based on the statistical results and the meaning of each item.

Table 3 Correlation and AVE and Cronbach α (Group1, n = 167)

SI ACH SOC ESC DRA KNO CITY FAM IP AES ENT ENV α

SI .64a .84

ACH .59 .64b .83

SOC .74 .76 .37c .69

ESC .68 .66 .90 .34d .60

DRA .50 .69 .86 .76 .45e .68

KNO .68 .76 .94 .88 .70 .41f .73

CITY .49 .66 .74 .69 .75 .67 .54g .77

FAM .41 .39 .64 .66 .58 .50 .66 .56h .79

IP –.11 –.11 –.02 .28 .09 .09 .20 .34 .39i .62

AES .86 .72 .83 .71 .71 .83 .72 .52 .06 .40j .67

ENT .95 .79 .80 .93 .70 .88 .71 .46 –.03 .94 .32k .60

ENV .82 .71 .94 .82 .72 .91 .69 .49 –.03 .97 .89 .42l .68

Notes: SI = sport interest; ACH = achievement; SOC = socialisation; ESC = escape; DRA = drama; KNO = knowledge; CITY = support the city; FAM = family bonding; IP = interest in player; AES = aesthetics; ENT = entertainment; ENV = the wholesome environment; ‘a’, AVE for SI; ‘b’ AVE for ACH; ‘c’ AVE for SOC; ‘d’ AVE for ESC; ‘e’ AVE for DRA; ‘f’ AVE for KNO; ‘g’ AVE for CITY; ‘h’ AVE for FAM; ‘i’ AVE for IP; ‘j’ AVE for AES; ‘k’ AVE for ENT; ‘l’ AVE for ENV

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First, the factors of entertainment and wholesome environment were eliminated from the model. Entertainment refers to the spectator’s ability to afford and enjoy the event (Funk et al., 2003), and wholesome environment represents the atmosphere around the stadium (Funk et al., 2003). Though previous studies (Funk et al., 2002, 2003) identified entertainment and wholesome environment as motives for spectators to attend the game, several of the corrections between those two factors and other factors were above the .85 ceiling (Kline, 2005) indicating a high degree of similarity. As shown in Table 3, entertainment was highly correlated with the wholesome environment (.89), and both were highly correlated with sport interest, socialisation, escape, knowledge, and aesthetics. One hypothesis might be that sport interest, socialisation, escape, knowledge, and aesthetics are sub-dimensions of entertainment and the wholesome environment. In the stadium, a wholesome environment could satisfy spectators’ needs to socialise with others, help them forget about ‘life’s little problems’, and give them the opportunity to learn about and enjoy their favourite sport. Moreover, as mentioned previously, since the reform embarked upon in 1978, the economy in China has grown rapidly, and for most people the standard of living has improved remarkably. Therefore, personal budgets for leisure activities such as movies, concerts, and travel may have increased. Thus, the affordability of the event is not an important factor in the decision-making process. Therefore, the factors of entertainment and wholesome environment were eliminated from the study.

Second, though aesthetics was one of the most important motives in previous studies (e.g., Funk et al., 2002), the items for this motive were difficult to understand in Chinese. To Chinese people, ‘aesthetics’ is an abstract word. They always associate aesthetics with art or beauty. It is easy for them to understand the aesthetics aspect of dancing due to the individual’s graceful body movement. However, when referring the aesthetic aspect of football, a team sport, they may feel confused. As mentioned by Wann et al. (2008), aesthetics is particularly prominent in individual sports, such as figure skating, non- aggressive sports, such as professional baseball, and stylistic sports, such as gymnastics. Since this study focused on football, an aggressive, non-stylistic team sport, the aesthetics factor was eliminated.

Third, based on the correlations between factors, AVE values, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, and the meaning of each item, five items from three factors were eliminated. Two items relating to the social factor were removed: “The CSL game is a great opportunity to socialize with others” and “Interacting with other fans is a very important part of being at CSL games”. The other two items that focus on socialisation with friends were kept: “Sharing the experience with my friends is a very important part of being at CSL games” and “I enjoy CSL game because it gives me an opportunity to be with my friends”. One item in the knowledge factor (“I enjoy learning about my favorite team”) was removed, since the other three items refer to learning about football (“I increase my knowledge of football when I attend CSL games”, “I increase my understanding of football tactic by watching CSL games”, and “I learn about the technical aspects of football by watching CSL games”). The item, “The main reason I attend a CSL game is to cheer for my favourite player” was removed, since the remaining items emphasise the relative importance of the player and the team (“I am more a fan of an individual player in a CSL game than I am of the team”, “I tend to follow an individual player in CSL games more than the team”). In addition, “Going to a CSL game can help me escape from my day-to-day activities” was removed from the escape factor. When translated into Chinese, the word ‘escape’ implies negative feelings such as wanting to run away from

Motives of sport spectators in China 67

daily life and never return. However, the remaining two items, “Going to a CSL game is a great change of pace from what I regularly do” and “I like going to CSL games because when I’m there I forget about all of ‘life’s little problems”, indicate that individuals want to temporarily retreat from unpleasant realities through sport.

Finally, a 9-motive, 24-item model was developed. The model included three factors with two items each from socialisation, escape, and interest in player, as well as six factors with three items each from achievement, drama, knowledge, sport interest, family bonding, and support the city.

4.3 Confirmation of the model

In this section, based on the revised model, a CFA was conducted again using data from group 2. The results of the CFA revealed that the data from group 2 adequately fit the revised 9-factor model. The CFI (.900) and IFI (.903) were both above the .90 benchmark (Bentler, 1990); moreover, RMSEA = .072 was within the 0.05–0.08 range for an acceptable model fit (Hair et al., 2010). The correlation matrix (Table 4) demonstrates that all of the correlations between factors were below .85 (Kline, 2005), which revealed a moderate discriminant validity among the nine factors. In addition, VIFs (variance inflation factor) ranged from 1.35 to 2.39, which were far below the benchmark of 10.00 (Hair et al., 2010) and showed a small degree of multi-collinearity among factors. Further, as reported in Table 5, none of the indices from the 1-factor scale meet the benchmark, which indicated a better discriminant validity for the 9-factor scale. Table 4 Correlation and AVE (Group 2, n = 166)

SI ACH SOC ESC DRA KNO CITY FAM IP α VIF

SI .53a .76 1.36

ACH .51 .63b .83 2.39

SOC .68 .66 .44c .61 1.77

ESC .49 .72 .78 .54d .70 2.00

DRA .43 .75 .75 .77 .58e .81 2.22

KNO .46 .65 .63 .81 .69 .61f .81 1.97

CITY .28 .73 .58 .68 .60 .58 .44g .70 1.71

FAM .27 .36 .59 .51 .54 .38 .54 .70h .88 1.58

IP –.05 –.08 .07 .16 .27 .17 .40 .55 .43i .60 1.35

Notes: SI = sport interest; ACH = achievement; SOC = socialisation; ESC = escape; DRA = drama; KNO = knowledge; CITY = support the city; FAM = family bonding; IP = interest in player. ‘a’, AVE for SI; ‘b’ AVE for ACH; ‘c’ AVE for SOC; ‘d’ AVE for ESC; ‘e’ AVE for DRA; ‘f’ AVE for KNO; ‘g’ AVE for CITY; ‘h’ AVE for FAM; ‘i’ AVE for IP.

Table 5 Model fit indices 1-factor scale VS 9-factor scale

CFI IFI GFI RMSEA X2 df X2/df

1-factor .628 .633 .656 .129 940.645 252 3.73 9-factor .900 .903 .842 .072 401.295 216 1.86

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The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from .60 to .88, thus providing further evidence for a moderate degree of internal reliability of the model. Therefore, the 9-motive, 24-item model was confirmed.

4.4 Motives of the CSL spectators

The means and standard deviations of each motive for the CSL spectators are reported in Table 6. Sport interest (M = 5.86), achievement (M = 5.78), and socialisation (M = 5.56) were the top three motives for CSL spectators. Support the city (M = 5.23), family bonding (M = 4.68), and interest in player (M = 3.92) were the least important motives. Table 6 Means and standard deviations (Group 2, n = 166)

M SD

SI 5.86 1.18

First and foremost, I consider myself a fan of football

I love to follow the game of football

I am a huge fan of football in general

ACH 5.78 1.38

I feel proud when my favourite team plays well

I feel like I have won when my favourite team wins

I feel a personal sense of achievement, when my favourite team plays well

SOC 5.56 1.29

Sharing the experience with my friends is a very important part of being at CSL game

I enjoy CSL game because it gives me an opportunity to be with my friends

ESC 5.44 1.38

Going to CSL game is great change of pace from what I regularly do

I like going to CSL game because when I’m there I forget about all of ‘life’s little problems’

DRA 5.41 1.42

I like the excitement of CSL game’ outcome not being decided until the end

I enjoy the dramatic turn that CSL game can take

I like the suspense of CSL game where the lead changes back and forth

KNO 5.32 1.41

I increase my knowledge of football when I attend CSL game

I increase my understanding of football tactic*2 by watching CSL game

I learn about the technical aspects of football by watching CSL game

CITY 5.23 1.44

I attended the CSL game to support my city

When my city’s team wins, I feel proud to be a citizen

I support the team because the team enhances the status of the city

Motives of sport spectators in China 69

Table 6 Means and standard deviations (Group 2, n = 166) (continued)

M SD

FAM 4.68 1.73 Being with my family is why I enjoy attending the CSL game The opportunity to spend time with my family is something I like about

attending CSL game

I enjoy CSL game because they are a good family activity IP 3.92 1.86 I tend to follow individual player in CSL game more than the team I am more a fan of individual player in CSL game than I am of the team

4.5 Multiple liner regression

The final purpose for this study on the motives, characteristics, and behaviour of sport spectators, was to predict spectators’ future behaviour to assist sport marketers and managers in making more effective sport marketing plans.

In this study, ‘team attachment’, ‘intention of future attendance’, and ‘past attendance’ were evaluated according to a seven-point Likert-type scale (1 = never or very unlikely; 7 = very often or very likely). Descriptive statistical results and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for these items are shown in Table 7. Table 7 Team attachment and future intention and past attendance

Item M SD Cronbach

α Team attachment I am a loyal fan of my favourite team no matter if it is winning or

losing 5.55 1.40 .79

It is important for me to feel connected to my favourite team I feel like part of my favourite team when attending the sporting

event Intention of future attendance How likely are you to attend home games of the team in the future 5.63 1.24 .80 How likely are you to watch the game of the team on TV in the future How likely are you to read the news of the team over the internet in

the future Past attendance How often do you attend home games of the team during the season 5.02 1.49 .76 How often do you watch the game of the team on TV during the

season How often do you read the news of the team over the internet during

the season

In order to explore the relationship between intention of future attendance, motives, and past attendance, the bivariate correlation and multiple linear regression (stepwise) analyses were computed. The results showed that there was a significant correlation

70 C. Wang and H. Matsuoka

between ‘past attendance’ and ‘intention of future attendance’ (r = . 733, p<.01). Further, the results of the regression model presented in Table 8 indicate that 30.8% of the variance in future attendance was explained by achievement. Table 8 Multiple liner regression dependent variable – future attention

Variable b SE B β R2 Adjusted R2

ACH .508 .059 .559 .312 .308

Note: Full model: F = 74.41; p < .01(Group 2, N = 166)

4.6 Gender differences

As reported in Table 9, male spectators showed a significantly higher interest in sport than female spectators did, while female spectators were more motivated by individual players. Meanwhile, male spectators attended more games than female spectators attended and were more willing to attend games in the future. Male spectators were significantly more attached to the team than female spectators. Table 9 Gender differences

Male Female

SI 6.03 (1.05)** 5.34 (1.37)** ACH 5.89 (1.37) 5.36 (1.49) SOC 5.67 (1.27) 5.38 (1.39) ESC 5.55 (1.41) 5.02 (1.22) DRA 5.49 (1.48) 5.18 (1.34) KNO 5.39 (1.45) 5.19 (1.12) CITY 5.27 (1.46) 5.04 (1.49) FAM 4.58 (1.80) 4.95 (1.62) IP 3.69 (1.85)** 4.65 (1.82)** TA 5.69 (1.33)* 5.00 (1.54)* Intention of future attendance 5.94 (1.16)** 5.27 (1.28)** Past attendance 5.45 (1.41)** 4.83 (1.55)**

Notes: **p < .01; *p < .05

5 Discussion and implications

The purpose of the study was to explore the motives of CSL spectators. The first Chinese version of the Motives of Sport Spectator Scale was developed and used to evaluate the motives of CSL spectators in this study. Descriptive statistical analysis and the multiple linear regression analysis were also computed in order to further explore the characteristics of Chinese professional football spectators. The results showed that sport interest, achievement, and socialisation were the most important motives for CSL spectators. Moreover, achievement could explain 30.8% of the intention of future attendance. To some extent, these results were consistent with the current level of development of football in China. The spectators had a high interest in football and were

Motives of sport spectators in China 71

eager to watch football games. However, the poor performance of the national team made them feel frustrated. Therefore, Chinese football spectators needed achievement from the professional team that they supported so that they could bask in the reflected glory. Further, continuous wins could encourage spectators to attend more games in the future. Support the city, family bonding, and interest in player were found to be the least important motives. This was slightly inconsistent with previous studies and with the current marketing strategy of the CSL. First, it has been supposed that family is one of the most important external influences on consumer behaviour (Hawkins and Mothersbaugh, 2010), especially in a country like China that has a culture of Confucianism (Wang and Matsuoka, 2012). Second, the enthusiasm for importing foreign football stars led the CSL to employ David Beckham for celebrity endorsements. One fan club manager said, “besides promotion of the team’s performance and some commercial benefits, foreign players can attract more spectators”. A recommendation ensuing from this study is that it would be better if the managers and marketers could employ an energetic cheering squad to elevate the atmosphere surrounding the game. In addition, advertisements should highlight the fabulous performance of the team, the moment the team wins, and friends watching the game together.

Though the focus group survey in the present study did not find any new motives for Chinese sport spectators and no empirical study was conducted to compare American and Chinese sport spectators, the spectators of these two countries might be attracted to the stadium for different reasons, or for the same reasons but with different rankings in terms of importance. Robinson and Trail (2005) reported that drama, physical skills, and escape were the most important motives for spectators who attended NCAA football games. McDonald et al. (2002) noted that skill mastery, vicarious achievement, competition, and stress release (escape) were the most important motives for college and professional football spectators. Funk et al. (2001) reported that aesthetics, excitement, sport interest, and drama were the most important motives for spectators who attended the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Funk et al. (2002) noted that role model, excitement, drama, and the wholesome environment were the most important motives for spectators who attended the 1999 US Cup. To some extent, Americans attended the football games mostly because they are attracted to the game itself. They enjoy watching fierce competitions between skilful players and close games excite them. They feel they have to focus on these games with their heart and soul, and therefore are temporarily able to forget about the little problems of daily life. In contrast, Chinese football spectators are attracted to the stadium mainly because of personal reasons. Self-interest is crucial for Chinese spectators. Since they love football, they like to devote time, money, and energy to it. In addition, the opportunity to spend time with friends and bask in reflected glory motivates Chinese spectators to attend games.

Many of the previous studies investigated gender differences (Ridinger and Funk, 2006; Wann, 1995; Wann et al., 1999). According to demographic information, the number of male spectators was larger than that of female spectators. Since women are the primary decision-makers regarding household purchases, sport managers and marketers should use the motive scale in this study to further explore the motives of female sport spectators. A t-test was computed on the data from group 2 to examine whether there were significant differences between male and female spectators’ motives. The results showed that only one motive, interest in player, was found to be significantly different (p < .01). Female spectators had a higher mean score of 4.65 (SD = 1.82), while male spectators had a mean score of 3.69 (SD = 1.85). Moreover although not statistically

72 C. Wang and H. Matsuoka

significant, female spectators were more motivated by family bonding. This was consistent with previous studies (Wann, 1995; Ridinger and Funk, 2006). Therefore, to attract more female spectators, a discount for family tickets could be offered.

Further, 29.3% of the spectators were students without any income. Although, the standard of living for Chinese people has remarkably improved, most students have a limited income. If there were special discounts or coupons for students, they would be more likely to attend additional games.

Finally, during data collection, it was found that nearly one-third of the spectators held a free ticket. It is common practice for teams to give free tickets to sponsors to thank them for their support. However, further investigation is required. Too many free tickets flow into the market, and as a result, the club sees less of a benefit from ticket sales. It is strongly suggested that managers and marketers re-evaluate the capacity of the stadium, as well as the target market, and try to find a reasonable balance between free tickets, normal tickets, season tickets, and perhaps special fan-club tickets.

6 Conclusions and limitations

It was not only the first time to use a sport spectator motives scale to evaluate Chinese spectators, but also the first time to evaluate the motives of Chinese sport spectators. The model developed in this study proved to be moderately psychometrically sound. The characteristics and motives of Chinese sport spectators were also elucidated. The relationship between the motives and intention of future attendance was discussed based on the statistical analysis and implications for sport managers and marketers were offered.

However, this study has a number of limitations. For the focus group, data was collected from Chinese people living in Japan. Though they were between 19 and 47 years old and both students and workers were included in the sample, by using this convenient sample, some important motives might have been missed. Future studies could collect data from Chinese in various cities in China or make a case for the inclusion of all dimensions mentioned in the previous studies. Further, the questionnaires were collected outside the stadium, and since both games kicked off in the evening around seven, older spectators were less likely to participate in the survey; thus, the results may have been skewed. In addition, obtaining data from free ticket holders might have resulted in missing some of the motives of Chinese spectators, making it difficult to generalise the results to some of the clubs that give a large portion of their tickets to sponsors as recompense. Finally, compared to the large number of items, the sample size for group 1 and group 2 were relatively small.

Future research should confirm the reliability and validity of the scale. In addition, the scale could be used with other sports, such as basketball and volleyball. In addition, exploring the motives of a particular group (e.g., female spectators and older spectators) might be more meaningful.

Motives of sport spectators in China 73

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