Purpose

While consumer preferences for sporting goods have been widely researched within sport management, literature is lacking on aspects of social and environmental sustainability. Accordingly, this study aims to investigate the role of social and environmental sustainability for purchase decisions of sportswear and compares them to the role of price and functionality.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on a conjoint analysis among 1,012 Europeans, the authors conducted a two-step cluster analysis. First, the authors investigated the number of segments via Ward’s method. Second, the authors ran a k-means analysis based on part-worth utilities from the conjoint analysis.

Findings

The authors identified four segments which differ in terms of preferred product attributes, willingness to pay, and sociodemographic, behavioral, and psychographic characteristics: undecided, sustainable, price-focused and function-oriented consumers. Based on this segmentation, the authors found that the importance of social and environmental sustainability is growing, but not among all consumers.

Research limitations/implications

The generalizability of the study is limited since it is not built on a sample representative for the included European countries, it focuses on a single product, and participants are potentially subject to a social desirability bias.

Originality/value

The consumer analysis comprises the uptake of attributes related to social and environmental sustainability. The authors thereby address a literature gap as previous research (thematizing sporting goods) in the sport management field has often neglected sustainability elements despite their rapidly growing importance within the sport sector.

中文翻译：

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社会和环境可持续性对欧洲消费者运动服购买的影响

目的

虽然消费者对体育用品的偏好在体育管理领域得到了广泛的研究，但缺乏关于社会和环境可持续性方面的文献。因此，本研究旨在调查社会和环境可持续性对运动服购买决策的作用，并将其与价格和功能的作用进行比较。

设计/方法论/途径

基于对 1,012 名欧洲人的联合分析，作者进行了两步聚类分析。首先，作者通过沃德方法调查了片段的数量。其次，作者根据联合分析中的部分价值效用进行了 k 均值分析。

发现

作者确定了在偏好的产品属性、支付意愿以及社会人口、行为和心理特征方面有所不同的四个细分市场：犹豫不决、可持续、注重价格和功能导向的消费者。基于这种细分，作者发现社会和环境可持续性的重要性正在增长，但并非在所有消费者中都如此。

研究局限性/影响

该研究的普遍性是有限的，因为它不是建立在欧洲国家样本代表的基础上的，它侧重于单一产品，而且参与者可能会受到社会期望偏差的影响。

原创性/价值

消费者分析包括对与社会和环境可持续性相关的属性的吸收。因此，作者解决了文献空白，因为体育管理领域的先前研究（以体育用品为主题）经常忽视可持续发展元素，尽管可持续发展元素在体育领域的重要性迅速增长。