ABSTRACT

Research question: Several studies suggest that involving fans in the running of their favorite clubs is a relevant matter. This research defines the construct of perceived fan participation in decision making and explores the construct’s antecedents and consequences.

Research methods: This research applies a sequence of exploratory and confirmatory methods and uses the German football league Bundesliga as the empirical context. Based on in-depth interviews with 33 football fans, this research defines perceived fan participation and develops a framework of the construct’s antecedents and consequences. Two studies (N = 237 and N = 834) validate the framework and examine its relationships using confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation modeling.

Results and findings: I define fan participation as a perception of the degree of collective influence that the fans have on their favorite club’s decisions and decision-making processes. The findings suggest that perceived fan recognition, perceived transparency in managerial decisions, and perceived goal congruence between fans and managers positively influence fans’ participation perceptions. The consequences of the construct include acceptance of management decisions, reduced feelings of estrangement from the club and positive extra-role behavior.

Implications: I introduce the construct of perceived fan participation and initiate a theory-building process by providing a framework of the construct’s antecedents and consequences. Managers can derive both factors that influence fans’ participation perceptions and important consequences of the concept from the framework.

摘要

研究问题：几项研究表明，让球迷参与到他们最喜欢的俱乐部的运营中是一个相关的问题。本研究定义了感知粉丝参与决策的结构，并探讨了该结构的前因和后果。

研究方法：本研究采用一系列探索性和验证性方法，并使用德国足球联赛德甲作为实证背景。基于对 33 名足球迷的深入访谈，本研究定义了感知的球迷参与并开发了该结构的前因和后果的框架。两项研究（N  = 237 和N  = 834）验证了该框架并使用验证性因素分析和结构方程模型检查其关系。

结果和发现：我将球迷参与定义为对球迷对他们最喜欢的俱乐部的决定和决策过程的集体影响程度的看法。研究结果表明，感知到的球迷认可、感知到的管理决策透明度以及感知到的球迷和经理之间的目标一致性对球迷的参与感知产生积极影响。构建的结果包括接受管理决策、减少与俱乐部的疏远感和积极的角色外行为。

含义：我介绍了感知粉丝参与的构建，并通过提供构建的前因和后果的框架来启动理论构建过程。管理者可以从框架中推导出影响粉丝参与感知的因素和概念的重要后果。