ABSTRACT

Although the concept of market demand has been extensively examined in the literature, most scholarly efforts have been devoted to understanding men’s spectator sports. There is scant research that investigates market demand for women’s spectator sports with a focus on gender dynamics. This study sought to fill that gap through developing a formative–formative hierarchical component model of core and peripheral market demand for a women’s professional tennis event (the Wuhan Open) and examining their differing impacts on future attendance intentions based on gender. Results derived from the importance-performance map analysis (IPMA) indicated that the most important core market demand components were player quality and economic consideration. However, only women considered game schedule important, while only men deemed venue characteristics and peripheral services important. Our study highlights the necessity and merits of deciphering market demand for women’s spectator sports in a more nuanced manner and contributes to the growing marketing literature on women’s sports fandom. Managerially, we offer practical implications per the IPMA for more effective and efficient integration of marketing initiatives.

摘要

尽管市场需求的概念已在文献中得到广泛研究，但大多数学术努力都致力于理解男子观赏性运动。很少有研究以性别动态为重点来调查女性观赏性运动的市场需求。本研究试图通过为女子职业网球赛事（武汉公开赛）开发核心和外围市场需求的形成-形成层次结构组件模型来填补这一空白，并研究它们对基于性别的未来出席意向的不同影响。重要性-绩效图分析 (IPMA) 得出的结果表明，最重要的核心市场需求组成部分是球员质量和经济考虑因素。然而，只有女性认为比赛日程很重要，而只有男性认为场地特征和周边服务很重要。我们的研究强调了以更细致的方式解读女性观赏性运动市场需求的必要性和优点，并为不断增长的女性体育迷的营销文献做出了贡献。在管理上，我们根据 IPMA 提供实际意义，以更有效和高效地整合营销计划。