Football Fans' Constrasting Motivations: China, S.Korea, and the USA

Abstract

When trying to newly exercise a traditional culture-bound business model in a different country with a different history, sometimes the consumer motivations and new cultures may require the entrepreneur to develop different approaches. The purpose of this study is to determine empirically the attendance motivation for soccer games of Korean and Chinese college fans based on Kelman’s functional theory of attitudinal motivation, and to contrast them with USA college football fans’ motives. This research, utilizing Kahle et al.’s (1996, 2012) research scale, surveyed 137 and 116 college students in several major cities of China and S.Korean, respectively. Path analyses reveal that the attendance motivations of Chinese and Korean fans are different from those motives of USA college football fans, as well as each other; Chinese fans are primarily motivated by self-defining experience, and obligation is the strong motivation for Korean fans. Multiple linear regression analyses also suggest gender differences. Marketing implications for sports marketers and international entrepreneurs were discussed. In China sports marketers should facilitate basking in reflected glory when the opportunities arise. Korea’s sport marketers could attract more fans to attend the game via catering to the needs of a group of consumers or appealing to group identities.