Consumer brand loyalty in sports dissertation

As such, this paper aimed at ascertaining the relationship that exist between customer behaviors and brand loyalty. Furthermore, this paper aimed at establishing key factors that influences the customer behaviors towards loyalty to specific brands. In order to arrive to these objectives, a systematic literature review was carried out with regard to previous studies which were undertaken on this research topic for the previous 30 years. Databases and search engines such as EBSCOHOST, SCOPUS, Science Direct and Web of science were used. In total 677 journal articles were initially retrieved, but after judging the retrieved articles against the set criteria for inclusion and exclusion only 121 articles qualified to be used for this study. The goal of the research will be focused on bridging the gap in the growing studies which focus on the effect and cause of fan loyalty.

It has its focus on motivations that trigger consumer behaviour and fan loyalty that has limited exploration. This study also aims at establishing the relationship between the customer loyalty and emotional connection to specific football clubs. The study hypothesizes that the creation of brand identity and the use of inclusive approaches plays a pivotal role in the development of customer loyalty and the existence of perfect relations. 0 Research Questions Below are the research questions that will guide the study i. This is a key aspect that deeply relates to the ability of the management team to integrate critical factors that revolve service delivery which is a critical aspect of marketing that companies need to be keen on delivering to the market.

By the same token, Amine (1998) is keen at explaining how brand loyalty plays a pivotal role in the creation of a better organisation. Most of the sports fans create brand loyalty owing to the specific teams that they support. Brand loyalty is a crucial aspect of marketing that the companies are keen on exploring to ensure that they create a large fan base. The author proceeds on to explain the reason as to why most companies sponsor most teams. The authors further asserts the dominant factors that are related to brand loyalty about the sport. This is a key factor that leads to the creation of appropriate goals. This is a basic factor that involves the creation of relevant strategy by the company to ensure that they attract all the sports fans in a specific and reliable way On the other hand, (Bagozzi, Batra, and Ahuvia, 2012), contends that comprehensively understanding consumer behaviours prior to taking any major step of marketing about the existing situation should be of utmost priority.

This is an imperative dimension that the author conveys, because consumer behaviour needs to be extensively evaluated as a tool of marketing. The relation of the issue with brand loyalty among the sports fans comes in as a crucial factor based on the fact that it could be applied to understand the key aspects of promotion that are relevant to both realms. The understanding of the target market regarding sports is a key objective that the company focuses on creating for the benefit of the wider pool of operation that would facilitate its expansion within the industrial domain. This would lead to the establishment of a perfect company name that would work for the benefit of the organisation in a wider perspective.

Moreover, Back and Parks (2013), asserted that brand loyalty is a vital factor which is created through the effective corporation of several individuals. The activity is related to the manner in which each person is anticipated to behave the moment they see, use or experience a product. The creation of brand loyalty and customer behaviour are two different concepts that require the integration of strategic factors that revolves around the creation of a clear line of operation that is entirely dependable in the manner that the society is supposed to behave. Bagozzi (2009) contended that the understanding of the consumer behaviour also involves robust analysis of the consumers in the field of sports. The need for a product may be fashioned after a fan realises the benefits that are attached to supporting a specific group of teams.

This dominant factor needs to be understood based on creating reliable tools that could be used for the proper analysis of the market within a specific industrial domain in the existing market. Furthermore, Barber and Venkatramen (2011), argues that consumer behaviour is related to brand loyalty in a specific set of manner that demands proper understanding. The activity depends on the ability of the fans to come up with a better way of identifying the two concepts within the game and team that they support. The majority of the companies have taken the initiative of using popular sports club to their advantage. The activity includes the use of t-shirt sponsoring in order to popularize their product within the market. This is a crucial component that has led to the rise of most companies which were operating within a specific line of operation.

The utilisation of the aspect leads to the success of the companies within their specific industrial domain considering the high level of completion involved. 2 The emotional connection of the fans and how it affects loyalty Fans play a crucial role in the promotion of a product in the market. The understanding of the basic issues leads to the creation of proper goals that work for the long term benefits of the company operations within the company. Besides, in reference to, Ballester and leman (2001), the authors asserts that brand loyalty is an indispensable element that can be influenced by sport organizers in the most effective manner possible. Addressing the specified needs depends on the ability of the company to come up with accurate speculative ways of relating with the fans.

In most cases, the companies take the initiative of coming up with proper ways of ensuring that they properly understand the needs of the consumers in the most comprehensive and extensive manner possible, which in turn would lead to the company accumulating more profits than expected. Therefore, the understanding of the emotional connection is vital for the success of the organisation. This is a key factor that relies on the ability of the organisation to deliver the key elements that are interrelated to quality and care. The only aspect that would lead to a broader line of operation relies on the ability of the company to come up with key ways that are related to quality and timely delivery. According to Elliott (2011), the emotional connection is created once the company delivers quality products to the target market in a specific set of the way.

The activity is heavily related to the high level of interconnection that exists between high quality and poor quality. These would be limited room for socialisation if the company delivers poor quality products to the fans and yet it uses the team to market itself. Sponsorship programmes in support of their teams have been formed to raise funds where financial constraints exist. There are extremes to which fans can go just to prove their loyalty. In most games, many have been reported to committing suicide if their teams lose. This kind of commitment boosts the team’s morale even though other may term it as obsessions. Illegally assisting the players with doping substances just before they get to the field are some of the practices known to be committed by fans.

The process requires the proper evaluation of the existing alternatives with the management of a company before coming up with the speculative decisions about the topic. This facilitates the creation of a broader topic that deeply relates with the fan base in a specific set of the way. Therefore, the understanding of the issue is necessary for the company. 3 The factors that influence consumer behaviour and customer loyalty According to Abo Ahmad, (2014), there are specific psychological factors that influence the way in which clients behave towards specific products. The comprehension of such factors are beneficial, in the sense that the company executes its activities effectively and efficiently. In particular, comprises the cultural practices of a specified markets within the industry. The cultural factors vary from region to region and from sports to sports.

These are fundamental factors that involve the proper alignment of the company’s marketing strategy with the targeted market culture and tradition. On the other hand, Burns, (2010), makes it evident that the economy of a country equally plays a vital role in this regard. The availability and demand of a product to a great extent depends on the state of economy in a given country. This is a critical issue that is related in the manner that the company operates because there are some key issues involved in the creation of proper goals and objectives. Some dominant issues are related in the manner that companies carry out their operations because there are some key issues involved in the creation of proper goals (Carrigan and Attalla, 2012).

Alternatively, the social factors lead to the development of negative attitude in the manner that they are supposed to behave because some factors limit the productivity level of companies that are related to social factors. Summary Brand loyalty is to a great extent related to how the sport organizers deliver excellent services and products to its fans consistently. This way, the fans fall in love with their brands, thus, owing their loyalty to that brand. Emotional connection between fans and a particular team is focal, this is because a significant number of consumers mostly makes decision emotionally rather than rationally. As such, sports management ensures that they understand the personal emotional needs of the fans and subsequently fashion a strategy that will elicit the intended emotions in the long-run, thus, earning long-term loyalty.

0 METHODOLOGY This chapter will spotlight on the strategic systematic reviews which were undertaken in order to substantiate the ideal articles that qualified to be used in this study. Systematic reviews grants objective summaries of works published by other researchers which relates to the present research topic. This is imperative especially in wide research arenas such as sport industry where immense volumes of publications exist. In particular, the search strategy comprises coming up with measures which will affirm that the required literature necessary to answer the research question is detected. With regard to inspecting the relevance of the retrieved documents at the climax of the search process, Wellington suggests that a researcher should first undertake a quick inspection by initially reading abstracts and titles and comparing them against the established criteria for inclusion or exclusion.

The documents that are categorized to be relevant should then be read in entirely during the second inspection. After the climax of the relevance inspection phase, the papers that have qualified for inclusion should subsequently a quality appraisal process to affirm reliability of the findings. Quality appraisal should be undertaken with regard to internal and external validity and the pertinence of the adopted data analysis methods (Bucklin, Terech and Morrison, 2009). 3 Databases and Search Engines The databases used in the process of searching for literature comprised, EBSCOHOST, SCOPUS, Web of Science and Science Direct. These databases were used on the grounds that they offer multi-disciplinary research arena, with numerous variety of peer-reviewed journals which are updated on a daily basis. Furthermore, these databases are considered to be well-established.

Diverse databases were utilized in order to affirm that all relevant literature was captured, since in some scenarios some databases omits information which could be relevant. Search engines such as Google Scholar were also used. • Subject Area For all the databases and search engines, the search was confined to the subject area of humanities and social sciences. 5 Relevance Assessment Criteria for inclusion or exclusion with regard to the retrieved journal articles was established. The focal rationale was that the relevant articles were strictly selected on the grounds that they explored on the topic customer loyalty to certain brands in the sport industry within the vicinity of United Kingdom. 1 Inclusion Criteria • The Cause for Customer Loyalty Ideal articles satisfactorily explored on the distinct reasons why customers are particularly loyal to certain brands in the sport industry within U.

K vicinity. This was so because of avoiding time wastage in the process of attempting to translate the articles from other native languages and subsequently into English language. • Geography Articles that did not explore on the sport industry within the United Kingdom vicinity were strictly excluded. • Magazines Magazines were similarly excluded from this research because a significant number of magazines reflects opinion which are not backed up by relevant statistics. 6 Search Terms Strategic key terms were formulated to enhance the search process and ensuring that the relevant literature were captured. By alluding to the 2014 Guidelines for Systematic, presented by Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (CRD). In the initial inspection process, the first batch of articles amounted to 677 articles, but after judging the articles by their titles only, against the set criteria, the total count of articles reduced to 543 articles.

In the second screening phase, the remaining 543 articles were judged on the basis of their abstract against the established criteria for inclusion and exclusion. After a thorough examination of these paper’s abstracts, at the climax of the second screening phase, 317 articles remained. Subsequently, a third screening process was undertaken during the data mining phase of the research where entire articles were screened. At the climax of the third screening phase, 163 articles were excluded, implying that 154 articles qualified for this review. This is pivotal in the sense that a researcher can easily display the information and at the same time synthesize the information. Besides, a researcher can sort out the relevant information from the irrelevant information, thus, refining the mobilized data.

It is worth noting that tools such as mind maps were employed in order to connect one theme to the other, as well as identify the predominant theme as far as the topic in question is concerned. After completing filling the data mining form, every single article was further screened to locate any other relevant information (Eelen and Verlegh, 2017). 2 Data Analysis The extracted data was subsequently assessed to address the chief research problem as well as answer the main research question and sub-question (s). Moreover, tools such as mind maps helps in establishing connection between themes (Huberman and Miles 1994). Stage 3: Data Reduction: This stage entails sorting out irrelevant data from the relevant data. At this juncture isolating data that are strategic to the study from the irrelevant is of utmost priority.

At this stage the refining of the data is also conducted (Huberman & Miles 1994). Stage 4: Conclusions: This phase comprises substantiating the prevailing and the most predominant themes that have emanated from the overall analysis and subsequently what can be Drawn. For example, a team such as Manchester City and Manchester United were observed to have fan loyalty due to their history of winning the premier league (Gomez et al. , 2017) The second theme that emanated from the systematic review was the brand differentiation. Brand differentiation denotes how well a sport team or organization distinguishes its brand in the market. In other words, how effectively it showcases its product, brand or services as unique and original in the market. Generally speaking, human beings go for what stands out from the crowd.

Apart from that, brand personalization was similarly underscored in a significant number of studies. In particular, brand personalization refers to how efficiently sport teams organizers personalizes their brands to resonate with the targeted consumers. Strategic team planers fashions their brand in such a manner that the targeted customers can have a sense of owning their brand. To accomplish this, the strategic planners mostly align their brands with the targeted audience’s culture, history, goals, tradition, religion, values or even hobbies. They leverage on this components because the clients hold them dearly. Relationship marketing implies establishing a progressive mutual relationship with the fans. This dimension is especially accomplished through the digital social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat where the sport marketing team constantly interact and engage with their fans and followers.

In case they have any question or concern then the organizers can respond to them any time. Besides, in some instances they send monthly thank you note via the emails to the fans and followers. Granting free gifts such as T-shirts, or footballs which have the team’s logo is also a strategy of cultivating mutual relationship with the fans (Jang and Olfman, 2008). Quality assurance demands that the organizations should be constantly innovating and inventing better ways of doing things (Wann , Schrade, and Wilson, 2012). Third, involvement of the consumers in diverse decision-making processes. By involving the consumers in diverse decision-making processes pertaining to the brand improvement and modification, the customers feel valued and that their opinion really counts. As a result, the customer may implicitly feel attached to that brand hence culminating to loyalty to that brand.

It is not uncommon to see surveys forwarded to the customers, seeking the opinion of the fans before modification of the brand. This assertion therefore best articulates why most organizations invest tremendously in marketing and advertising. Popularizing the brand is the ultimate goal of every organization. Some clients are loyal to certain brands simply because the brand is famous and popular (Ross, Grewal, & Puligadda, 2012). Brand Affordability as affirmed by Wood, (2004), is equally a strategic factor impacting the consumer behaviors. It is undisputable that organizations that align their brands to their targeted audiences wallet, consequently earn loyalty. In most cases this are just research report conducted by other researchers and subsequently posted in the databases prior to undergoing an intensive peer review process.

Moreover, confining the search process for ideal papers to only three databases to a certain degree could have omitted relevant papers. In the sense that, even the famous and popular databases such as EBSCOHOST, Science direct and Web of Science could not contain all the journals relevant to the study. 0 Discussion 9. 1 Answering the Research Questions From the above findings according to the systematic literature reviews carried out, it is therefore evident that consumer behaviors and particularly their loyalty to certain brands is a multi-dimensional phenomenon which needs to be approached both comprehensively and extensively because a myriad of factors needs to be put into consideration. Personalization of a brand to suit the desires of the consumers also explains why customer’s behaviors are influenced towards becoming loyal to that brand.

Intelligent marketers research comprehensively about the customer’s popular culture, traditions, religion, values, goals or even hobbies. As such, they go ahead to design the brand to be in alignment with these aspects of the customer. In doing so, the customer is indirectly persuaded to purchase the brand since it resonates with what they hold dearly. This theme therefore articulates how organizations influence the behaviors of the customers (Elliott, 2011). A significant number of customers are willing to pay whatever price provided that they get quality constantly. As such, superior teams which have massive loyalty invest substantially in terms of innovation and inventions, which guarantees that the customer get excellent quality (Stephen, Kim, & Roberts, 2003). Brand differentiation is also a key consumer behavior influencer.

This aspect refers to how efficiently a brand showcases itself in the market as a unique and original brand as compared to other alternative brands. A substantial number of consumers are on the look-out for brands that stand out from the crowd. Triggering the right emotions consistently on the consumers is vital since it determines whether they will be attached to your product in the long run. To this end, this study should be viewed as a stepping stone for other researchers who intends to explore further on the phenomenon of brand loyalty and aspects that influences customer behaviors. 0 Conclusion In conclusion, taking everything into account it is evident beyond any reasonable doubt from the above study that the relationship between customer behaviors and brand loyalty is a complex phenomenon which has diverse aspects that needs to be understood by Football clubs organizers and marketers within the vicinity of United Kingdom.

This study apparently exposed diverse aspects that influences customer behaviors towards loyalty to specific brands. In particular, these aspects in brief comprises, customer satisfaction, the degree to which a consumer is satisfied with a particular product then chances are high that they will purchase the product again and again, thus, leading to loyalty. Involvement of the consumers in the decision-making process; clubs that frequently consults on the consumers on various arenas have a high likelihood of earning loyalty because the consumers feel valued and indebted to the organization. Brand credibility, brand awareness and accessibility to the brands also emanated as vital factors facilitating loyalty. 0 Reference list 1. Abo Ahmad, R. Study of Impact of Consumer Behavior and Marketing Mix on Marketing Share for Factory of Sof Drinks.

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