TY - JOUR
T1 - Fan centricity of German soccer teams
T2 - exploring the construct and its consequences
AU - Schmidt, Siemen
AU - Koenigstorfer, Joerg
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - The goal of the present study is to conceptualize fan centricity and explore its consequences. The study focuses on German soccer teams and used in-depth interviews with 26 experts and inductive coding procedures to categorize the experts’ opinions on defining the construct and on perceived consequences. Based on the results, fan centricity is defined as an organization’s strategic and operational focus on the establishment and maintenance of relationships with fans in a reciprocal sense. Seven categories describe fan centricity: identification and segmentation of fans; fan involvement in decision-making; facilitation of extra-role behaviour; communication and mediation; optimization of fan experience; facilitation of fan influence on organizational and soccer-related changes; and adaptation of modus operandi. Two broad themes have been identified: process-related components as well as organizational and societal components. The construct has a variety of consequences (e.g. for the teams’ operating models), as revealed by the interviews.
AB - The goal of the present study is to conceptualize fan centricity and explore its consequences. The study focuses on German soccer teams and used in-depth interviews with 26 experts and inductive coding procedures to categorize the experts’ opinions on defining the construct and on perceived consequences. Based on the results, fan centricity is defined as an organization’s strategic and operational focus on the establishment and maintenance of relationships with fans in a reciprocal sense. Seven categories describe fan centricity: identification and segmentation of fans; fan involvement in decision-making; facilitation of extra-role behaviour; communication and mediation; optimization of fan experience; facilitation of fan influence on organizational and soccer-related changes; and adaptation of modus operandi. Two broad themes have been identified: process-related components as well as organizational and societal components. The construct has a variety of consequences (e.g. for the teams’ operating models), as revealed by the interviews.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105137177&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/14660970.2021.1915780
DO - 10.1080/14660970.2021.1915780
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85105137177
SN - 1466-0970
VL - 23
SP - 89
EP - 103
JO - Soccer and Society
JF - Soccer and Society
IS - 1
ER -