Perceived Brand Equity in Professional Sports Teams: A Zimbabwean Consumers’Perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18034/abr.v5i3.65Keywords:
Perceived Brand Equity, Brand Awareness, Brand Associations, Antecedents of Brand Equity, Brand Equity Dimensions, Market ConsequencesAbstract
The study explored the antecedents, dimensions and market consequences of the brand perceptions held by Zimbabwean consumers for professional football teams and developed a strategic brand management framework that can bridge existing practical and theoretical knowledge gaps in the management of sports brands in the country. The study was grounded on the exploratory sequential mixed methods research design. In the qualitative strand of the study, data was collected by means of such qualitative data collection procedures as, free-thought listing, semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The findings from the qualitative phase were used to generate data collection instruments for questionnaire survey and assess the overall prevalence of the variables that were identified in the first phase from a large number of users of football brands. The NVivo 10 and SPSS version 21.0 software packages were used to analyze qualitative and quantitative data, respectively. The study identified and classified the antecedents of brand perceptions held by Zimbabwean consumers for professional sports teams into consumption experience-trigged antecedents, significant others-triggered antecedents and sports entity-triggered antecedents. The results show that fan loyalty trends for local professional football teams function in tandem with the ethnic identity systems in the country. However, the globalization of football has led to the dilution of national particularities in the game. The findings support the conceptualization of perceived brand equity in as an aggregate of brand awareness and brand associations. Zimbabwean consumers of football brands perceived European professional football teams as the market leaders in their brand category .South African professional football teams were ranked second and Zimbabwean professional football teams were positioned at the bottom of the brand leadership rankings in the minds of Zimbabwean consumers of football brands. The study illustrated how the brand the perceptions held by Zimbabwean corporate and individual consumers for professional football teams have generated negative and positive market consequences.
Downloads
References
Aaker, D. A. (1991) Managing brand equity: Capitalizing on the value of a brand name. New York: The Free Press.
Aaker, D. A. (1996) Measuring brand equity across products and markets. California Management Review, 38(3) pp. 102-120.
Aaker, D.A. and Joachimsthaler, E. (2000), Brand Leadership. New York: Free Press.
Andreff, W and Staudohar, P.D. (2002), European and USA Sports Business Models. In: Barros, C.P., Ibrahmo, M and Szymaski, S. (eds.), Transatlantic Sport: The comparative economics of North American and European Sports, Great Britain: Biddle Ltd, pp. 23-49.
Arai, A., Ko, Y.J. and Kaplanidou, K. (2013) Athlete brand image: scale development and model test. European Sport Management Quarterly, 13 (4), pp. 383-403.
Bauer, H. H., Sauer, N. E. and Schmit T, P. (2005) Customer-based brand equity in the team sport industry: Operationalization and impact on the economic success of sport teams. European Journal of Marketing, 39(5/6), pp. 496-515.
Bauer, H.H., Stokburger-Sauer, N.E. and Exler, S. (2008) Brand image and fan loyalty in professional team sport: A refined model and empirical assessment. Journal of Sport, 22, pp. 205-226.
Bodet, G and Chanavat, N. (2010) Building global football brand equity: Lessons from the Chinese market.Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, .22 (1), pp. 55–66.
Chanavat, N. and and Bodet, G. (2009) Internationalisation and Sport Branding Strategy: A French Perception of the Big Four Brands, Qualitative Market Research: an International Journal, 12(4), pp. 460-481.
Charumbira, L.T. (2013) The Philosophical and Methodological Approaches Used by Sport and Business Management Student Researchers in Zimbabwe. Global Journal of Commerce and Management Perspective, 2(6), pp.51-56.
Charumbira, L.T. (2014) Strategic Management in Zimbabwean Profit and Non-profit Organizations: Identifying the Missing Tools in the Strategy Implementation Kit Bag.Asian Business Review, 4 (3) pp.7-13.
Charumbira, L.T. (2014) The Perceived Brand Equity of the 2013 Zimbabwe Universities Sports Association Games. Global Journal of Commerce and Management Perspective, 3 (1), pp.82-9.
Charumbira, L.T. (2014), ‘The Effectiveness of the Sports Marketing Strategies Used by Zimbabwean Collegiate Sports Federations’. International Journal of Marketing and Business Communication. vol.3, number 3/4 . pp. 66-75.
Charumbira, L.T. and Charumbira, J. (2015) The Use of Sports Sponsorship as a Brand Equity Building Tool by Zimbabwean Companies. Global Journal of Commerce and Management Perspective, 4(4) pp.19-25.
Collins, K. M.T. and Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2007) A Typology of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social Science Research.The Qualitative Report, 12(2), pp.281-316.
Couvelaere, V. and Richelieu, A. (2005) Brand strategy in professional sports: The case of four French soccer teams. European Sport Management Quarterly, 5(1), pp.23-46.
Creswell, J. W. and Plano Clark, V. L. (2011) Designing and conducting mixed methods research, 2nd Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Dall’Olmo Riley, F. (2009) Editor's introduction: brand management. In: Dall'Olmo Riley, F. (ed.), Brand management. London: Sage Publications.
Deloitte (2013), Football Money League. Sport Business Group. United Kingdom: Deloitte LLP.
Deloitte (2014), Football Money League. Sport Business Group. United Kingdom: Deloitte LLP.
Deloitte (2015), Football Money League. Sport Business Group. United Kingdom: Deloitte LLP.
Desbordes, M. (2007) Introduction: new directions for marketing in football. In Desbordes, M. (ed.) Marketing and Football: An International Perspective. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Dolles, H. and Solderman, S. (2008),Mega-sporting events in Asia-impacts on society, business and management: an introduction. Asian Business and Management, 7, pp. 147-62.
Erdem, T. and Swait, J. (2004) Brand Credibility, Brand Consideration, and Choice. Journal of Consumer Research, 31(1) pp.191-198.
Gladden, J.; Milne, GR. and Sutton, W. (1998) A Conceptual Framework for Assessing Brand Equity in Division I Athletics.Journal of Sports Management, 12(1), pp. 1-19.
Gladden, J.M. and Funk, D.C. (2002) Developing an understanding of brand associations in team Sport: Empirical evidence from consumers of professional sport. Journal of Sport Management, 16, pp 54-81.
Gladden, J.M. and Milne, G.R. (1999) Examining the Importance of Brand Equity in Professional Sport. Sports Marketing Quarterly 8(1), pp.54-81.
Griffin, A. and Hauser, J.R. (1992) Patterns of Communication among Marketing, Engineering, and Manufacturing- A Comparison between Two New Product Teams. Management Science, 38, pp. 360-373.
Guest, G., Bunce, A. And Johnson, L. (2006) How many interviews are enough? , 52 (2), pp.224-235.
Higgins. A. (2006) Brand Equity and College Athletics: Investigating the Effects of Brand Uncertainty Situations on Consumer-based Brand Equity. Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfilment for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State. USA: Ohio State University.
Kaynak, E., Salman, G. G. and Tatoglu, E. (2008) An integrative framework linking brand associations and brand loyalty in Professional sports.Journal of Brand Management, 15, 336-357.
Keller, K. L. (1993), ‘Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Managing Customer-Based Brand Equity’.Journal of Marketing, .57(1), pp.1-22.
Keller, K.L. (1998) Strategic brand management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Keller, K.L. (2001) Building Customer-based Brand Equity. Marketing Journal of Consumer Research Management, 10(2), pp.14-19.
Keller, K.L. (2003) Brand Synthesis: The multidimensionality of brand knowledge. Journal of Consumer Research.29, March., pp.595-600.
Keller, K.L. (2006) Branding and Brand Equity. In: Weitz, B. and Wensley, R. (eds.), Handbook of Marketing, London: Sage Publications.
Keller, K.L. (2008) Strategic Brand Management, 3rd Ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Keller, K.L. and Lehmann, D.R. (2003) How Do Brands Create Value?’ Marketing Management, 12, May/June, pp.26-31.
Keller, K.L. and Lehmann, D.R. (2006) Brands and Branding: Research Findingsand Future Priorities. Marketing Science, 25(6), pp. 740-759.
Kerr, A. and Gladden, J. M. (2008) Extending the understanding of professional team brand equity to the global marketplace. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 3(1/2.)Pp.58-77.
Kotler, P. Pfoertsch, W (2006) B2B brand management, Berlin, Springer.
Kunkel, T., Funk, D. and King, C. (2014) Developing a Conceptual Understanding of Consumer-Based League Brand Associations. Journal of Sports Management, 28 (1), pp.49-67.
Langford, B.E., Schoenfeld, G. and Izzo, G. (2002) nominalgrouping sessions versus focus groups. Qualitative Market Research., 5, pp.58-70. Madeiro, G. (2007) Sports and Power: Globalisation and Merchandising on the Soccer World. Society and Business Review, 2(3), pp.287-298.
Naik, A.Y. and Gupta, A. (2013) Illuminating Viewer-Based Brand Equity in Sports ,International Journal of Engineering and Management Sciences ,4(2) ,pp.160-172.
Neale, L.G. (2007) Toward a Better Understanding of Uncommon Loyalty: An Application in Sport. Thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Marketing) at the University of Western Australia, School of Economics and Commerce, Australia: University of Western Australia.
Neuman, L. W. (2003) Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches 5th Ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Neuman, L.W. (2004) Basics of Social Research: Qualitative and quantitative approaches: Boston: Pearson Education.
Neumeier, M. (2003) The brand gap: How to bridge the distance between business strategy and design. Berkeley, CA: New Riders.
Onwuegbuzie, A. J. and Teddlie, C. (2003) A framework for analysing data in mixed methods research. In: Tashakkori, A. and Teddlie, C. (eds.), Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioural research, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp.351-383.
Onwuegbuzie, A. J., Dickinson, W. B., Leech, N. L. and Zoran, A. G. (2009) A qualitative framework for collecting and analyzing data in focus group research. International Journal of qualitative Methods, .8(3), pp.1-21.
Onwuegbuzie, A.J and Collins, K.M. (2007) A Typology of Mixed Methods Sampling Designs in Social Science Research. The Qualitative Report, 2(2), pp.281-316.
Ries, A. and Ries, L. (1998) The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding: How to build a product or service into a world-class brand. New York: HarperCollins.
Ross, S. (2006) A conceptual framework for understanding spectator-based brand equity. Journal of Sport Management, 20(1), pp. 22-38.
Ross, S., James, J. and Vargas, P. (2006) Development of a scale to measure team brand associations in professional sport. Journal of Sport Management, 20 (2) pp. 260-279.
Ross, S., Russell, K. and Bang, H. (2008) An empirical assessment of spectator-based brand equity.Journal of Sport Management, 22(3), pp.322-337.
Ross, S., Walsh, P. and Maxwell, H. (2009) The impact of team identification on ice hockey brand associations. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 5 (1/2), pp. 196-210.
Trail, G., Fink, J. and Anderson, D. (2002) Environmental factors associated with spectator attendance and sport consumption behaviour: Gender and team differences. Sport Marketing quarterly. 11 (1), pp.8-19.
Wann, D.L., Tucker, K.B. and Schrader, M.P. (1996) An exploratory examination of the factors influencing the origination, continuation, and cessation of identification with sports.
Winters, L.C. (1991) Brand Equity Measures: Some Recent Advances’.Marketing Research, 3 (4), pp.70-73.
Wright, G. (1999) The Impact of Globalization. New Political Economy. 4(2), pp124-141.
--0--
Published
Issue
Section
License
Asian Business Review is an Open Access journal. Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of their work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal. We require authors to inform us of any instances of re-publication.
How to Cite
