TY - JOUR
T1 - Segmenting the collegiate football game spectator
T2 - a cluster analysis approach
AU - Kim, Young Hoon
AU - Duncan, Jen L.
AU - Jai, Tun Min (Catherine)
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
PY - 2016/3/14
Y1 - 2016/3/14
N2 - Purpose – The purposes of this paper is to segment spectators of collegiate football game using a cluster analysis and to determine differences between spectator clusters based on motivations, satisfaction, and demographic characteristics. Design/methodology/approach – A survey instrument was utilized, and a total of 407 usable data were gathered through a convenience sampling method at a main campus in the Southern USA. A discriminant analysis was employed to create cluster profiles including demographic variables not previously included in the clustering procedure. Cluster analysis is a procedure used to determine best group segmentation. Findings – Through a factor-cluster analysis, two distinct groups are identified as attendees of collegiate football games: far-away fans and seasoned sideliners. Knowing the different spectators in event attendance allows marketers of collegiate sport events to effectively target segments and attract larger numbers of visitors to each event. Although the results indicated lower satisfaction with the far-away fans cluster, they are nonetheless spending their money at these events. A concerted effort to better welcome tourists that are supporting the visiting team may help boost their image of the local community and thus increase their spending level. Originality/value – The current study adds to the literature on sport event research, while providing great insight for researchers and practitioners how to segment their target market. Therefore, it is believed that the results of the present study will help future researchers and industry practitioners make use of the implications and findings to broaden their knowledge about sport marketing.
AB - Purpose – The purposes of this paper is to segment spectators of collegiate football game using a cluster analysis and to determine differences between spectator clusters based on motivations, satisfaction, and demographic characteristics. Design/methodology/approach – A survey instrument was utilized, and a total of 407 usable data were gathered through a convenience sampling method at a main campus in the Southern USA. A discriminant analysis was employed to create cluster profiles including demographic variables not previously included in the clustering procedure. Cluster analysis is a procedure used to determine best group segmentation. Findings – Through a factor-cluster analysis, two distinct groups are identified as attendees of collegiate football games: far-away fans and seasoned sideliners. Knowing the different spectators in event attendance allows marketers of collegiate sport events to effectively target segments and attract larger numbers of visitors to each event. Although the results indicated lower satisfaction with the far-away fans cluster, they are nonetheless spending their money at these events. A concerted effort to better welcome tourists that are supporting the visiting team may help boost their image of the local community and thus increase their spending level. Originality/value – The current study adds to the literature on sport event research, while providing great insight for researchers and practitioners how to segment their target market. Therefore, it is believed that the results of the present study will help future researchers and industry practitioners make use of the implications and findings to broaden their knowledge about sport marketing.
KW - Cluster analysis
KW - Collegiate sports
KW - Segmentation
KW - Sport event tourism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84959505822&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/SBM-04-2014-0017
DO - 10.1108/SBM-04-2014-0017
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84959505822
SN - 2042-6798
VL - 6
SP - 76
EP - 96
JO - Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal
JF - Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal
IS - 1
ER -