Sport Consumer Behaviour

All successful marketing strategies in sport or events must take into account the complex behaviour of consumers. This book offers a complete introduction to consumer behaviour in sport and events, combining theory and cutting-edge research with practical guidance and advice to enable students and industry professionals to become more effective practitioners. Written by three of the world’s leading sports marketing academics, it covers a wide range of areas including:

• social media and digital marketing
• the segmentation of the sport consumer market
• service quality and customer satisfaction
• sport consumer personalities and attitudes
• the external and environmental factors that influence sport consumer behaviour.

These chapters are followed by a selection of international case studies on topics such as female sport fans, college sports, marathons and community engagement. The book’s companion website also provides additional resources exclusively for instructors and students, including test banks, slides and useful web links.

As the only up-to-date textbook to focus on consumer behaviour in sport and events, Sport Consumer Behaviour: Marketing Strategies offers a truly global perspective on this rapidly-growing subject. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone involved in the sport and events industries, from students and academics to professional marketers.

Daniel C. Funk is a Professor and Washburn Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Sport and Recreation Management within the School of Sport, Tourism and Hospitality Management at Temple University, USA. His research examines sport consumer experience through the investigation of internal and external factors that shape attitudes and behaviour in related industry sectors. He has been recognized as a Research Fellow for the Sport Marketing Association and the North American Society for Sport Management. Dr Funk has published articles and chapters in a variety of academic journals and textbooks and served as Editor for Sport Marketing Quarterly.

Kostas Alexandris is an Associate Professor at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He earned his PhD from the University of Manchester, UK. He was previously a faculty member of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr Alexandris has published more than 60 research articles in international academic journals and several book chapters on topics related to sport, leisure, tourism consumer behaviour and marketing. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Leisure Research and serves on the Editorial Boards of Sport Management Review, the Journal of Service Theory and Practice, Sport Marketing Quarterly, Managing Sport and Leisure and International Journal of Sport Management. He is also the editor of the book Performance Measurement and Leisure Management, published by Routledge.

Heath McDonald is Professor of Marketing and the Associate Dean in the Faculty of Business and Law at Swinburne University, Australia. He is an expert in the field of customer acquisition and retention, particularly in subscription markets. His academic research work has been published in journals in the fields of Marketing, Sport Management and Hospitality. Dr McDonald also sits on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, Sport Marketing Quarterly and Sport, Business and Management.