Bruce Cheng

Research Objectives: The Premier League (PL) has achieved acknowledged success with respect to an established global brand nowadays. To improve the profitability in the Chinese market, the PL should build effective brand strategies promoting Chinese consumers’ cognitive and affective responses toward this sport brand in a more positive way. However, the existing measurement scales of brand equity designed for either generic or sport industries may not be fully applicable to the Chinese market of the PL. For instance, the stadium and concessions related items in Ross et al. (2008) are not relevant to the Chinese market as few Chinese consumers can attend the PL games in stadiums. On the other hand, Chinese consumers’ cultural characteristics, such as perceived esteem from groups (Filieri et al., 2019), have not been acknowledged in the existing scales. Therefore, this research aims to develop the PL brand equity measurement model which is specifically suitable to the Chinese market. Literature Review: Grounded on Keller’s (1993) concept, this study defined brand equity as Chinese consumers’ cognitive and affective responses towards the PL, encompassing brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, and social image. Firstly, brand awareness is considered fundamental in forming sport brand equity (Ross et al., 2008) and highly determines the PL clubs’ brand equity in China (Bodet & Chanavat, 2010). Secondly, brand association plays a significant role in brand equity building in the sport industries (Ross et al., 2008) and is an influential brand equity dimension in the Chinese service industries (Jung & Shen, 2011). Thirdly, Chinese consumers’ perceived quality of the PL clubs, such as on-field performance and achieved success, also determines their perception and evaluation of the clubs significantly (Bodet & Chanavat, 2010). Lastly, social image, identified by Lassar et al. (1995) and refers to perceived esteem from groups, was empirically evidenced as an important role in Chinese consumers’ evaluation of a brand (Felieri et al., 2019). Thus, brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, and social image are conceptualised as applicable to the PL brand equity measurement model. Method: 366 adult consumers of the PL in China without any restrictions on education backgrounds or genders were recruited. Outliers were identified using the Mahalanobis distance at p = .001, resulting in the elimination of 26 responses. For the instrument development, 52 items were firstly generated from existing measurement scales, such as “I am proud of being a follower of the PL” (Filieri et al., 2019; Lassar et al., 1995) or self-developed (e.g., “I am familiar with the PL teams’ Chinese nick names”). Secondly, 15 redundant and unrepresentative items were removed by expert validation and another nine items were eliminated by Q-sort analysis. As a result, a questionnaire including 28 items (seven brand awareness items, six brand association items, eight perceived quality items, and seven social image items) was prepared for a further analysis. The internal consistency of the measures using Cronbach’s alpha (>.70) and item-total correlation (> .50) was tested. Furthermore, a factor analysis was employed to confirm the initially conceptualised factor structure. In EFA, Bartlett’s test and Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin (KMO) were employed to test if the data are appropriate for EFA. Furthermore, a principal component analysis was employed to extract factors with over one eigenvalue, and a direct oblique rotation was utilised to examine the factor structure. Results: The items of brand awareness and social image were reliable with the .81 and .85 Cronbach’s alphas, respectively. However, the Cronbach’s values of brand association (.62) and perceived quality (.67) indicated that the items were not reliable enough. Thus, item-total correlations were inspected. Additional three brand association items and four perceived quality items were removed due to low item-total correlation value. A total of 21 items were retained for EFA. In EFA, the KMO statistic was .90 and the p-value of Bartlett’s test was <.001, which was appropriate for EFA. Furthermore, as proposed, a total of four components were extracted with over one eigenvalue. In the pattern matrix, all brand awareness items, three brand association items, four perceived quality items, and six social image items loaded on proposed components. One cross-loading social image item was eliminated. Conclusions: The EFA revealed seven brand awareness items, three brand association items, four perceived quality items, and six social image items were acceptable. Furthermore, the contents of the retained brand association and perceived quality items were narrower than their definitions, which requires further clarifications of the definitions and new item generations. This study provides an insight into Chinese consumers’ cognition and affection towards the PL. Based on the EFA results, further revisions on the factor structures and the measures will be carried out and tested by another EFA, followed by a confirmatory factor analysis. The full scale development procedures will be presented at the conference.

Research Objectives: Given the Premier League’s global market expansion efforts and the growing significance of China as a pivotal emerging sport market, understanding how the league cultivates customer relationship quality (CRQ) and its impact on consumers’ behaviours within the Chinese market become imperative for its international marketing endeavours. However, these aspects remain inadequately explored in sport marketing literature. Currently, social media has emerged as a powerful communication channel in individuals’ daily lives, providing a compelling avenue for fostering relationships between firms and consumers (Seo & Park, 2018). Consumers’ perception about social media marketing activities (SMMA) has been empirically shown as a significant antecedent of CRQ in various industries (e.g., luxury industries, Kim & Ko, 2010), yet this path remains unexplored in the sport context. Furthermore, consumers’ intention to generate word-of-mouth (WOM) plays a crucial role in expanding inexperienced consumers, thereby enhancing the prospects for international marketing expansions for sport organisations (Palmatier et al., 2006). Therefore, aiming to bridge the research gaps concerning the establishment and impact of CRQ in external sport markets, this study is designed to examine the mediation effect of the Premier League’s CRQ in the relationship between perceived SMMA and WOM intention among Chinese consumers. Literature Review: The stimulus-organism-response theory (Jacoby, 2002) serves as the theoretical underpinning for the structural framework, wherein perceived SMMA and WOM intention are considered as the antecedent and consequence of CRQ, respectively. Palmatier et al. (2006) defined CRQ as “an overall assessment of the strength of a relationship and is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct that captures the many different facets of an exchange relationship” (p. 139). As proposed by Kim and Trail (2011), CRQ comprises trust, commitment, intimacy, identification, and reciprocity. Drawing upon Yadav and Rahman (2017), perceived SMMA can be defined as Chinese consumers’ perceptions about various marketing activities on social media platforms generated by the Premier League, encompassing interactivity, informativeness, personalisation, and trendiness in this study. Grounded on empirical literature (e.g., Kim & Ko, 2010), the positive associations between perceived SMMA and the CRQ dimensions were hypothesised. Moreover, in alignment with Palmatier et al. (2006), WOM intention was identified as a consequence of CRQ, thus hypothesising relationships between the CRQ dimensions and WOM intention. Consequently, the hypothetical pathways linking perceived SMMA, five CRQ dimensions and WOM intention were developed, leading to the formulation of 10 hypotheses. Method: The research population consisted of Chinese consumers with prior consumption experience of products affiliated with the league (e.g., streaming membership). A total of 502 respondents were recruited. The measurement items of perceived SMMA and CRQ were adapted from Yadav and Rahman (2017) and Kim and Trail (2011), respectively. The items measuring WOM intention were borrowed from Harrison-Walker (2001) and Hightower et al. (2002). A structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed for assessing the hypotheses, and the indirect effects were evaluated by the bootstrapping procedure. Results: Five responses, exhibiting Mahalanobis distance p-values below .001, were identified as outliers and subsequently removed. The first extracted factor explained 34.42% of total variance, indicating absence of common method bias. The SEM exhibited acceptable model fit indices with χ²/dƒ = 1.32, CFI = .98, TLI = .98, RMSEA = .03, and SRMR = .05. The composite reliability values of all constructs fell within the range between .82 to .85, ensuring reliability of the measures. Convergent validity was also achieved; the AVE values ranging from .52 to .65 and the individual factor loadings ranging from .72 to .82 met their criteria of .50 and .70 cutoffs (Hair et al., 2019). Furthermore, the square root of each construct’s AVE value exceeded its correlation with other constructs, confirming discriminant validity (Hair et al., 2019). The path analysis failed to support one hypothesis while supporting the remaining nine hypotheses at p = .05. Specifically, the SEM revealed the significant associations between perceived SMMA and all five CRQ dimensions. Among the CRQ dimensions, consumers’ trust, commitment, intimacy, and reciprocity with the Premier League were positively linked to their WOM intention. However, the association between identification and WOM intention was found to be statistically insignificant. The indirect effects of perceived SMMA on WOM intention through trust, commitment, intimacy, and reciprocity were found to be significant as 95% confidence intervals did not include zero. The indirect effect through identification was insignificant. Conclusions: This study emphasises the effectiveness of perceived SMMA as a viable strategy for nurturing the Premier League’s CRQ in the Chinese market. Furthermore, Chinese consumers demonstrating higher levels of trust, commitment, intimacy, and reciprocity towards the activities are more likely to generate positive WOM communications. This study makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the factors surrounding the Premier League’s CRQ among Chinese consumers. Practically, this study provides practitioners within the league with a comprehensive understanding to develop robust CRQ and drive further marketing expansion in the Chinese market.

Research Objectives: Despite the acknowledged pivotal role of brand equity for sport organisations, there remains an unexplored understanding of the Premier League’s brand equity cultivation and its subsequent influence on consumers’ behaviours in its overseas markets. Given the effectiveness of brand communication in shaping brand equity in international markets and the influence of brand equity on consumers’ key behaviour responses, such as repeat purchase intention, word-of-mouth (WOM) intention, and willingness to pay premium price, this study endeavours to explore the mediation effect of the Premier League’s brand equity in the relationships between its brand communication and the three consumers’ behavioural responses in the Chinese market. Literature Review: Grounded on the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) theory (Jacoby, 2002), this study identified brand communication as the stimulus and brand equity as the organism, with repeat purchase intention, WOM intention, and willingness to pay premium price representing the responses. Brand equity in this study refers to Chinese consumers’ cognitive and affective responses toward the Premier League, incorporating four dimensions proposed by Cheng et al. (2023): brand awareness, social image, perceived customer orientation, and perceived player quality. Following Gunawan et al. (2023), brand communication is composed of one-way and two-way dimensions. Specifically, one-way communication refers to communications fully generated and controlled by the Premier League, aim at providing information without requiring additional interactions with Chinese consumers. Two-way communication refers to interactive communications originating from the Premier League to foster interactions between the Premier League and Chinese consumers. In accordance with the SOR framework and relevant literature (e.g., Kim & Ko, 2012), both one-way and two-way brand communication were proposed as antecedents of brand equity, with hypothesised associations with brand equity dimensions. Furthermore, drawing upon empirical evidence across various contexts, such as athletes’ brand (Park et al., 2019) and US college sport (Alexander & Kern, 2009), this study assumed the associations among brand equity dimensions and repeat purchase intention, WOM intention, and willingness to pay premium price. Consequently, a total of 20 hypothetical associations among brand communication, brand equity, and consumers’ behavioural outcomes were developed. Method: This research gathered data from 550 Chinese consumers of the Premier League. The measurement items for the constructs in the structural model were adapted from existing studies (e.g., Cheng et al., 2023; Kim & Ko, 2012; Park et al., 2019) and self-developed. Following Anderson and Gerbing’s (1988) two-step approach, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to confirm the psychometric properties of the measurement model, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was utilised to assess the hypotheses. Additionally, the indirect effects were evaluated by the bootstrapping procedure. Results: A total of 37 responses with a Mahalanobis Distance p-value below .001 were identified as outliers and removed. Common method variance was assessed using Harman’s (1976) single-factor test and Liang et al.’s (2007) common method factor technique. They did not reveal a significant concern. The CFA result showed the acceptable model fit of the model (χ²/dƒ = 1.77, CFI = .95, TLI = .94, RMSEA = .04, SRMR = .04; Hair et al., 2019). The composite reliability values of all constructs ranged from .86 to .92 (> .70; Hair et al., 2019). Five items were removed due to the low factor loadings below .707 (Hair et al., 2019), leaving 46 items remained. The AVE values of constructs ranged from .53 to .68 (> .50; Hair et al., 2019), supporting convergent validity. The correlations between any two constructs were lower than the square root of the AVE value of each construct, confirming discriminant validity. SEM also evidenced the good model fit (χ²/dƒ = 2.02, CFI = .94, TLI = .93, RMSEA = .05, SRMR = .06; Hair et al., 2019). A path analysis supported 17 out of 20 hypotheses at p = .05. Specifically, two-way communication presented significant associations with all four brand equity dimensions, while one-way communication was significantly associated with brand awareness, perceived customer orientation, and perceived player quality. For consequences, the associations between perceived customer orientation and WOM intention, and perceived player quality and willingness to pay premium price were found insignificant. Nonetheless, all the other relationships between brand equity dimensions and three behavioural consequences were significant. Additionally, 16 out of 24 indirect effects were statistically significant, with no zero between the 95% confidence intervals. Conclusions: This study makes a substantial contribution by shedding light on the process of building the Premier League’s brand equity through brand communication and elucidating its effects on Chinese consumers’ various behaviours. This study holds theoretical significance by addressing the limitations in understanding the formation of the Premier League’s brand equity through multiple brand communications and its subsequent impact on consumers’ behaviours in the Chinese market. From a practical standpoint, this study provides practitioners with a comprehensive guidance for brand management and market expansion within the dynamic landscape of the Chinese sport market.

Research Objectives: The growing marketing revenues and consumer engagement evidenced the emergency of esports. Unlike traditional sports, esports blurs the boundaries between consumers’ active participation and spectatorship (Jang et al., 2021), encompassing the broader conceptualisation of esports participation (e.g., playing, spectating, and consuming) as a determinant of consumers’ wellbeing. While physical sports literature has evidenced the relationships between consumers’ spectating (Inoue et al., 2017), playing (Kim & James, 2019), and consumption (Su et al., 2022) with their wellbeing, these relationships within esports contexts have been neglected. Especially, given esports’ pronounced online interaction and leisure and entertainment orientation (Funk et al., 2018; Jang et al., 2021), examining its association with wellbeing extends digital leisure research beyond traditional paradigms. Particularly, this study aims at answering the research question: whether esports spectators’ participation has predictive relationship with wellbeing? Literature Review: The Self-determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000) indicated that people’s satisfactions in their needs in competence, autonomy, and relatedness are effective in enhancing their wellbeing, thereby serving as the theoretical underpinning of this research and linking esports consumers’ participation and wellbeing. In this research contexts, esports consumers’ wellbeing is conceptualised as a multidimensional construct comprising hedonic, eudaimonic, and social wellbeing (Kim et al., 2017). Specifically, according to Kim et al. (2017), hedonic, eudaimonic, and social wellbeing refer to consumers’ perceived fulfilment of their needs of happiness and delight, personal growth and self-actualisation, and social relations respectively. Inoue et al. (2024) reported the association between physical sport activities and people’s hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing. Moreover, Inoue et al. (2017) also addressed that spectating sport events was significantly associated with spectators’ hedonic wellbeing. Beyond playing and spectating activities, Su et al. (2022) addressed the positive influence of consumption involvement on consumers’ psychological wellbeing. Hence, this research hypothesised the relationship between esports participation and wellbeing accordingly. Method: Following Inoue et al. (2017), this study adopts a two-wave design, collecting data at T1 (baseline) and T2 (one week later), during which a major esports event occurred. This study collects data from online esports communities, covering diverse esports games (e.g., HOK, CS2, and Valorant), using both convenience and snowball sampling strategies. Participants should over 18 and have experience in playing, watching, and consuming esports. Voluntary responses were gathered via an initial questionnaire (T1), with a follow-up questionnaire delivered directly at T2. In the questionnaires, esports participation was assessed with three items: weekly hours playing, hours watching, and money spent (Jang et al., 2021). The wellbeing measurements are adapted from valid scales in literature (e.g., Gordon et al., 2025; Inoue et al., 2017; Yamashita & Muneda, 2021) and modified according to this research contexts. At T1, participants provided demographic details (e.g., gender, age, education, income, marital status) and T1 wellbeing as control variables, alongside T1 participation as the primary predictor. At T2, participants are required to provide their response regarding their wellbeing as dependent variable (T2 wellbeing), and their esports participation since T1 to T2 (T2 participation) as an additional predictor. Random question order will be utilised in T2 questionnaire to decrease the impact of recall bias, response fatigue, and order effects. To address the specific aim of this study, Hierarchical regression analysis will examine the predictive relationship between e-sports participation and T2 wellbeing. Results: The data collection of this study is ongoing, with findings to be presented at the conference. Firstly, preliminary analysis examines the normal distribution, common method bias, and identify outliers (e.g., excessive gamers and spectators). Moreover, this research examines the reliability and validity of the wellbeing scales with Cronbach’s α value and confirmatory factor analysis respectively. Moreover, pilot-test is also utilised to examine the acquaintance of using one-week as the timeframe and the essentialness of an additional T3 post-game (a longer-term later) data collection. After the pilot-test, the Model 1, as the baseline model, includes T1 wellbeing and demographic controls as predictors of T2 wellbeing, with variance explained and coefficients to be computed. The Model 2 incorporates T1 participation, expected to yield a significant increase in variance explained (∆R₁², p ≤ .05). In addition to Model 2, the Model 3 adds T2 participation, anticipated to further enhance variance explained (∆R₂², p ≤ .05), indicating that event-period participation contributes to T2 wellbeing beyond T1 effects. Conclusions: By a two-wave study design, this research reveals the predictive relationship between esports participation and consumers’ wellbeing, advancing the limited understanding of determining consumer wellbeing through participants in esports. Furthermore, this research serves as the foundation of further research, examining the associations between spectatorship experiences and consumers’ wellbeing, utilising Structural Equation Modelling and considering spectator type, game categories, cross-cultural and national backgrounds, and demographic backgrounds as control or moderator variables.

Despite the popular investigation of brand equity in team sport and domestic markets, few studies have provided insight into sport brand equity at a league level and in international markets. This paper is dedicated to the development and empirical validation of a brand equity measurement scale tailored for the Premier League in the Chinese market. A multidimensional measurement model for the leagues brand equity was conceptualized. Using two sample sets from Chinese consumers of the league, the proposed measurement scale was tested by exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. As a result, a sound measurement scale comprising four brand equity dimensions, underpinning by 24 items, was proposed. This paper extends existing knowledge by presenting empirical support for the measurement model for brand equity of the Premier League in the Chinese market.

Research Questions: To enhance the Premier League’s expansion into external markets amidst growing competition, it is essential to understand how marketing strategies shape its brand equity and subsequently determine satellite fan behaviours. This research specifically examines the associations among the Premier League’s brand communication strategies, brand equity, and three key consumer behaviours, repeat purchase intention, Word-of-Mouth (WOM) intention, and willingness to pay premium price in the Chinese market. Research Methods: Data were collected from 550 Chinese Premier League consumers. The proposed relationships among the constructs were examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM). Results and Findings: Findings of the structural model revealed significant associations between one-way communication and brand awareness, perceived customer orientation, and perceived player quality. Two-way communication was significantly associated with all brand equity dimensions. Regarding consequences, except the associations between perceived customer orientation and WOM intention, and perceived player quality and willingness to pay premium price, all other proposed relationships were supported as significant. Implications: This research contributes to the underexplored relationships among brand communication, brand equity, and consumer behaviours in sport industries in China, thereby successfully addressing the research gaps. Practically, this research provides practitioners with a comprehensive picture of building brand equity through effective and multiple communications and enhancing marketing performance through brand equity management.

Purpose: In order to maintain the Premier League’s sustainable profitability and marketing success in the Chinese market, an understanding of cultivating the league’s consumer relationship quality (CRQ) and the subsequent relationship with consumer behaviours is invaluable. Given the essential role of social media in bridging firms and consumers and the benefits of communication across consumers in marketing expansion, this research investigated the associations among consumers’ perceived social media marketing activities (SMMA), CRQ, and word-of-mouth (WOM) intention of the Premier League in the Chinese market. Methodology: This research collected data from 502 Chinese consumers of the Premier League. The assumed structural model was examined utilising confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM). Findings: As the result, this research revealed the significant relationships between the Premier League’s perceived SMMA and all CRQ dimensions, which in turn were all significantly associated with WOM intention among Chinese consumers. Originality: This research successfully contributes to the underexplored cultivation of CRQ through perceived SMMA and its consequential association with consumers’ WOM intention among satellite fans, with empirical evidence of the Premier League within the Chinese market. For practitioners within the league, this research presents a robust framework to building and strengthening their relationship with Chinese consumers and further enhancing their marketing performance within the Chinese market.

Purpose The sport industry is being confronted by global social and environmental crises. While much is known about the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) movement in addressing such issues, much less is known about sport B Corps (SBCs). Drawing on concepts of conscious consumption and green marketing, this study aims to critically investigate how SBCs pursue change through their commercial offerings. Design/methodology/approach The study uses an instrumental case study design. Publicly available qualitative data from a sample of 124 global SBCs was analyzed using a reflexive and iterative thematic analysis to identify their core strategies and narratives of change. Findings The results show that SBCs attempt to promote a model of “change consumption”, an activist approach where consumers participate in their socio-ecological mission, moving beyond passive conscious consumption. This is achieved through two key mechanisms: embedding circular economy principles (e.g. takeback programs, rentals) into their operations, and promoting “lifestyles of change” where sport products bridge to everyday sustainable habits. However, the analysis also reveals significant tensions, particularly regarding the accessibility and privilege associated with these premium products and lifestyles. Originality/value This study offers a novel framework of “change consumption” to forge a critical dialogue between for-profit businesses and the nonprofit SDP sector. This study illustrates the ethical tensions of accessibility and privilege in SBCs, offering a nuanced theory of market-driven social change through sport.