The Role of Brand and Fan Personalities in Building Fan-Brand Relationships

Abstract

Football fans are consumers with special relationship with their favourite teams. Consumer-brand relationship is unique and ultimate in football context. However, the absence of these relationships is mainly due to a lack of communication and interaction. This research aims to investigate the impact of brand personality and fan personality on fan- brand relationships. Mixed methods were conducted that employed in-depth personal interviews with football professionals and fans to gain better insights regarding consumer-brand relationships and to develop a conceptual framework and research hypotheses. Then, a quantitative phase has been followed to test these hypotheses. 471 valid questionnaires were collected through a non-probability convenience sampling technique from Egyptian football fans. The findings have shown that brand personality and fan personality have a positive impact on each of interdependence, commitment, partner quality, self-connection, nostalgic attachment, intimacy as consumer-brand relationship dimensions in the football context.