INFLUENCE OF FAN IDENTIFICATION AND PERCEIVED GROUP NORMS ON FANS' PURCHASING INTENTIONS TOWARDS CURRENT AND FORMER FOOTBALL CLUB SPONSOR

Sports, due to its publicity and social role is an exceptional channel for sponsorship activities. In addition to marketing of sports, goal of sports marketing is marketing through sports. This paper explores changes in fans’ buying intentions toward current and former sponsors when a change of a football club’s main sponsor occurs. Additionally, the role of fan identification and perceived group norms on purchasing intentions is explored. The research was conducted on a sample of 370 respondents. The results of hierarchical regression analysis show that fan identification and perceived group norms are significant predictors of purchasing intentions. Higher values of the Fan Identification and the Perceived Group Norms (PGN) indexes are related to the more pronounced intention to buy more often with the current and less often with the former sponsor. The research confirms the mediating role of PGN in relation to the HFI index and purchase intentions. This work contributes to knowledge by providing insights into the dynamics of fans’ purchase intentions in the specific situation of sponsor change.