Creating a fan bond with a football club on social media: a case of Polish fans

ABSTRACT The study examined the factors that influence fan bond creation with a football club on social media. The aim of this work is to show what football fans are guided by when deciding to observe a given club on social media and thus create bonds with it. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of information acquisition, entertainment, pass time, fanship, and social interaction on creating a bond between fan and football club in social media. The study tested six hypotheses, all supported by the results. The partial least square method of structural equation modelling is employed to test the proposed research model. The study utilizes an online survey to obtain data from 202 Polish football fans. Results showed that the best predictor of creating a bond with a club is social interaction, followed by entertainment and information acquisition.