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This study aims to examine the effect of the perceived sponsor ubiquity on sponsor favorability via perceived sponsor sincerity and the moderating effect of perceived sponsor–property fit.

Two studies via a questionnaire survey of spectators attending a Japanese professional basketball game were conducted, and Hayes’ PROCESS macro was used for data analyses. Study 1 (n = 134) assessed how perceived sponsor ubiquity affected sponsor favorability via perceived sponsor sincerity. Study 2 (n = 206) examined a moderated mediation model incorporating a perceived sponsor–property fit.

In Studies 1 and 2, spectators perceiving a higher degree of sponsor ubiquity reported a lower degree of sponsor sincerity compared with those perceiving a lower degree of sponsor ubiquity and less favorability toward sponsors. In Study 2, the less positive effect of highly perceived ubiquity was weakened when spectators perceived a higher degree of sponsor–property fit.

The findings provided sponsors with insights into effectively communicating perceived ubiquity and perceived sponsor–property fit. Hence, sponsors must be careful about their ubiquitous sponsorships, as their engagement in each property can be perceived as less distinctive among consumers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to highlight the mediating mechanism of perceived insincerity between perceived ubiquity and favorability toward sponsors. Furthermore, evidence that fit acted as a moderator on perceived ubiquity–outcome relationships extended previous studies mainly treating fit as a direct antecedent of sponsor response.

Despite the advances in theory and practice about player behaviour in esports gaming literature, there is a lack of understanding as to whether esports are compatible with the values of Olympism and if they should be considered for future Games editions. The current study advances this line of research by examining esports player experiences, their effects on perceiving Olympic values, and the support towards the Olympics in order to verify if differences occur according to the cross-cultural environment.

Using a sample of 671 esports amateur gamers from three countries (Portugal, Brazil and Japan), structural equation models and a multigroup analysis were performed to analyse the differences in the hypothesized paths existing between the groups.

Results reveal that player in-game emotional experiences positively influence Olympic values perception across countries. The excellence and friendship values showed a positive effect on support intentions to the Games towards Portuguese and Brazilian players, while the respect value was the strongest predictor towards behavioural intentions in Japan. Cultural backgrounds and game genre in each country can explain player attitude towards the Olympic values shared on the online environment.

This study is able to provide a better understanding of how the Olympic values serve as a gratification in different cross-cultural environments according to the theory of uses and gratifications (U&G) and the theory of cultural dimensions. Complementarily, these findings can be used as valuable information for esports publishers and developers attempting to spread the Olympic values in the esports industry.

Although many attempts to discover key segments of sport spectators have been extant, little segmentation effort has been made to reflect pandemic situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this research is twofold: (1) to classify sport spectators into key segments based on perceived risks associated with a mass-gathered sporting event during the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) to identify each segment’s profiles.

Questionnaire surveys of spectators attending a Japanese rugby game during the COVID-19 pandemic (January–June 2021) were conducted (n = 1,410). A combination of hierarchical and non-hierarchical clustering methods was executed.

The results revealed the five-cluster solution as the optimal number of clusters representing the samples (i.e. spectators with extremely low-risk perception, those with low-risk perception, those with moderate-risk perception, those with high-risk perception and those with higher social risk perception). This five-cluster solution showed sufficient stability and validity. Moreover, each segment had different profiles regarding three background aspects – demographics, psychographics and behavioral variables.

This study is the first effort to segment sport spectators based on perceived risks associated with a mass-gathered sporting event in the pandemic situation. Despite extensive segmentation studies to explore sport fans, contribution reflecting the post-crisis situations is scant. Therefore, the findings provide insight into this realm by providing a new viewpoint for understanding sport spectators during a possible future pandemic era.

The impact of various factors on how TV sports audiences perceive sport event sponsors’ billboards around sports facilities has been the subject of extensive research. Despite numerous factors that impact the effectiveness of sponsor signage at sporting events, there has been a lack of research regarding the language used for such signage around sports facilities’ billboards. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of billboard advertisement language on TV sports audiences’ recognition, recall and search intention to sponsor signage.

This study employed an online experimental design. Participants (n = 925) were recruited from two linguistically different regions: Chinese and English. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: watching tennis video matches with billboard advertisements presented in either the Roman alphabet exclusively or in a combination of the Roman alphabet and Chinese characters.

This study revealed that although language cannot significantly impact audiences’ unaided recall of a brand, it does have a discernible effect on brand recognition and search intention among audiences. Additionally, people are more likely to search for brands in their native language. Participants from various regions tend to have different recognition rates and search intentions for sport sponsors.

This is the first manuscript examining the use of different languages in relation to audiences’ recognition and recall of sports sponsorship. It provides empirical evidence of the importance of carefully considering the language used in sponsor signage around stadium billboards to optimize the efficacy of sponsorships at sports events.

While the tournament format is common within organized sports, little is known about the supporting behavior of tournament event fans. The defeat of the supported team and its' subsequent elimination could influence how fans associate themselves with the event. Hence, the present study aims to investigate the fans' responses to the favorite team's elimination at a knockout tournament focusing on whether they are willing to continue following the event and choose another team to support.

In this paper fans' temporal switching behavior was explored in relationships with fans' identification with geographic area, sport itself and teams. The audience watching the Japanese National High School Baseball Championship was targeted for the online survey in March 2020, resulting in the final sample of 502 (287 observations used for reliability and validity tests).

Independent sample t-tests and logistic regression were employed in the study. 80% of respondents intended to continue following the tournament, which was associated with a higher attachment to sports. Place attachment by itself was not associated with the intention to continue. Most of the respondents who chose a certain team to support after the favorite team's elimination have retained their pattern of choosing the team (63.9%). Interestingly, fans with higher place attachment not only choose to continue following the tournament after their prefectural team's elimination but were willing to support another team from the same region.

This is one of the first papers providing evidence of tournament fan behavior and temporal switching.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the impact of sport fans' team identification on their emotional experiences (i.e. vitality and game satisfaction) using two-wave data in a specific sport event during the declaration of the emergency statement in Japan. The study also aims to test the moderating effects of risk perceptions about COVID-19 and the game outcome on the relationship between team identification and vitality/game satisfaction.

The present research was conducted in the context of a sport event in Tokyo (the Japanese Rugby Top League 2020–2021 Season Playoff Tournament Final) during the declaration of the emergency statement period in Japan. The data were collected through a two-wave design (before and after the game) from the spectators of the event.

Team identification significantly predicted higher vitality after the game but not game satisfaction. Additionally, the moderation test found that sport fans with high social risk perception about the COVID-19 showed a positive relationship between team identification and vitality but not for the fans with low social risk perception.

The present results suggest that sport events can be advertised for sport fans as a tool to increase physical and psychological energy in their daily lives during the pandemic.

The present study demonstrated that team identification predicted greater vitality after the spectatorship during the COVID-19 outbreak. In particular, higher social risk perception was a significant catalyst to improve vitality after the game.

This study aimed to examine the effects of two sponsorship purpose articulations (commercially oriented vs noncommercially oriented) on attitude toward the sponsor via sponsor–property fit and the moderating effect of the overlapped mission between the sponsor and the property.

A 2 (purpose articulation type: commercially oriented vs noncommercially oriented) × 2 (mission overlap articulation condition: present vs absent) between-subjects experimental design with a control condition was employed with student sample (n = 171). The moderated mediation model was tested using Hayes' PROCESS macro model 8.

The commercially oriented purpose articulation did not improve sponsor–property fit as much as the noncommercially oriented purpose articulation, resulting in less favorable attitudes toward the sponsor. When the mission overlap was simultaneously articulated, the less positive effects of the commercially oriented purpose articulation were weaker.

The findings provided incongruent sponsors with insights on mixed articulation strategies with sponsorship purposes and the overlapped mission.

This study extends previous research by presenting the first understanding of the different processes in which two sponsorship purpose articulations developed attitudes toward the sponsor via sponsor–property fit and by investigating the moderating effect of the simultaneously articulated mission overlap on the processes.

The purpose of this study was to identify existing users' acceptance of the multidimensional health and fitness features of wrist-worn wearable devices (WWDs) required for each stage of physical activity (i.e. before, during and after) and examine the relationship between its acceptance (i.e. knowledge acquisition, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use) and the actual use of its health and fitness attributes.

Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were taken to analyze the relationships. A focus group interview was conducted (N = 9) to design the research model, including the operationalized definition of the study constructs. A questionnaire survey was conducted with respondents in South Korea (N = 480). Partial least squares structural equation modeling via Smart PLS 3.0 was employed to test the hypotheses.

When users learned to use fitness functions and perceived them as useful for physical activity without causing any difficulty, they tended to use those functions more, which provided enhanced health benefits in the digitalized interactive environment of WWDs.

This research is one of the first to examine the relationship between the perceived user value of WWDs and their actual usage within a digitalized and interactive environment. The results are expected to offer theoretical insights into how well users accept the health and fitness components of WWDs. Practically, it will build awareness of what makes users adopt and use WWDs, helping practitioners design better health promotions and campaigns associated with WWDs.