Title: Are social media and internet-driven technologies all they are cracked up to be? A case study investigating professional sport 'consumption'

Authors: Abel Duarte Alonso; Michelle O'Shea

Addresses: School of Management, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, NSW 1797, Australia; School of Marketing Tourism and Leisure, Edith Cowan University, 100 Joondalup Dr., Joondalup, 6027 WA, Australia. ' School of Management, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, NSW 1797, Australia

Abstract: The ever increasing popularity of social media culminated with the use of internet and other technologies among sport consumers and the general public represent an unprecedented opportunity for professional sport organisations. Understanding the extent to which consumers adapt to these developments to find out about professional clubs' games/events could be therefore beneficial to sport managers/marketers. This study investigates the traditional and non-traditional mediums two diverse consumer groups use to find out about and inform their sport product purchase decisions. The findings identify several notable differences between the ways the youth and adolescent market gather information to make purchase decisions. For this market segment, Facebook and Ticketek (online ticket information/purchase website) and e-driven communication channels featured frequently. While overall the findings illustrate that technological aided tools are becoming a preferred means of gathering information among professional sport enthusiasts, other salient factors driving purchase intentions were identified.

Keywords: professional sport organisations; professional sports; sport consumers; fixture information; information retrieval; games; matches; events; Australia; social media; internet; sport consumption; professional clubs; sport management; sport marketing; purchase decisions; intention to buy; youth market; young people; adolescent market; information gathering; Facebook; Ticketek; online ticket information; purchasing websites; e-communications; online communications; electronic communications; purchase intentions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLTM.2012.048946

International Journal of Leisure and Tourism Marketing, 2012 Vol.3 No.2, pp.161 - 178

Published online: 05 Sep 2012 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article