Title: Enabling process of e-WOM and self-image congruence in Facebook page: a case study of passionate partisanship in the Thai professional soccer team

Authors: Thongchai Srivardhana

Addresses: Kasetsart Business School, Kasetsart University, 50 Ngamwongwan Rd., Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand

Abstract: This research paper specifically sets out to investigate: 1) electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM); 2) self-image congruence (SIC); 3) passionate partisanship (PP) of users who follow a Thai Premier League soccer team's FB page. Using e-WOM to develop SIC among users, a team's FB page enables its fans to become one of Thailand's largest PP groups. The contributions of this paper are threefold: 1) the paper provides a quantitative study in social media marketing in the sports business context; 2) this research paper provides research demonstrating the uniqueness of PP as a construct in sports marketing research and practice; 3) this paper provides research evidencing that e-WOM and its mediator – SIC– are enablers of PP in a sport's team FB page. This paper provides discussion, implications, and limitations together with suggestions for future research before ending with conclusions.

Keywords: passionate partisanship; self-image congruence; electronic wordof-mouth; e-WOM; Thai Premier League; social media marketing; Facebook page; sport marketing; Thai professional soccer team; case study.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2019.104159

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2019 Vol.19 No.5/6, pp.425 - 446

Accepted: 23 Dec 2018
Published online: 20 Dec 2019 *

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