sports marketing
ABED MAHMUODIN; Saeed Sadeghi-Boroujerdi; bradley J. baker
Abstract
The concept of soccer fans' coping strategies against of the team identity threat is a new field in sports management literature and psychology that has recently attracted the interest of researchers in sports consumer behavior. In this regard, the present study was conducted with the aim of coping ...
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The concept of soccer fans' coping strategies against of the team identity threat is a new field in sports management literature and psychology that has recently attracted the interest of researchers in sports consumer behavior. In this regard, the present study was conducted with the aim of coping strategies of national football team fans against of the team identity threat. The method of the present research was qualitative research in the form of content analysis and the statistical population included national team fans who followed the Football Federation's Instagram page. The sampling method was purposeful and in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 participants until theoretical saturation. Coding technique and NVivo software were used to analyze the data. The results showed the coping strategies of the national team fans in two themes; emotion- oriented and problem-oriented strategies and six sub-themes; distance from the team, reinforcement, past success and achievements, intra-group prejudice, optimism for the future, destructive behavior and explosion. The results of this research have provided important applications in both theoretical and practical parts. On the one hand, this is the first study on the coping strategies of national team fans in the face of the team identity threat, and it has partially bridged the huge gap in this field in domestic and foreign research. On the other hand, it provides a coherent view and a full understanding of the coping strategies of the national football team fans and a wide range of necessary management measures to better manage these strategies.
