Attitudes and the Prediction of Behavior

Organizational identification has been argued to have a unique value in explaining individual attitudes and behaviors in organizations, as it involves the essential definition of entities (i.e., individual and organizational identities). This review seeks meta-analytic evidence of the argument by examining how this identity-relevant construct functions in the nexus of attitudinal/behavioral constructs. The findings show that, first, organizational identification is significantly associated with key attitudes (job involvement, job satisfaction, and affective organizational commitment) and behaviors (in-role performance and extra-role performance) in organizations. Second, in the classic psychological model of attitude-behavior relations (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975), organizational identification is positioned as a basis from which general sets of those attitudes and behaviors are engendered; organizational identification has a direct effect on general behavior above and beyond the effect of general attitude. Third, the effects of organizational identification are moderated by national culture, a higher-level social context wherein the organization is embedded, such that the effects are stronger in a collectivistic culture than in an individualistic culture. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.

Identifying Organizational Identification as a Basis for Attitudes and Behaviors: A Meta-Analytic Review.

Identifying Organizational Identification as a Basis for Attitudes and Behaviors: A Meta-Analytic Review

Sponsorship studies have generally been focused on attitudinal measures of fan loyalty to understand the reactions to abstract sponsors. This study examines the relationships between both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty with sponsorship awareness, attitude toward two actual sponsors, and purchase intentions. Data were collected among fans of a professional soccer team, and the results of a structural equation model provide evidence that attitudinal loyalty impacts the attitude toward both sponsors and purchase intentions. Behavioral loyalty influences sponsorship awareness, and impacts differently the attitude and purchase intentions toward each sponsor. Sponsorship awareness influences significantly the attitude toward both sponsors, while the attitude toward the sponsor was the strongest predictor of purchase intentions. These findings highlight the importance of examining actual sponsors and suggest managerial implications, such as the need for sponsors to help attract fans to the stadium and to des...

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Sport sponsorship: The relationship between team loyalty, sponsorship awareness, attitude toward the sponsor, and purchase intentions

Existing team identification research uses various definitions, conceptualisations, and theoretical frameworks. In this paper, we provide a theoretical analysis of previous research using the two d...

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Identity crisis: a theoretical analysis of ‘team identification’ research

Previous work has consistently found positive relationships between levels of sport team identification and social psychological well-being. According to the Team Identification‐Social Psychological Health Model, these effects result from the increased social connections fans generate through their interest in the team. The current pair of investigations was designed to test the hypotheses that (1) team identification is positively related to social well-being and (2) team identification is positively related to social connections. In addition, the interrelationships among the variables were investigated (i.e., tests for mediation and moderation). In Study 1, a sample of 161 college students completed a questionnaire assessing demographics, identification with a local team, connections gained by following the team, and social well-being. Results indicated that, as expected, team identification was positively related to both well-being and social connections. Subsequent analyses failed to find evidence that social connections mediated or moderated the relationship between team identification and social psychological health. Study 2 (N 199 students from the same university as Study 1) replicated the results of the initial study using a more general measure of social connections (i.e., the Campus Connectedness Scale). Discussion includes the implications for the Team Identification‐Social Psychological Health Model and the directionality between identification and social connections.

The Team Identification-Social Psychological Health Model: Sport Fans Gaining Connections to Others via Sport Team Identification

Branscombe and Wann (1991) reported a significant relationship between identification with a sport team (i.e., a fan's psychological connection to a team, see Wann, Melnick, Russell, & Pease, 2001) and psychological well-being. Specifically, they found that identification with a team was positively correlated with personal self-esteem and the frequency of experiencing positive emotions and negatively correlated with depression, alienation, and experiences of negative affect. Subsequent investigations replicated and expanded on Branscombe and Wann's initial findings. For instance, Wann (1994) demonstrated that identification was positively correlated with collective self-esteem. Furthermore, Wann, Inman, Ensor, Gates, and Caldwell (1999) examined the psychological health of sport fans using the Profile of Mood States (Grove & Prapavessis, 1992). Their work revealed that persons with strong attachments to a local team reported higher levels of vigor and self-esteem, and lower levels of fatigue, anger, confusion, tension, and depression. Another study found that higher levels of identification were associated with greater levels of satisfaction with one's social life (Wann & Pierce, 2005). Thus, the positive relationship between sport team identification and well-being appears to be a robust finding, one that is not limited to specific testing locales (Wann, Walker, Cygan, Kawase, & Ryan, 2005), sport seasons (Wann, Keenan, & Page, in press), or cultures (Wann, Dimmock, & Grove, 2003). Wann (2006) developed the Team Identification--Social Psychological Health Model to explain the relationship between identification and well-being. This framework proposes that identification with a sport team leads to both enduring and temporary forms of social connections with others. When someone resides in the environment where the team is found (e.g., a fan of a college football team who lives on campus at that university), he or she may gain enduring connections. Fans following a distant team will not have the opportunity to acquire enduring connections. However, these persons may gain temporary connections when they find themselves momentarily accompanied by other fans of the team (e.g., a fan of a university football team who lives several hundred miles from the school but who watches the team's games on television with several other similarly displaced fans). The two types of connections are hypothesized to lead to improved well-being, although this relationship will likely be moderated by threats to the fan's identity (e.g., poor team performance) and attempts to cope with the threat (e.g., biased attributions, see Wann & Schrader, 2000). Finally, Wann's perspective suggests that team identification will be more closely related to social well-being than personal well-being, a finding consistent with the social psychological literature (Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999; Rubin & Hewstone, 1998). The current investigation was designed to further test Wann's (2006) theoretical framework by examining the social well-being dimensions most closely associated with team identification. As noted earlier, previous research has found that team identification was related to several different assessments of social well-being, including satisfaction with one's social life (Wann & Pierce, 2005), loneliness (Wann et al., 2003), alienation (Branscombe & Wann, 1991), and collective self-esteem (Wann, 1994). Recently, Keyes (1998) constructed the Social Well-being Scale to assess five dimensions of social well-being. These dimensions are: social integration, social acceptance, social contribution, social actualization, and social coherence. Social integration concerns one's feeling that he or she is a part of society and includes feelings of belonging and perceptions of commonality with others (e.g., "I feel close to other people in my community"). Social acceptance involves perceptions of others, including beliefs that others are trustworthy and capable of kindness (e. …

Understanding the relationship between sport team identification and dimensions of social well-being.

The current investigation was designed to extend previous work on the aggressive actions of youth baseball spectators (Hennessy & Schwartz, 2007) by incorporating team identification into the research. Team identification, the extent to which a fan feels a psychological connection to a team, (Wann, Melnick, Russell, & Pease, 2001) has been found to be an important predictor of a wide variety of aggressive actions among sport consumers (Wann, 2006). Spectators (N = 80) at youth baseball games completed a questionnaire packet assessing demographics, team identification, vengeance, anger, hostility, and the likelihood of acting in a verbally or physically aggressive manner toward a number of potential targets (e.g., officials, opposing players). Consistent with expectations, team identification predicted a willingness to commit verbally aggressive acts. However, identification did not predict physical aggression.

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Investigating the Impact of Team Identification on the Willingness to Commit Verbal and Physical Aggression by Youth Baseball Spectators

The current investigation examined the interrelationships among overall sport team identification, specific dimensions of team identification, and behavioral intentions. Using an antecedents approach to guide pre dictions (Dabholkar, Shepherd, & Thorpe, 2000), a model was tested in which overall identification would mediate the relationship between specific dimensions of team identification and behavioral intentions. To test the hypothesized pattern of effects, participants completed a questionnaire packet assessing overall iden tification via the Sport Spectator Identification Scale (Wann & Branscombe, 1993), specific dimensions of identification assessed via the Team Identification Scale (Dimmock & Grove, 2006; Theodorakis, Dimmock, Wann, & Barlas, 2010), and four items assessing behavioral intentions. A series of regression analyses con firmed the predicted pattern of effects. Specifically, both overall identification and the specific dimensions of identification predicted behavioral loyalty and the dimensions predicted overall identification. However, when the dimensions and overall identification were simultaneously entered as predictors of behavioral loy alty, the results indicated that overall identification fully mediated the relationship between specific dimen sions of identification and behavioral loyalty, as the beta scores of the dimensions were reduced to non-significant levels.

Stephen Weaver

Papers

The Team Identification-Social Psychological Health Model: Sport Fans Gaining Connections to Others via Sport Team Identification

Understanding the relationship between sport team identification and dimensions of social well-being.

Investigating the Impact of Team Identification on the Willingness to Commit Verbal and Physical Aggression by Youth Baseball Spectators

An Antecedent Model of Team Identification in the Context of Professional Soccer