Team identification, motives, and behaviour: a comparative analysis of fans of men’s and women’s sport

ABSTRACT

Purpose:

This research sought to examine the team identification, motives, and behaviours of fans of a women’s sport team as well as those of a men’s team to identify any differences between these two groups.

Methods:

An online survey utilised three established scales, the Sport Spectator Identification Scale – Revised (SSIS-R), the Motivation Scale for Sports Consumption (MSSC), and the Fan Behaviour Scale. A total of 515 participants completed the survey and their responses were analysed across team affiliation and level of identification.

Findings:

More similarities than differences were uncovered for fans of the two teams. The most highly identified fans of each team reported their strongest motives were Physical Skill and Achievement. Family was the least motivating factor for fans of the women’s team amongst every identification level and had the weakest correlation to team identification of the eight motives studied. Identification was positively correlated with greater consumption behaviours for fans of both teams.

Implications & Contribution:

This research adds to the scant literature on fans of women’s sport and offers insights on the level of identification, motives, and behaviours of these fans, which can be used by women’s sport organisations when developing fan engagement campaigns and marketing materials.

KEYWORDS:

• Women’s sport
• consumer behaviour
• team identification
• motives
• marketing

Introduction

Sport fans are unique consumers due to their emotional and psychological connection to the team(s) they support (Samra & Wos, 2014). Therefore, it is valuable for sport organisations to understand how connected their fans feel to their team, what motivates them to support the team, and their consumer behaviour as it relates to the team. This allows sport marketers to make meaningful decisions and create campaigns that resonate with the fans to increase their connection and loyalty, and to form a powerful life-long partnership between the fan and the organisation.

Sport psychologists and sport marketing scholars have long studied team identification due to its importance in understanding fans’ behaviour and attitudes towards sporting clubs and organisations (Fink et al., 2002; Wann & Branscombe, 1990, 1993). Previous research has focused on how people become identified with a team, how to measure team identification, and the impact of team identification on an individual’s sense of self (Kolbe & James, 2000; Kwon & Armstrong, 2004; Wann et al., 1996). Thus far, research has primarily focused on team identification in men’s sport teams with women’s teams essentially being ignored (Delia, 2019). A better understanding of women’s sport consumers, including their team identification, motives, and behaviours, is necessary, as a recent review of 157 journal articles about team identification revealed that only three focused on women’s sport (Delia, 2019). This demonstrates how little is presently known about women’s sport fans, including whether there is a difference in team identification between men’s and women’s sport fans (Delia, 2019). With a deeper understanding of team identification, it is possible that women’s sport teams could make marketing and managerial decisions that would be more meaningful to their consumers and would better align with the sporting experience their fans seek.

In terms of men’s sport, Kwon and Armstrong (2002) found that fans who are identified with a team exhibit more favourable behaviour towards the team (e.g. increased attendance and greater media consumption). However, it is unknown whether this link extends to fans identified with women’s sport teams. Additionally, previous research found that social psychological motives for consuming sport such as vicarious achievement and social interaction may be related to team identification and that there are differences in motives to consume women’s sports compared to men’s (Fink et al., 2002; Funk et al., 2003). This links to team identification as it suggests that if the motives behind fans consuming women’s sport are different from those who consume men’s sport, a different sport experience is being sought which would impact the fans’ connection to the team (Delia, 2019).

Therefore, this study aims to fill important gaps in the literature relating to fans of women’s sport. Specifically, the purpose of the study was to examine the team identification, motives, and behaviours of fans of a women’s sport team (the England women’s national football team, the Lionesses) as well as those of a men’s team (the England men’s national football team, the Three Lions) to identify any differences between these two groups. The findings will build a foundation within the academic literature regarding fans of women’s sport from which further research should be conducted, and will offer new knowledge regarding team identification related to women’s sport fans.

From a practical perspective, the study will offer information that women’s sport teams can utilise to better understand their fans and will assist them in making data-driven management and marketing decisions to appeal to the motives of their fans. For example, the study will reveal which motives and behaviours are most closely correlated with a fan’s level of identification with a team. This information can be used by sport organisations to tailor their marketing messages in order to better target fans of differing identity levels. Brown-Devlin and Devlin (2020) noted that marketing has moved beyond messages targeted at a broad group (i.e. “sport fans”), and instead more personalised marketing is shown to be more effective. Utilising data about fans of differing identity levels will allow organisations such as England Football to develop unique marketing messages that appeal to the different groups’ motives. Furthermore, Mumcu (2019) noted that men’s sport organisations often devote resources to gathering fan data relating to a wide variety of business areas such as ticketing, engagement, marketing, digital media, and sponsorship, allowing these organisations to better tailor marketing strategies and messages to appeal to their fans’ preferences. Meanwhile, many women’s sport organisations, even those that are owned/affiliated with successful men’s organisations (e.g. NBA and WNBA), lack the resources to collect and utilise such data for their own marketing purposes (Mumcu, 2019). The findings from this study offer the opportunity for England Football to better understand the fans of both their men’s and women’s teams, which could result in different or revised marketing strategies when promoting the two teams. Additionally, our study can offer a blueprint for other national sport organisations to use in order to gather important data regarding team identification, motives, and behaviours.

The following section reviews the scholarly literature relating to team identification, fan motives, and fan behaviour. Seven research questions, which were designed to help achieve the overall purpose of the study, are introduced throughout the section.

Literature review

Team identification and social identification theory

Team identification is defined as the level of psychological connection an individual has with a sports entity or team (Wann et al., 2001). Wann et al. (2001) described the inception of team identification as the moment an individual develops cognition that they support and follow a team. Research has uncovered various factors that contribute to the development of team identification in individuals, such as the team’s location, history, athletes on the team, or other constructs with which the fan is also identified, such as the sport itself or their place of origin (Lock et al., 2011, 2014). Fink et al. (2002) described identification as “vitally important to a team’s economic success” (p. 196) and noted that because of this, teams should make every effort to foster identification amongst their fans.

Closely related to the concept of team identification is Social Identity Theory (SIT), which describes the greater sense of self an individual gains from the perceived awareness and value of belonging to a group (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). Within this theory, a person who highly identifies with a team may believe that their team’s successes are their own, and vice versa with failure, showing very negative emotions linked to a loss (Crisp et al., 2007). On the other hand, a fan of a team that is performing poorly may explain their support through non-performance factors in an effort to justify their identity positively (Reichl, 1997). In comparison, someone who does not identify with a team very strongly will not display differences in emotion in relation to the match result and may care more about factors of convenience when deciding whether to attend a game (Bizman & Yinon, 2002; Wann et al., 1994; Wann & Branscombe, 1990).

A major aspect of SIT revolves around in-group favouritism and outgroup discrimination, which links heavily to sports fans’ behaviour and their feelings towards rival teams and their fans (Delia & James, 2018; Hogg et al., 1995). Furthermore, it is important to recognise that individuals will often associate themselves with a group only if they believe it to be similar to their self-concept, which eventually leads them to take actions to become an active supporter of the group (Cornwell & Coote, 2005).

In a theoretical analysis of team identification research, Lock and Heere (2017) highlighted that historically, definitions of team identification fall into two categories: consumer to team and consumer with group. Consumer to team research tends to rely on identity theory (Stryker, 1968), which explores “how the roles and counter-roles people occupy in social situations influence behaviour” (Lock & Heere, 2017, p. 417). Conversely, consumer with group research highlights the shared identity of consumers who work for or support an organisation and is closely tied to SIT and the factors that lead to team identification. Research utilising SIT “equate the strength of team identification with a range of positive team-based consumption behaviours” (p. 422). While Lock and Heere (2017) did not advocate for the use of either theory (identity or SIT) over the other, they advocated for matching the theory to the problem. Therefore, for the purposes of this study SIT was deemed the most appropriate theoretical framework due to its extensive use in sport consumer research and its focus on the relationship between team identification and consumption behaviours.

According to Sutton et al. (1997), fans with different levels of identification will exhibit different behaviours. One such behaviour is consumption, which team identification has been shown to influence both directly and indirectly including match attendance and purchasing merchandise (Kwon & Armstrong, 2006; Madrigal, 2000; Theodorakis et al., 2009). The most highly identified sport fans are very important to a sporting organisation as they are the most likely to exhibit consumption behaviours such as attending matches, supporting the team’s sponsors, and consuming more media relating to the team (Bhattacharya et al., 1995; Mudrick et al., 2016; Ngan et al., 2011), which aligns with Fink et al.’s (2002) statement that identification is important to a team’s economic success.

Numerous studies have focused on the impact of a fan’s demographics on their identification with a team, particularly relating to their gender. Within men’s sport, men have often shown higher team identification compared to women (Theodorakis et al., 2017). Gender-based identification differences were not observed when studying a newly formed sports team; this could be because the fan base is not fully established, meaning the male-dominated environment commonly seen in clubs with a longer history has not yet developed (Wann & James, 2018). This suggests that women may feel more accepted and comfortable in an environment in which they feel that they have been part of the organisation from its inception. When investigating other fan demographic factors such as age and race with team identity, inconsistent results suggested these factors related much more closely to the context of which team was being studied (Wann & James, 2018).

The dearth of research on identification within women’s sport means that we do not know whether there are identification differences between fans who consume women’s sport and those who consume men’s sport. Only three known studies have examined identification in the context of women’s sport, and these were published in 1995, 2002, and 2017 (Delia, 2019), revealing a major gap in the team identification literature. The most recent of these examined the identification, loyalty, and game attribute preferences of attendees at a National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) game in the United States. Findings revealed that game quality was the most important factor for attending games regardless of identification level, and for those who had lower levels of identification, convenience factors such as parking and stadium accessibility were more important than to those who had higher levels of identification (Lee et al., 2017). They did not attempt to analyse gender differences amongst their respondents.

Along with the need for team identification research on fans of women’s sport, it is also important to note that much of the prior research has focused on professional clubs or American college teams. The present study broadens this focus from both a geographical and sporting context by examining fans of the two English national football teams, the Three Lions (men’s team) and the Lionesses (women’s team). Based on the need for this research, the first research question was developed for this study:

RQ1 – What difference, if any, exists between the strength of team identification for the fans of the men’s and women’s English national football teams?

A unique aspect of team identification with a national team is the impact it has on an individual’s national pride. If one’s national team succeeds at an international sporting tournament, this can lead to positive attitudes towards the nation and increased happiness (Mehus & Kolstad, 2011). Both team identification and national identification can impact an individual’s self-esteem, which plays an important role in their social identity (Fan et al., 2020). Abell et al. (2007), however, found that the relationship between national pride and English football support was “rather more complex than contemporary media or academic stereotypes suggest” (p. 112), noting that different groups of people viewed national pride in the context of football quite differently from one another. Still, identification has never been examined in the context of a women’s national sport team, so the results from this study will offer new insights on the topic which can be examined in greater detail from a national pride perspective in future research.

Closely related to the concept of identification is that of motives (Brown-Devlin & Devlin, 2020). The following section reviews the literature on fan motives and draws connections between motives, consumption, and identification.

Fan motives

Sport is pervasive in modern society, meaning it is incredibly important for organisations to understand what motivates individuals to spend their money and invest their time and emotions into a team. Fan motives have been examined in many contexts, including fans of different sports, between individuals with varying levels of team identification, and between different genders (Byon et al., 2010; James & Ridinger, 2002; James & Ross, 2004; Koo & Hardin, 2008). There has been little research, however, focusing on the motives of fans who support women’s sport teams (Fink et al., 2002; Funk et al., 2003). Motives for fans to consume men’s and women’s sport can differ, as Delia (2020) found that motives relating to affordability, the influence of friends and family, and supporting a cause such as gender equality appeared more popular in women’s sport compared to men’s sport. This could suggest that fans of these teams are seeking unique sports consumption experiences (Delia, 2019).

Research suggests numerous motives influence an individual to be involved in sport. Wann et al. (2001) characterised eight of the most common motives: vicarious achievement, aesthetics, drama, acquisition of knowledge, escape, physical skills of the athletes, social interaction and family. These eight motives form a part of the Motivation Scale for Sport Consumption (MSSC). Often for sports that are individual and more artistic such as figure skating or gymnastics, fans see aesthetics as a major motive due to the inherent beauty of the sport. In comparison, for more aggressive, team-oriented sports, fans are often driven by the drama and entertainment a match can provide (Wann et al., 2008). This demonstrates that people do not consume all sports for the same reasons and the type of sport can impact consumer motives. For example, in an examination of professional volleyball fans in South Korea, Paek et al. (2021) found that emotional motives such as eustress, escape, entertainment, and self-achievement were significantly related to a fan’s relationship quality with the team, whereas cognitive and behavioural motives were not. They hypothesised that all three types of motives would affect relationship quality, but this was not the case in the specific context examined.

A potentially important motive for consuming women’s sport is gender equality. People who hold more equal attitudes towards gender tend to be more likely to support women’s sports teams (Delia & James, 2018). This motive is becoming central to the meaning of many women’s teams and provides some stability for women’s sport fans as winning comes and goes. The support for social change and gender equality issues remains a constant throughout the season, with women’s sports teams becoming more politicised in their identities (Delia & James, 2018). This could also relate to team identification, as multiple identities can form someone’s identification towards a sporting organisation and in this case, supporting opportunities for women could be an external identity that motivates someone to be a fan (Lock & Funk, 2016). Therefore, this motive may play a role in distinguishing differences between men’s and women’s sport teams’ fans.

Motives and team identification are closely related, as demonstrated by Fink et al. (2002), who found that seven motives were significantly correlated to team identification. They concluded that sport organisations should attempt to enhance identification in their fans by highlighting the most motivating factors, such as aesthetics, within their marketing messages. Similarly, Brown-Devlin and Devlin (2020) found that the entertainment and eustress motives were significant predictors of college students’ identification with collegiate sport teams. While the link between motives and team identification is clearly established, it is unknown whether the motives for fans of a women’s team differ from those of a men’s team, and further whether these motives correlate to team identification. Therefore, the following three research questions were developed:

RQ2 – What differences, if any, exist between the motives for fans supporting the men’s and women’s English national football teams?

RQ3 – How do the motives for supporting the men’s team correlate, if at all, to team identification?

RQ4 – How do the motives for supporting the women’s team correlate, if at all, to team identification?

Fan behaviour

An individual’s connection to a team has been identified as being relatively stable, meaning it does not waver depending on the team’s most recent result (Boen et al., 2008). A strong connection to the team correlates to consistent positive behaviours towards the organisation, including purchasing merchandise, attitudes towards sponsors, and media consumption (Fisher, 1998; James et al., 2002; Kwon & Armstrong, 2002). Furthermore, it appears that team identification is the most powerful predictor of game attendance from fans (Wann et al., 1999; Wann & Branscombe, 1993; Williamson et al., 2003), illustrating the important connection between identification and behaviour. Conversely, there are also links between high team identification and negative behaviours including fan aggression, with fans being unable to control their strong emotions in reaction to a poor result (Dimmock & Grove, 2005).

Along with the established connection between team identification and behaviour, research has also shown that motives and behaviour can be related. For example, Paek et al. (2021) found that emotional motives were significantly correlated to fans’ consumption behaviour intentions such as attendance, media consumption, and merchandise purchases. The current study also attempts to understand fans’ behaviours relating to these three areas. Additionally, scholars have attempted to understand any differences between motives to consume women’s sport and men’s sport, finding that affordability, influence of family and friends, and supporting a cause were all greater motives for consumers of women’s sport (Fink et al., 2002; Funk et al., 2003). Delia (2019) stated,

The notion that one’s reason(s) for consuming women’s sport may differ from those of men’s sport indicates differences in what individuals are looking for in their consumption experience, which could inherently influence identification that often develops as a result of attending events. (p. 384)

but due to the lack of research on team identification within women’s sport, there is no empirical evidence to support that idea.

Women’s sport organisations tend to have limited resources for market research, resulting in little to no understanding of consumer behaviour for women’s sport at present (Mumcu, 2019). Furthermore, national governing bodies (NGBs) of sport (such as England Football in the current study, which oversees the English national teams) operate on much smaller marketing budgets than professional sport leagues and teams (Eagleman, 2013), highlighting the importance of understanding their fans’ identification, motives, and consumption behaviours given NGBs’ limited resources to market to fans. If a marketing campaign is unsuccessful in reaching the target audience and appealing to their motives and identification, NGBs often do not have the resources necessary to design and run a new campaign. Finally, women’s sport often receives less funding than men’s, providing an additional barrier in terms of marketing and attracting fans (Wicker, 2019). Thus, the final three research questions were developed to contribute to our limited understanding of fan/consumer behaviour in women’s sport:

RQ5 – How do consumer behaviours differ, if at all, between fans of the England men’s and women’s teams?

RQ6 – How do the consumer behaviours of fans of the men’s team correlate, if at all, to team identification?

RQ7 – How do the consumer behaviours of fans of the women’s team correlate, if at all, to team identification?

Materials and methods

In order to fulfil this study’s purpose of examining team identification of fans of a women’s sport team and of a men’s sport team and its relationship to the fans’ motives and behaviours, an online survey methodology was utilised. The 51-item survey contained four sections: team identification, fan motives, fan behaviour, and demographic information. Each section employed a seven-point Likert-type scale excluding the demographic section.

Survey instrument

Sport Spectator Identification Scale (SSIS)

The SSIS was utilised in over half of the published studies focused on team identification (James et al., 2019). This scale consists of a single factor, and initial tests confirmed an acceptable level of internal reliability (α = .91) that explained 66.3% of total variance. Factor loadings for individual items ranged from .713 to .905 with Cronbach alpha values from .87 to .92 (Wann & Branscombe, 1993). The scale is often favoured due to its clarity and practicality, as well as its strong psychometric properties (Lock & Heere, 2017; Theodorakis et al., 2016; Wann & Branscombe, 1993). The scale was used previously to examine fans’ relationships with motives and their consumption of sport, which were both replicated within the current study (Gau et al., 2010; Nassis et al., 2012). Bernache-Assollant et al. (2007) and indicated that this scale can be utilised for the measurement of fans’ identity with national sports teams, which was important for this study involving fans of the England national football teams. Finally, the revised scale was utilised to detect individuals who did not identify as fans, as a low identification score does not necessarily correlate with an individual not being a fan of a team. This is important to recognise and means that in-group differences can be assessed to understand fans’ motives and behaviours at different levels of team identification (James et al., 2019).

Motivation Scale for Sport Consumption (MSSC)

The MSSC possesses the psychometric properties for accurate and reliable assessment of the motivations for sports spectators and examines eight specific motives shown in Table 1: Achievement, Knowledge, Drama, Aesthetics, Escape, Family, Physical Skill (of the athletes), Social interaction (between fans at sports matches), and Family (Trail & James, 2001). This scale has returned internal consistency in previous samples of attendees (α = .75 to .86) as well as average variance extracted (AVE) values ranging from 0.51 to 0.82 (James & Ridinger, 2002).

Table 1. Definitions of the MSSC motives.

Motive	Fans support so that they feel:
Achievement	The sense of pride when their team performs well.
Knowledge	They have learnt more about the technical and tactical aspects of their sport.
Drama	The excitement of a close and constantly changing match.
Aesthetics	They enjoy the natural beauty of the game.
Escape	They have a diversion from their everyday life by attending matches.
Physical	They have watched a well-executed performance from some of the best athletes.
Social	They can interact with other fans.
Family	They get to spend quality time with their family/ partner/ children.

In this study, a Feminism motive has been added with two items asked of the Lioness fans: “Supporting the Lionesses helps me to use my voice to discuss gender inequality” and “My support of the Lionesses is entangled with my feminist identity”. The decision to add Feminism as a motive follows Delia’s (2020) research, which indicated that supporting women and gender equality is a motive for fans to support women’s sport and adds an element of stability for fans when the team’s success comes and goes.

Fan Behaviour Scale

This scale explores fans’ attendance at matches, media consumption regarding the team and the purchase of team merchandise. The inclusion of these factors has all been influenced by the previous works of Sutton et al. (1997) and Gau et al. (2009) with composite reliabilities (CR) between 0.87 and 0.94, and AVE values between 0.70 and 0.83 (Gau et al., 2009). The constructs of Attendance and Media Consumption were both measured with three items alike, whilst the Purchase of Merchandise was measured with four items.

Demographics

All those participating in the survey were asked to provide demographic information, including gender, age, ethnicity, level of education and their location. This was completed in order to aid the creation of a profile of the two sets of fans. Detailed demographic information about the sample can be viewed in Table 2.

Table 2. Participant demographic information.

	England men’s fans		England women’s fans
	N	%	N	%
Gender
Male	148	71.5	51	16.6
Female	59	28.5	254	82.5
Non-binary	0	0.0	2	0.6
Age
18–25	77	37.2	146	47.4
26–35	50	24.2	71	23.1
36–45	23	11.1	34	11.0
46–55	36	17.4	33	10.7
56–65	17	8.2	18	5.8
66–75	4	1.9	4	1.3
Ethnicity
White-British	186	89.9	268	87.0
White-Irish	1	0.5	2	0.6
White-Other	5	2.4	17	5.5
White & Black Caribbean	1	0.5	2	0.6
White & Black African	1	0.5	0	0.0
White & Asian	3	1.4	4	1.3
Mixed/ Multiple ethnic groups – other	1	0.5	2	0.6
Indian/British Indian	4	1.9	2	0.6
Chinese/British Chinese	1	0.5	2	0.6
Caribbean/British Caribbean	0	0.0	5	1.6
African/British African	3	1.4	1	0.3
Highest Education Completed
No formal education	0	0.0	1	0.3
Less than secondary school	1	0.5	4	1.3
GCSE/O-level	26	12.6	32	10.4
BTEC/NVQ	38	15.0	47	12.0
AS/A-level	31	18.4	37	15.3
Foundational degree	8	3.9	11	3.6
Bachelor’s degree	65	31.4	128	41.6
Master’s degree	32	15.5	41	13.3
PhD	5	2.4	3	1.0
Location
South East	49	23.7	46	14.9
London	41	19.8	30	9.7
North West	23	11.1	46	14.9
East of England	8	3.9	29	9.4
West Midlands	18	8.7	27	8.8
South West	14	6.8	27	8.8
Yorkshire and the Humber	19	9.2	25	8.1
East Midlands	19	9.2	29	9.4
North East	8	3.9	12	3.9
I do not live in England	8	3.9	37	12.0

Procedures

An online survey was shared by the lead researcher via Twitter in order to recruit England men’s and women’s fans as participants and was active for two weeks in June 2020. Participants were recruited via an opportunistic sampling method. Those who took part were provided with a description of the research as well as their rights as a participant at the beginning of the survey. In order to participate, the participant must have been over the age of 18 and a supporter of either the men’s or women’s England national football teams. Each participant had to choose which team they identified with most strongly, even if they would typically identify as a fan of both the men’s and women’s teams. After answering that question, the participant was taken to questions relating to either the men’s team or the women’s team depending on which team they chose.

Sample

In total, 522 responses were collected, of which 515 were from people who identified as fans of the England national football teams and were therefore deemed useable. From these 515 responses, 207 (40.2%) participants supported the England men’s team whilst the other 308 (59.8%) supported the England women’s team. The principal difference between the groups was that respondents most closely identifying with the England men’s team were predominantly male (71.5%), while the England women’s fans were mostly female (82.5%). Please see Table 2 for the full demographic results of the participants.

Data analysis

SPSS Statistics 27 was used for the quantitative analysis. Following data cleansing to exclude the non-England fans, frequency counts and descriptive statistics were first computed to provide an overview of the data. Second, the variables associated with England men’s and England women’s teams and gender were recoded into new variables to create dichotomist groups. Lastly, utilising the framework by James and Ridinger (2002), in which the distribution of fan responses was grouped based on fan loyalty of not a fan (Likert scale rating of 1–4), being a loyal sports fan (5–6), and strong loyalty to sports (7–9), fan responses to items were recoded into a new variable including three levels in terms of identification with their chosen team: low (1–2.99), moderate (3–5.99), and high (6–7). This allowed the researchers to examine between group differences in identification, motives to support, and behaviours of the fans of the two England national teams through multivariate GLM analysis with univariate f-statistics reported as part of the MANOVA procedure, t-tests, and Pearson’s correlations. Internal consistency and reliability of the items was conducted on the scales prior to statistical analysis.

Reliability and validity

Scale reliability

SPSS 27 was employed to compute Cronbach’s alpha (α) and item to total correlations to determine internal consistency and reliability. All results are shown in Table 3. Cronbach’s alpha scores for eight of the 13 factors surpassed 0.80, indicating good reliability (Lance et al., 2006). The five remaining factors of Drama, Escape, Feminist, Media, and Attendance exceeded the minimum cut-off of 0.70 for Cronbach’s alpha score and all factors satisfied the 0.40 requirement for the item-to-total correlations (Churchill, 1979). Initial analysis indicated the attendance factor did not meet the recommended minimum score for Cronbach alpha, with a reported value of 0.52 (Churchill, 1979; Hair et al., 2010). The item “How likely are you to watch an England game on TV or online” was found to decrease reliability and was removed from the factor, and all subsequent analyses, which raised the Cronbach’s alpha to an acceptable level of 0.72.

Table 3. Internal reliability tests.

	Cronbach's α	Item-to-total correlations
Identification	0.88	0.57–0.83
Achievement	0.85	0.71–0.75
Aesthetics	0.87	0.71–0.80
Drama	0.79	0.56–0.72
Escape	0.76	0.44–0.69
Knowledge	0.91	0.81–0.83
Physical	0.80	0.61–0.76
Social	0.91	0.79–0.85
Family	0.85	0.63–0.79
Feminist	0.70	0.56–0.59
Media	0.75	0.59–0.66
Merchandise	0.88	0.66–0.86
Attendance	0.72	0.56–0.57

AMOS 27 (Analysis of Moment Structures) was used to perform a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to further determine reliability and construct validity for the three scales: SSIS-R, MSSC, and behavioural measures (Arbuckle, 2003). To test this, confirmatory factor analysis model fit indices, composite reliability and average variance extracted were all evaluated for the datasets along with factor loadings for each scale item.

Confirmatory factor analysis

A CFA was conducted to ensure model fit and construct validity of the existing SSIS-R and MSSC scales, as well as the three behavioural measures. The results from the CFA model support unidimensionality of the three scales by demonstrating good to moderate fit. The fit measures reported from the CFA included the chi-square (χ²), relative chi-square (χ²/df), comparative fit index (CFI), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) and the Tucker–Lewis index (TLI) and can be found in Table 4.

Table 4. Confirmatory factor analysis index results for SSIS-R, MSSC, and behavioural measure.

χ²	DF	χ²/df	TLI	CFI	RMSEA	RMSEA upper	RMSEA lower
Sport Spectator Identification Scale – Revised
45.240	9	5.021	0.962	0.977	0.091	0.117	0.066
Motivation Scale of Sport Consumption
893.518	314	2.846	0.910	0.925	0.060	0.065	0.065
Fan Behavioural Measures
120.119	24	5.000	0.933	0.955	0.091	0.108	0.077

Relative chi-square (χ²/df) reduces the influence of sample size. It is recommended for this value to be between 2.0 and 5.0. All of the observed models for each scale fit this criterion ranging from 2.846 to 5.021, as shown in Table 4 (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2019; Wheaton et al., 1977).

The second fit index is root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA). This index values the simplest models. MacCallum et al. (1996) suggested a cut-off between 0.08 and 0.10 shows a moderate fit, whilst below 0.08 would be an indicator of good fit. In this case, all models demonstrated a moderate to good fit with values from 0.060 to 0.091.

Next, two incremental fit indices were used, the non-normed fit index (also known as Tucker–Lewis index, or TLI) and the comparative fit index (CFI) (Bentler, 1990; Mueller & Hancock, 2008). The SSIS-R scale indicated a good fit with a TLI value above Hu and Bentler’s (1999) recommendation of 0.95 with a value of 0.962. The MSSC and Behavioural Measures are just below Hu and Bentler’s (1999) recommendation of 0.95; however, they do satisfy Bentler and Bonett’s (1980) level of acceptable fit recommendation of 0.90 with values of 0.910 and 0.933, respectively.

Finally, CFI, a popular index due to it being the least impacted by sample size, was used (Fan et al., 1999). All scales met the cut-off criterion of ≥0.90 with values closest to 1.0 demonstrating good fit (Bentler, 1990). Hu and Bentler (1999) suggested a cut-off of ≥0.95 to indicate good fit with the sample data, in which case the SSIS-R and behavioural scales met this criterion with values of 0.977 and 0.955, but the MSSC fell slightly below with a value of 0.925, indicating moderate fit.

Additionally, reliability and validity were further assessed using factor loadings (β), composite reliability (CR) and average variance extracted (AVE). All 42 factor loadings are above the Hair et al. (2010) cut-off of 0.5 whilst 34 of these are considered good with factor loadings over 0.7.

The recommended level for AVE was 0.50 and for CR was 0.60 to suggest adequate convergent validity (Hair et al., 2010). The CR and AVE for all factors met acceptable threshold levels with the Feminist factor comprising the minimum CR value of 0.700 and the Physical Skill factor returning the maximum CR of 0.962. The factor displaying the minimum AVE was Drama at 0.504 while the Social factor displayed the maximum AVE at 0.815. Factor loadings, CR, and AVE are provided for all factors in Table 5.

Table 5. Factor loadings, composite reliability and average variance extracted for survey items.

Factors and items	β	CR	AVE
Identification		0.888	0.574
How important to you is it that England win?	0.659
How strongly do you see yourself as a fan of England?	0.918
How strongly do your friends see you as a fan of England?	0.785
How much do you engage with England via any of the following: in person at a match, on tv, on the radio, on social media or the news?	0.708
How important is being a fan of England to you?	0.841
How often do you display the England team's insignia at your place of work, where you live, or on your clothing?	0.584
Achievement		0.854	0.662
I feel a personal sense of achievement when England to well	0.781
I feel like I have won when England win	0.856
I feel proud when England play well	0.802
Aesthetics		0.873	0.697
I appreciate the beauty inherent in the game	0.867
I enjoy the natural beauty of the game	0.813
I enjoy the gracefulness associated with the game	0.824
Drama		0.799	0.504
I enjoy the drama of close games	0.858
I prefer watching a close match rather than a one sided one	0.614
I enjoy it when the outcome of a match is not decided until the very end	0.601
I enjoy the dramatic turn of events that a match can take	0.737
Escape		0.778	0.551
England matches provide an escape for me from my day-to-day routine	0.870
Watching England play is a change of pace from what I regularly do	0.504
England matches provide a diversion from life’s little problems	0.804
Knowledge		0.911	0.775
I increase my knowledge about football watching England play	0.877
I increase my understanding of match tactics watching England play	0.896
I learn more about the technical aspects of football watching England	0.868
Physical		0.962	0.617
The athletic skills of the players is something I appreciate	0.743
I enjoy watching a well-executed England performance	0.717
I enjoy watching a skilful England performance	0.886
Social		0.930	0.815
I enjoy interacting with other spectators at England games	0.883
I enjoy talking with others at England games	0.912
I enjoy socialising with people sitting near me at England games	0.914
Family		0.805	0.59
England games provide an opportunity for me to spend time with my family	0.875
England games provide an opportunity for me to spend time with my partner	0.524
England games provide an opportunity for me to spend time with my children	0.855
Feminist		0.700	0.534
Supporting the Lionesses helps me to use my voice to discuss gender inequality	0.638
My support of the Lionesses is entangled with my feminist identity	0.809
Media		0.775	0.536
I read about the England team in news articles and interviews	0.705
I engage with content on the England team’s social media channels	0.810
I post on my own social media about the England team	0.675
Merchandise		0.893	0.677
I purchase England clothing (shirts, caps, scarves etc.)	0.937
I purchase England merchandise (non-clothing items)	0.725
I wear my England apparel on a regular basis	0.828
I wear my England clothing when I attend or watch their games	0.789
Attendance		0.735	0.586
How likely are you to attend an England home game?	0.868
How likely are you to attend an England away game?	0.647

Results

Team identification

The first research question asked what difference, if any, existed between the strength of team identification for the fans of the two English national football teams, the Three Lions, and the Lionesses. An independent samples t-test revealed that team identification of the Lionesses fans (M = 5.31, SD = 1.01) was significantly higher than that of the England men’s fans (M = 4.85, SD = 1.37), t(513) =  −4.37, p < 0.05. To assess differences between fans of each team and the six team identification items on the SSIS-R, a multivariate GLM was conducted with MANOVA values reported. Results indicated a statistically significant difference in team identification items based on support of either the England men’s or England women’s team, F(6, 508) = 9.12, p < 0.001; Wilk’s Λ = 0.90, partial η² = 0.10. Table 6 provides a comparison of identification items by England men’s and England women’s fans and illustrates Lionesses fans scored significantly higher than the England men’s fans on five of the six items. The only item that did not have a statistically significant difference was “How strongly do your friends see you as a fan of England,” suggesting that there was no significant difference between how England men’s and women’s fans believed they were viewed as supporters by their friends.

Table 6. Team identification items by England Men's and England Women's Fans: MANOVA.

Mean (Standard Deviation)		Team fandom
Identification Item	Total	England men’s	England women’s	F	p-value
How important to you is it that England win?	5.74 (1.25)	5.6 (1.47)	5.84* (1.07)	4.65	0.01
How strongly do you see yourself as a fan of England?	5.82 (1.33)	5.46 (1.54)	6.06** (1.11)	26.22	0.01
How strongly do your friends see you as a fan of England?	5.13 (1.68)	5.01 (1.72)	5.21 (1.65)	1.644	n.s
How much do you engage with England via any of the following: in person at a match, on tv, on the radio, on social media or the news?	5.48 (1.42)	5.08 (1.61)	5.74*** (1.22)	28.54	0.01
How important is being a fan of England to you?	5.36 (1.54)	4.95 (1.72)	5.63***** (1.34)	25.44	0.01
How often do you display the England team's insignia at your place of work, where you live, or on your clothing?	3.25 (1.79)	3.02 (1.74)	3.41****** (1.81)	5.622	0.01

*Multivariate GLM indicated significant differences (F (1, 513) = 4.65; p < .001).

**(F (1, 513) = 26.22; p < .001).

***(F (1, 513) = 28.54; p < .001).

****(F (1, 513) = 25.44; p < .001).

*****(F (1, 513) = 5.622; p < .001).

Furthermore, a two-way ANOVA was conducted to determine the effect of gender of fans and support for the England men’s and England women’s team on identification. Results indicated a statistically significant interaction between the effect of gender of fans and support for the England men’s and England women’s team on identification (F (1, 508) = 5.95; p < .05). Simple main effects analysis showed a significant difference for the England men’s national team between the identification of male fans (M = 5.00, SD = 1.36) and female fans (M = 4.49, SD = 1.35), p < 0.01, with male fans showing higher identification, but there was no significant difference between male (M = 5.23, SD = 1.03) and female (M = 5.34, SD = 1.00) fans of the England women’s national team.

Fan motives

The second research question sought to identify any differences in the motives for fans supporting the men’s and women’s English national football teams incorporating level of identification. A GLM multivariate analysis was conducted to first determine an interaction effect between level of team identification and support for the England men’s or England women’s teams on motives. Results revealed no statistically significant interaction effect.

Main effects analysis indicated statistically significant differences for motives for fans of the England men’s and England women’s teams (F(8, 502) = 19.46, p < 0.001; Wilk’s Λ = 0.76, partial η² = 0.24). Specifically, significant differences were found for the motives of Achievement, Aesthetics, Escape, Knowledge, and Physical Skill with the fans of the Lionesses reporting higher mean values on all motives. Main effect analysis also indicated a statistically significant difference between the levels of identification (F(16, 1,004) = 21.42, p < 0.001; Wilk’s Λ = 0.55, partial η² = 0.26). Tukey’s post hoc analysis revealed significant differences between all three levels of identification (i.e. high to moderate, moderate to low, and high to low) and all motivation factors. Additionally, MANOVA results showed that the most highly identified fans of both teams shared the same two motives as being most important: Physical Skill and Achievement. While Physical Skill was prioritised most by highly identified fans of the Lionesses and Achievement second, the reverse was true for fans of the England men’s team with Achievement most important. Lastly, both sets of highly identified fans shared the same least motivating factor, which was Family.

In terms of lowly identified fans, the most prevalent motives for England men’s fans were Drama, Physical, and Aesthetics, whereas the lowly identified England women’s fans were most motivated by Feminism, Physical, and Aesthetics indicating shared motives. The lowest ranking motive for lowly identified England women’s fans was Family, and for the men’s team it was Escape. The means and standard deviations with significant differences indicated can be found in Table 7.

Table 7. Comparison of England men's and England women's motivations by identification level: MANOVA results.

Motivation	Mean Score – Identification (standard deviation)
	England men				England women				Total sample
	High (N = 52)	Moderate (N = 107)	Low (N = 48)	Overall (N = 207)	High (N = 95)	Moderate (N = 180)	Low (N = 33)	Overall (N = 308)	High (N = 147)	Moderate (N = 287)	Low (N = 81)
Achievement*	6.20 (1.04)	5.19 (1.13)	3.57 (1.38)	5.07* (1.49)	6.33 (0.73)	5.52 (1.07)	3.90 (0.72)	5.38* (1.07)	6.29 ** (0.85)	5.40** (1.10)	3.70** (1.38)
Aesthetics*	5.28 (1.30)	5.10 (1.30)	4.08 (1.53)	4.91* (1.53)	6.17 (0.84)	5.50 (1.01)	5.21 (1.33)	5.71* (1.05)	5.85** (1.10)	5.33** (1.14)	4.54** (1.55)
Drama	5.61 (0.94)	5.31 (1.04)	4.79 (1.40)	5.27 (1.15)	5.79 (0.73)	5.37 (0.86)	5.11 (1.24)	5.48 (0.90)	5.73** (0.81)	5.36** (0.94)	4.92** (1.34)
Escape*	5.31 (1.35)	4.38 (1.09)	3.02 (1.30)	4.30* (1.44)	5.65 (1.06)	4.72 (1.25)	4.23 (1.41)	4.95* (1.30)	5.53** (1.18)	4.59** (1.20)	3.51** (1.46)
Knowledge*	4.33 (1.61)	3.95 (1.20)	2.93 (1.43)	3.81* (1.45)	5.76 (1.45)	5.05 (1.36)	4.27 (1.07)	5.19* (1.52)	5.25** (1.45)	4.64** (1.36)	3.47** (1.56)
Physical*	5.86 (1.08)	5.82 (0.85)	4.76 (1.40)	5.59* (1.15)	6.72 (0.43)	6.38 (0.66)	5.75 (1.10)	6.42* (0.72)	6.42** (0.84)	6.17** (0.78)	5.16** (1.37)
Social	5.58 (1.28)	4.46 (1.50)	2.97 (1.57)	4.40 (1.72)	5.49 (1.50)	4.30 (1.36)	3.21 (1.18)	4.55 (1.50)	5.52** (1.33)	4.36** (1.39)	3.07** (1.42)
Family	3.88 (2.15)	3.83 (1.86)	3.07 (1.56)	3.69 (1.90)	4.45 (1.78)	3.71 (1.86)	2.76 (1.76)	3.83 (1.89)	4.25** (1.93)	3.75** (1.85)	2.95** (1.64)
Feminism	–	–	–	–	5.72 (1.11)	5.38 (1.17)	5.12 (1.21)	5.47 (1.17)	5.72 (1.11)	5.38 (1.17)	5.12 (1.21)

*Multivariate GLM indicated significant differences between teams for the motivations of achievement (F(1, 509) = 5.65; p < .05), aesthetics (F (1, 509) =  47.69; p < .01), escape (F(1, 509) =  25.40; p < .001), knowledge (F(1, 509) = 93.30; p < .001), and physical skill (F (1, 509) =  85.50; p < .001)

** Multivariate GLM and with Tukey’s post hoc analysis indicated significant differences in level of identification of fans for motivations of achievement (F (2, 509) =  135.24; p < .01), aesthetics (F(2, 509) = 21.66; p < .01), drama (F(2, 509) = 15.05; p < .001), escape (F(2, 509) = 60.34; p < .001), knowledge (F(2, 509) = 30.83; p < .001), physical skill (F(2, 509) = 40.18; p < .001), social (F(2, 509) = 78.97; p < .001), family (F(2, 509) = 11.39; p < .001).

The third research question asked how the motives for supporting the men’s team correlated to identification. All eight motives had a significant positive correlation to team identification at the .01 level apart from Family, which was significant at the .05 level (see Table 8). The motive with the strongest positive correlation to team identification was Achievement (r = 0.691).

Table 8. Average score and Pearson’s correlations for identification and motivations.

	England men’s			England women’s
	M	SD	Correlation to identification	M	SD	Correlation to identification
Identification	4.85	1.84	n/a	5.31	1.65	n/a
Achievement	5.07	1.73	0.691**	5.60	1.49	0.614**
Aesthetics	4.91	1.64	0.341**	5.71	1.28	0.305**
Drama	5.27	1.47	0.284**	5.48	1.27	0.230**
Escape	4.30	1.75	0.550**	4.95	1.65	0.372**
Knowledge	3.81	1.58	0.357**	5.19	1.48	0.368**
Physical	5.59	1.47	0.398**	6.42	0.89	0.372**
Social	4.40	1.84	0.544**	4.56	1.66	0.493**
Family	3.58	2.05	0.177*	3.95	2.07	0.291**
Feminism	n/a	n/a	n/a	5.47	1.64	0.154**

**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2 tailed).

Research question four asked how the motives for supporting the women’s team correlated to identification. All eight motives from the MSSC and Feminism had a significant positive correlation to team identification at the 0.01 level. Similar to the findings from the men’s team fans, Achievement was the strongest positive correlation (r = 0.614). Different from the men’s team fans, though, was the finding that the weakest correlation from the MSSC was Drama (r = 0.230). The Feminism motive, however, had an even weaker positive correlation (r = 0.154).

Fan behaviour

The fifth research question sought to understand how behavioural outcomes differed, if at all, between fans of the England men’s and women’s national teams incorporating identification levels. The three variables measuring fans’ behaviour were Media Consumption, Purchase of Merchandise, and Attendance at Matches. A GLM multivariate analysis was conducted to determine if an interaction effect existed between level of team identification and support for the England men’s or England women’s teams on behavioural outcomes. Results revealed no significant interaction effect between level of identification and support for the England men’s or England women’s team on behavioural outcomes.

Main effects analysis indicated statistically significant differences for behavioural outcomes for fans the England men’s and England women’s teams (F(3, 507) = 67.89, p < 0.001; Wilk’s Λ = 0.71, partial η² = 0.29). Results highlighted differences for all behavioural factors of Media Consumption, Purchase of Merchandise, and Attendance at Matches. Similar to differences in motives, fans of the Lionesses reported higher mean values for behavioural outcomes compared to fans of the England men’s team. Significant differences were also found for identification (F(6, 1,014) = 57.39, p < 0.001; Wilk’s Λ = 0.58, partial η² = 0.25), with Tukey’s post hoc analysis revealing differences between all three levels of identification (i.e. high to moderate, moderate to low, and high to low) on all three behaviour factors. The means, standard deviations, and f-statistics with significant differences indicated for the MANOVA can be found in Table 9.

Table 9. Comparison of England men's and England women's behavioural outcomes by identification level: MANOVA results.

Behaviour	Mean Score – Identification (standard deviation)
	England men				England women				Total sample
	High (N = 52)	Moderate (N = 107)	Low (N = 48)	Overall (N = 207)	High (N = 95)	Moderate (N = 180)	Low (N = 33)	Overall (N = 308)	High (N = 147)	Moderate (N = 287)	Low (N = 81)
Media Consumption*	4.96 (1.22)	4.02 (1.27)	2.50 (1.09)	3.91* (1.49)	6.05 (0.73)	5.22 (1.07)	4.16 (0.72)	5.36* (1.07)	5.67** (1.09)	4.77** (1.25)	3.18** (1.36)
Merchandise*	3.96 (1.48)	2.89 (1.24)	1.57 (0.88)	2.85* (1.48)	5.20 (1.21)	3.41 (1.40)	1.73 (0.81)	3.78* (1.71)	4.76** (1.44)	3.21** (1.40)	1.64** (0.85)
Attendance*	5.39 (1.09)	4.22 (0.97)	3.03 (0.93)	4.24* (1.29)	5.85 (0.99)	5.40 (0.91)	4.60 (0.84)	5.45* (0.98)	5.69** (1.03)	4.96** (1.10)	3.67** (1.18)

*Multivariate GLM indicated significant differences between teams for the behavioural outcomes of media (F(1, 509)  = 140.78; p < .01), merchandise (F (1, 509) =  22.88; p < .01), and attendance (F(1, 509) =  118.79; p < .01).

**Multivariate GLM and with Tukey’s post hoc analysis indicated significant differences in level of identification of fans for behavioural outcomes of media (F(2, 509)  = 102.40; p < .01), merchandise (F (1, 509) =  130.07; p < .01), and attendance (F(2, 509) =  90.54; p <.01)

Across all levels of identification for the fans of the England men’s team, Attendance had the highest mean value, followed by Media Consumption, and then the Purchase of Merchandise. This was not true for the fans of the England women’s team, as Media Consumption had the highest mean value for highly identified fans, followed by Attendance. For moderate to low identified fans of the England women’s team, Attendance is reported as the highest mean value for behavioural outcomes. Similar to fans of the England men’s team, fans of the Lionesses reported Merchandise as the lowest mean value in terms of behavioural outcomes as demonstrated in Table 9. Overall, the fans of the women’s team were not found to be significantly different than fans of the men’s team in terms of consumer behaviour.

The sixth research question asked how the consumer behaviours of fans of the men’s team correlated to team identification. All of the England men’s behaviours had significant positive correlations to team identification at the 0.01 level, indicating that as team identification of a fan increased, so did their Media Consumption, their Purchase of Team Merchandise, and their Attendance at both home and away matches (see Table 10). All three correlations were very close in range (r = 0.590–0.635) suggesting that as identification increases so does the tendency towards these positive behaviours at a similar rate.

Table 10. Average score and Pearson’s correlations for behavioural outcomes.

	England men’s			England women’s
	M	SD	Correlation to identification	M	SD	Correlation to identification
Media	3.91	1.93	0.635**	5.36	1.71	0.561**
Merchandise	2.86	1.89	0.634**	3.79	2.14	0.672**
Attendance	3.41	1.89	0.590**	4.79	1.39	0.367**

Finally, the seventh research question asked how the consumer behaviours of fans of the women’s team correlated to team identification. Similar to the men’s fan results, all three behavioural measures were significantly positively correlated to team identification for the England women’s team fans at the 0.01 level (see Table 10). The strongest correlation was with the Purchase of Merchandise (r = 0.672) followed by Media (r = 0.561) and Attendance (r = 0.367). This differed slightly from the men’s team fans, whose strongest correlation was with media, then merchandise and attendance.

Discussion

This study sought to examine the team identification, motives, and behaviours of fans of a women’s sport team as well as those of a men’s team to identify any differences between these two groups and to begin filling a gap in the academic literature relating to women’s sport. From a theoretical perspective, prior to this study, we knew very little about women’s sport in relation to team identification, motives, and consumption behaviours, as documented in the literature review. By comparing these aspects of women’s sport fans to those of men’s, this research offers an important foundation upon which future research should continue to explore in order to enhance our understanding of these areas. For example, this study offered new theoretical insights in the area of team identification through the high levels of identification that existed amongst fans of a women’s sport team and by demonstrating that fans of a women’s team can possess higher levels of identification than those of a comparable men’s team. The corresponding motives of these fans, Physical Skill and Achievement, defy the longstanding media and industry stereotype that people attend women’s sport for reasons relating to Family, a finding which is discussed in greater detail in the Fan Motives section below.

The results from this research demonstrate the importance of team identification and the favourable behaviours related to higher levels of identification, such as fans attending matches, consuming team-related media, and purchasing merchandise. While these findings are well documented in the literature about men’s sport, this study sheds new light on the correlation between identification and consumer behaviours in the context of women’s sport (Fisher, 1998; James et al., 2002; Kwon & Armstrong, 2002). These results also support previous SIT findings, which uncovered links between identification and consumption behaviours. Additionally, the results assist in furthering our understanding of the differences between motives of sport consumption for fans of a women’s sport team and a men’s team. The following sections further discuss the study’s contribution to the literature and theory as well as its practical implications for sport organisations.

Team Identification

For both samples of fans, the level of team identification was high with a mean of 4.85 for the England men’s fans and 5.31 for the England women’s fans on a seven-point Likert scale. Of these fans, 57% (men’s) and 70% (women’s) were highly identified with the team. This suggests that most fans within the sample felt a strong psychological connection to the England national teams (Wann et al., 2001). There was a significant difference between the level of identification for the fans of the England women’s team compared to those of the men’s team. This means that within this context and sample, the Lionesses had more highly identified fans. Previous research suggests these fans would therefore experience more extreme feelings towards the Lionesses, such as increased anxiety in the lead up to an important match or tournament (Wann et al., 1998). Additionally, there was a significant difference in identification between the male and female fans of the England men’s teams but not the England women’s team. This mirrors previous research on men’s sport, as the male fans showed significantly higher identification compared to the female fans (Theodorakis et al., 2017). As gender differences relating to team identification for women’s sport have not been previously studied, there could be a number of reasons for this finding, including the shorter history of the Lionesses or a connection from women supporting other women (Wann & James, 2018). From a theoretical perspective, SIT research has shown that greater identification can be activated by associating with smaller groups which are viewed as being more distinct than “mainstream” groups (Goldman et al., 2016). Our finding that fans of the England women’s team, arguably a less mainstream team with a smaller fanbase than the men’s national team (e.g. shorter history, fewer matches televised, less media coverage, players are not as identifiable due to professional women’s football being less visible than men’s), were more highly identified lends support to the notion that identification is higher amongst members of smaller groups. A challenge for the England women’s football team moving forward will be attempting to maintain this level of identification even if the team becomes more mainstream akin to that of the men’s national team.

Fan motives

This study supported the findings of previous research as it showed significant correlations between the MSSC motives and a fan’s team identification (Fink et al., 2002; Hsu, 2003). The motives that were most important to the highly identified fans were slightly different between the fans of the women’s team and fans of the men’s team, indicating that fans of the women’s team were more highly motivated by Physical Skill whereas fans of the men’s team were more highly motivated by Achievement. Although both motives rated highly for each set of fans, the results indicate that winning games is slightly more important to fans of the men’s team, whereas a strong skill level amongst the athletes was valued more by women’s team fans.

These findings are quite unique when compared to previous research, as they do not align with Wann’s assertion that motives such as Drama and Entertainment were most motivating for fans of aggressive, team-oriented sports (such as football), and Drama actually had the weakest correlation to team identification for highly identified fans of the women’s team. Additionally, they do not reflect Delia’s (2020) findings that fans of women’s sport were motivated by affordability, the influence of family and friends, and supporting a cause. Delia, however, did not use the same scales as those used in this study, which must be noted. It is possible our findings might have aligned better had we used the same measurement items. Interestingly, Family was the least motivating factor for highly identified fans of both the men’s and women’s teams in the current study and it was also the least motivating for the lowly identified fans of the women’s team. This finding challenges a longstanding marketing tactic that has been commonly used in women’s sport, which is marketing events as being family friendly. Fielding-Lloyd et al. (2020) found that the Women’s Super League, a professional women’s football league in England, alienated its fans through its targeting of families and its attempts to shift focus from the on-field product to the peripheral elements of the matchday experience. Along with Fielding-Lloyd et al.’s research, the findings of this study support the notion that fans of women’s sport (specifically football) are motivated by the on-field performance and game outcome much more so than by family or other non-game related elements. Additionally, Family had the weakest correlation to team identification of the eight motives studied. It should be noted that our study’s sample was not representative of all potential women’s football fans, as it was based on a convenience sample which consisted of mostly highly identified fans. Therefore, future research should continue to focus on the Family motive and whether it might be an effective marketing strategy for more lowly identified fans or in capturing new fans.

Previous research suggested that affordability and supporting the cause of gender equality motivated fans to support women’s sport teams (Delia, 2019). The Feminism motive in this study had a mean of 5.47, which is high and therefore serves as a motive in fans’ decision to support the England women’s team. However, it had a very weak positive correlation to team identification, which suggests women’s sport fans’ support for gender equality only slightly contributes to their fan identity (Delia & James, 2018). While this study only examined whether Feminism was a motive for fans of the women’s team, future research should attempt to understand how issues of social justice impact sport fans’ team identification.

In terms of lowly identified fans of the women’s team, the greatest motives were Feminism, Physical, and Aesthetics compared to fans of the men’s team who were most motivated by Drama, Physical, and Aesthetics. Apart from the Physical motive, the other motives are quite different from those of the highly identified fans of each team. Marketers for women’s sport should attempt to utilise these three motives (Feminism, Physical, and Aesthetics) in their messaging to lowly identified fans in order to attract them to attend more games or watch on television, thus hopefully helping these fans to increase their identification and result in greater consumption behaviours, as described in the next section.

Fan behaviour

Both Wann and Branscombe (1993) and Sutton et al. (1997) suggested that individuals with high team identification would be more involved with their favourite sport team. The findings of this study support this argument, as there was a positive correlation between increasing identification and greater media consumption, purchase of merchandise, and attendance at matches for both the England men’s and women’s team fans. This demonstrates the value of highly identified fans to a sport organisation as they are the most likely to spend their own money to support the team through means such as purchasing the team’s shirt and attending matches (Bhattacharya et al., 1995; Mudrick et al., 2016; Ngan et al., 2011). While this finding reflects that of previous research, it is unique in that we now understand that the consumption behaviours of women’s sport fans are similar to those of men’s sport fans and this is the first known study to attempt to understand the consumption behaviours of fans of women’s sport. Future research should attempt to study this in different sport and cultural contexts to determine whether this is true outside of the context of English football.

One notable difference in consumption behaviours of highly identified fans of the Lionesses was the rating of media consumption (M = 6.05) higher than attendance (M = 5.85). For all levels of identification for the England men’s team, as well as the moderate and lowly identified fans of the Lionesses, attendance was ranked higher as a consumption behaviour. This outcome could be attributed to historical trends in media coverage between men’s and women’s football. England men’s matches are traditionally carried on major channels (i.e. BBC and ITV) in prime time, while England women’s matches previously may not have received television coverage, been placed on lower tier channels, or more recently, available only through red-button online streaming. Consistent media coverage of the England women’s team on major channels would be seen as a sign of social progress and validation for women’s sport, and thus valued higher as a consumption behaviour than in-game attendance.

Interestingly, team identification with the England women’s team played much less of a role in deciding whether an individual would attend a match compared to fans of the England men’s team. This could be related to affordability with fans having to commit much less financially to attend an England women’s game compared to a men’s game. This would mean individuals who may not know as much about the Lionesses or women’s football, in general, may attend because it is not as expensive to do so. However, further research would have to be completed to understand whether this is the case and the influence of other convenience factors.

The level of identification a fan has to a team shows a clear relationship with their behaviour, with more highly identified fans portraying positive behaviours towards their team. This had already been established within men’s sport and the SIT literature, but this study now provides evidence that this is also true of women’s sport and adds new knowledge relating to SIT and women’s sport.

Conclusion

Overall, this study helped build an understanding of women’s sport fans’ team identification, motives, and behaviours. The findings offer new information about women’s sport fans as consumers and will help women’s sport organisations to better understand their fans and consequently design marketing efforts to better target the specific motives of these fans based on their identification level. The following sections detail the limitations of the study and recommendations for future research.

Limitations

The opportunistic method used to recruit participants meant the sample may not be truly representative of the England national team fans. This explains why this study’s sample had a large percentage of highly identified fans, as they are the most likely to engage with online content related to the England national team. If a different sampling method were used, a more equal split of low, moderate, and highly identified fans might have been achieved. Additionally, specifically relating to the survey analysis and CFA, the authors acknowledge that measurement invariance was not conducted, and this limits the reliability of the results. Measurement invariance determines if survey items are interpreted differently based on group affiliation and is a central part of comparative survey analysis (Jeong & Lee, 2019). This is one area that future research can address to strengthen and build upon the findings from this study.

Future research

This research provides a starting point for understanding similarities and differences in team identification, motives, and behaviour of fans of men’s and women’s sport. However, there are several avenues for future research to build upon this work. First, this study identified that there is not a significant gender difference in identification with a women’s sport team unlike in men’s sport. Further research should attempt to understand the reasons for this and the impact this has on the sporting environment. Additionally, more should be done to understand the inception and formation of team identification for women’s sport fans and women’s sport fans as consumers in order to further support sport marketers in their decision-making for this audience.

Next, this study found very few differences in the motives to consume sport between the fans of a men’s team and a women’s team and future research should seek to understand to what extent these motives are being met for each set of fans, particularly for fans of women’s sport. Furthermore, the MSSC motives were examined in this study, but other motives such as affordability, influence of friends and family, and location of matches, all of which have been identified as relating to women’s sports fans, should be considered in the future work. Of note regarding the influence of family and friends, future research could also compare scales utilised to measure team factors, such as the MSSC scale (Trail & James, 2001) and the psychological meaning of teams scale by Delia (2020) as differences were found regarding the motivation of Family.

The addition of the Feminism motive in this study demonstrated that women’s sport fans support gender equality regardless of their level of identification. Future research should attempt to further explore this finding to understand how women’s sport fans’ multiple identities support each other. Additionally, other issues of social justice that are currently prominent in sport (e.g. Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+ rights, mental health advocacy) might contribute to or perhaps moderate fans’ team identification, therefore researchers should attempt to understand to what extent this phenomenon is occurring within both women’s and men’s sport.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).