Sport fan preferences

Project Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between a person’s preference for daytime or nighttime and their preference for when a sporting event starts. A person’s preference for daytime or nighttime depends on his or her chronotype, that is, when one’s body believes it is time to sleep. A person’s chronotype determines whether they are more on the “morningness” or “eveningness” side of the spectrum, although many people fall in the middle between morningness and eveningness. A person’s chronotype has been studied in various settings, including athletics. Researchers discovered that athletes with differentiating daytime/nighttime preferences respond differently to start times of competitions (Lastella et al., 2016). The current investigation is designed to extend past research on morningness/eveningness in sport by examining how chronotype might impact sport fandom. Sport fans are impacted in many ways by their interests in sport, teams, and players, including affective, behavioral, and cognitive reactions (Wann & James, 2019). It is hypothesized that fans who identify with the morningness chronotype will be more likely to prefer (and thus, choose) athletic event times occurring earlier in the day, while those who identify with the eveningness chronotype will prefer a later game start time. Given that this relationship has not been previously studied, the current investigation will fill a void in the literature.

IRB approval has been acquired, and data collection is scheduled to begin immediately. The questionnaire will be administered to college students in university classrooms, with an initial target sample of approximately 75 participants. The questionnaire will contain three sections. First, participants will complete a demographics section assessing age and gender. Next, participants will complete two versions of the Sport Fandom Questionnaire (Wann, 2002). Five items will assess their fandom for football, and five will assess their fandom for baseball. Lastly, participants will answer five items assessing their morning/evening preferences (Horne & Ostberg, 1976) and two items assessing their preferences for sporting event starting times.

Data will be analyzed by examining correlations among chronotype, sport fandom, and preferred sporting event starting times.

By gaining an understanding of the relationships among sport fandom, chronotype, and start time preferences, this study will advance multiple literatures. That is, the study will add to previous work on both chronotypes and sport fandom, thus allowing for a better understanding of fans attendance. This information will be of value to sport scientists and sport marketing/management professionals.

Conference

Conference Name: Midwestern Psychological Association

Dates: April 18th – April 20th

Sponsoring Body: Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration

Conference Website: https://midwesternpsych.org

Funding Type

Travel Grant

Academic College

College of Humanities and Fine Arts

Area/Major/Minor

Psychology/Applied Behavior Analysis/ Science of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Bachelor's

Classification

Junior

Name

Dr. Daniel Wann

Academic College

College of Humanities and Fine Arts

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS