The Motivation Scale for Sport Consumption: Assessment of the Scale's Psychometric Properties.(Statistical Data Included)

Galen T. Trial Iowa State University

Jeffrey D. James University of Illinois [a]

The purpose of this study was to develop the Motivation Scale for Sport Consumption (MSSC) to measure the motivations behind sport spectator consumption behavior. Previous efforts to develop scales to measure spectator motives have demonstrated weaknesses in content, criterion, and construct validity. Accordingly the content validity criterion validity construct validity and internal consistency of the MSSC were examined to determine whether the instrument accurately and appropriately measures the motivations of sport spectators. The weaknesses of previous scales are presented and then the psychometric properties of the MSSC are assessed. The results indicate that the MSSC does possess the psychometric properties requisite for accurately and reliably measuring the motivations of sport spectator consumption behavior.

Watching sporting events has a long tradition dating back to the first Olympics in 776 BC. Sport spectating also represents a predominant form of leisure behavior in contemporary society. In 1996, attendance at professional baseball, basketball, football and hockey games in America exceeded 110 million, generating over $2.74 billion in gate receipts alone (Badenhausen, Nikolov, Alkin, & Ozanian, 1997). America's largest corporations have also recognized the interest people have in watching and following sports. Sports represent a unique advertising vehicle through which companies can deliver a message to a specific target market. Consumer interest in sports has driven rights fees for sporting events up dramatically in recent years. For example, sports programming on national and regional broadcasts generated approximately $3.5 billion in advertising revenue in 1995, which is about 10% of television's annual sales ("TV Sports," 1996).

Despite the prominence of sport, little is known about the motives of individuals who are willing to invest financial, emotional, and temporal resources in following and watching sports. Individuals who invest their leisure time following sports may be thought of as sport spectators. Sport spectators may be further categorized along a continuum ranging from mere observers of a sporting event to highly committed fans (Sloan, 1989). Pooley (1978) suggested that observers watch a sporting event and then quickly forget what they have seen. Highly committed fans, however, continue their interest in the event or a team to the point that parts of every day are devoted to either the team or the sport itself. Observers enjoy the entertainment of a sporting event, while sport is an important part of the highly committed fan's life.

Previous research on sport consumption has focused primarily on the topic of sport demand. Studies have examined the effect of economic factors, promotions, and residual preference factors (e.g. scheduling of games, new stadia, accessibility, weather) on attendance at sporting events, and have studied the relationship between sociodemographic variables and watching sports (Baade & Tiehen, 1990; Greenstein & Marcum, 1981; Hansen & Gauthier, 1989; Schofield, 1983; Zhang, Pease, Hui, & Michaud, 1995; Zhang, Smith, Pease & Jambor, 1997).

Demand-based research contributes to an understanding of short-term, variable factors that influence decisions to attend or watch sporting events. Distinguishing between individuals who merely enjoy watching an event and those who think of sport as an important part of their life requires understanding the psychological motivations that influence sport consumption. A number of authors have hypothesized a wide array of motives to explain such behavior (Sloan, 1989; Zillmann, Bryant, & Sapolsky, 1989; Zillmann & Paulus, 1993), including aesthetics, catharsis, drama, entertainment, escape, social interaction, and vicarious achievement (see Trail, Anderson, & Fink, 2000, for a review of spectator motives). As Trail et al. suggested, most of the hypothesized motives are based on social and psychological needs. The next step in understanding the motives of sport spectators is to design an instrument that accurately assesses the motives of sport spectators.