Brand loyalty toward licensed sports merchandise represents an important dimension of fan–team relationships, yet its potential behavioral consequences in digital consumption contexts remain underexplored. This research investigates whether fans’ loyalty toward their teams’ licensed products is associated with compulsive online buying tendencies. Data were collected from 658 football fans in Türkiye through an online survey using psychometrically validated measurement scales. The analyses were conducted with IBM SPSS 28 and included reliability tests, exploratory factor analyses, Pearson correlations, and hierarchical regression models. The measurement instruments demonstrated strong reliability and validity (Cronbach’s α_loyalty = 0.991; Cronbach’s α_COB = 0.995; KMO values above 0.96). The findings reveal a positive and statistically significant relationship between brand loyalty and compulsive online buying (r = 0.212, p < .001). Regression results further indicate that higher loyalty levels are associated with stronger compulsive buying tendencies (β = 0.197, p < .001), although the explained variance remains modest (R² = 0.046). Interpreted through social identity and self-congruity perspectives, these results suggest that strong team identification may sometimes translate into emotionally driven purchasing behaviors in online retail environments. Loyalty was also negatively associated with purchase frequency, suggesting that more loyal fans buy less often but more symbolically. The findings contribute to the sports marketing literature by bridging research on brand loyalty with the compulsive-buying tradition, and they offer managerial guidance for designing responsible digital retail experiences that balance commercial objectives with fan well-being.
Brand loyalty toward licensed sports merchandise represents an important dimension of fan–team relationships, yet its potential behavioral consequences in digital consumption contexts remain underexplored. This research investigates whether fans’ loyalty toward their teams’ licensed products is associated with compulsive online buying tendencies. Data were collected from 658 football fans in Türkiye through an online survey using psychometrically validated measurement scales. The analyses were conducted with IBM SPSS 28 and included reliability tests, exploratory factor analyses, Pearson correlations, and hierarchical regression models. The measurement instruments demonstrated strong reliability and validity (Cronbach’s α_loyalty = 0.991; Cronbach’s α_COB = 0.995; KMO values above 0.96). The findings reveal a positive and statistically significant relationship between brand loyalty and compulsive online buying (r = 0.212, p < .001). Regression results further indicate that higher loyalty levels are associated with stronger compulsive buying tendencies (β = 0.197, p < .001), although the explained variance remains modest (R² = 0.046). Interpreted through social identity and self-congruity perspectives, these results suggest that strong team identification may sometimes translate into emotionally driven purchasing behaviors in online retail environments. Loyalty was also negatively associated with purchase frequency, suggesting that more loyal fans buy less often but more symbolically. The findings contribute to the sports marketing literature by bridging research on brand loyalty with the compulsive-buying tradition, and they offer managerial guidance for designing responsible digital retail experiences that balance commercial objectives with fan well-being.
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