European leagues and clubs are primarily responsible for soccer having maintained and expanded its status as the world’s most popular sport over the past decade (Frick, 2007; Matheson, 2003; Zygband, Collignon, Sultan, Santander, & Valensi, 2011). China is no exception to this upward trend in relation to the popularity of European soccer, and Chinese people also represent one of the English Premier League’s (EPL) fastest growing fan bases (Sportingintelligence, 2011). Nonetheless, the high level of fan enthusiasm surrounding the European soccer leagues does not seem to be shared with China’s domestic league, the Chinese Football Association Super League (CSL). Rather, the league’s marred history of match fixing and bribery has prompted even some of China’s leading sports figures to label it a “failure” and a “laughing stock” (Beech, 2014; Sportingintelligence, 2011). The EPL and other top leagues are generally devoid of such blatant corruption and also contain elite athletes who are considered to be the best in the world, but the same cannot be said of the CSL, where a lack of local or international star power is fueled by the national team’s inability to qualify for the last three Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup tournaments (Beech, 2014).

The trend in China’s economic development has laid a financial foundation for the rapid development of its sports teams. With reliance on the state-run system to promote sports, the government has invested considerable financial, material, and human resources into building a strong sport development system to achieve superior performance in international competitions (Bao, 2010). China joined FIFA in the early 1970s, when the Chinese government decided to vigorously promote the sport of soccer. Since then, football has gained increasing popularity as both a participant and spectator sport (Bao, 2010). China experienced some success in international competitions when the CSL was launched in 1994, with its national women’s team coming second in the 1996 Olympic Games and also in the 1999 Women’s World Cup, and its national men’s team qualifying for the 2002 World Cup tournament, which was held in Japan and Korea. This upward trend did not last long, however, and over the past decade, there has been a great decline in the performance of Chinese soccer teams in international competitions. Recent reforms associated with building a new soccer administration system have achieved little effect with regard to both competitiveness and business operations. At present, the more reforms that take place, the weaker the performance of Chinese football teams becomes (Bao, 2010). Even when the China Guangzhou Evergrande Club won the Asian Soccer Championship in 2014, this did not ease the problems, conflicts, and challenges that are mainly in the following areas: (a) although the administration of Chinese soccer has been undergoing market-oriented reforms, the traditional centralized system, which is based on the power of the government, has not fundamentally changed; (b) there have been numerous instances of administrative corruption, errors, and scandals in recent years, such that the CSL has lost the trust of the public; and (c) the neglect of youth development has led to a serious shortage of talented players, skill deficiencies, and poor match quality (Gong, 2012). Today, China’s national team holds a record low FIFA ranking, fluctuating between the 80th to the 110th position out of 208 members. Although Chinese people love soccer and it is, in fact, the most popular sport in China, fans are unhappy, dissatisfied, and even angry, with the CSL and Chinese soccer at large, as evidenced by their anti-CSL comments and complaints, and their indifference toward, and refusal to attend, CSL events. Although many Chinese people still care about, and closely follow, the CSL via media outlets, they have developed such a level of resentment that they are unwilling to attend or watch CSL events or buy CSL products (Gong, 2012).

Our purpose in this study was to investigate the level of Chinese soccer fans’ satisfaction with the development of professional soccer in China from a consumer perspective, on the basis of their attention to, and involvement with, the CSL and its teams. Our aim was to shed light on the current standing of the CSL in the minds and hearts of Chinese consumers and, thereby, to provide useful information to Chinese professional soccer decision makers as they develop and implement strategies, programs, and procedures to advance soccer in China.

Theoretical Framework

Attention

A learning theory usually consists of numerous conceptual segments that describe how information is absorbed, processed, and retained. It is generally understood that cognitive, emotional, and environmental factors, as well as prior experiences, all influence the ways in which knowledge, understanding, and skills are acquired and developed (Illeris, 2004; Ormrod, 2012). Attention is the cognitive and behavioral process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information, whether subjective or objective, while ignoring other perceivable information (Anderson, 2004). In the realms of general marketing and sport management, this concept is often defined in terms of the awareness that consumers hold in regard to a particular product or service.

In the brand context, awareness involves consumers’ recognition and remembrance of a brand name, particularly relative to the likelihood that a brand name will come to mind, and the ease with which it does so (Aaker, 1991; Keller, 1993). It has long been said that one of the major goals of marketing is to generate and maintain brand awareness (Macdonald & Sharp, 2000), a concept that is particularly important as consumers engage in an active search for information to aid their product selection processes. It has been argued that awareness has important effects on consumer decision making by influencing the range of brands to which a consumer gives serious attention, and which of these brands are selected for consideration from that point (Macdonald & Sharp, 2003). According to the hierarchy of effects theory (Lavidge & Steiner, 1961), there are four stages in the initiating and reinforcing of a consumption behavior: attention, interest, desire, and action. The attention a consumer pays to a brand or product represents the cognition stage and is generally the first step in the hierarchical model.

Within the context of the sports industry, brand awareness has been depicted as a key component of brand equity as leagues and teams strive to differentiate themselves from their competition (Shank, 2009). Typically, awareness occurs at the front end of a sport organization’s branding process and develops as consumers become more familiar with a team, league, or player (Shank, 2009). The development of this component amongst consumers can, therefore, lend a vital advantage to sport organizations as they compete off the field with surrounding forms of entertainment, and on the field with opposing teams (Gladden & Milne, 1999). A consumer’s initial focus of attention on a sport product can be expressed in such activities as reading related reports, watching related broadcasting programs, searching for information via the Internet, and talking to others about the subject. In line with this, Cianfrone, Zhang, Trail, and Lutz (2008) examined the effects of sport video game sponsorship on gamers’ awareness, affect, and purchase intentions by comparing unaided and aided recall, and found that gamers’ recognition rates were about 40% in the experimental (sponsorship present) group compared to 24% in the control (no sponsorship present) group. These results reinforce the relevance and importance of cognitive attention to sport consumption.

Involvement

Involvement can be defined as an emotional or personal association with something, or the condition of being involved with or participating in something. In general, involvement is considered an important component in understanding people’s perception, attitude, and behavior (Rothschild, 1984; Zaichkowsky, 1985, 1986). Rothschild described involvement as “a state of motivation, arousal, or interest” (p. 217) and, building on this description, Zaichkowsky (1985) described involvement as “an individual’s perceived relevance of an object based on inherent needs, values, and interests” (p. 324). As previous researchers have observed, involvement plays a significant role in people’s consumer behavior, including—but not limited to—searching, information processing, and decision making (Rothschild, 1984). Numerous scholars have found that involvement has a significant impact on people’s consumption behavior. For example, Zaichkowsky (1985) found that people with high, vs. low, involvement tend to have a greater interest in searching for and gathering information about products, and Laurent and Kapferer (1985) reported that people who have a higher, vs. lower, level of involvement process such information more extensively before making decisions. Celsi and Olson (1988) found similar results in their study of people’s involvement with advertisements, observing that people with a higher, compared to lower, level of involvement tend to actively process and interpret information from featured advertisements. Thus, when people have a high level of involvement, they actively search for, and process, information about products or services before purchasing and consuming them.

In the sport management literature, involvement is often linked with the concept of identification. Defined as the extent to which a fan feels a psychological connection with a team or athlete, it has been found that identification is an important predictor of attendance (Fisher & Wakefield, 1998; Williamson, Zhang, Pease, & Gaa, 2003) and spectator aggression (Wann, Carlson, & Schrader, 1999). In essence, the connections a consumer shares with a particular team coincide with an emotional or physical involvement. Researchers have reported that highly involved people are more likely to play sports, attend and watch sports events, and are also more likely to show a greater ability to identify event sponsors correctly, when compared to people with lower level of involvement (Lascu, Giese, Toolan, Guehring, & Mercer, 1995). Shank and Beasley (1998) confirmed that spectators with a high, vs. low, level of involvement tend to attend more sporting events, watch more sporting events on television, and read more about sports in magazines and newspapers.

Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction is associated with numerous positive business outcomes and is recognized as an important field of study in sport management and the wider realm of marketing (Van Leeuwen, Quick, & Daniel, 2002). As a result, there is an abundance of literature in which the concept of the satisfied customer in a general context (Anderson & Sullivan, 1993; Oliver & Westbrook, 1993) and in the context of spectator sports in particular (e.g., Lapidus & Schibrowsky, 1994; Madrigal, 1995; Wakefield & Blodgett, 1994; Zhang, Smith, Pease, & Lam, 1998; Zhang et al., 2004) is addressed. Although interpretation of the exact definition of customer satisfaction can vary, Oliver’s (1997) description of this as “a judgment that a product or service feature, or the product or service itself, provided—or is providing—a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfillment” (p. 13), has been accepted as theoretically and empirically sound in prior sport management studies (Van Leeuwen et al., 2002).

Customer satisfaction with a product can create long-term benefits for firms, including positive word-of-mouth, cross-buying, and customer loyalty (Anderson, Fornell, & Lehmann, 1994; Palmatier, Dant, Grewal, & Evans, 2006). In the context of spectator sports, customer satisfaction has been viewed as key to customer retention strategies that are aimed at keeping fans satisfied with a specific team or league. For the purpose of analysis, satisfaction is commonly divided into elements of service (Wakefield & Blodgett, 1994; Zhang et al., 2004, 2007) and game (Kwon, Trail, & Anderson, 2005; Madrigal, 1995; Zhang, Lam, & Connaughton, 2003), although there are also studies in which the two elements are combined (Byon, Zhang, & Baker, 2013; Yoshida & James, 2010). As sport organizations consist of products and services with which consumers directly and indirectly interact to varying degrees, we believe that understanding how customer satisfaction is achieved at a variety of levels is very important.

Satisfaction can impact attitudes and create attitude change (Oliver, 1980), and typically is examined in relation to attitudes toward consuming a product, such as a live sports event, televised sports event, or licensed merchandise. When a sport consumer has a positive attitude toward the attributes of a sport product, he or she tends to feel satisfied, which leads to initial and repeat consumption (Cunningham & Kwon, 2003; Zhang et al., 2003). Highly satisfied sport fans have been found to have more positive attitudes toward reattending a sports event; therefore, satisfaction leads to repeat purchase (Cunningham & Kwon, 2003; Kaplanidou & Gibson, 2010). Conversely, there are also numerous possible unsatisfactory outcomes, such as negative beliefs and perception, grudge holding, complaining, discontinued consumption, or even retaliation via negative word-of-mouth actions and negatively influencing other potential consumers (Hunt, 1991).

Interconcept Relationships

In marketing studies, positive relationships among cognition (attention), affect (attitude), and conation (intention) are often assumed. According to the hierarchy of effects model (Lavidge & Steiner, 1961), there is an inherent sequence in these steps, whereby awareness and attention can be linked to customer satisfaction. Brand awareness affects consumer selection in the heuristic sense through the instillation of knowledge of a brand in the consumer’s mind and that consumer’s perception about the quality of the product (Hoyer & Brown, 1990). Consumers will often evaluate a product or service as soon as they obtain or receive it (Ried, Wang, Young, & Awiphan, 1999), and this evaluation then serves as the baseline from which they make future judgments about the product or service. Seeing, experiencing, and evaluating form the essence of initial satisfaction (Oliver, 1997), which can, in turn, lead to a consumer’s further attention, interest, and, ultimately, commitment to purchasing a product or using a service (Anderson et al., 1994; Palmatier et al., 2006; Shank, 2009). The link between the attention given to a good or service and the resultant consumer satisfaction should not be underestimated as prior researchers have shown that consumers with high levels of brand attention cope better with price changes that could potentially impact their behavioral intentions and satisfaction levels (Oh, 2000). In brief, on the basis of the literature we have reviewed, we tested the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1: There will be a positive relationship between consumer attention and satisfaction, and the operation and marketing of the China Super League.

As involvement plays a critical role in determining people’s consumption behavior, some scholars went further to assess the relationship between involvement and satisfaction. Intuitively, because involvement relates to an individual’s psychological state that reflects his/her emotional attachment, interests, needs, or values (Rothschild, 1984; Zaichkowsky, 1985), people with such feelings of involvement might have expectations about products or services that they consume or are planning to consume. Therefore, on the basis of their level of involvement, people might be highly satisfied or highly dissatisfied after they use a particular product or receive a service, depending on their interests, needs, and values. Various researchers have identified the direct and indirect effects of involvement on level of consumer satisfaction (Mano & Oliver, 1993; Richins & Bloch, 1991; Swinyard, 1993). For instance, Richins and Bloch found that people with a high, vs. low, level of involvement were more likely to be satisfied with products they used. In regard to satisfaction with service quality Oliver and Westbrook (1993) found significant differences between highly involved consumers and those with low involvement. Further, Beatty, Homer, and Kahle (1988) applied an involvement–commitment model and found that there was a causal relationship between involvement and sport brand commitment. When an individual is involved with a product or a service, he/she must be reasonably satisfied with the product or service in order to increase brand commitment. We assumed that consumers with a high level of involvement would search for information about a product or a service and, once they were satisfied after buying or using the product or service, they would be more likely to repurchase or reuse it. In brief, on the basis of the literature we have reviewed, we tested the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2: A consumer’s attention will be positively related to his/her satisfaction with the operation and marketing of the China Super League.

Method

Participants

Participants (N = 926) were spectators at five CSL games involving 10 of 16 CSL teams, which were held in the cities of Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Beijing, and Zhengzhou, and which represented each of the five major geographic regions (i.e., eastern, southern, western, northern, and central) of China. Among the participants, 79.5% were men and 20.5% were women; approximately 30% had either a middle school or high school diploma or a lower educational qualification and 70% had a college or advanced degree; around 20% were public service employees, and close to 80% were managers, professionals, or skilled workers. Participation in the study was voluntary and anonymity was assured.

Measurement

From a review of the literature and interviews with 26 CSL staff, comprising 11 league officials, 13 team officials, and two national team coaches, we formulated a questionnaire that was divided the following three sections: (a) consumer attention, (b) consumer involvement, and (c) consumer satisfaction. To ensure a high level of cooperation from spectators during game events, we aimed to keep the items in the questionnaire both concise and precise. Following Anderson’s (2004) definition of attention and Zaichkowsky’s (1985) definition of involvement, we formulated a general item to measure both consumer attention and involvement. There were also 12 items to assess consumer satisfaction with the CSL administration, which were intended to measure consumers’ judgment of the league’s overall policies, operations, and marketing. These perspectives were consistent with the indications of Grönroos (1984) and Edvardsson, Gustavsson, and Riddle (1989) that the quality of a product or service comprises technical and functional aspects, and the rudiments connecting the product with the market environment. These perspectives together influence consumers’ assessment of the organization. Each of the items was rated on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = not at all to 5 = very much). Additionally, information on participants’ demographic background was collected for sample description purposes.

Procedure

After the questionnaire was formulated, it was submitted to the same group of league and team administrators and coaches for further examination of its content validity in terms of item relevance, representativeness, and clarity. After minor improvements to clarify the wording, all items in the questionnaire were retained. For each of the five CSL game events, 3–5 research assistants were recruited from a local university, received training from the principal investigator for this study, and helped with the data collection. The training included the following procedure for participant recruitment: (a) politely approaching spectators who were adults (i.e., 18 years or older), (b) explaining to the spectators that participation in the survey was voluntary and that there would be no penalty if they chose not to participate, (c) explaining to the spectators that their information would be kept anonymous and confidential, and (d) thanking the spectators. Questionnaire administration took place before the game or during the intermission. The research assistants passed out 1,500 forms (an average of 300 per game) and 926 completed forms were returned, at an average of 185 per each game (rate of return = 61.73%).

Data Analyses

The sample of 926 spectators was randomly split into three subgroups (n = 309, n = 309, and n = 308), which were used, respectively, to conduct an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the consumer satisfaction variables, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the consumer satisfaction variables, and a structural equation model (SEM) of the impact of consumer attention and involvement on consumer satisfaction. SPSS version 19.0 was used to calculate descriptive statistics and conduct the EFA. Mplus version 7.0 was used to conduct the CFA and SEM by adopting the maximum likelihood estimation technique because of its robustness with both normal and nonnormal multivariate data (Muthén & Muthén, 2012). For the EFA, principal components extraction and varimax rotation methods were adopted (Hair, Black, Babin, & Anderson, 2010). An eigenvalue equal to 1.0 with reference to the scree plot (Kaiser, 1960) was used as the criterion to define a factor, and a factor loading equal to or greater than .40, without double loading (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994), was the standard set for an item to be retained. For the CFA and SEM, chi square (χ²), normed chi square (χ²/df), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), standardized root mean square residual (SRMR), Tucker-Lewis index (TLI), and comparative fit index (CFI) were employed to assess model fit (Hair et al., 2010; Hu & Bentler, 1999; Kline, 2005). To examine the scale’s reliability, coefficients of Cronbach’s alpha (α), construct reliability (CR), and average variance extracted (AVE) were calculated. Additionally, convergent and discriminant validity were examined to evaluate the construct validity, where the former was determined by factor loadings and t values and the latter by interfactor correlations (Kline, 2005).

Results

Data from the first subgroup of participants were used to conduct the EFA. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy (Kaiser, 1974) was .89, indicating that the sample was adequate for factor analysis of the consumer satisfaction variables. Bartlett’s test of sphericity was statistically significant (p < .01), indicating that the hypothesis of the variance and covariance matrix of the variables as an identity matrix was rejected; therefore, a factor analysis was appropriate. Principal components extraction showed that three factors had an eigenvalue equal to or greater than 1.0, with 74.10% of the variance explained. The extracted factor matrix was then rotated by using the varimax rotation technique. Final decisions on the factors and items were based on the following criteria: (a) the factor had an eigenvalue equal to or greater than 1; (b) the item had a factor loading equal to or greater than .40, without double loading; (c) the factor was interpretable; (d) the loaded item on a factor was interpretable; and (e) the factor had at least two items. Consequently, three factors were determined, with 10 items retained. These factors were labeled policy (three items), operation (four items), and marketing (items items). The factor loadings ranged from .482 to .899.

Data from the second subgroup of participants were used to conduct the CFA. The goodness-of-fit indices indicated that the data fit the three-factor model well (χ²/df = 68.937/32 = 2.154, RMSEA = .061, CFI = .963, TLI = .947, and SRMR = .042). Cronbach’s alpha values were superior to the acceptable criterion of .70 (Kline, 2005); CR values met the threshold value of .70 (Hair et al., 2010); and AVE values exceeded the suggested coefficient of .500 (Hair et al., 2010). In terms of validity, all factor loadings were above the suggested value of .60, signifying that the convergent validity was good (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988; Hair et al., 2010). All of the interfactor correlations were lower than the suggested criterion of .850, indicating a good level of discriminant validity. Overall, the CFA findings confirmed the validity and reliability of the factor structure proposed from the EFA (see Table 1).

Data from the third subgroup of participants were used to conduct the SEM, with results showing that the data fitted the specified structural model reasonably well (χ²/df = 113.276/46 = 2.463, RMSEA = .069, CFI = .945, TLI = .923, and SRMR = .048). Unlike the hypothesized positive structure relationships, the results of the tests for the hypotheses specifying the relationships between consumer attention and satisfaction with marketing and between consumer involvement and satisfaction with operation were found to be negative, indicating that consumers’ attention had a significantly negative influence on their satisfaction with the CSL’s marketing and that consumers’ involvement significantly and negatively influenced their satisfaction with the CSL’s operation. However, there was no significant relationship found between consumer attention and satisfaction with policy, between consumer attention and satisfaction with operation, between consumer involvement and satisfaction with policy, and between consumer involvement and satisfaction with marketing. Therefore, neither H1 nor H2 was supported (see Figure 1).

Discussion

Soccer can potentially play a significant role as a catalyst in the irreversible trend of globalization as it reaches every corner of the world (Giulianotti & Robertson, 2012). The sport of soccer has gone beyond territorial and cultural boundaries to become a way to promote social change and integration. As a popular sport, soccer continues to offer enormous possibilities for reconfiguration of social identities, promotion of positive social relations and inclusion, transformation of good citizenship, and regulation, and control of dissention and conflict (Manzo, 2012; Merkel, 2007). Many countries, for example South Africa and Scotland, use soccer to eliminate geographical, racial, and gender barriers and other forms of injustice (Manzo, 2012; Merkel, 2007); however, the positive developmental trends of soccer are currently not mirrored in China.

Contrary to the common belief that consumers’ attention and involvement have a positive effect on their satisfaction (e.g., Anderson et al., 1994; Palmatier et al., 2006; Richins & Bloch, 1991; Shank, 2009; Swinyard, 1993), our findings revealed that the more Chinese soccer consumers paid attention to, and were involved with, China’s professional soccer, the less satisfied they were. In this study, we found that there were direct negative relationships between consumers’ attention to, and their satisfaction with, the CSL’s marketing, and between both their involvement and their satisfaction with the CSL’s operations. While the relationships between consumer attention and satisfaction with policy, between consumer attention and satisfaction with operations, between consumer involvement and satisfaction with policy, and between consumer involvement and satisfaction with marketing were not statistically significant, all of these relationships were negative and close to a level of significance. Although Chinese soccer consumers may be different from those in other parts of the world, there seemed to be a common perception among our participants that there are serious problems with Chinese professional soccer.

Some Chinese soccer consumers had decreased their attention to, and involvement with, China’s professional soccer league, but we found that many still paid attention to, and cared about, the CSL, despite this having led to an elevated level of dissatisfaction with the administration of the CSL and its teams. It is possible that consumers may not fully understand the presence, relevance, and impact of the CSL’s administrative policies on the observable aspects of operation and marketing. Many soccer fans in China care a great deal about the CSL and the general growth and development of soccer in China; however, they feel discouraged by the CSL’s ineffective administration, and the numerous instances of corruption, errors, and scandals that have occurred in recent years. It appears that many avid soccer fans have lost their trust in the CSL administration, which will likely lead to an eventual refusal to consume its products Gong & Xia, 2012).

Our aim in this study was to investigate Chinese soccer fans’ attention to, involvement and satisfaction with, the CSL, and the results confirmed that fans perceive that the league has a number of problems. However, we did not systematically identify, categorize, and explore the causes of, and solutions to, administrative issues in regard to the CSL’s policies, operations, and marketing practices. We suggest that future researchers should do so in order to extend our findings. We expect that our findings in the current study will help to initiate research efforts to address the challenges facing the league. As outlined by Bao (2010), it is widely perceived that the CSL’s administration is affected by chaotic, disordered, and irrational policies and practices, along with cheating scandals. These perceptions could negatively impact the confidence, trust, and interest of consumers; thus, in future studies, identifying, defining, and analyzing the existing issues with the CSL would help to set a precedent for seeking viable solutions. Ultimately, effective administrative policies, structures, procedures, methods of implementation, and monitoring mechanisms should be established to promote and enforce a market-driven, operational system of professional soccer in China. Future researchers should also consider examining organizational behaviors within the CSL and conducting comparative studies between the administration of the European soccer league and that of the CSL.

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Bo Gong, College of Physical Education and Training, Shanghai University of Sport, 399 Chang Hai Road, Shanghai 200438, People’s Republic of China. Email: [email protected]