Examination on the relationships among school identification, team identification, and sport consumption behavior of university students

The purposes of the current study were to find the significance of school identification among university students and its relations with team identification, current sport consumption and donation intention. In order to examine the purposes, the quantitative research method was used. Among a potential population of one university students, questionnaires were distributed to American college students by a convenient sampling with 140 valid respondents (76 males, and 64 females). The questionnaire primarily included four scales: School identification (16 items), team identification (4 items), current sport consumption (11 items), and intention to donate (4 items). The results demonstrated the importance of school identification through team identification in realizing university students’ current sport consumption behavior and future donation intention. Specifically, team identification fully mediated the relationships 1) between school identification and current sport consumption (i.e., sport media and merchandise consumption), and 2) between school identification and donation intention. In conclusion, athletic teams for a university play important roles to help promote the school and acquire the financial support.