AN INVESTIGATION OF GENDER ROLES AND SPORTS-RELATED CONSUMPTION

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AN INVESTIGATION OF GENDER ROLES AND
AN INVESTIGATION OF GENDER ROLES AND SPORTS-RELATED CONSUMPTION
Michael J. Dotson, Appalachian State University
Eva M. Hyatt, Appalachian State University
ABSTRACT
Traditionally, audiences of sporting events have been male
dominated. Accordingly, marketers who sponsor such events
or who produce sports-related products have keyed their
marketing efforts to the male audience. Evidence suggests,
however, that there is a growing female audience of a variety
of sporting events which deserves marketers' attention. The
present study examines how male and female sportsfans' level
of sports-related social interaction and level of involvement
with basketball relates to sports-related consumption.
Results suggestthat both men and women are equally attracted
to the sport, but exhibit different patterns of sports-related
consumption.
INTRODUCTION
Sport is an international phenomenon that can be
broadly defined as "activities having formally recorded
histories and traditions, stressing physical prowess through
competition, within limits set in explicit and formal rules
governing role and position relationships, and carried out
by actors who represent or who are part of formally
organized associations having the goal of achieving valued
tangibles or intangibles through defeating opposition
groups" (Dyer 1982, p.9). Women have been and continue
to be involved in sports, both as participants and as
spectators, even though sports a whole remains a male
dominated arena. In the United States there has been
greater participation in sports by women, especially over
the last century, and various organizations such as the
Women's Sports Foundation have formed to promote and
enhance the sports and fitness experience for girls and
women (World Wide Web 1996). Media coverage of the
1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta repeatedly
highlighted female athletes' performances.
The role of sports spectator in particular can be played
equally well by both men and women at any stage of the
life cycle (McPherson 1975), and is the focus of this
research. Women have historically participated in this
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form of consumption of sports at lower rates than men.
However, there has been significant growth in the number
of female spectators, especially via television. Thirty
percent of women follow National Football League games,
39 percent follow professional basketball games, and 40
percent follow professional baseball games (Burnett,
Menon, and Smart 1993). With this growing interest in
sporting events comes an increase in women's sports-
related consumption in general, and the need to recognize
women as an important segment in the sports marketing
arena.
Despite the potential of targeting women in their roles
as consumers of sporting events, there has been a paucity
of research efforts on this subject. The studies that do
address women as sports spectators and consumers are
dated and tend to treat the issue peripherally. It seems
likely that women's interests in and behaviors regarding
the consumption of sports may differ from men's. The
purpose of this paper is to provide an exploratory
investigation into the nature of these differences.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Gender Roles and Sports
Differences between the sexes affect a great deal of
human behavior. Gender is one of the variables around
which social structure is built in almost all human societies
(Dyer 1982). Unlike males, who receive strong, positive,
consistent influences from family, peers, teachers, and
coaches regarding sports, females seem to have more
general, diffuse, subtle influences that socialize them into
sport (Greendorfer 1993). Further, because men control
decisions about which sports are broadcast on television
and which are reported in the newspapers, all-male sports
reign as spectator sports, even though co-ed sports are
thriving in the U.S. as well (Nelson 1991). Images of
change, though, are abundant. Women around the world
are developing sporting programs for girls and women
(Cohen 1993).
Traditionally, advertising for such sporting events and
sports-related products has been targeted toward males.
The primary image of masculinity portrayed in these ads
is designed to bolster the male ego and provide a strong,
vigorous, "tough man" persona who possesses relentless
physical strength (Vestergaard and Schroder 1985). Not
surprisingly, the top ten sports endorsers in 1995 (and in
many previous years) were men. This is in sharp contrast
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to the fact that female celebrity endorsers outranked ( 8 out
of the top 10) their male counterparts in overall selling
power in the same year (Goldman 1995). This represents
a major change from a decade ago, when the traditional
male authority figure was seen in virtually all ads and
males represented 9 of the top 10 celebrity endorsers.
Since women are the primary decision makers for most
products, and since more women are watching sports
(especially on television), sports on television may be one
of the most effective ways of advertising to reach women
as well as men (Burnett, Menon, and Smart 1993). It
follows that targeting women as a distinct sports-related
market segment would require a shift in the traditional
promotional appeal used in sports marketing.
The Meaning of Sports
The complete domination of organized professional
team sports by men has given sports like basketball a
distinct male aura, and has placed such sporting events at
the center of male culture in the United States. Men can
affirm their masculinity by being good at or knowledgeable
about a particular sport. Women can participate in (at least
on the periphery) male culture, which is more highly
valued in Western society, by joining in the celebration of
sports with men. This is particularly true when women use
sports as mode of personal interaction with the men in their
lives. Sports-related consumption, then, can be a way for
both men and women to extend themselves into this male
culture, and to express the deep meanings and values
associated with organized team sports (Belk 1988).
Participation in familiar sports-related rituals allows people
to comfortably and successfully express social identification
with dominant male social values and cultur (Rook 1985). When
one is playing a social role that is novel or demanding, the
reliance on the symbolic meanings of products allows him or her
to perform the role more successfully (Solomon 1983). For example,
a woman entering a non-traditional career might by likely use
sports as a way to break the ice with her male co-workers.
Sport Consumption and Social Interaction
It is a well-established notion that sport spectatorship
serves social functions as well as psychological ones (Lee
and Zeiss 1978). Research has shown that for other
traditionally male-oriented products, women often become
involved with the product as result of their desire to share
a common interest with their significant male others (Blair
and Hyatt 1995). Women's involvement in spectator sport
as social interaction coincides with the established notion
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that the consumption of sport provides necessary food for
conversation (McPherson 1975). General sports acumen
and knowledge about current sporting events/teams would
enable women in particular to engage in conversation with
men. The actual game day experience allows a close
identification with the group of fans and promotes a sense
of camaraderie and a feeling of membership in the "inner
fan circle" (Duncan 1983, p.32). The social benefit that
women derive from such events is evidenced by the fact
that their rate of spectatorship tends to be higher than usual
for special events such as the Super Bowl or Final Four
playoffs (McPherson 1975).
Moreover, the sporting event takes on the qualities of
a social ritual, in that it provides an opportunity for
individuals to get together in a social situation and confirm
that they are expressing the values of the group. This is
particularly true for families, in which viewing the game
becomes a home-centered activity that allows all family
members to interact (Birrell 1981). Similarly, the game
day ritual provides opportunities for interaction among
singles (e.g., the sports bar scene).
Sport Consumption and Involvement
As an activity, issue, or product category becomes more
personally relevant to someone, he/she is more likely to
notice related environmental cues and, in many cases, to
purchase related products. Enduring involvement is
characterized by long-term commitment to and interest in
something. Consumers' level of involvement is often used
by marketers as a distinguishing variable to characterize a
variety of buyer behaviors, such as extent of information
processing, type of information processed, and motivation
to acquire both information and products. Specifically, the
higher the level of involvement a consumer has with
something, the more likely he or she will be to expend
cognitive effort to process central message arguments
about it and the greater interest he or she will have in
acquiring related products (Cacioppo and Petty 1982;
Cacioppo, Petty, and Morris 1983; Petty and Cacioppo
1979). It seems likely, therefore, that consumers who are
highly involved with a particular sport would be
increasingly likely to attend to and process messages
related to the sport, as well as to purchase products that
facilitate participation in the sport both directly and
vicariously.
HYPOTHESES
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Due to the differences discussed between males and
females in gender role socialization regarding organized
team sports, boys should grow up with a greater long-term
interest in sports on average. A particular sport like
basketball, then, should hold greater personal relevance for
male fans of a particular team than for female fans.
Therefore,
H1: Male sports fans will exhibit a higher level of
involvement with the sport itself than female sports fans.
The previous literature review suggests that female sports
fans are likely to be motivated primarily by social factors,
rather than by actual interest in the sport. Their sports-
related purchase behavior is, then, likely to be influenced
more by social variables than by personal involvement.
Conversely, male sports fans' purchase behavior should be
more oriented toward the actual sport and influenced by
involvement:
H2: Female sports fans' level of sports-related social
interaction will be a better predictor of their Sports-
related consumption than will their level of involvement
with the sport.
H3: Male sportsfans' level of involvement with the
sport will be a better predictor of their sports-related
consumption than will their level of sports-related social
interaction.
Actual products likely to be purchased by male and female
fans should also reflect this basic difference in motivation:
H4: Female sports fans are likely to show more
interest in purchasing socially visible sports-related
products.
H5: Male sports fans are likely to show more interest
in purchasing products that facilitate involvement with or
consumption of the actual sport.
RESEARCH METHOD
Shoppers at a regional shopping mall in a medium-
sized Southern city were contacted via mall intercept and
asked to complete a questionnaire. Each person contacted
was asked a screening question: "Do you consider yourself
to be a UNC basketball fan?" Three hundred forty-two
shoppers (221 males and 121 females) who answered in
the affirmative were included in this study. The UNC
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basketball team was chosen because data collection
occurred during basketball season and this particular team
is the most popular, well-known collegiate team in the state
where the research was conducted.
The questionnaire included standard demographic
measures, a number of questions designed to measure
sports-related lifestyle and consumption behaviors,
Zaichkowsky's (1985) 20-item involvement scale with
basketball as the focus (Cronbach's Alpha = .86), and a
six-item scale designed to measure the degree of sports-
related social interaction (Cronbach's Alpha = .84). All
items were measured on a 5-point Likert scale where
1=strongly agree and 5=strongly disagree with the
exception of the involvement scale which was measured
on a 7-point semantic differential scale.
RESULTS
Contrary to expectations (H1), a t-test reveals no
significant difference in level of involvement with
basketball between male and female sports fans (t = .91,
p = .37) , with both sexes exhibiting an average level of
involvement right at the scale midpoint. Both male and
female distributions of this variable are equivalent as well.
That is, female fans are just as interested in the sport of
basketball as are male fans. Women are also just as likely
as men to see sporting events as opportunities to socialize
(t = 1.4, p = .16).
In order to understand the differences between men and
women and the factors related to their consumption of
sports-related products, the sample was divided by gender,
and a MANOVA was conducted, with level of involvement
with basketball and level of sports-related social
interaction as independent variables. MANOVA results
show that for both males and females, higher levels of
sports-related social interaction are associated with greater
tendencies to engage in all types of sports-related
consumption measured. On the other hand, only for
females are higher levels of involvement with basketball
related to higher levels of sports-related consumption. For
males, level of involvement does not explain a significant
amount of variance in sports-related consumption except in
the high social condition, where males who exhibit a higher
level of involvement also exhibit greater sports-related
consumption (see Table 1). That is, no support was found
for H2, or H3. It appears, then, that the sports-related
consumer behavior of male and female sport fans can be
explained by different descriptive models, as predicted,
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but that the role of sports-related social interaction and
involvement with the sport in men's and women's sports-
related consumption is more complex than hypothesized
and requires further investigation.
Table 1
Manova Results: Sports-Related Consumption Compared Across
Level of Involvement With Basketball and Level of Sports-Related
Social Interaction
________________________________________________________________
Males F Significance
Involvement 1.38 .151
Social Interaction 15.35 .001
Inv. X Soc. 1.74 .037
Females
Involvement 2.81 .001
Social Interaction 11.02 .000
Inv. X Soc. 2.98 .000
________________________________________________________________
Looking at specific purchase behaviors separately, male
sports fans are more likely than women to say that they
would engage in sports-related consumption that facilitates
active direct or indirect involvement with the actual sport,
such as subscribing to sports magazines (t=6.82, p=.00),
watching sports daily (t=7.41, p=.00), reading the sports
section of the newspaper (t=4.87, p=.00), participating in
sports-related hobbies (t=6.13, p=.00), buying a big-screen
television (t=7.23, p=.00) and purchasing products
endorsed by sports figures (t=3.67, p=00). These findings
lend support to H5, and indicate that there may be some
untapped potential in the women's segment of the sports
market. Women, on the other hand, are more likely to say
that they would purchase items with Carolina logos
(t=4.35, p=.00) and that they would buy items that are light
blue (Carolina's team color) over other colors (t=3.80,
p=.00). Women are also more likely to say they have or
would like to have Carolina jewelry (t=5.86, p=.00). These
findings support H4, which states that women will be more
likely to purchase socially-visible products whose main
function is to show team loyalty. MANOVA results show
one interesting interaction effect between gender of
respondent, level of involvement with basketball, and the
social interaction component of sports-related consumption.
Specifically, women are more likely to say they would buy a
Carolina sweatshirt than all male respondents except those
who identify themselves as having a low level of involvement
with basketball and a high level of sports-related social
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interaction. In other words, men who say they are team fans
because of social reasons are more likely to say they would
buy a team sweatshirt than their female counterparts, but in
all other cases women are more likely to want to buy a team
sweatshirt (see Table 2 for MANOVA results).
DISCUSSION
The above findings show that both male and female
sports fans are attracted to sports-related consumption.
Also, higher levels of sports-related social interaction is
positively related to higher levels of sports-related purchase
intentions for both genders. However, higher levels of
involvement with the actual sport are associated with
greater purchase intentions for all female sports fans and
for male sports fans with high levels of sports-related
social interaction. Contrary to common marketing thought,
the level of personal involvement with a sport is not nearly
as strong a predictor of level of purchase intentions than is
the level of sports-related social interaction. It seems that
fans who are "into" a team for social reasons are more
likely to purchase a whole variety of products than those
fans who are interested in the sport for the sport's sake.
Results from this study suggest that women in
particular are more likely to want to purchase socially
visible products (items with team logos, products in team
Table 2
Gender Comparisons of Specific Purchase Behaviors
________________________________________________________________

Means
Variable F P Male Female
Big Screen TV 15.88 .000 2.70 3.56
Hobbies 5.20 .023 1.95 2.27
Items w/ Carolina Logo 5.05 .025 3.13 2.42
Carolina Blue Items 4.86 .028 3.60 2.95
Carolina Jewelry 3.76 .050 3.96 2.84
Carolina Sweatshirt 4.91 .027
(involvement X social interaction)
Low involvement/high social 3.16 3.46
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High involvement/high social 2.88 1.63
Low involvement/low social 4.06 3.48
High involvement/low social 3.39 3.09
________________________________________________________________
colors, jewelry, sweatshirts) that do not have any functional
purpose other than displaying team loyalty. Men, in
contrast, are more likely to want more functional sports-
related products that they can actually use to view sporting
events or to allow them to engage in sporting activities.
The socially-conscious market seems to have been largely
ignored. This appears to be especially true of the female
market.
With the viewing of sporting events becoming a bigger
part of women's lifestyles, marketers need to pay closer
attention to segmenting the sports spectator market
according to gender. For example, events with high
concentrations of female viewers could focus on promoting
socially-visible team-related items, or even household
products primarily targeted toward females. Further, since
men and women sports fans buy for social reasons, there
should be more advertising appeals during the airing of
sporting events that center around social themes or use
primary social motivations such as belongingness or
acceptance. The practice of watching sporting events has
become ritualized for women as well as men, and since
ritualistic behavior often involves the extensive exchange
of products (Rook 1985), marketers need to understand
more fully the changing demographics, psychographics,
media viewing patterns, and purchase behavior of sports
spectators.
The results of this study may be limited due to the fact
that respondents were selected from a limited geographic
area and were self-named fans of a given team. It is
possible that sports spectators who do not consider
themselves fans of any particular team may respond
differently. Also, the sample was 65% more. Even though
this reflects the typical breakdown of many sports
audiences, a more gender-balanced sample might
illuminate gender-based differences more clearly. Further,
this study does not address sports viewing patterns of male
and female respondents, which needs to be examined by
future research efforts. A promising area of future research
involves the investigation of sports as a sacred
phenomenon and the sacred nature of sport-related
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products, as well as looking at gender-based differences in
the meaning of such products. Also interesting would be
an investigation of women's views on women's sports,
given the increasing media coverage of women's sports.
Eighty-seven percent of today's parents accept the idea that
sports are equally important for boys and girls (Sabo and
Messner 1993). Marketers need to be accepting of the fact
that watching sports is also important to men and women.
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