Prediction of Attitudinal and Behavioral loyalty of Esteghlal and Persepolis Fans by Considering the Team Quality :A Case Study of Female Students in Tehran Universities

Abstract

: The participation of spectators– including both men and women- in sport stadiums and their profitability is one of the new experiences in the world of sports . A significant proportion of Persepolis and Esteghlal fans are women; so, providing conditions for women's loyalty to these teams can help in some decisions on fans management.One of the reasons for loyalty of fans may be the team's quality. In this study, attitudinal and behavioral loyalty of Persepolis and Esteghlal fans was predicted by quality of teams. For this purpose, 395 cases were randomly selected from female students who were the fans of Esteghlal and Persepolis teams from 20 universities in Tehran using Morgan table. They completed Zhang's quality of team questionnaire (1997) and Mahoney’s fans psychological commitment questionnaire (2000). The results indicated significant and direct relationship between team’s quality and fans attitudinal loyalty (r = 0.449, p <0.01). Also, quality of team explained about 20% of change in fans’ attitudinal loyalty ( According to results, attitudinal loyal of fans was impressed by the quality of team. Then, employing famous players and coaches, providing attractive games, and things like that, female fans may be more loyal.