Team Standing’s Influence on Throwback and Current Team Apparel Purchase Intentions: The Moderating Role of Power Distance Belief

Abstract

Abstract Despite the popularity of throwback apparel, few extant studies have investigated factors that differentially affect throwback and current apparel preferences. In this study, we suggest that the negative effects of poor team performance are especially relevant to low power distance belief fans and that throwback apparel is more resilient to these negative effects due to its nostalgic nature. Thus, the current study investigated the interplay between sport team ranking and power distance belief in shaping NBA fans’ preferences for current and throwback apparel. This study utilized a moderated moderation analysis of team ranking, product type (throwback vs. current team apparel), and power distance belief on purchase intentions. Data was collected from 401 NBA fans via Amazon Mechanical Turk. Findings suggest that, first, team ranking significantly influenced fans’ purchase intentions in general (i.e. both throwback and current apparel). Second, there was a significant interaction effect between team ranking and product type such that lower team rankings negatively influenced only current apparel and not throwback apparel. Third, high power distance belief was positively associated with purchase intentions of both throwback and current apparel. Finally, the three-way interaction effect was significant. Specifically, the two-way interaction between team ranking and product type was found to be significant only for low power distance belief fans and not high power distance belief fans.