Predicting loyalty and word-of-mouth at a sports event through a structural model and posteriori unobserved segmentation

The study aims to explain how marketing variables (quality, value, satisfaction) combined with corporate image can explain the loyalty and word-of-mouth of those attending a sporting event. It also aims to know the different user profiles in the event and how these variables interact in each of these profiles. For this purpose, 697 sporting event attendees were surveyed. Structural model analysis was combined with unobserved a posteriori segmentation (POS) through PLS, that allows us to know the groups without a prior criterion. The results confirmed the hypothesis, explaining loyalty and word-of-mouth in a sporting event and revealing three unobserved groups of fans: involved, non-conforming, and opportunistic. The proposed model is useful to explain loyalty and word-of-mouth and the segments of users. On the other hand, corporate image must be considered to understand consumer behaviour in sporting events, because it has shown influence, especially in the involved and opportunistic segments.