Efi Tsitskari *, George Tzetzis ** and Nickos Vernadakis *
(*) Department of Physical Education & Sport Science, Democritus University of Thrace, Greece
(**) Department of Physical Education & Sport Science, Aristotle’s University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Citation
Tsitskari, E., Tzetzis, G., Vernadakis, N. (2014). Assessing fan motivation in a Greek population; the psychometric evaluation of SPEED. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 45(2), 138-156. doi:10.7352/IJSP.2014.45.138
Abstract
The present study aimed to examine the applicability of the SPEED scale in the context of fans of the professional football clubs in Greece and examine its predictive power on fans behavioral intention to continue attending the team’s games. The proposed by Funk, Filo, Beaton and Pritchard (2009) five-dimensional motivation model used: a) Socialization, b) Performance, c) Excitement, d) Esteem and e) Diversion and ten items, two for each of the motivation facets. Two hundred and thirty nine (N=239) fans of professional soccer league participated in this study. The surveyors randomly selected sections in the venue and approached spectators at their seats before the beginning of the game. The 10 item SPEED scale was used to measure motivation by using the two items of each sub-scale randomly placed. The scale was translated into Greek using the back to back translation procedure. A single item measure was used to rate the fans’ intention to attend future games. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) did not provided support for the factorial validity of the motivational model. The data were then analyzed with an exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency through Cronbach alpha. A subsequent confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) provided partial support for the factorial validity of the model. Esteem had a strong influence on intention to continue attending the team’s games. The present study was the first attempt to distribute the SPEED scale to other population than Australian fans, in other geographical region than Australia and to non-English speaking spectators attending a football game in Greece. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed
Keywords: Attendance, Football (soccer), Questionnaire