...Minsik Jo; Do Young Pyun; Joe Piggin Purpose The current study aims to conceptualise belief dimensions about esports sponsorship and to develop a reliable and valid scale for measuring these beliefs. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on established theories and prior literature, the study...

...Kun Chang; Hyun-Woo Lee; Bo Yu Purpose The economic impact of virtual goods consumption in esports continues to rise, yet the underlying decision-making processes and consumption patterns remain underexplored. This study extends the Cognition-Affect-Conation framework to empirically examine how...

...Tae Woong Yoo; Yonghwan Chang; George B. Cunningham Purpose This comparative case study examines fan discourse and sentiment in esports versus traditional sports, focusing on X (formerly Twitter) discussions surrounding the 2024 League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational Finals and the 2023 NBA...

...Shang-Chun Ma; Hung Yi; Chia-Liang Tsai; Wooyoung (William) Jang; Kevin Byon Purpose This study aimed to explore effective advertisement placements for sponsors of professional esports matches. Various factors pertaining to esports event broadcasting screens, such as advertisement placements (e.g...

...Umut Kubat Dokumacı Purpose This paper proposes a structural model that explores the relationship between game/esports streamers’ credibility dimensions and viewers’ willingness to spend money (WTP) on online games. The study seeks to uncover the underlying mechanisms in this relationship...

...Julia Rietz; Kirstin Hallmann Purpose The study aims to provide a reference for market segmentation in a relatively new market. Esports consumer profiles are developed based on consumption motives, structural factors, game genres, interests, demographics and behavioral intentions. It delivers...

... and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode DEI Physical activity Esports...

...Wooyoung (William) Jang; Wonjun Choi; Min Jung Kim; Hyunseok Song; Kevin K. Byon Purpose This study aimed to understand better what makes esports fans engage with streamers' live-streaming of esports gameplay. This study used the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and additionally adopted streamer...

... development. And very limited research explores social media's impact on brand equity in esports events, despite its significance. Therefore, this study aims to explore how social media affects esports event brand equity and participants' satisfaction and engagement with social media through brand equity's...

...Deokkyung Ock; Yongjin Hwang Purpose The current study aims to examine esports consumers' social needs (inclusion, affection and control) as antecedents of positive eWOM intention. Additionally, the moderating effects of game playing type (individual-based competition vs. team-based competition...

...André Calapez; Tiago Ribeiro; Victor Almeida; Vera Pedragosa Purpose Despite to useful relevance to better understand how group-level identity develops, few studies have explored the identity theory in the esports field and, in particular, considering the impact of a fan's role identity...

...Woulan Hattingh; Liandi Van den Berg; Ayesha Bevan-Dye Purpose Technological advancements in games increased the popularity of online gaming. The rapid expansion of the eSports market may largely be attributed to the ever-increasing popularity amongst Generation Y amateur gamers. The primary...

...Kun Chang; Jun-Phil Uhm; Sanghoon Kim; Hyun-Woo Lee Purpose Despite the negative effects of toxicity on various aspects of esports communities, gamers continue to enthusiastically show their pride and engage with the game. Based on the stress and coping theory, the current study aims to shed light...

...Ssu-Yun Chou; Wooyoung (William) Jang; Shang Chun Ma; Ching-Hung Chang; Kevin K. Byon Purpose The tremendous market growth of mobile platforms for esports underscores the need to understand players' psychological states and consumption behavior. Based on flow theory, this study examines players...

... relevant in attracting viewers. This paper addresses this research gap by analyzing the demand for replays of competitive esports matches. Design/methodology/approach We collected match replay data for two competitive esports leagues, CrossFire Pro League and King Pro League, from two Chinese esports...

...Yongjin Hwang; Nicholas Masafumi Watanabe; Mark Nagel Purpose This study aims to examine the impacts of brand congruity of in-game brand placement on esports consumers' implicit and explicit memory. Design/methodology/approach A 2 × 2 × 2 experimental design (N = 224) was used...

...Jitendra Yadav; Madhvendra Misra; Nripendra P. Rana; Kuldeep Singh; Sam Goundar Purpose Based on the concepts confined in Ajzen's theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study investigates users' attitudes towards adoption of a blockchain-based framework in the esports industry that proposes...

...Dishant Gupta; Harsh Sharma; Manali Gupta Purpose Esports has been emerging as a multi-billion dollar industry by attracting players, viewers, advertisers and investors across the globe. Even though there are plenty of professional titles present, only a few have been considered mainstream due...

...Ryan Rogers; Lee Farquhar; Jacob Mummert Purpose To understand how esports viewers perceive endemic and non-endemic sponsors during an event. Design/methodology/approach The researchers employed a four-condition experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to watch a clip with one of four...

...Wooyoung (William) Jang; Kevin K. Byon Purpose Grounded in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) ( Venkatesh et al., 2012 ), the purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents and consequence associated with esports gameplay by proposing the Esports...