The purpose of the study is to develop a reliable measure of sport team personality that incorporates the relevant dimensions/traits consumers attribute to their sport teams.
Initially, content analysis of sport teams' web sites and magazines were used to identify the items of the scale. Following this a survey research method was used to gather data from consumers. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on a sample of 301 consumers.
The analyses of the data resulted in a sport team personality scale consisting of five dimensions: competitiveness, prestige, morality, authenticity, and credibility
Sport brand managers can use the scale for benchmarking purposes and for examining how their sport teams/brands are perceived by sport consumers in terms of the five dimensions identified in this research.
The study expands the concept of brand personality to sport services and provides insights into the main dimensions of sport brands' personality. This is the first study that develops a valid and reliable instrument for measuring the personality of sport teams.
