| With the rise of the Internet, fantasy sports have gained considerable attention from sports fans because of the accessibility and convenience provided to participants in the virtual world (Lomax, 2006; Wendel, 2004). Despite the incredible growth of interest in fantasy sports, few empirical studies (e.g., Cooper, 2004; Farquhar & Meeds, 2007) exist about this emerging phenomenon and its participants. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the psychological factors associated with participation in fantasy sports. Three theoretical models were proposed to analyze the psychological factors associated with fantasy sports participants. The first model investigated motivations and constraints, as well as examined how these motivations and constraints influence participants' attitudes toward fantasy sports participation. The second model examined the relationship between perceived service quality, satisfaction, attitude, and actual usage. The third model involved a comparison of the proposed service-quality model with a rival model to examine the role of satisfaction and attitude as mediating variables.;In order to test the three models, this study involved the facilitation of a six-section survey of subjects (N=279) who use the message boards of four fantasy sports websites (i.e., ESPN.com Fantasy Games, Yahoo! Fantasy Sports, FOX Fantasy Sports, and NFL Events: Fantasy Sports). The results revealed that motivation had a positive and significant effect (gamma = .43, p < .05) on attitude. Furthermore, constraints had a negative and significant effect (gamma = -.25, p < .05) on attitude. With regard to the results of the proposed service-quality model, there were significant findings regarding the structural relations: positive and significant relationships between perceived service quality and satisfaction (gamma = .73, p < .05), between satisfaction and attitude (gamma = .33, p < .05), and between attitude and actual usage (i.e., amount of time: gamma = .20, < .05; frequency: gamma = .17, < .05). However, the results of a rival model showed that only one hypothesized path coefficient was satisfied at the p < .05 level. Overall, these results indicate that satisfaction and attitude are mediating variables between perceived service quality and actual usage. The findings of this study provide unique insight for sport marketing researchers regarding the identification of psychological factors associated with sports consumers in a virtual world. Furthermore, the results of this research will assist sport marketing practitioners as they work to create effective competitive strategies associated with Internet usage and the development of web content (i.e., online gaming, web board, and online shopping). |
