Age and organizational identification: Empirical findings from professional sports

Transcription

1 Age and organizational identification: Empirical findings from professional sports Andreas Bergmann, a Sascha L. Schmidt, b,c Dominik Schreyer, b* and Benno Torgler c,d a EBS Universität für Wirtschaft und Recht, Rheingaustraße 1, 65375, Oestrich-Winkel, Germany b Center for Sports and Management, WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management, Erkrather Str. 224a, 40233, Düsseldorf, Germany c CREMA Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts, Switzerland d The School of Economics and Finance, Queensland University of Technology, Level 8, Z Block, Gardens Point Campus, 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia * Corresponding author. dominik.schreyer@whu.edu. Abstract: Although identification is critical to organizational survival, knowledge on how identification changes and evolves over time is still limited. Not only can tastes and choices vary across both social context and time, but individuals can change or choose their identity, as well as their ideals, group loyalty, and/or social category. Hence, in this letter, we examine the relation between organizational identification and age using five large sports consumer surveys as a snapshot of the age distribution of team identification. Our results provide evidence of robust U-shaped age profiles, with a probable turning point in the 40s. Keywords: age, basketball, fans, football/soccer, organizational identification Bergmann, A., Schmidt, S. L., Schreyer, D., & Torgler, B. (2016). Age and organizational identification: Empirical findings from professional sports. Applied Economics Letters, 23, DOI: /

2 One use of docility for enhancing the survivability and fitness of a social system, organization or other, is to inculcate individuals with group pride and loyalty. These motives are based upon a discrimination between 'we and a they. Identification with the we, which may be a family, a company, a city, a nation, or the local baseball team, allows individuals to experience satisfactions from successes of the unit thus selected. Herbert Simon (2000, p. 304) Introduction The emotional tie of identification, which reflects the tendency of individuals to divide themselves into social or group categories (Akerlof and Kranton 2010), serves as a fundamental mechanism in group cohesion by inducing personal interest in group or organizational success (Simon, 2000). Not only can individuals choose who they want to be (Akerlof and Kranton, 2010, p. 127), but in the long run, they can change norms and ideals and [even] the very nature of the social categories (p. 19). Yet although identification has become an important topic in economics, previous studies have failed to delve into the potential for individuals identity utility to shift over time. Rather, they tend to assume that tastes vary across social context but not over a lifetime, even though several studies report a U-shaped pattern between age and hedonic well-being reflected in an increased well-being after age 50 (Stone et al., 2010) perhaps due to coming to terms with what one s life is or will and will not be. Examining identity in relation to age, therefore, may provide a more detailed explanation of how identity changes and evolves over time. The sports environment offers a particularly valuable setting for examining identification because the organization (e.g., a soccer club) remains the same over time, while fans derive utility from group interactions, experiences, and processes, and adopt common signs (e.g., tricots, flags) to differentiate themselves from others. Surprisingly, however, the sports setting has not yet been used to throw light on the role of organizational identification and age (Day et al., 2012). 1 Rather, one common organizational identification measurement approach

3 is to track job satisfaction using, for example, the General Social Survey. Such studies, however, fail to control for organizational characteristics or contexts, a shortcoming reduced by using a sports club as the organization. In addition, with respect to team identification, the sports setting permits consumers to actively choose their level of desired engagement with organizational goals and adjust their consumption accordingly. In this study, we examine the age-identification relation using data from five large sports consumer surveys that we conducted. In doing so, we also contribute to the growing academic interest in factors that may (or may not) favor organizational identification (see, e.g., Ahearne et al., 2005; Ashforth and Mael, 1989; Dukerich et al., 2002). Because individuals in their midlife phase often have less discretionary time (Bowen and Riley, 2005), stronger family commitments and higher opportunity costs may negatively affect identification. Our research design controls for such opportunity costs. Data and empirical framework Our data set contains detailed information on 4,036 consumers of seven professional sporting organizations with different prestige levels across two different sporting environments, football and basketball. Specifically, we examine the age-identification relation using data on two wellestablished football teams from Germany s Bundesliga, Bayern München (FCB; n = 449) 2 and Borussia Dortmund (BVB; 352), 2 and three less well-established football teams from Wolfsburg (WOB; 756), Hoffenheim (TSG; 523), and Leverkusen (LEV; 1,120). 3 We also evaluate data on consumers interested in a professional basketball team from Bonn (TBB; 836), and consumers who follow Germany s national football team (DFB; 1,738). All six surveys were similarly administered online between 2011 and 2014, in collaboration with either the German Football League (FCB; BVB), the German Football Association (DFB), or the respective teams. Participants were recruited by featuring the survey prominently on the team s website and sending the link to registered club members.

4 We evaluate the influence of age on team identification (TI) using OLS with robust standard errors to account for heteroscedasticity. Our full specification has the following structure: TIi = β0 + β1 AGEi + β2 AGE SQUAREDi + β3 MALEi + β4 GERMANi + β5 SINGLEi + β6 NHOUSEHOLDi + β7 UNEMPLOYEDi + β8 INCOMEi + εi, (1) where TI, our dependent variable, is proxied by a well-established reflective construct composed of an average six items and assesses the extent to which a sports consumer identifies with a particular sporting team (Bhattacharya et al., 1995; Hoegele et al., 2014a; Mael and Ashforth, 1992; Ngan et al., 2011). All six items reflect statements such as When someone criticizes my team, it feels like a personal insult or I am very interested in what others think about my favorite team. The responses were recorded on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5) and then converted into averages (cf. Hoegele et al., 2014a; 2014b). According to our samples, internal consistency for the construct is satisfactory (Churchill, 1979), with a Cronbach s alpha ranging from 0.78 to To explore our key variable AGE (including its squared term), our analysis controls for the following set of characteristics: gender (MALE dummy), nationality (GERMAN dummy), relationship status (SINGLE dummy), employment status (UNEMPLOYED dummy), and the total number in the household (NHOUSEHOLD), which was included to control for time restrictions. Finally, we control for financial situation by including an INCOME dummy that takes the value of 1 if current income exceeds average income within the sample. The rationale is that above average income could be a good indicator for extended working hours and thus less discretionary time (Lock et al., 2009). Results To explore the identification-age relation, we apply two sets of regressions, one including only AGE and AGE-SQUARED as variables and the other with the full specification. Because this

5 relation is our main focus, we present the results of the predicted values graphically (see Figure 1 and 2). We observe strong nonlinearity and in many cases a strong U-shaped function, with the following turning points for age in the full specifications: 40 (FCB; TI=2.512), 48 (BVB; TI=2.607), 48 (LEV; TI=3.157), 60 (WOB; TI=3.245), 46 (TSG; TI=3.154), 40 (TBB; TI=2.866), and 62 (DFB; TI=2.735). Without the controls, these figures are 41 (FCB; TI=2.386), 47 (BVB; TI=2.617), 48 (LEV; TI=3.149), 60 (WOB; TI=3.255), 46 (TSG; TI=3.167), 41 (TBB; TI=2.832), and 61 (DFB; TI=2.742). In almost all regressions both coefficients are statistically significant at the 1% level. For FCB, identification decreases by around 14% between the ages of 20 and 40. Calculation of the beta standardized coefficients to check the relative strength of the factors further shows that in almost all cases, the age variables return the highest beta coefficients in the specifications. --- Insert Figure 1 and 2 about here --- Conclusions Our analysis in two different sports disciplines indicates a striking nonlinear U-shaped association between age and identification. Not only is the U-shape apparent, but there is a substantial change in relation to age. Exploring the relations in five different settings increases the confidence that age matters. The pattern remains stable with and without controls that also take into account opportunity costs. Nevertheless, the overall identification-age pattern evident in this snapshot calls for further analysis and explanation. For example, the controls for family commitment could be improved (e.g., children s age) and expanding from a snapshot analysis to a panel exploration would throw more light on individual changes over time. In business practice, consumer age is frequently used as a segmentation tool (e.g., Tepper, 1994; Holbrook and Schindler, 1996; Hoegele et al., 2015). Our results, however, suggest that young and old may be more similar than might be expected. One explanation for

6 this similarity may be that social categorization (e.g., Tajfel, 1982; Turner, 1975) is of particular importance not only at earlier stages of life but also for retirees as a means of self-(re)definition (see also Ellemers et al., 2002). That is, older respondents seemed to be better at designing their social lives to maximize positive affect (Mroczek and Kolarz, 1998), which could influence the enjoyment of and identification with sports clubs or teams. Thus, with increasing age and experience, there may be increased wisdom on how to consume a product. In the face of aging societies across the developed world, these findings once again underscore the importance of a more complete understanding of the aging process, including its biological, social, and psychological characteristics. Footnotes 1 For a detailed discussion on team identification (i.e., one s level of attachment to, or concern about, a particular sports team see Madrigal, 2001, p. 148; Ngan et al., 2011, p. 552; Wann and Branscombe, 1993) as a specific form of organizational identification, see, for example, Hoegele et al., (2014a). 2 The data on those spectators were explored in another context by Hoegele et al. (cf. 2014a; 2014b; 2015). 3 At the time of survey, FCB, BVB, LEV, WOB, and TSG had historically participated in 47 (ranked 1 in the All-time Fußball-Bundesliga table), 45 (5), 35 (11), 17 (21), and 6 (32) Bundesliga seasons, respectively.

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9 Figures Figure 1: Age and Team Identification in Football (Club Level)

10 Figure 2: Age and Team Identification in Basketball and Football