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Despite fast developments in esports sponsorship, limited research exists in the area of sponsorship evaluation in the esports context. The purpose of the present study was to test the relationships among esports involvement, sponsorship perceived fit and viewers’ intention to buy the sponsor’s products, and examine the degree to which perceived fit mediates the relationship between the involvement dimensions and intention.

The study draws on the theoretical model of sponsorship effects proposed by Wakefield et al. (2020) and obtained quantitative data from sampling esports viewers (n = 285). Statistical analysis was carried out in three steps. Beyond the descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to assess the goodness of fit of the measurement model. The mediation analysis was performed at the end of the study.

The results supported the impact of one of the esports involvement dimensions (i.e. self-expression) on both perceived fit and esports viewers’ intentions to buy sponsors’ products. Involvement (self-expression) was found to have both direct and indirect relationships, through perceived fit, on purchase intentions. The study provided support for the associations among esports involvement dimensions, sponsorship perceived fit and purchase intentions.

The practitioners should first consider the involvement profile of esports viewers. The more involved viewers will be more likely to have positive perceptions about the fit between the esports tournament and the sponsor.

It is the first study to test a sponsorship evaluation model in the context of esports users. It does so by including a more detailed measurement of involvement (with three-dimensions) in the hypothesized model.

This study aimed to identify subgroups of esports players based on their gaming behavior patterns across game genres and compare self-efficacy, social efficacy, loneliness and three dimensions of quality of life between these subgroups.

324 participants were recruited from prolific academic to complete an online survey. We employed latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify subgroups of esports players based on their behavioral patterns across genres. Additionally, a one-way multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was conducted to test the association between cluster memberships and development and well-being outcomes, controlling for age and gender as covariates.

LPA analysis identified five clusters (two single-genre gamer groups, two multigenre gamer groups and one all-genre gamer group). Univariate analyses indicated the significant effect of the clusters on social efficacy, psychological health and social health. Pairwise comparisons highlighted the salience of the physical enactment-plus-sport simulation genre group in these outcomes.

This study contributes to the understanding of the development and well-being benefits experienced by various esports consumers, as well as the role of specific gameplay in facilitating targeted outcomes among these consumer groups.

This research aims to examine how financial literacy moderates the mediation of attitude toward virtual influencers’ non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or ATB on the relationship between purchase intention and self-congruity, which includes symbolic representation, self-image congruence and emotional value. Initially, we investigated the mediation effect of ATB on the relationship between self-congruity and purchase intention. Subsequently, we analyze how financial literacy moderates this mediation process.

The study employed a sample of 383 virtual influencers’ fans and applied a partial least square structural equation model (PLS-SEM) along with robustness tests to test the research hypothesis. The analysis is based on the moderated mediation framework.

The findings are intriguing for several reasons. First, it reveals that only self-image congruence positively affects purchase intention, contrary to existing self-congruity theory literature. The relationship between self-image congruence and purchase intention is a direct relationship with no mediation effect of ATB. Second, ATB fails to mediate the self-congruity effect on purchase intention. Third, financial literacy has a negative relationship with purchase intention, indicating that fans of virtual influencers with higher financial literacy are less likely to purchase virtual influencers’ NFTs due to more critical investment evaluations. We also argue that financial literacy discards the consumption behavior effect from self-congruity variables on purchase intention.

The study contributes to the literature by emphasizing the significance of financial literacy on purchase intention under the self-congruity framework. It also surmises that self-image congruence does matter for the purchase intention of a virtual influencer’s NFT. However, further research could validate findings by studying broader NFT investors, incorporating fandom and impulse buying variables and examining actual NFT purchases against planned behavior.

This research is crucial for virtual influencers’ NFT creators, marketers and fans by providing insights for evaluating virtual influencers’ creators’ decision to pursue NFT markets. The findings reveal that the creators of virtual influencers should reconsider pursuing the NFT market, as self-congruity may not be a driving factor. Notably, our findings imply that a virtual influencer’s NFT is significantly different from a virtual influencer's merchandising business.

The originality of this study lies in extending the self-congruity within the NFT context, investigating how financial literacy moderates the mediation of ATB on the self-congruity-purchase intention relationship. It challenges self-congruity theory by showing that despite fans feeling aligned with virtual influencers, high financial literacy reduces the congruence.

As Millennials consist of most of the world’s population, there is a growing body of research understanding their consumption patterns in sport. We examined the relationship among Millennials’ various perceived values, their desire for conspicuous consumption, and their intention to purchase athleisure products.

We used a web-based survey through Amazon Mechanical Turk (n = 348) to test our research hypotheses and model.

Our findings revealed that perceived price, quality, and emotional value were positively associated with both the desire for conspicuous consumption and purchase intention towards athleisure products among Millennials. Perceived emotional and social value of athleisure-related products was positively associated with their purchasing intention via the desire for conspicuous consumption.

This is the first study examining the association among perceived value, conspicuous consumption tendencies, and purchase intention among Millennials. Our study suggests that Millennials have unique desires and preferences in what they wear in both sporting and casual settings, which in turn, contributes to their self-presentation strategies. These findings have implications for both sport scholars and professionals.

Although many attempts to discover key segments of sport spectators have been extant, little segmentation effort has been made to reflect pandemic situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this research is twofold: (1) to classify sport spectators into key segments based on perceived risks associated with a mass-gathered sporting event during the COVID-19 pandemic and (2) to identify each segment’s profiles.

Questionnaire surveys of spectators attending a Japanese rugby game during the COVID-19 pandemic (January–June 2021) were conducted (n = 1,410). A combination of hierarchical and non-hierarchical clustering methods was executed.

The results revealed the five-cluster solution as the optimal number of clusters representing the samples (i.e. spectators with extremely low-risk perception, those with low-risk perception, those with moderate-risk perception, those with high-risk perception and those with higher social risk perception). This five-cluster solution showed sufficient stability and validity. Moreover, each segment had different profiles regarding three background aspects – demographics, psychographics and behavioral variables.

This study is the first effort to segment sport spectators based on perceived risks associated with a mass-gathered sporting event in the pandemic situation. Despite extensive segmentation studies to explore sport fans, contribution reflecting the post-crisis situations is scant. Therefore, the findings provide insight into this realm by providing a new viewpoint for understanding sport spectators during a possible future pandemic era.

Identity regulation is part of a management control package. Organizations regulate employees’ self-identity to influence their behaviors. The success of this regulation depends on its trade-off with employees’ work identities and personalities. Organizational discourse nurtures this dynamic and interactive process. We focus on the regulation of an (undesired) organizational identity that is born at the intersection of race/ethnicity, gender, sex and migrant discrimination in accounting-related positions. We aim to analyze how Latina accountants who migrate to Spain perceive that their triple status as Latina, women and migrants affects their careers as accountants and interpret whether this triple intersectional discrimination aims to create a Latina accountant’s self-identity.

This critical study follows a phenomenological approach to analyze the experiences of women born in Latin America who migrated to Spain to occupy accounting-related positions. A thematic analysis of their semi-structured interviews allowed us to examine the challenges faced by Latina accountants in their accounting careers in Spain.

Our interviewees' narratives display an internalization of, even resignation to, a self-identity that we label “Latina accountant identity.” This identity is based on explicit discrimination discourses that cause them to suffer from the intersection of racism, sexism and migrant conditions and is nurtured by the discourses of their senior managers, co-workers and subordinates.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to frame the regulation of an intersectional discriminatory identity that is used to control Latina accountants from the inside, acting on the triple condition of Latinas, women and foreigners, influencing their self-perceptions regarding work and personal lives.

This research aims to analyze the primary social factors influencing the mental health and happiness of older adults. Specifically, the paper identifies the elements of social influences on the psychological well-being of elderly individuals.

Employing a quantitative research methodology, survey data were collected to examine the psychological well-being of older adults, utilizing SPSS software version 28.0 for data analysis.

Psychological well-being in the elderly is intricately linked to personal, cognitive, emotional and social aspects. Seniors experiencing reduced loneliness, ample communication opportunities, active social engagement and living with family members demonstrate higher levels of psychological well-being. Surprisingly, details of daily activities in senior age showed little impact on psychological well-being.

The research results may lack generalizability due to the chosen approach, prompting a need for further testing of proposed propositions.

This study fulfills an identified need to explore how psychological well-being is established in an elderly society, shedding light on critical social determinants.

Sponsorship identification accuracy is typically assessed as the percentage of consumers answering “yes” when asked if a brand is a sponsor (hits). However, this fails to consider misattribution (answering “yes” for a non-sponsor brand; false alarms). Misattribution reflects consumer confusion and dilutes the benefits of an official sponsorship, offers an advantage to a non-sponsoring rival and reduces a brand’s return on sponsorship investment. Informed by signal-detection theory (SDT), we show how hits may be disentangled from false alarms using a measure of sensitivity called d-prime (d’). A related measure of response bias (c) is also discussed.

In Study 1, we report the results of an experiment. In Study 2, we rely on a field study involving actual sponsors and fans.

The use of d’ and c is superior to tallying “yes” responses because they account for accurate sponsor attribution and misattribution to non-sponsor competitors.

In the context of sponsorship, we demonstrate how d’ and c can be easily calculated using Excel. Our research also includes an experimental study that establishes the hypothesized effects and then replicate results in a field setting.

This study aims to explore how ephemeral content marketing enhances brand love and customer engagement, with a focus on the mediating role of brand authenticity, self-brand connection and advertising value.

This research was conducted using a quantitative method through an online questionnaire with a sample of 728 in Vietnam, analyzing data by using the partial least squares structural equation modeling model.

This study evaluates ephemeral content marketing through six dimensions: entertainment, trendiness, informativeness, interactivity, aesthetic quality and perceived relevance. The findings indicate positive mediating roles of advertising value, self-brand connection and brand authenticity on the impact of ephemeral content marketing on brand love and customer engagement.

This study provides a comprehensive model of factors affecting consumer perceptions of ephemeral content marketing, which can help businesses to proactively formulate strategic responses for consumers on social media platforms with ephemeral content features. This also allows them to precisely target their audience, avoiding ineffective and costly advertising efforts on social media when content quality is lacking.

This research sheds light on the six essential dimensions of effective ephemeral content that adds value to customers, ultimately leading to their love and active engagement. This substantial addition to the field of social media marketing opens up possibilities for further investigation of the dynamics across different forms of social media marketing, such as short-form videos or in various contexts such as tourism, fashion, food products and education, particularly in the context of ephemeral content in emerging markets such as Vietnam.