The Effect of Personality Traits on Consumer Behaviour Among Football Fans: The Mediating Role of Fan Loyalty

The aim of the current study was to examine the impact of personality traits on consumer behavior among football fans in a Turkish setting by focusing on the mediating role of sports fans’ loyalty. Drawing on the Social Identity Theory, this research examines how the Big Five Personality characteristics, including openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and emotional stability, influence sports consumption through loyalty mechanisms. Data were gathered from 929 active university students who were all active football fans by using three validated scales for personality, fan loyalty, and consumption behaviour. Results revealed that fan loyalty fully mediates the relationship among all five personality characteristics and consumer behaviour. Even though the direct impacts of personality traits were not significant, the indirect effects through loyalty were substantial across all characteristics. Besides, the results also indicate that personality traits impact sports fan consumption patterns only through the development of loyalty. This emphasises the role of sports fans’ loyalty as the psychological bridge that connects individual characteristics with collective behaviour patterns. Furthermore, the findings shed light on our understanding of sports fan engagement by combining perspectives from personality theory and social identity theory. Ultimately, it offers practical implications for both sports marketers and club managers seeking ways to foster long-term relationships with their fans, particularly within collectivist cultures.

本研究旨在以土耳其情境下的足球球迷群体为研究对象，聚焦体育球迷忠诚度的中介效应，考察人格特质对消费者行为的作用机制。本研究依托社会认同理论（Social Identity Theory），探究大五人格特质（Big Five Personality）——包括开放性、宜人性、尽责性、外倾性与情绪稳定性——如何通过忠诚度机制影响体育消费行为。研究通过三套经信效度检验的人格、球迷忠诚度与消费行为量表，从929名均为活跃足球球迷的在校大学生中收集数据。结果显示，球迷忠诚度在全部五项人格特质与消费者行为之间发挥完全中介作用。尽管人格特质的直接影响未达显著性水平，但通过忠诚度传递的间接效应在所有特质维度上均显著且效应量可观。此外，研究结果还表明，人格特质仅通过忠诚度的构建来影响体育球迷的消费模式。这一发现凸显了体育球迷忠诚度作为连接个体特质与集体行为模式的心理桥梁的核心作用。进一步而言，本研究结合人格理论与社会认同理论的视角，深化了对体育球迷参与行为的认知。最终，本研究为体育营销人员与俱乐部管理者（尤其是集体主义文化语境下的从业者）提供了构建与球迷长期稳定关系的实践启示。