A Ten-Value-Type Framework Associated With Spectator Sports

Prior value studies in sport settings have been focused onparticipation rather than spectatorship. This study is an initial step in examining thevalues associated with spectator sports. Interviews and focus groups were utilized inthis qualitative study within four progressive phases for triangulation,transferability, and constant comparative assessment. A total of 54 individualsparticipated in the study. Because values were subjectively perceived at the highestlevel of abstraction reflecting desirable preference experiences, the interviews weredesigned to include seven categories of questions: Three categories dealt with observedbehaviors and implied metaphors, and four categories including questions comparingspectator sports and sport participation, religion, other leisure activities, andsubstitutes. Grounded data techniques guided the coding procedure. Using thetranscriptions and notes from 26 interviews and three focus groups, five coders wereused to provide evidence of interrater reliability. Based on the results of the dataanalyses, a 10-value-type framework was developed in relation to spectator sports: (a)Enjoyment (pleasure and satisfaction), (b) Sociability (social interaction through sportspectating), (c) Identity (enhancing self-esteem), (d) Status (pursuing socialrecognition), (e) Moral, (f) Spirituality (inner peace, strength, meaning, and purposein life), (g) Epistemic, (h) Aesthetics, (i) Ritual (sports spectating becomes a seriesof formal and serious acts followed regularly and invariably as end-experience), and (j)no or negative values. Different from Kahle’s (1983), Maslow’s (1970a), and Schwartz’(1992) value theories, the framework was specifically associated with spectator sportsand is expected to better predict spectator sport behavior than does a scale measuringmotivations of sports fans