Reasons Beyond Motives. Psychology or Relationship Marketing? a Cross-Cultural Investigation of Football Fans’ Motivations

Master’s Thesis from the year 2015 in the subject Business economics - Marketing, Corporate Communication, CRM, Market Research, Social Media, grade: 66, University of Edinburgh, language: English, abstract: This cross-cultural study aims to investigate motivations of the UK and the non-UK fans, specifically the factors affecting fan behaviour and the role of marketing activities of the clubs in it. As the purpose of the dissertation is the understanding of behaviour, beliefs and motives, the results will be derived from the in-depth interviews, conducted with fans of Manchester United FC and Chelsea FC. Specifically, it attempts to discover main factors impacting football consumption; to explore the role of relationship marketing and branding in fans’ motivations, and to investigate how fans motivations vary within different demographics and nationalities. The context of this study is two big English clubs - Manchester United and Chelsea, which have enormous fan bases not only in the UK but all over the world. Literature in relevant fields will be reviewed and presented to build a ground for the further research and explore the current understanding of fans motivations and football marketing.