The Influence of Emotions on Game and Service Satisfaction and Behavioral Intention in Winning and Losing Situations: Moderating Effect of Identification with the Team

Brian H.Yim and Kevin K. Byon

This study examined the “emotion-satisfaction-behavior” model by synthesizing attribution theory (Weiner, 1985) and the transactional theory of coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). Two moderators were included: (a) game outcome and (b) identification with the team. Data (N = 494) were collected from two sources: (a) a non-student sample provided by Amazon Mechanical Turk and (b) a student sample from a public university in the southeastern United States. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and partial least square (PLS) statistics were used to test the model. The latent moderated structural equations procedure (LMS) was used to examine the moderation effect of identification with the team. Results indicate that sport consumers’ behavioral intention significantly differed based on game outcome. After a win, consumer emotions were related to both types of satisfaction (i.e., game and service), and game satisfaction mediated the relationship between emotions and behavioral intention. Consumer emotions resulting from a loss, however, did not influence service satisfaction. These findings can help sport organizations understand the emotion-satisfaction-behavior process of sport consumers and design appropriate recovery strategies, such as allocating resources and effort to deliver the highest level of ancillary services to help consumers cope after core service failure.