Spectating, Participating, and Integrating: A Model of Sports Fan Involvement and Well-Being

This exploratory sequential mixed-methods study examines the relationship between sports fan involvement and subjective well-being (SWB) among Chinese working professionals who are sports fans. Study 1, utilizing a grounded theory approach, identified a tripartite model of fan involvement, encompassing spectatorship involvement, participation involvement, and community integration, as well as the influence of fan involvement on SWB through self-esteem. Subsequently, in Study 2, we utilized bifactor confirmatory factor analysis and bifactor structural equation modeling with a sample of 417 working professional sports fans to quantify the synergy of these dimensions and their effects on SWB with self-esteem as a mediator. The results of bifactor confirmatory factor analysis from Study 2 accord with qualitative insights from Study 1, demonstrating that the general factor fan involvement explains over half of the variance in the observed variables. The results from bifactor structural equation modeling further reveal that fan involvement impacts SWB both directly and indirectly through self-esteem. Specifically, the effect of the spectatorship involvement specific factor on SWB is fully mediated by self-esteem; the effect of the participation involvement specific factor impacts SWB both directly and indirectly through self-esteem; and the community integration specific factor has a direct effect on SWB that is not mediated by self-esteem. These findings contribute to the sport management literature by introducing a comprehensive model of fan involvement and elucidating its complex relationship with SWB, contextualized in an understudied sport culture. The study highlights the dynamics of various dimensions of fan involvement and their impact on SWB.