Football Fans’ Purchase Intention of Sustainable Merchandise Products

Many sport organizations strive to become more socially and environmentally sustainable in their business operations. This study investigates the general interest of sport fans to purchase sustainable merchandise products and what factors influence their purchase intention. Combining previous results from the green consumption literature and sport consumption literature, the theory of planned behavior is extended by environmental concern, environmental knowledge, past purchase behavior, and team identification. The empirical analysis is based on survey data of German Football Bundesliga fans ( n = 1,019). The results of structural equation modeling show that attitudes, subjective norms, environmental concern, and team identification serve as significant positive predictors of fans’ intention to purchase sustainable merchandise products. The findings help sport managers to specifically target their sustainability actions. Strengthening fans’ team identification and perceived behavioral control, for example, by including them in the creation and selection of sustainable products, will increase their purchase intentions for those products.