Identifying Brand Association Patterns Across the Psychological Continuum Model Stages: The Case of Winter Sports

The positive economic, social, and environmental influences of the active sport tourism market are well documented today. This study aimed to map brand association patterns across the different stages of the Psychological Continuum Model (PCM) within the context of winter skiing. The PCM was used as the theoretical framework to categorize participants into stages according to their skiing involvement levels. The data was collected from recreational skiers at two major ski resorts in Greece. Participants were classified into the PCM stages. The findings revealed that associations with the activity significantly discriminated against PCM stages. Product delivery associations were salient only at the Attraction stage, indicating the importance of functional evaluations for novice participants. In contrast, tradition and peer acceptance associations consistently predicted membership across all stages, highlighting their enduring symbolic and social relevance. Escape-related associations were diminished in higher commitment levels, whereas importance and affective associations emerged as key predictors in the Attachment and Allegiance stages. The study extends the PCM by integrating brand association theory in the context of sport tourism and offers practical implications for stage-specific branding strategies in participatory sports services.