From Fandom to Checkout: Artificial Intelligence and Immersive Commerce in Professional Sport

Background: Professional sport clubs are adopting three-dimensional stores, augmented reality, conversational agents, personalization, gamification, and digitally co-present fan communities, while the evidence needed to evaluate these investments remains dispersed across research domains. Purpose: This review explains how immersive and AI-enabled interfaces may generate commercial and relational value in professional sport. Method: A theory-building integrative review synthesizes an 80-source corpus across electronic commerce, immersive technology, AI-enabled service, consumer psychology, and sport management. Source roles and author-developed propositions are distinguished. Findings: The reviewed studies support particular experiential and relational mechanisms, but do not validate an integrated professional-club commerce chain. The Immersive Sport Commerce Conversion Framework proposes a functional route from fan experience to access and transaction outcomes and a relational route through identification, belonging, authenticity, trust, and psychological ownership to relationship and community outcomes. Responsible data exchange is assessed across these outcome domains. Usability, AI accuracy, privacy, accessibility, autonomy, and novelty condition the proposed pathways. Contribution: The framework integrates mechanisms examined across different research domanin, specifies eight testable propositions, and distinguishes governance as a trust pathway, a moderator, and a boundary on implementation.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce research
Published
2026-10-06
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer21100350
Primary Topic
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

From Fandom to Checkout: Artificial Intelligence and Immersive Commerce in Professional Sport

Carmen Grigoroiu, Dan Cristian Mănescu, Codruța Daniela Pavel, Alexandru Adrian Gavrila et al.
Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce research
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
article

From Fandom to Checkout: Artificial Intelligence and Immersive Commerce in Professional Sport

Carmen Grigoroiu, Dan Cristian Mănescu, Codruța Daniela Pavel, Alexandru Adrian Gavrila, Ionuț Marius Croitoru, Matac Liviu Marian, Andreea Maria Mănescu, Victor Marian Zamfir, Maria-Cristina Rădulescu
article en

Abstract

Background: Professional sport clubs are adopting three-dimensional stores, augmented reality, conversational agents, personalization, gamification, and digitally co-present fan communities, while the evidence needed to evaluate these investments remains dispersed across research domains. Purpose: This review explains how immersive and AI-enabled interfaces may generate commercial and relational value in professional sport. Method: A theory-building integrative review synthesizes an 80-source corpus across electronic commerce, immersive technology, AI-enabled service, consumer psychology, and sport management. Source roles and author-developed propositions are distinguished. Findings: The reviewed studies support particular experiential and relational mechanisms, but do not validate an integrated professional-club commerce chain. The Immersive Sport Commerce Conversion Framework proposes a functional route from fan experience to access and transaction outcomes and a relational route through identification, belonging, authenticity, trust, and psychological ownership to relationship and community outcomes. Responsible data exchange is assessed across these outcome domains. Usability, AI accuracy, privacy, accessibility, autonomy, and novelty condition the proposed pathways. Contribution: The framework integrates mechanisms examined across different research domanin, specifies eight testable propositions, and distinguishes governance as a trust pathway, a moderator, and a boundary on implementation.

Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce researchVol. 21(10)
West University of Timişoara (RO), Universitatea Națională de Știință și Tehnologie Politehnica București (RO), Bucharest University of Economic Studies (RO)
Openalex Percentile: Top 6%
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.