Examination of the psychometric properties of the sport interest inventory in a sample of Turkish football spectators

Abstract

Purpose/Rationle: It is important for sport marketers and academicians to understand spectators' motivation for attending football games. Although football is the most popular sport in Turkey there is not enough study for understanding their behavior. The aim of this study is to examine the validity and reliability of the Sport Interest Inventory (SII) in a group of Turkish football spectators. Methodology: This research comprises two separate studies where 259 football spectators participated in the first study to whose data Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) was applied and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was applied to the data of 280 football spectators in the second study. Content validity was tested with EFA and CFA and Pearson's correlation coefficients among the variables were used to indicate convergent and predictive validities while reliability was tested by Cronbach's alpha internal consistency and composite reliability coefficients. Findings: The results support the appropriateness of the proposed 11-factor model for Turkish football spectators indicating that the Turkish version of the SII can be used to measure the motivational orientations of Turkish sports fans toward participating in sports competitions. Research contribution: The research contributes to our knowledge in the area of sports marketing research by developing the measurement tool for determining football spectators' preference. Practical implications: Practitioners in sports marketing will be able to collect data through this measurement tool to examine football spectators' behaviors.