Examining Attachment to an Athlete in Fantasy Sport Consumers

Attachment has been recognized as having important implications on consumer behavior. This research examined potential antecedents to a fantasy sport consumer's psychological attachment to athletes on their fantasy roster. The researchers investigated 1) the potential antecedents of psychological attachment through qualitative focus groups 2) the effects of these antecedents on psychological attachment creation through measurement and structural model testing and 3) the moderating effects of competitiveness, social anxiety, involvement and value orientation on the link between psychological attachment formation and draft intention. Structural equation modeling (i.e., AMOS 18) was employed to test the relationships among the hypothesized links between variables. Results from the study showed that psychological attachment affected a fantasy sport consumer's intention to draft a particular athlete to his/her team. Surprisingly, the antecedents antecedents to psychological attachment had no direct link to intention to draft. Ultimately, this study responded to two calls by past researchers to conduct additional theory-based and empirical studies on fantasy sport consumers.