Development and psychometric properties of football fan identity inventory

Objective: Stakeholder theory is an important approach to further explore fan identity, as it helps to elaborate the underlying meanings individuals ascribe to their role as supporters of a team. In this context, the main purpose of the research is to develop the football fan identity inventory and to examine its psychometric properties. Method: Rensis Likert's "Likert-type scale" model which is the most widely used scale development method, has been adopted. The reason for choosing this model is that it is more practical and inclusive in terms of the necessities of creating a scale. During the scale development phase, item pool, expert opinion, trial measurement, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and psychometric properties were examined respectively. Results: In the first part of the study, expert opinion was applied following making up 96 items (item pool) as a result of the essays. Following the expert opinion, a trial measurement was carried out with 75 items. Then, 19 items were removed and a 56-item form was created. For the exploratory factor analysis, data were collected again and the final inventory consisting of 22 items was obtained as a result of the analyses. Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out with 22 items and the football fan identity inventory was confirmed with 22 items. In addition, the psychometric qualities of the developed inventory were examined and it was determined as a valid and reliable tool for football fans identity examinations. Conclusion: Football fan identity is determined as a valid and reliable scale. As a result of the analyses, it is thought that the use of football fan identity inventory will be beneficial in order to better understand football fans.