The role of hate and love in the relationship between fan engagement through social networking sites and purchase intention

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between fan engagement through social networking sites and the intention to purchase sports team licensed products, and the mediating role of the fan's hatred towards the archrival of the team they support and the love for the team they support in this relationship. The sample of the study consisted of 941 (305 female, 636 male) university students determined according to the criterion sampling method, which is one of the non-random sampling methods. As data collection tools; Fan Engagement Through on Social Networking Sites (SASSTB) scale, Fan Love and Hate scale, Sports Team Licensed Product Purchase Intention (STLÜSAN) scale and demographic information form applied by the researchers were used. Structural equation modeling was applied to analyze the collected data. Hypotheses were tested with Hayes Process Macro analysis in IBM SPSS 26. As a result, in this study, it was revealed that team loyalty exhibited in digital media is a significant predictor of intention to purchase team products and services and that the love for the team and hatred for the archrival contribute positively to this prediction relationship.