Co-evolution Between Sport Fans and Their Teams: A Co-evolutionary Perspective on the Psychological Continuum Model (PCM)

Purpose: The Psychological Continuum Model (PCM) is a useful framework for understanding how psychological connections develop between sport fans and their teams. Unlike previous studies that focused solely on sport team involvement in explaining the PCM, this study examined the effect of both sport team involvement and the co-evolution between sport fans and their teams on the PCM in the context of Korean professional baseball. Research design, data, and methodology: Because there are no scales to measure the characteristics of co-evolution between sport fans and their teams, this study developed a six-item scale to assess them. To investigate the effects of sport team involvement and co-evolution on the PCM, ANOVAs were conducted with 556 KBO fans in total. Results: The results indicated that both sport team involvement and co-evolution positively affected the development of sport fans’ attraction, attachment, and allegiance. In other words, as involvement with sport teams increased and sport fans and their teams co-evolved, the psychological connection between sport fans and their teams grew stronger. This connection evolved from attraction to attachment to allegiance. Conclusions: The findings provide sport marketers with insights on how to develop both sport team involvement and co-evolution between sport teams and their fans that enhance sport fans’ psychological connection to their teams. Further implications were discussed.