This dissertation focuses on the sports consumer experience in arenas, examining the well-being of sports spectators and the nuanced role of spectatorship in emotional support dynamics. It presents a comprehensive literature review and an empirical investigation to explore these interconnected areas, specifically focusing on how spectatorship can have a transformative impact on sports spectators.The scoping review analyzes 76 peer-reviewed articles to build the Sport Spectator Well-being Process Model. This model, flowing the positive psychology tradition and derived from both frequency and thematic analyses, outlines four critical stages of spectator well-being and identifies three major research gaps: constrained research contexts, the use of a limited range of theoretical frameworks, and methodological challenges. This part significantly enriches the discourse on spectator well-being, offering a robust framework for future investigations into the intricate relationship between spectatorship and well-being.
The empirical study investigates sports spectatorship's potential to foster social relationships across gender and ethnic lines. Using social capital and social identity theories along with a multilevel egocentric network approach, it examines emotional support among American football spectators. Contrary to expectations, gender and ethnic diversity within networks did not enhance emotional support, and higher team identification was linked to a lower likelihood of emotional support provision and reception. This complexity, influenced by the treatment of emotional support as either continuous or ordinal, challenges existing literature and calls for further research on the nuanced interactions within sport spectatorship that can bridge societal divides.
This dissertation highlights the formation of spectator well-being and the complex interplay between sports spectatorship and social interaction, contributing to a deeper understanding of sports' potential to act as a catalyst for well-being and social cohesion. It underscores the importance of further research within the scope of Transformative Sport Service Research (Inoue et al., 2016). This nuanced exploration aims to uncover how sports can bridge societal divides, foster meaningful interactions, and enhance well-being through the lens of sport spectatorship.
