Year: 2013 Volume: 12 Issue: a

Abstract: The purpose of this paper was to investigate the role of fan involvement with volleyball in their behavior (as expressed by loyalty) towards their team in professional men’s volleyball League in Greece. The sample that was used included 521 fans that watched volleyball games in five venues in Athens and completed questionnaires that were handed to them. The questionnaires items were the Leisure Involvement Scale (5 Likert scale) which was used by Nassis and Theodorakis (2008) and, for the evaluation of fan loyalty, the questionnaire (8 Likert scale) by Theodorakis and Wann, (2008) both were used in Greek population. Correlated regression analyses were used. Results showed that volleyball fans had a high level of involvement as expressed by three factors, namely Attraction, Centrality and Self-Expression and loyalty as expressed by behaviors such as frequency of watching games/TV/radio and participating in conversations with friends revolving around sports. The correlation analysis showed a positive correlation between the involvement factors and the loyalty dimensions. Additionally, the linear regression analyses showed that the three factors of involvement predicted in different degrees a statistically significant percentage of specific indicators that express the loyalty of volleyball fans to their teams. The results can be utilized by professional teams’ executives for the creation of the profile of fan involvement with volleyball, thus aiming at discovering more efficient forms of communication with them.