How Can Social Branding Mitigate Racism Among Fans in Sports? A Q-sort Analysis on the Value of Social Branding Campaigns as Vehicles for Reducing Racism Among Soccer Fans

Vidar Stevens, Rens Cremers

Abstract


Social branding is a new governance strategy in the field of sport. National governments and sport associations, for instance, use branding to reach out to fans and alter their perceptions of racism in sport. But how do fans, as a target group, actually value this governance strategy? This article zooms in on the purpose of social branding, as perceived by fans as a target group in a social branding campaign on racism in soccer in the Netherlands. The Q-sort methodology was used to study the subjective viewpoints of 29 soccer fans of different professional sport clubs. The analysis reveals that soccer fans prefer a transparent branding process in which they are recognized as coproducers of the brand and can add their story to the brand message that is conveyed to target audiences.


Full Text:

PDF

References


Banasick, S. (2019). Ken-Q Analysis (Version 1.0.6) [Software]. https://shawnbanasick.github.io/ken-q-analysis/ [accessed July 30, 2020].

Eshuis, J., & Klijn, E. H. (2012). Branding in governance and public management. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203145159

Jeffares, S., & Skelcher, C. (2011). Democratic subjectivities in network governance: A Q methodology study of English and Dutch public managers. Public Administration 89(4), 1253–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.2010.01888.x

Klijn, E. H., & Stevens, V. (2021). The importance of co-production in branding as governance strategy. In E. Loeffler & T Bovaird (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of co-production of public services and outcomes. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978−3-030-53705-0_8

Lee, B. S. (2017). The fundamentals of Q methodology. Journal of Research Methodology, 2(2), 57–95. https://doi.org/10.21487/jrm.2017.11.2.2.57

McKeown, B., & Thomas, D. (2013). Q methodology. Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483384412

Muniz, A. M., & O’Guinn, T. C. (2001). Brand community. Journal of Consumer Research 27(4), 412–32. https://doi.org/10.1086/319618

Stevens, V., Klijn, E. H., & Warsen, R. (2020). Branding as a public governance strategy: A Q methodological analysis of how companies react to place branding strategies. Public Administration Review. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13263

Stevens, V. (2019). The new method of exponential random graph modelling to analyze interactions in participatory processes of place branding. Marketing Review Journal, 19(2), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1362/146934719X15633618140747

Stevens, V. (2021). “Replication Data for: How can social branding mitigate racism among fans in sport? A Q-sort analysis on the value of social branding campaigns as vehicles for reducing racism among soccer fans.” https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/RALNJO, Harvard Dataverse, V1.

Watts, S., & Stenner, P. (2012). Doing Q methodological research: Theory, method, and interpretation. Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446251911




DOI: https://doi.org/10.5296/jpag.v11i1.18299

Copyright (c) 2021 Vidar Stevens, Rens Cremers

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Journal of Public Administration and Governance  ISSN 2161-7104

Email: jpag@macrothink.org

Copyright © Macrothink Institute

To make sure that you can receive messages from us, please add the 'macrothink.org' domain to your e-mail 'safe list'. If you do not receive e-mail in your 'inbox', check your 'bulk mail' or 'junk mail' folders. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------