ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Exercise Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1651356
A Study on Corporate Social Responsibility of Professional Football clubs on Fans' Consumption Intentions in China
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Physical Education, Laboratory of Intelligent Control and Robotics, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai, China
- 2School of Sports Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
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This study examines the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of Chinese professional football clubs and fans' consumption responses, with a comparative analysis across fans exhibiting different levels of involvement. Survey data were collected from 1,327 fans and analyzed using structural equation modeling and cluster analysis. The results reveal that, within the Chinese context, perceived CSR exerts a direct, positive influence on consumption responses; this effect is transmitted through two parallel mediating pathways—"fan identification" and "motivational attribution." Moreover, highly involved fans are driven primarily by fan identification, whereas less-involved fans rely more heavily on motivational attribution. We discuss theoretical contributions and practical implications to help Chinese professional football clubs better design and implement CSR strategies.
Keywords: professional football clubs, CSR, Fans Identification, motivational attribution, Involvement, Consumption intentions
Received: 21 Jun 2025; Accepted: 09 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Song and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Keke Song, School of Sports Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
Linhua Chen, School of Sports Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China
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