With a little help from my fans - Extending models of pro-social behaviourto explain supporters' intentions to buy soccer club shares

In this paper, we develop a framework of pro-social behaviour for understan ding and explaining soccer fans' intentions to buy shares from their club i n order to provide assistance in times of financial need. Based on the theo ry of norms, two alternative versions of the framework are empirically test ed. Our results yield support for a mediating role of personal norms in the relationship between social norms and behavioural intentions. In other wor ds, the social norm of reciprocity, as well as the level of individual atta chment and the degree of perceived efficacy instigates fans to feel the per sonal obligation to provide financial support by means of buying soccer clu b shares. Alternatively, no support for moderating hypotheses was found. Pe rceived efficacy and individual attachment have no impact on the relationsh ip between obligation and behavioural intentions of soccer fans. (C) 2000 E lsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.