A Review and Research Agenda for Brand Communities in Sports

in International Journal of Sport Communication

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David Wagner Munich Business School, Munich, Germany

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https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0425-4158 *
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2023-0114
Keywords:
online brand communities; social media brand communities; sport communities; fan communities
First Published Online:
06 Jun 2023
In Print:
Volume 16: Issue 3
Page Range:
335–343
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Research on brand communities has burgeoned over the past 2 decades. Today many, if not most, sport organizations are entertaining dedicated brand communities. This article traces the development of community thinking in the field of sport management and marketing. Key articles on brand communities in leading journals in the field are identified, reviewed, and their core contributions distilled. By drawing on literature from adjacent fields, seven areas of future research are proposed: make or buy community, getting value from community, building a community capability, solving the community engagement puzzle, focusing on effective community engagement practices, analyzing the full community life cycle, and community for Web 3.0. The article provides a number of recommendations for future research on brand communities in sport management and marketing, enabling scholars to advance knowledge for both research and practice.

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