Fantasy Sport, FoMO, and Traditional Fandom: How Second-Screen Use of Social Media Allows Fans to Accommodate Multiple Identities
in Journal of Sport ManagementClick name to view affiliation
Fantasy sport has become a prominent topic of study for sport management scholars over the last decade, and along with the rise of this research have come questions regarding how fantasy sport involvement impacts fans’ loyalty to their favorite team(s). Although this question has been posed several times, results have been mixed. We posit that this is largely attributable to the fact that to this point researchers have not considered the situational environment under which fantasy sport has proliferated or the psychological processes of consumers facing multiple consumption options. Therefore, we examined a model featuring fear of missing out as an antecedent to fantasy sport involvement, social media involvement, and team identity salience during games. Furthermore, we examine the role social media involvement plays in allowing fans to accommodate both their fantasy sport and team identities during games. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Ben A. Larkin and Janet S. Fink are with the Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA.
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