The influence of Chinese professional basketball organizations' (CPBOs') corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts on their clubs' sustainable development

Abstract

The positive effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on professional sports organizations’ (PSO) sustainable development have been studied in developed markets, e.g., the major four leagues in North America. To assess if CSR has similar effects on the emerging market, this study collected 373 questionnaires among the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) fans. The descriptive statistical results verified consumers’ positive responses to CSR in their favorite clubs in enhancing their team identification, loyalty, and purchase intentions of game tickets. There existed a strong relationship between team identifications and the clubs’ sustainable development. However, the results of the structural equation modelling indicated that the relationship between CSR and the clubs’ sustainable development was weak. The results indicated that fans generally considered a CBA team’s CSR effort as important, but the importance was not proportional to CSR-related team identification or the clubs’ sustainable development. Moreover, the lack of structural validity within each construct calls for more research frameworks and questionnaire designs for CSR investigations in the context of the emerging market. The practical implication of this study was that clubs with financial difficulties were only suggested to do what they could afford to do in CSR activities rather than get involved more than they could bear.