International Journal of Sport Management

Scarcity Effects on Sport Consumer Behavior

Derek R. Walton, Brian A. Turner

Abstract: During times of product or service restriction, commodity theory has been used in disciplines such as psychology and marketing to explore how product scarcity affects consumer behavior (American Psychological Association, n.d.; Brock, 1968; Lynn, 1991). Although shown to be a beneficial strategy for marketing practitioners (Cialdini, 2008), this theory lacks presence in the sport marketing literature. Therefore, the purpose of this study was three-fold: 1) introduce commodity theory to the sport marketing literature; 2) apply commodity theory directly to the sport product through reasoning; 3) analyze sport consumer behavioral responses to the scarcity of sport pertaining to perceived desirability, consumption, and willingness to buy. Results from the repeated measures ANOVA indicated a significant conditional effect, revealing an increase on all three constructs amongst participants after product restriction and therefore postulating support for commodity theory when applied to the sport product. Finally, implications of commodity theory in sport management are discussed.

Citation: Walton, D. R., & Turner, B. A. (2021). Scarcity effects on sport consumer behavior. International Journal of Sport Management, 22(1), 74-93.

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