Developing esport tourism through fandom experience at in-person events

Thompson, J, Taheri, B ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0912-9949 and Scheuring, F, 2022. Developing esport tourism through fandom experience at in-person events. Tourism Management, 91: 104531. ISSN 0261-5177

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Abstract

Tourism research has yet to consider the growing esport sector. Through a mixed-method research design, we employ the theoretical lens of fandom to examine what online and experiential factors may influence esport players and spectators to attend physical events, which we argue have the potential to grow into a new tourism sub-sector. Study one surveys 549 League of Legends spectators; while study two consists of a twelve-month virtual ethnography on World of Warcraft coupled with 13 player interviews. We find antecedents such as star players, team loyalty, flow experiences, and self-congruity with event image may encourage live event attendance. Furthermore, our findings emphasise the importance of social and interactive experiences in generating friendship and a perceptual sense of belonging at events. Community socialisation is a fundamental tenet of fandom and plays a key role in intentions to attend esport events.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Tourism Management
Creators:	Thompson, J., Taheri, B. and Scheuring, F.
Publisher:	Elsevier
Date:	August 2022
Volume:	91
ISSN:	0261-5177
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1016/j.tourman.2022.104531 DOI 1538660 Other
Divisions:	Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	10 Jun 2022 13:41
Last Modified:	01 Apr 2024 03:00
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/46438

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