Effects of an endorser athlete’s identity on choosing a healthy food option offered at a sports canteen

Effects of an endorser athlete’s identity on choosing a healthy food option

offered at a sports canteen

​

​Master Thesis

by

Nikolaos Voulgarakis

Effects of an endorser athlete’s identity on choosing a healthy food option

offered at a sports canteen

Master Thesis

MSc Marketing Management

Nikolaos Voulgarakis

Antaresstraat 29-10, 9742 LA Groningen, NL +30 6986567178

n.voulgarakis_​@student.rug.nl_​ Supervisor: K. van Ittersum

Preface

This thesis was written as a part of my MSc Marketing Management program at University of Groningen, between September 2019 and January 2020. The subject of this thesis was inspired by my personal interest in football and moreover in how football can be used in order to motivate consumers to adopt a more positive attitude towards healthy food choices. At this point, I would like to thank my supervisors Koert van Ittersum, Martine van der Heide and Felix Eggers for their help. Also, I would like to thank my family, my friends and my girlfriend for their emotional and practical support throughout this long yet rewarding journey. Finally, I would like to thank everyone who contributed to the completion of my thesis, by filling out my survey.

Groningen, January 10, 2020

Abstract

“How does the identity of a celebrity/ spokes character (more particularly an athlete) affect a sports fan’s choice of a healthy food option offered at a sports canteen?” This study is aiming to explore the issues arising from this question by examining the effect of the identity (including the nationality) of an athlete endorser on a healthy food option offered at a sports canteen. In order to collect the data required, an online survey was developed and sent out with 155 participants, in which they were required to choose between a neutral (non-endorsed) Mars bar and a Nakd nut bar with the presence of a Dutch or a German athlete, as endorser (Arjen Robben or Leroy ​Sané). Our findings showed that participants who can be described as less health conscious were found to be more likely to choose a healthy food option with an endorsement on the package. Additionally, the effect of the endorser’s identity (including his nationality) and the identification of the participant with the endorser (due to their common cultural background) were tested, but their influence on food choice wasn’t found to be significant.

1. Introduction

Have you been to a sports canteen? If yes, you will have surely noticed the kind of products that are

offered there: French fries, croquettes, hamburgers, hot dogs, sodas, beers, etc. All these are products

rich in fat and sugar, the occasional consumption of which can long-term affect the well-being and

healthiness of sports fans. Throughout the years an association has been established in the minds of the

supporters of a sports club between attending sporting events and consumption of alcohol and

unhealthy food products.

Example of the current situation and attitudes among football fans ( Source: FC Groningen Facebook page).

The consumption of energy dense and rich in fat aliments has heavily concerned consumers for almost

three decades now (Thomas & Mills, 2006) but although the possible negative side effects of frequent

fast food consumption are known to consumers, obesity is still prevailing and we can observe that the

number of people frequenting fast food restaurants is steadily large (DiPietro et al., 2016).

Food away from home consumption (FAFH) has increased from 33 percent of the overall amount

surpassed expenditures on food at home for the first time in 2010, making up for 50.2 percent of total

food expenditures, compared to 47 percent in 1987 (Saksena et al., 2018). This increase has raised

concerns about how it can potentially affect everyday food habits (Binkley, 2006). There is considerable

evidence that meals consumed outside of home (e.g in fast food restaurants) are, in general, of a lower

nutritional value than meals prepared and consumed at home, mostly because they are richer in fat and

calories (Lin and Frazao, 1997; McCrory et al., 1999).

Moreover, public food settings have contributed to the rise of the availability, placement and

accessibility of non-healthy snacks and drinks, with a high caloric value. These developments contribute

to more frequent consumption of such food options. Thus, it is crucial to turn the unhealthy food setting

into one that encourages individuals to pursue more healthy food alternatives. Increasing the number of

healthier food options offered and facilitating their access was proven to stimulate healthier food

choices (e.g. by promoting more fruit and vegetables on display, advertising green food options, or

removing a number of relatively unhealthy products from the shelves) (Evenhuis et al., 2018).

Hence, the goal of our research is to contribute to a change in that field, by identifying a way to

influence that perception, in order to promote healthier food choices that could be offered in such

places and examine the different elements that could affect the attractiveness of those choices.

Therefore, we will examine the effect that the identity (including his nationality) of a well-known

athlete, as our spokes character, will have on the attitudes of sports fans towards healthier food choices

offered at a sports canteen. More specifically, we will take into account their health consciousness, their

familiarity with the athlete used as an endorser and we will examine how their choice will be affected by

their identification with the endorser, because of their common cultural background. This way, we will

be able to acquire useful insights regarding their attitudes and, as a consequence, be in a position of

shift towards a more positive mindset regarding healthy food choices. In order to gather the data for our

analysis, we will conduct an experiment by sending out an online survey.

2.Theoretical framework

2.1 Health concerns

Nowadays, we can observe the ubiquity of unhealthy food habits, as a result of the modern lifestyle. 1.7 million (2.8%) of deaths worldwide are attributable to low fruit and vegetable consumption.There is sufficient evidence that the consumption of high levels of high-energy foods, such as processed foods that are high in fats and sugars, contributes to health problems such as obesity, as opposed to low-energy foods such as fruits and vegetables. (WHO, 2019)

A situation in which little physical activity is needed and food is ample, cheap, rich in calories and easily

accessible defines modern lifestyle (Peters et al., 2002). During the past few decades, healthy food has become more expensive compared to unhealthy food (Gelbach et al., 2007). People tend to dedicate less and less time for food preparation and are often eating outside. The place where someone makes his or her food choices and the exact time when these choices are made can significantly influence the kind and the quantity of the food consumed. As a consequence, people are estimated to consume more calories when eating food from a restaurant compared with food prepared at home (Bernstein, 2010). ‘Junk food’, which is a food full of empty calories, is an important part that is related to a modern diet. An empty calorie food is a high calorie or calorie-rich food that lacks micronutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals, or amino acids, and fiber but has high energy (calories). These foods do not contain the essential nutrients that are required by the human body in order to stay healthy.

2.2 Why healthy?

Fruit, vegetable, and legume consumption can lead to a reduced risk of death, even if their consumption is at a moderate level ( ​Fernández-Ruiz​, 2017). Furthermore, adequate consumption of fruit and vegetables reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases, stomach cancer, and colorectal cancer (WHO, 2019). “Vegetables and fruits are a natural source of fiber, slowly digested carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, and numerous phytonutrients that have been proven to protect against cardiovascular disease, aging-related vision loss due to cataracts, macular degeneration, and maintenance of bowel function” (Skerrett & Willett, 2010). Moreover, “although vegetables and fruits do not have a blanket anticancer effect, they may work against specific cancers, including esophageal, stomach, lung, and colorectal cancer” (_​Vainio & Bianchini, 2003).

A good example of a balanced healthy diet is the so-called Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet

has health benefits such as reduced risk of cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease (Sofi et al., 2008). Furthermore, it has also been proven to aid with the control of asthma (Barros et al., 2008) and amelioration in rheumatoid arthritis (Skoldstam et al., 2003). Even if there is not a specific diet that can be called “the” Mediterranean diet, the most original ones are high in extra virgin olive oil; high in whole grain foods and fiber; and include a big amount of fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts. Daily consumption of small portions of cheese and yogurt is encouraged; the amount of fish consumption can vary between days; red meat, poultry, eggs, and sweets are consumed occasionally. Finally, a modest amount of red wine can accompany meals and regular physical exercise is an essential part of daily life (Skerrett & Willett, 2010).

2.3 Celebrity- spokes character endorsement

an important role in increasing the persuasiveness of the advertisement and in attracting consumers (Ohanian 1990, 1991). Information acquired from a trusted source (for example, a celebrity) can influence beliefs, opinions, attitudes, and/or behavior through a process called internalization, which we can observe when receivers accept a source influence, regarding their personal beliefs and value structures (Kelman, 1961). The Meaning Transfer Model suggests that celebrity endorsers bring their own symbolic meanings to the endorsement process, and those cultural meanings attached to the celebrity such as status, class and lifestyle transfer to products (McCracken, 1989). Consumers appear to rely on spokes character features seen as signals of this honesty and sincerity since greater levels of perceived character expertise and nostalgic memories produced greater levels of trust. For example, charitable appeals to donate are often designed to emotionally stir consumers, attempting to influence their donations (Basil, Ridgway, & Basil, 2008; Dillard & Peck, 2000; Ford & Merchant, 2010).

Regardless of consumers’ brand experience, these character-specific features influence consumers’ overall impressions of spokes-character trustworthiness (Garretson & Niedrich, 2004). The affective bond that people develop with media characters has been explained by the parasocial relationship theory. When people get to know a character and learn about its personality and behavior, the character may be perceived as a close friend. Because parasocial relationships resemble many of the characteristics of real relationships, people may develop deep emotions for media characters (Hoffner, 1996; McNeal, 2007).

2.4 Why an athlete?

Athletes are used by brands as endorsers of their products because of the celebrity status acquired by these athletes as a result of their success in their respective sport. The use of spokespersons and other kinds of endorsement relationships are considered effective marketing tools, and some athletes have been really successful in promoting certain products. Indeed, if there is a “fit” between the athlete and the product, a celebrity endorser’s stamp of approval can bring added value to a brand’s equity as well as create an emotional bond (Bradley, 1996). Given the fact that professional athletes typically represent the positive characteristics that companies also want to project (success, special talent, confidence, and motivation), athletes can be very appropriate as product endorsers. Athletes typically convey a winning attitude, healthy appearance, and general appeal ( ​Kahle & Riley, 2004). ​Moreover, celebrity sports stars have been shown to influence the health-related knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors of consumers (Brown, Basil, and Borcarnea, 2003) and the messages communicated by celebrity sports stars have a powerful influence on them (Charbonneau and Garland, 2005). ​They are in a unique position to use their highly visible status to promote healthy messages to youth, and their role as athletes may lead the public to perceive them as credible sources of knowledge on a healthy lifestyle (Bragg et al., 2013).

Thus, the research question proposed for this paper is formed as the following:

2.5 _{​Hypotheses} 2.5.1 Endorser identity

​T​he effectiveness of celebrity endorsement is often thought to be influenced by the endorser‘s nationality since the nationality of the endorser can have a big impact in achieving effective communication (Dom et al., 2016; Nestorowicz, 2016). Whether consumers accept the nationality and source of fame of an endorser or evaluate his achievements positively can influence the attitude of the consumer's towards the endorsed product or brand (Nestorowicz, 2016). ​Moreover, the culture of origin and country of success for the celebrity endorser may affect the success of the endorsement and can influence the purchase intention of a consumer (Charles et al., 2015). Brown, Basil and Borcarnea (2003) found that when people feel connected to a celebrity, they are more likely to perform the behaviors advocated by them, and adopt similar attitudes and beliefs. Hence, the following hypothesis can be developed:

H1​:​The identity of an endorser (including his nationality) who endorses a healthy food option positively influences a sports fan's food choice (leading to choosing a more healthy food option).

2.5.2 Identification

A sports fan can be a fan of a particular sport or a specific team. Many times, a sports fan has a favorite sports figure in particular. Although the reason for favoring this particular person over any others in the sport may vary, when the fan finds out more information about him or her and continues to keep up with the sports figure more so than others, there is an opportunity for a unique, one-sided relationship to form from the sports fan’s perspective (Valero, 2014). This type of unique relationship is described through parasocial interaction theory and was first explored as the seemingly face-to-face relationship the mass media creates between the audience member and the performer (Horton & Wohl, 1956).

A parasocial relationship is considered the specific relationship that is created between the audience

individual shares the interests of another individual or believes that he or she shares the interests of another (Burke, 1969).

Familiarity is “the supposed resemblance as the knowledge that a celebrity endorser possesses through exposure” (Erdogan, 1999; Belch & Belch, 2001). ​Whether a character is appealing on a perceptual or emotional level depends on the familiarity of a character. Familiar characters originate from movies, comic books, television programs, or other media (Callcott & Lee, 1995). Characters with a great emotional appeal are expected to have a higher effect on a child’s product liking and purchase request intent than characters with a less emotional appeal (Callcott & Lee, 1995; McNeal, 1999, 2007). ​A study carried by Basil (1996), found that identification with celebrities who were promoting health messages increased the adoption of these messages. ​Choi & Lee & Kim (2005) argue that the practice of celebrity endorsement should be closely related to the cultural context in which the images of celebrities are formed and it i ​s most successful if it is applied in the cultural context in which the celebrity is known (Choi & Lee & Kim, 2005; McCracken, 1989). Consumer ethnocentrism can “explain customers’ preference over endorsers from their country of origin than other nations” (Chao et al., 2005). Therefore, domestic celebrity endorsers may be viewed more favorably than foreign celebrity endorsers because of their personality traits, such as dialect competence, social competence, race, and patriotism (Zhang & Zhang, 2010). This is also supported by the findings of a study conducted in Poland ( _​Jerzyk &Wyczynski, 2016). Based on these, we can derive the following hypothesis:

H2​: ​The size of the impact of endorser nationality on a sports fan's food choice is bigger/smaller when

the sports fan identifies more/less with the endorser ( when the nationality of the sports fan is the same

as/different from the nationality of the endorser).

2.5.3 Health consciousness

compared to those individuals with little or no nutritional knowledge (Park, Yoon, Cho, & Haugtvedt, 2013). Miller et al. (2011) found that individuals who have a high health consciousness are more sensitive (and positive) to nutritional claims than those with low health consciousness. Therefore, we can formulate the following hypothesis:

H3_{​: ​}S​ports fans that are more health-conscious are more likely to choose a healthy food option (endorsed Nakd bar).

2.6 Conceptual model

Based on the developed hypotheses, the following conceptual model can be derived:

3. Methodology

The following chapter elaborates on the methodology used to test the proposed hypotheses on the basis of the conceptual model. Therefore, the research method will be explained, followed by the data collection, the description of the study design used, followed by the procedure and, finally, the measurements.

3.1 Research Method

In order to test the relationships depicted by our conceptual model, an experimental study was conducted by using an online survey, developed in the Qualtrics platform (see Appendix 1) which contained 27 questions. Filling out the survey required around 3 minutes of participants’ time. 155 participants filled out the survey during a period of 11 consecutive days. The questionnaire used can be seen in the Appendix.

3.2 Data Collection

3.3 Design

A between-subjects experimental design was used for our study. Each subject was exposed to one out of the two soccer players chosen as endorsers for the healthy food choice, either the former Bayern Munchen’s international soccer player Arjen Robben or Manchester City’s international soccer player Leroy ​Sané. These two players were chosen as being well-known due to their international profile, playing away from their countries for years, therefore increasing the probability of being familiar to a bigger number of study participants. A Nakd salted caramel nut bar was chosen to be the endorsed healthy bar option, whereas a Mars bar was chosen to be the unhealthy (neutral) option. Healthiness was judged based on energy value, with Mars having an energy value of 229 kcal per bar of 49 grams, while a Nakd bar has a much lower energy value of 123 kcal per bar of 35 grams (AH.nl). Next, the picture of the Nakd bar was manipulated by adding the photo of the endorser soccer player with the slogan _{​“Healthy choice”} ​and the inscription of the endorser’s name on the package. This was done by using the GIMP image manipulation program.

3.4 Procedure

The survey consisted of 4 different parts: Part 1

Participants were asked questions regarding their involvement with sports, frequency of sports matches attendance and their assessment of stadium canteens.

Part 2

Participants were presented with the following scenario, where they had to make a choice between a Nakd fruit nut bar endorsed by the Dutch former soccer player Arjen Robben or the German soccer player Leroy ​Sané​​and a Mars candy bar without endorsement:

“ Imagine that you are attending a match at a soccer stadium. You suddenly feel the need for a snack, therefore you decide to visit the canteen of the stadium. The following options are available. Which option would you choose?”

Example of the choice process (can also be found in Appendix 1).

During this part, they were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions: Arjen Robben vs Leroy ​Sané. The flow of the survey was randomized in such a way that ​subsequently they were shown a picture of the same endorser player present on the Nakd package and then they had to evaluate the randomly assigned soccer player based on their liking for him and their familiarity with him.

Part 3

Part 4

Finally, the last part of the study focused on obtaining info about the demographic background of the participants and at the very end of the survey, they had the chance to fill in their email in order to have the chance of winning a bol.com gift card.

3.5 Measurements

1. Health consciousness

A number of different questions were developed in order to measure the health consciousness of the participants of the study. They were asked to indicate how much they agree with the following statements on a five-point Likert scale, namely Q16 “ ​I would describe myself as health conscious”, ​Q10 “​In my everyday life, I am trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle” ​and Q9​“​Eating healthily is important for me​”. During the results part that we will further explain later, these 3 questions were combined into a factor that was used for our analyses.

2. Familiarity

Each participant was randomly assigned to a picture of the player that had been used for the endorsement of the healthy bar choice. Subsequently, question Q7 “​Do you know the soccer player below?​”(​measured on a Yes/Maybe/No scale _​)was presented to participants, in order to measure their familiarity with the endorser.

3. Identification with endorser

4. Results

Our data analysis was conducted using SPSS Statistics 26. The first step that we had to take was to prepare our dataset. Therefore, our dataset was checked for missing or incomplete responses and responses that cannot be considered valid. After the initial examination of the data, a total of 4 participants (n=4) had to be excluded from the analysis for not adhering to the rules set for considering their response valid. Thus, the final sample used for our analyses consisted of 151 subjects.

4.1 Descriptives

A number of n= 151 subjects participated in our study (SD=0.81, Mean=1.65) out of which 53 identified as Male, 97 as Female and 1 as Other. 31 of them were Dutch, 19 were Germans and 101 were of various other nationalities. Our survey was targeted to anyone over 18 years old. n=2 participants were 17 years old, but it was decided to include them in the analysis since age didn’t play an important role in our study. 84,8% of the participants were aged between 18-30 years old and only 5,3% of the respondents were older than 40 years old, which is explained by the fact that the survey was distributed mainly to students. Furthermore, respondents were asked which is their favourite sport and out of them, 29,1% (n=44) indicated that their favourite sport is Soccer, 16,6% (n=25) said that their favourite sport is Basketball, 3,3% (n=5) preferred Field Hockey, whereas the majority of the respondents (38,4% (n=58)) said that they favor some other sport. Another interesting fact was that 12,6% (n=19) of the respondents said that they don’t like sports, in general.

4.2 Recoding variables

The survey which we conducted contained specific randomized blocks, meaning that not all participants saw all questions. Because of that, the dataset had many missing values, due to people not being presented that question. In order to solve that, we gradually recoded some variables into new variables that had no missing values. This was done by using the “Recode into different variables”function of SPSS. A number of variables were constructed:

-​Food choice​: a v ​ariable​with a value of 1 if people chose the bar with a soccer player (Robben or S ​ané)

-_{​Player Nationality}​: a variable with a value of 1 if they were presented with the Dutch Arjen Robben and 0 if they were presented ​with the German Leroy S​ané. T​hat variable was used as an Independent Variable in our analysis.

-​Respondent Nationality​: a variable with a value of 1 if the respondent is Dutch, -1 if the respondent is German, and 0 when the respondent has some other nationality. _​T_​hat variable was used as an Independent Variable in our analysis.

-​Familiarity​: a variable with a value of 1 if the respondent replied “Yes” to the question Q7 “​Do you know the soccer player below?”, ​2 if the respondent replied “Maybe” and 3 if the respondent replied “No”. T_​hat variable was also used as an Independent Variable in our analysis.

4.3 Factor analysis

4.4 Reliability analysis

A reliability analysis was then conducted, in order to see how reliable is the factor that we extracted.

The internal consistency of the items making up the health consciousness factor (meaning that we can proceed with these, instead of the original items), needs to be measured with Cronbach’s Alpha. Cronbach’s Alpha needs to be higher than 0.6 and in our case it is 0.788. “Cronbach’s Alpha when item deleted” shows how alpha would change if that one question would not be on the test. When it is higher than the overall Cronbach’s Alpha, it means that there are low inter-item correlations and this question is not as consistent with the other questions. When it is lower than the overall Cronbach’s Alpha, it means that the question is good, because deleting that question would lower the internal consistency of the questions. All items measuring health consciousness have a “Cronbach’s Alpha when item deleted” close to the overall Cronbach’s Alpha (0.712, 0.657 and 0.772) , therefore our test is well-validated and there are no questions measuring the same basic factor that are not internally consistent with the rest of the test.

4.5 Multicollinearity check

4.6 Logistic regression

In order to test our hypotheses, a binary logistic regression was performed. This was encouraged by the fact that our Dependent Variable​Food choice had 2 outcomes (1 if the participant those the Nakd bar and 0 if the participant chose the Mars bar). The covariates inserted were Player Nationality, Health consciousness, Familiarity, Respondent Nationality ​and​Respondent by player​(the interaction between respondent nationality and player nationality). The results of the analysis (Table 1) show that:

-​Familiarity ​has a significance of p=0.716>0.05, therefore it is statistically not significant.

-​Player Nationality ​has a significance of p=0.082>0.05, therefore it is statistically not significant. As a result, we cannot conclude that there is a statistically significant association between ​Food choice (​the food option that the study participant chose, healthy or unhealthy) and ​Player Nationality (​the nationality of the player used for the endorsement of the healthy food choice, either the Dutch Arjen Robben or the German Leroy S​ané).

Therefore, ​the initial hypothesis H1 ​“​The identity of the endorser (including his nationality) positively

influences a sports fan's food choice (leading to more healthy food options)”​ is not supported.

-​Respondent Nationality ​has a significance of p=0.608>0.05, therefore it is statistically not significant. So, we cannot conclude that there is a statistically significant association between ​Food choice and Respondent Nationality.

-Respondent by player ​has a significance of p=0.166>0.05, therefore it is statistically not significant. Consequently, we cannot conclude that there is a statistically significant association between ​Food choice and the interaction between Respondent Nationality (​the nationality of the study subject: Dutch, German or Other) and ​Player Nationality (​the nationality of the player used for the endorsement of the healthy food choice, either the Dutch Arjen Robben or the German Leroy S_​ané​).

A​s a result, hypothesis ​H2 “​The size of the impact of endorser nationality on a sports fan's food choice is

bigger/smaller when the respondent identifies more/less with the endorser (when the nationality of the

sports fan is the same as/different from the nationality of the endorser)​” ​is not supported.

-_{​Health consciousness} ​has a significance of p=0.00<0.05, therefore it is statistically significant. Consequently, by looking at exponentiated coefficient B (Exp (B)) we can see that it has a value of 0.373<1. A value of Exp (B) lower than 1, indicates that there is a negative relationship between the two variables, in our case ​Health consciousness​ and ​Food choice.

Variables in the equation

B S.E Wald df Sig. Exp (B)

Step 1a​ health_consciousness ​ player_nationality respondent_nationality respondent_nationality(1) respondent_nationality(2) familiarity familiarity(1) familiarity(2) player_nationality*respond ent_nationality player_nationality by respondent_nationality(1) player_nationality by respondent_nationality(2) Constant -,987 1,601 ,572 ,692 ,258 -,225 -1,375 -1,922 -,012 ,226 ,921 ,945 ,700 ,677 ,445 1,393 1,016 ,576 19,155 3,021 ,995 ,367 ,977 ,670 ,145 ,256 3,588 ,975 3,577 ,000 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 ,000 ,082 ,608 ,545 ,323 ,716 ,703 ,613 ,166 ,323 ,059 ,984 ,373 4,956 1,773 1,997 1,294 ,798 ,253 ,146 ,988

a. Variable (s) entered on step 1: health_consciousness, player_nationality, respondent_nationality, familiarity, player_nationality*respondent_nationality

Table 1. Results of Logistic Regression

4.7 Hypotheses results

H1:_​The identity of the endorser (including his nationality) positively influences a sports fan's food choice

According to our analysis, the relationship between the food choice that a sports fan makes and the identity of the endorser (including his nationality) is not statistically significant. Therefore, our analysis didn’t manage to prove that there is a positive relationship between the identity of the endorser (including his nationality) and the food choice that a sports fan makes. As a consequence, our initial hypothesis H2 that_​the endorser’s identity (including his nationality) positively influences a sports fan's food choice (leading to more healthy food options)​ is not supported.

H2_{​: ​} The size of the impact of endorser nationality on a sports fan's food choice is bigger/smaller when

the respondent identifies more/less with the endorser (when the nationality of the sports fan is the same

as/different from the nationality of the endorser).

It was shown by the analysis conducted that there is not a statistically significant relationship between the identification of the sports fan with the endorser used for the healthy food choice endorsement and the size of the effect of the endorser’s identity on a sports fan’s food choice. As a result, our initial hypothesis that the food choice of a fan that identifies himself with the endorser more, because of their common cultural background (e.g they’re both Dutch) will be more influenced, is not supported. Therefore, hypothesis H3 is not supported by the findings of our study.

H3: ​S​ports fans that are more health-conscious are more likely to choose a healthy food option (endorsed Nakd bar).

To sum up, the results of our analysis can be summarized in the following table:

H1 ​The identity of the endorser (including his nationality) positively influences a sports fan's food choice (leading to more healthy food options).

Not supported

H2 The size of the impact of endorser nationality on a sports fan's

food choice is bigger/smaller when the respondent identifies more/less with the endorser (when the nationality of the sports fan is the same as/different from the nationality of the endorser).

Not supported

H3 ​S​ports fans that are more health-conscious are more likely to choose a healthy food option (endorsed Nakd bar).

5. ​Discussion

The purpose of this paper was to examine the influence of an athlete’s identity on a sports fan’s food choice. Furthermore, the moderating effect of the nationality of the respondent on this relationship was tested. Firstly, the effect of the nationality of the athlete endorser on a sports fan’s food choice was measured, according to the initial hypothesis that the identity of the endorser (including his nationality) positively affects his food choice. In addition, the identification of the participant with the endorser (due to their common origin-cultural background) was tested and it was assumed that when the nationality of the subject matches that of the endorser, the effect of the endorser’s nationality on the subject’s food choice will be bigger. Lastly, the health consciousness of the study participant with the endorser was tested and it was assumed that a higher health consciousness of the participant leads to choosing a more healthy food choice. The results of the analyses that we conducted showed that no hypothesis out of the three initial ones was supported.

5.1 Theoretical contribution

lead them to choosing the Nakd bar. On the other hand, for participants with a higher health consciousness, who are constantly seeking healthy food options and try to adopt a healthy lifestyle every day, a leisure time activity, such as visiting a sports stadium and watching a match, can be considered as a break from their everyday life. As a consequence, choosing an unhealthy option in that setting, such as a Mars bar, is justified by the fact that it only happens occasionally, during a time that they spend for personal entertainment, when they would like to have a snack for instant gratification and not a healthy food option, as they do in their everyday life.

5.2 Practical implications

This research can be used by marketers in order to acquire useful insights about consumers’ attitudes towards healthy food choices and a better understanding of which techniques would be more efficient in order to promote these healthy food choices and how to make them more attractive for consumers by designing the appropriate marketing campaigns. Moreover, policymakers could make use of it so that they can implement the suitable government policies and campaigns to make those healthy food choices more relevant and appealing, in an effort to promote a more sustainable and healthy lifestyle among the general public and more specifically people who visit stadiums and attend matches. Furthermore, directors of football clubs and stadiums that would like to initiate a change in the range of products offered in their canteens and encourage a shift in the attitudes of fans frequenting their facilities could benefit from our research as an example of what would possibly contribute in order to achieve that shift.

5.3 Limitations and future research

Additionally, our study had a much bigger number of female participants (n=98) compared to male participants (n=56). Different studies suggest that men generally express a greater interest than women in attending sports activities and spend more time finding and reading relevant information (f.e about sports clubs or players) (Deaner et al., 2016). Hence, there is a chance that a big part of our study participants wasn’t familiar with the players chosen as our endorsers, something which could have potentially affected the results regarding familiarity. Therefore, future research could potentially focus on a male target group or at least try to increase the number of male participants.

Another possible confound could be the choice of the specific soccer players as endorsers. Both soccer players have been active internationally and their main “country of success” (Charles et al., 2015) were countries other than their country of origin (England for Leroy S ​ané compared to his native country Germany and mainly Germany for Arjen Robben compared to his country of origin Netherlands). Thus, the source of identification of the respondents with the endorser or their familiarity with the endorser might have been their international fame or success in a different country other than their native country. As a result, this might have influenced the outcome of our study. A possible suggestion would be to choose as endorsers, players who have been active in their native country and cannot be associated with another country because of their success in that specific country.

6. Conclusion

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8. Appendices

Appendix 2-Descriptives

Table 2.1 Gender of the participants

Table 2.2 Favourite sport of the participants

Graph 2.4 Age of the participants

Appendix 3-Factor analysis

Table 3.1 KMO and Bartlett’s test

Table 3.3 Total Variance Explained

Appendix 4-Reliability analysis

Table 4.1 Cronbach’s Alpha

Appendix 5-Multicollinearity check

Table 5.1 VIF Scores

Appendix 6-Logistic Regression

Table 6.1 Model Summary