Investigation of the Role of Event Quality, Perception of Service Quality and Team Identification in Satisfaction Spectators of Tehran Football Derby

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of event quality, service quality and team identification in the satisfaction of football spectators. Research method of this study was correlation, survey and field. The population of this study consisted of all spectators of Esteghlal-Persepolis derby in football premier league of Iran. Since the population size of the study was over than 70000 people, based on Morgan scale the sample size was determined as 353 individuals (age>18 yr) by stratified random sampling method. To collect the data, four questionnaires of event quality of Zhang et al. (1997), service quality of Wakefield et al. (1996), team identification of Trail and James (2001) and satisfaction of Oliver (1980) were used. Face and content validity of the questionnaires was determined by eight sport management professors and their reliability by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.72, 0.77, 0.96, 0.76 respectively). To analyze data, Pearson correlation coefficient and regression was used. Results showed a positive and significant relationship between research variables and satisfaction (p<0.01). Furthermore regression result showed that team identification was a stronger predictor of spectators’ satisfaction. Considering strategies to increase the attendance of spectators through increasing their positive experiences, club managers and authorities of football premier league organization can consider activities in their long-term plans. Furthermore, they should pay more attention to the team identification as the most important factor of spectators’ satisfaction.