Purpose

Sports marketing and sponsorship research is located at the intersection of behavioral and design research, which means that it analyzes the current world and shapes a future world. This dual focus poses challenges for formulating and testing theories of sports marketing.

Design/methodology/approach

This article develops criteria for categorizing theoretical concepts as either behavioral or formed as different ways of expressing ideas of sports marketing research. It emphasizes the need for clear concept categorization for proper operationalization and applies these criteria to selected theoretical concepts of sports marketing and sponsorship research.

Findings

The study defines three criteria to categorize theoretical concepts, namely (1) the guiding idea of research, (2) the role of observed variables, and (3) the relationship among observed variables. Applying these criteria to concepts of sports marketing research manifests the relevance of categorizing theoretical concepts as either behavioral or formed to operationalize concepts correctly.

Originality/value

This study is the first in sports marketing to clearly categorize theoretical concepts as either behavioral or formed, and to formulate guidelines on how to differentiate behavioral concepts from formed concepts.

中文翻译：

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体育营销研究中的行为和形成概念的分类

目的

体育营销和赞助研究位于行为研究和设计研究的交叉点，这意味着它分析当前世界并塑造未来世界。这种双重焦点给体育营销理论的制定和测试带来了挑战。

设计/方法论/途径

本文制定了将理论概念分类为行为理论概念或作为表达体育营销研究想法的不同方式而形成的标准。它强调需要对概念进行明确的分类以实现适当的操作，并将这些标准应用于体育营销和赞助研究的选定理论概念。

发现

该研究定义了三个标准来对理论概念进行分类，即（1）研究的指导思想，（2）观察变量的作用，（3）观察变量之间的关系。将这些标准应用于体育营销研究的概念表明了将理论概念分类为行为或形成以正确操作概念的相关性。

原创性/价值

这项研究在体育营销领域首次明确将理论概念分为行为概念和形成概念，并制定了如何区分行为概念和形成概念的指南。