Research On The Impact Of CSR In Professional Sports Clubs On Consumer Response

Since the 18 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China(CPC),the leaders of the CPC Central Committee,with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core,have attached great importance to the vital role of CSR and made significant statements on CSR-related topics.Enterprises are the basic units in China’s economic system and micro entities that promote high-quality development and bear the heavy responsibility of assuming CSR.The promulgation of the Civil Code of the People’s Republic of China and other relevant laws,as well as the establishment of the CSR Bureau of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council,have all taken on the task of guiding and supervising the CSR work of enterprises and have pushed CSR into a new stage of development.It shows that CSR has become essential to modernising the national governance system and ability.Professional sports clubs are the most important market players in the sports competition and performance industry.The newly revised Sports Law puts forward new requirements on the internal governance mechanism of clubs and other aspects,aiming to promote clubs to obtain economic and social benefits.As the quality development of China’s sports industry continues to advance,there have been numerous instances of professional sports clubs violating rules and social ethics in pursuit of economic benefits,and the "share reform" has revealed the lack of CSR in clubs.Therefore,professional sports clubs must fulfil their CSR by protecting the rights of their stakeholders and giving back to the public.Consumers are the core stakeholders of professional sports clubs and the source and basis of their operating funds and social reputation.As the consumer base grows,enhancing consumer awareness through CSR is a powerful way for professional clubs to gain a competitive advantage in the market.In recent years,domestic research on related topics has mainly theorized CSR as a governance orientation or governance evaluation of professional sports clubs.However,few have explored the dimensions and contents of club CSR in a specific development context using qualitative analysis and other methods.There is also less research on the inner mechanism between CSR and consumer response in professional sports clubs,so further research is warranted.Based on this,we use literature,interviews,questionnaires,mathematical and statistical methods and fuzzy sets of qualitative and comparative analysis to study the "dimensions of CSR of professional sports clubs in China" and "the mechanism of influence of CSR of professional sports clubs on consumer response " The study aims to promote healthy and green professional sports clubs.The aim is to promote the healthy,green and sustainable development of professional sports clubs.Based on the grounded theory,we collected data through interviews with relevant people,literature search and Python crawling official microblogs,coded the relevant data at three levels,summarized and concluded the dimensions of CSR of professional sports clubs,and proved that the CSR of professional sports clubs at the current stage is a multidimensional concept,including mandatory CSR,developmental CSR and commonweal CSR.Based on PLS-SEM,the impact of CSR of professional sports clubs on consumer response is verified.The SOR theoretical model was used as the research framework,combining social identity theory,commitment-trust theory and word-of-mouth communication,introducing variables such as brand identity,consumer trust and e WOM.The results show that the CSR of professional sports clubs positively affects consumer response,while brand identity and consumer trust play a part in mediating the effect.Adding e WOM as a moderating variable reduced the practical effect of CSR,brand identity and consumer trust of professional sports clubs on consumer response,indicating a negative moderating effect of e WOM.Based on fs QCA,this paper confirms that multiple groupings of professional sports clubs’ CSR effects on consumer response were identified.It finds that none of the antecedent variables was necessary to trigger high consumer response.The combination of five conditions triggering high consumer emotional response can be divided into three patterns;the combination of five conditions triggering high consumer behavioural response can be divided into three patterns.The combination of mandatory CSR,commonweal CSR and brand identity is a common model that leads to high consumer emotional response and high consumer behaviour response.The combination of brand identity and consumer trust can better explain consumer response.According to these,management implications for strengthening the relationship between CSR and consumer responsiveness in professional sports clubs are presented.Firstly,professional sports clubs should strictly exercise mandatory CSR and lead the way in stimulating consumer response.By actively implementing relevant laws,improving industry standards,and properly handling club disputes and other issues,they promote consumer perceptions of club legitimacy and regulation;by improving corporate governance and raising the level of professional leagues,they attract consumer capital injection.Secondly,promote developmental CSR and collaborate to help consumers respond.Professional sports clubs should give full play to their social responsibilities in terms of employment absorption and cultural dissemination,maintain positive interaction with fans,listen to their opinions and suggestions,and establish and improve fan feedback channels;promote market resource acquisition and reserve talent delivery through marketing strategies as well as youth training;and also build a sense of responsibility and disclose CSR information to create a brand image.Again,it is vital to practice commonweal CSR and continue to drive consumer response.Through participation in charity and community activities,the social value of professional sports clubs will be brought into play;we should take the initiative to participate in environmental protection and enhance our green reputation to drive consumer response.Finally,focus on brand identity and trust to improve consumer awareness and connection;through packaging CSR and accurate consumer profiling to connect club CSR with consumer response.In addition,focus on the influence and radiation of online word of mouth,create a good public opinion atmosphere,influence social media publicity and promotion,increase the outside world’s awareness of the club’s CSR,guide the direction of public opinion,etc.