Determining The Effect of Sports Celebrity’s Brand Image on Loyalty and Purchase Intention of Customers (Case Study: Iranian Olympic Champion Hassan Yazdani)

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of a sports celebrity’s brand image on loyalty of fans to products advertised by him/her and fans’ purchase intention toward products. For this purpose, standard questionnaires for athletes’ brand image(Arai Et al,2013), purchase intention(Diallo, 2012; Meyer,2010) and loyalty-to-brand of customers(Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006; Bennet & Rundle-Theile, 2002) were used. In order to determine the reliability of the tools, thirty questionnaires were accessed by fans experimentally through telegram and instagram social media. Obtained Cronbach's alpha coefficient and combined reliability. The size of sample was estimated to be 296 based on Cochran Formula and variance of infinite population. Descriptive statistics was used for categorization and summarization of raw data, and structural equations modeling was used among inferential statistics. The data were analyzed using SPSS and Amos 23. The results indicated that the most effect on the aspects of brand image were related to competing style in athletic performance aspect, to attractiveness in appearance attractiveness aspect, and to behavioral model in lifestyle aspect. Moreover, the most effect of aspects of brand image on loyalty and purchase intention was related to fashionable lifestyle. With respect to the results of the study, it can be asserted that the brand image of Hasan Yazdani in advertising of products results in loyalty of the fans toward the products and their purchase intention.