The Effect of Athlete Social Responsibility on Fan Identity with the Mediating Role of Athlete Reputation, Fan Engagment and Athlete Brand Image

The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of athlete social responsibility on fan identity with the mediating role athlete reputation, fan engagement and athlete brand image. The research method was descriptive-correlational and the statistical population of the study consisted of all students of public universities in the west of the country, 720 of whom were selected as a statistical sample. The tool for measuring the research variables was a questionnaire which was used after confirming its face and content validity by professors and also its internal reliability using Cronbach's alpha test. Structural equation modeling method was used to test the hypotheses. The results showed that the athlete's social responsibility directly has a positive and significant effect on the athlete's reputation (0.60), fan engagement (0.59), athlete brand image (0.19) and fan identity (0.33). Also, the athlete reputation has a direct and significant positive effect on the athlete brand image (0.725), fan engagement on the image of the athlete (0.51) and athlete brand image on the fan identity (0.58). Finally, the results indicate that the athlete's social responsibility indirectly affects the fan identity through the mediation of the athlete brand image with a coefficient of 0.11, the mediation of the athlete reputation and athlete brand image with a coefficient of 0.08, and the mediation of the fan engagement and the athlete brand image It has a positive and significant effect with a coefficient of 0.17. Thus, athletes can achieve this important and vital consequence, namely fan identity, by participating in a variety of social responsibility activities and focusing on the concept of fan engagement and how to implement it, managing their brand reputation and image.