Impact of Core and Peripheral Service Satisfaction on Team Identification and Revisit Intention: A Comparison of Minor and Major League Ice Hockey

By incorporating two different types of service satisfaction (core and peripheral service), this study developed and tested a conceptual model delineating the impact of consumers’ satisfaction on fans’ team identification and revisit intent and examined the differential patterns among the variables across different sport league levels. Data were collected from a total of 918 spectators of both major and minor league ice hockey events. This study showed that the impact of core and peripheral service-related satisfaction varies across the sport contexts. The results provided empirical evidence of the direct effect of core service-related satisfaction on team identification leading to revisit intent in both major and minor league sport contexts, while peripheral service-related satisfaction had a direct effect on team identification in only the major league sport context. Direct effect of peripheral service-related satisfaction on revisit intent was evident in the minor league sport context but not in the major league sport context.