{"id":{"repo_id":"alabama","oai_identifier":"oai:ir.ua.edu:123456789/8194"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/alabama/oai:ir.ua.edu:123456789/8194","repository":{"repo_id":"alabama","name":"University of Alabama","base_url":"https://ir-api.ua.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"“I Pledge Allegiance”: Examining Motivations for Sport Fanship and Fandom in the American South","abstract":"There are a number of motivations that exist in the formation of collegiate fanship and fandom. Through a mixed-method approach, this dissertation provides an in-depth examination into the motivations individuals have when establishing allegiances for collegiate sports teams. Through a qualitative investigation of 20 interviews of collegiate sports fans, deep meaningful descriptions of motivations were discovered. Qualitative results were then empirically tested through a survey administered to 411 collegiate sports fans that reside in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986) was used as the theoretical framework for this dissertation to further understand the formation of groups and the in-group/out-group dynamic. Academic, as well as applied, implications for team identification, fan identification, rivalry, Basking in Reflected Glory, Glory Out of Reflected Failures, and state pride are all present. Family, social viewing, age, as well as many other motivations, emerged as strong motivating predictors.","abstract_html":"There are a number of motivations that exist in the formation of collegiate fanship and fandom. Through a mixed-method approach, this dissertation provides an in-depth examination into the motivations individuals have when establishing allegiances for collegiate sports teams. Through a qualitative investigation of 20 interviews of collegiate sports fans, deep meaningful descriptions of motivations were discovered. Qualitative results were then empirically tested through a survey administered to 411 collegiate sports fans that reside in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Social identity theory (Tajfel &amp; Turner, 1986) was used as the theoretical framework for this dissertation to further understand the formation of groups and the in-group/out-group dynamic. Academic, as well as applied, implications for team identification, fan identification, rivalry, Basking in Reflected Glory, Glory Out of Reflected Failures, and state pride are all present. Family, social viewing, age, as well as many other motivations, emerged as strong motivating predictors.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Towery, Nathan A."],"institution":"University of Alabama Libraries","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Allaway, Arthur","Brown, Kenon A.","Ki, Eyun-Jung","Lemon, Laura L."],"advisors":["Billings, Andrew C."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021","date_published":"2021","updated_at":"2026-07-27T18:44:07Z","subjects":["Collegiate Sports","Fan Identification","Mixed-Methods","Social Identity Theory","Team Identification"],"languages":["en_US","English"],"rights":["All rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["http://purl.lib.ua.edu/181523","u0015_0000001_0003962","Towery_alatus_0004D_14516"],"render_values":[{"text":"http://purl.lib.ua.edu/181523","href":"http://purl.lib.ua.edu/181523","code":true},{"text":"u0015_0000001_0003962","href":null,"code":true},{"text":"Towery_alatus_0004D_14516","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/8194","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Allaway, Arthur","Brown, Kenon A.","Ki, Eyun-Jung","Lemon, Laura L."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Billings, Andrew C."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["University of Alabama Tuscaloosa"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Towery, Nathan A."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2021-11-23T14:34:34Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2021-11-23T14:34:34Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2021"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["University of Alabama Libraries"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["thesis","text"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Collegiate Sports","Fan Identification","Mixed-Methods","Social Identity Theory","Team Identification"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]},{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en_US"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["All rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["http://purl.lib.ua.edu/181523","u0015_0000001_0003962","Towery_alatus_0004D_14516"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/8194"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Electronic Thesis or Dissertation"]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["There are a number of motivations that exist in the formation of collegiate fanship and fandom. Through a mixed-method approach, this dissertation provides an in-depth examination into the motivations individuals have when establishing allegiances for collegiate sports teams. Through a qualitative investigation of 20 interviews of collegiate sports fans, deep meaningful descriptions of motivations were discovered. Qualitative results were then empirically tested through a survey administered to 411 collegiate sports fans that reside in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986) was used as the theoretical framework for this dissertation to further understand the formation of groups and the in-group/out-group dynamic. Academic, as well as applied, implications for team identification, fan identification, rivalry, Basking in Reflected Glory, Glory Out of Reflected Failures, and state pride are all present. Family, social viewing, age, as well as many other motivations, emerged as strong motivating predictors."]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["electronic"]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["“I Pledge Allegiance”: Examining Motivations for Sport Fanship and Fandom in the American South"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Allaway, Arthur","Brown, Kenon A.","Ki, Eyun-Jung","Lemon, Laura L."],"dc:contributor.advisor":["Billings, Andrew C."],"dc:contributor.other":["University of Alabama Tuscaloosa"],"dc:creator":["Towery, Nathan A."],"dc:date.accessioned":["2021-11-23T14:34:34Z"],"dc:date.available":["2021-11-23T14:34:34Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2021"],"dc:description":["Electronic Thesis or Dissertation"],"dc:description.abstract":["There are a number of motivations that exist in the formation of collegiate fanship and fandom. Through a mixed-method approach, this dissertation provides an in-depth examination into the motivations individuals have when establishing allegiances for collegiate sports teams. Through a qualitative investigation of 20 interviews of collegiate sports fans, deep meaningful descriptions of motivations were discovered. Qualitative results were then empirically tested through a survey administered to 411 collegiate sports fans that reside in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and South Carolina. Social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986) was used as the theoretical framework for this dissertation to further understand the formation of groups and the in-group/out-group dynamic. Academic, as well as applied, implications for team identification, fan identification, rivalry, Basking in Reflected Glory, Glory Out of Reflected Failures, and state pride are all present. Family, social viewing, age, as well as many other motivations, emerged as strong motivating predictors."],"dc:format.medium":["electronic"],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.other":["http://purl.lib.ua.edu/181523","u0015_0000001_0003962","Towery_alatus_0004D_14516"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://ir.ua.edu/handle/123456789/8194"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:language.iso":["en_US"],"dc:publisher":["University of Alabama Libraries"],"dc:rights":["All rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated."],"dc:subject":["Collegiate Sports","Fan Identification","Mixed-Methods","Social Identity Theory","Team Identification"],"dc:title":["“I Pledge Allegiance”: Examining Motivations for Sport Fanship and Fandom in the American South"],"dc:type":["thesis","text"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-27T18:44:07Z"}