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Sport team fans identify with a team and continually internalize their favorite team as part of their self-concept (Wann, Melnick, Russel, & Pease, 2001). However, individuals simultaneously act different from the group to fulfill a psychological need to be distinct and unique (e.g., Brewer, 1991). The majority of prior studies in sport consumption behavior have emphasized that the sense of belonging to a sport team significantly influences a fan’s attitude toward the team and consequent sport consumption behaviors. Beyond the fan-team relationship, there has been limited research on why an individual fan behaves differently from others in the group, specifically why and how sport fans assert their personal and collective selves while in groups. Furthermore, fans attach not only to their favorite sport teams, but also to a fan community which support the team. Under the optimal distinctiveness framework, group dynamics are conceptualized as perceived interchangeability of group inclusion to the same group and interindividual differences (Simon & Kampmeier, 2001). This notion highlights the opposing forces or needs between fan distinctiveness (FD), to be distinct from other group members, and fan inclusiveness (FI), to be similar to other group members, as mutual determinants of the interpersonal self. Thus, the purpose of this research is to explore the psychological mechanism through which sport fans in a fan group balance two conflicting needs of group dynamics to make a decision on team apparel consumption. This was accomplished through two studies. Study 1 employed a survey design to confirm the established evidence on the effects of team identification on team merchandise consumption behaviors in prior sport management studies. It also uncovered the role of group dynamics in sport fans’ team apparel consumption behavior. Findings of Study 1 showed that the mechanism of group dynamics was induced by a level of FI, FD, or both. With a sequential association from university identification (UID) to team identification (TID), the group dynamics were shown to significantly influence team apparel consumption behavior. Study 2 replicated the findings of Study 1 with undergraduate students and National Football League (NFL) fans across group contexts. Study 2 was implemented with the same measurement items to investigate whether the effect of group dynamics on team apparel consumption are moderated by social visibility as a situational cue as well as a boundary condition. Study 2 provided additional evidence of the mechanism underlying the impact of group dynamics on team apparel consumption across two different research contexts. The overarching theoretical implication is that the mediator (group dynamics) and moderators (social visibility and context) influence sport fans’ team apparel consumption behaviors. The pendulum effect between the opposing forces of FI and FD in terms of group dynamics provide an insightful idea to extend optimal distinctiveness theory (ODT) framework and advance the theory. FD and FI play a key role in predicting fan unique team apparel consumption behavior. Moreover, if one of the needs, either FD or FI, are too dominate, the pendulum effect will help balance the needs out. The existing concept of group dynamics explains why sport fans seek unique team products, but cannot account for the traditional perspective of TID to consumption behavior models. Therefore, the current findings further understanding of why and how individuals within a group of fans consume team products based on their unique balance between group inclusiveness and personal distinctiveness. The findings will provide practical guidelines for both teams and sports brand marketers to understand the desire of sophisticated consumers to signal their individuality and what products and services should be offered according to the context-specific need. / Tourism and Sport

Textilindustrin har en omfattande negativ påverkan på miljön och konsumenters köpbeteende är en del av detta problem. Konsumenter påverkar mer än vad de är medvetna om genom vad de väljer att konsumera och hur mycket de inhandlar. Då kunden spelar en sådan stor roll i den faktiska miljöpåverkan väljer denna rapport att fokusera på kundbeteendet ur ett hållbarhetsperspektiv. Det finns ett tydligt gap mellan konsumenters attityd och beteende när det kommer till att konsumera kläder hållbart. Rapportens utgångspunkt är därför en studie av Hiller Connell (2010) gällande attityd-beteendegapet hos konsumenter när det kommer till just hållbar klädkonsumtion. Hiller Connell påvisar sex barriärer som hindrar konsument från att handla hållbara klädesplagg. Dessa hinder är konsuments kunskap och attityd gällande hållbarhet samt tillgänglighet av föredragna produkter, ekonomiska resurser, detaljhandelsmiljö samt rådande samhällsnormer. För att kunna undersöka detta gap och dess bakomliggande orsaker har data samlats in i genom garderobsanalys, som främst påvisar konsuments faktiska beteende. I kombination med en semistrukturerad intervju, som främst indikerar konsuments attityd till hållbar klädkonsumtion. Denna studie har genomförts på tio kvinnor i åldern 25 till 35. Analys av resultatet visar att barriärerna (Hiller Connell, 2010) även är påtagliga för denna studies respondenter. Det kan även konstateras att alla hinder är olika påtagliga för olika deltagare samt att typ av plagg påverkar detta. Denna studie finner att dessa hinder kan påverkas olika beroende på om plagg är miljömärkt, begagnat eller av bättre kvalité. Studien finner även ytterligare ett påtagligt hinder hos respondenter, nämligen deras eget engagemang till att konsumera kläder mer hållbart. / The textile industry has a negative impact on the environment and consumer behaviour when shopping for clothes is a part of this problem. Consumers affect more than they are aware of when choosing what and how much to consume when it comes to clothes. Therefore the way customers consume is a huge part of the impact the textile industry has on the environment. Because of this, the paper focuses on consumer behaviour from a sustainability perspective. It has been found that there is a gap between attitude towards consuming clothes that are sustainable and the actual behaviour. This paper draws on findings from a study by Hiller Conner (2010) that has studied the attitude-behaviour gap and have identified barriers that can affect it. These barriers include customer knowledge and attitude towards sustainability, availability of preferable products, customers economic resources, retail environment and social norms. In order to examine this gap and the reasons behind, data were collected through observations of consumers wardrobe to explore the actual behaviour when it comes to buying clothes. Furthermore, interviews and talking about the attitude towards their consumption of clothes were made. This study was made with the help of ten women between the age of 25 to 35. The findings shows that the barriers are in fact relevant. It is also found that they are not equally significant for all of the participants. Furthermore this study shows that the barriers are affected depending on what type of sustainable garment is consumed. As it is found a difference when buying garments that have eco-labels, secondhand or of better quality. This study also found an additional significant barrier among the respondents, their own engagement to consuming more sustainable clothes.

Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med kunskap om hur människor bortförklarar, bortprioriterar och förskjuter ansvar för hållbar konsumtion. Vi använde oss av en kvalitativansats där vi utförde semi-strukturerade intervjuer med totalt 7 respondenter. Datamaterialet analyserades med hjälp av en tematisk analys där vi fann teman som hjälper oss förklara hur konsumenter resonerar kring sin klädkonsumtion. Den teoretiska utgångspunkten för denna studie grundar sig i självuppfattning för att se hur kläder används och hur hållbarhet förhåller sig. Vi kom fram till att vid klädkonsumtion så förskjuts ansvaret för en hållbar konsumtion och istället är det viktigare att konsumtionen är kongruerande med individens självuppfattning och sociala kontext. / This study aims to contribute with knowledge on how people rationalize, de-prioritize andproject responsibility within sustainable consumption. This was achieved through semistructuredinterviews with a total of 7 respondents. The collected material was later analysedusing thematic analysis which helped us explain how consumers reason about their ownapparel consumption. Our theoretical approach bounds in self-concept to see how consumersspeak about their apparel consumption and how sustainability is reflected through it. Weconclude in this paper that consumers project responsibility for sustainable consumption andit is more essential to consume congruently to the individuals self-concept and accordinglywith the social context that people finds themselves in. This paper is written in Swedish.