ABSTRACT
The rapid emergence of artificial intelligence and its derivative machine learning tools has been embraced with enthusiasm in sport consumer behavior research lately. In light of the era of big data, digitalization, and automation, the main goal of this book chapter is to provide readers with an integrative overview of the nuts and bolts of machine learning, how advanced machine learning techniques, as a novel and legitimate methodological approach, can enhance sport consumer behavior research and theory development. We seek to shed light on the significance, opportunities, benefits, and challenges of machine learning applications for sport marketing scholars to understand, decipher, and predict consumer behavior and psychology through algorithm transparency, causal inference, and visualized . An empirical illustration is presented to thoroughly discuss how machine learning can complement the conventional approaches concerning reliability, validity, utility, explainability, and prediction precision.
