ABSTRACT
Researchers have made use of F. Mael's organisational identity instrument to measure team identity, which was also grounded in social identity theory. Even within the spectrum of social identity research in sports, several different terms have been used, sometimes seemingly interchangeably, such as fan identity, team identity and team identification. The terminology introduced in the field of marketing is ultimately derived from the same line of research in social psychology. This terminology is grounded in different fields, which often uses multi-dimensional models that incorporate some of the other terminology. Several combined associated group identities explained 60 per cent of the variance in team identity, emphasising the importance of the associated communities to how people identified with the team. Multiple regression analysis and structural equation modelling can give some indication of the direction and importance of the relationship, yet they fail to provide a true indication of the predictive value of team identity, as both methods are correlational in nature.
