Consumer Over-Engagement: A Foundational Investigation of Sport Consumption Addiction

Abstract

Both science and society have affirmed that people can be addicted to gambling, video gaming, the Internet, texting, and even sex. It appears that exciting, fun, often risky, autotelic behaviors can turn into addictions. Thus, a curious question arises in the field of sport consumer behavior – Can certain people (i.e., avid fans) become “over-engaged” and addicted to sport consumption? The purpose of this research is to further advance the study of compulsive consumption by proposing and exploring the somewhat unusual notion of sport consumption addiction (SCA).