Abstract:
Generating annual revenue of over $4 billion dollars (The Collegiate Licensing
Company, n.d.), the collegiate licensing presents a potential market that both apparel
companies and universities can benefit from. While the collegiate licensing business is
expected to increase financial resources for the participating universities and textiles
and apparel companies, little is known as to why people buy university licensed
merchandise. Recently university alumni have been recognized as a substantial source
of financial support for university (McAlexander, Koenig, & Schouten, 2006).
In order to fill a gap in the current literature on collegiate licensing, the
purpose of this study was to determine key factors influencing university alumni's
purchase decisions of university licensed merchandise. Using the theoretical
framework of Social Identity Theory (Hogg, 2006) as well as the Theory of Reasoned
Action (Fishbein, 1975), this study aimed to examine the relationships among level of
identification with a university, integration with brand community, attitude toward
purchasing university licensed merchandise, subjective norm, fan loyalty, and
purchase behavior of university licensed merchandise.
Online survey methods were used to examine the university alumni's
purchasing behavior of university licensed merchandise. Recruitment emails
containing the survey information and the link to the survey were sent to
approximately 3,000 randomly selected Oregon State University alumni from the
Alumni Association.
A total of 189 university alumni of Oregon State University participated in the
online survey. The results showed that level of identification was positively related to
brand community and also to attitude toward purchasing university licensed
merchandise. Integration with brand community was positively related to subjective
norm and attitude. Furthermore, brand community was a significant mediator of the
relationship between level of identification and attitude. As hypothesized, fan loyalty
was positively correlated with attitude. Attitude and subjective norm were found to be
significant predictors of purchase behavior.
These findings provide empirical evidence to support the importance of
understanding why university alumni purchase university licensed merchandise. Level
of identification university alumni have towards the university they attended affected
their integration into a brand community and their attitude toward purchasing
university licensed merchandise. Integration into a brand community was also found
to be a mediator between level of identification and attitude. Results also showed that
brand community has an effect on attitude and subjective norm. Purchase behavior
was found to be influenced by attitude and subjective norm. Results showed that fan
loyalty was influenced by subjective norm. Both retailers and those in charge of
licensing at universities will benefit from this information. Understanding why
university alumni purchase university licensed merchandise will help to target a
market with a large amount of buying power, benefitting both the retailers and the
universities financially. Future research in these areas will add to the currently
growing research regarding university licensed merchandise.
