Correspondence: Erdener Kaynak, School of Business Administration, Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg, 777 West Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, PA 17057, USA. Tel: +1 717 948 6343; Fax: +1 717 566 8589; E-mail: k9x@psu.edu

¹is professor of Marketing and Chair of the Marketing Program at the School of Business Administration of The Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg. He is holder of a B.Econ. degree from Istanbul University, an MA degree in Marketing from The University of Lancaster, and a PhD from Cranfield University. A prolific author, Dr Kaynak has had 25 books and over 200 papers published in scholarly and practitioner-oriented journals of North American and European origin. His papers have appeared in such journals as Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Research in Marketing, International Marketing Review and European Journal of Marketing, among others. He has also lectured and engaged in consulting assignments in over 30 countries over five continents.

²is a doctoral candidate and research assistant of Marketing in the Department of Business Administration at Bahcesehir University. She earned an MBA degree from Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey. She is currently working towards a PhD degree at the same university and is in the process of finishing her doctoral dissertation. Her main research interests are sport marketing and brand management.

³is an associate professor of International Business at Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey. His current research interests include international entry mode strategies and strategic management of multinational enterprises. His publications appeared in leading academic journals including Management International Review, Journal of World Business, International Journal of Production Research, International Marketing Review, Journal of Global Marketing and International Small Business Journal, among others. He also co-authored a book on the 'Dimensions of Western Foreign Direct Investment in Turkey', published by Quorum Books.

Received 1 August 2007; Published online 9 October 2007.

Abstract

This study provides a conceptual framework linking brand loyalty and brand associations in professional team sports. The study is primarily inspired from Gladden and Funk where they examined the link between brand associations and loyalty in professional sports in USA, without distinguishing between sports and clubs. Based on Aaker's general conceptualisation of brand equity and Keller's model on consumer-based brand equity, an integrative conceptual framework is developed for identifying various dimensions of brand associations that are predictive of brand loyalty in professional sports.