The purpose of this study attemptsed to connect self-directive valueand the satisfaction of sociability needs in spectator sports. . A model wasdeveloped to explain relationships among self-directive value, teamidentification, fans social capital and sense of belonging. The currentstudy hypothesized that given more positive attitudes toward spectatorsports, more self-directive people would be more likely to identify with asport team and form social capital in a fans community. The studyparticipants were recruited from Central Taiwan. A survey questionnairewas distributed to the students from the junior-high-school to the collegestudents. In total, 1067 questionnaires were collected, but only 750respondents who watched NBA, MLB or CPBL on TV or the Internet orread news about them more than 30 minutes (included) in an averageweek were retained in the subsequent analyses. Based on confirmatoryfactor analysis and structural equation modeling, the model wassupported except that the hypothesis of the relationship betweenself-directive value and the fans social capital was not supported. Thevariance explained of "sense of belonging" is 73% by self-directive value,team identification and fans social capital . Spectator sport attitude playedthe moderating role on the relationships between self-directive value andteam identification, and self-directive value and fans social capital. Theresults implyied that it was likely to balance being self-directive andsatisfied with social needs in spectator sports.Sport media operators,practitioners in sports industry and sport educators might promotepositive spectator sport attitudes to enjoy sociability in spectator sportsalong with the fulfillment of a self-directive value.
