The role of perceived value in football club branding: a developing league perspective Prince Yao Amu Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship, University of Ghana Business School, Accra, Ghana Bedman Narteh Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana, and Prince Kodua Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship, University of Ghana Business School, Accra, Ghana Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this study is to identify which dimensions of perceived value best mediate football club branding and fan loyalty from a developing league perspective. Design/methodology/approach – Using a cross-sectional design, we collected data using questionnaires from football fans in Ghana (N 5 700). The data were analysed using SmartPLS V3, applying structural equation modelling with bootstrapping procedure. Findings – The results indicate that club branding is an effective precursor of fan loyalty. Moreover, the findings suggest that functional, social and emotional values mediated club branding and fan loyalty, whereas epistemic and economic values did not. Originality/value –This study contributes to sports management literature by identifying the dimensions of perceived value that will be relevant in the development of club brands in the developing league context. Keywords Functional value, Social value, Epistemic value, Economic value, Emotional values Paper type Research paper Introduction Brand research has become widely accepted and is now a mature field in sports from the developed league contexts (Kunkel et al., 2017b; Str€obel and Germelmann, 2020), both in research and practice. However, major sports club brands in developing leagues look inferior in the presence of club brands from developing leagues (Rohde and Breuer, 2016), because enough attention has not been given to the concept. Furthermore, some scholars from developing league countries end up interrogating foreign club brands from the perspective of sports fans in their home country (Hinson et al., 2020), neglecting the efforts of the local club brands. Unlike some of the European football brands that have benefited over the years from good branding practices, branding remains an untapped opportunity for most football clubs in developing leagues (Gillooly et al., 2022). In Ghana, Asante Kotoko Sporting Club initially neglected their branding efforts and brand representations. However, the club has recently implemented significant rebranding strategies by altering management, revitalising online platforms and facilities. This shift aims to adapt to the changing landscape of football, which now encompasses economic, social, and socio-cultural impacts on a global scale, rather than solely focusing on traditional on-pitch play for fun (ghanasoccernet.com, 2020). Out of this, the club is benefiting from it amidst competition from superior brands in more developed leagues. This implies that, if branding activities are well-managed, football clubs can benefit from it. As such, this study focuses on interrogating club brands from the developing football league perspective. Perceived value in football club branding The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-0705.htm Received 4 April 2023 Revised 20 October 2023 22 January 2024 Accepted 8 February 2024 African Journal of Economic and Management Studies © Emerald Publishing Limited 2040-0705 DOI 10.1108/AJEMS-04-2023-0127 http://ghanasoccernet.com https://doi.org/10.1108/AJEMS-04-2023-0127 Research on consumer behaviour indicates that consumers will act favourably to brands that they perceive as valuable (Cho et al., 2021). A considerable stream of studies has emerged, suggesting perceived value as a significant predictor of fan behaviour such as loyalty (Kunkel et al., 2017a; Pura, 2005; Kim et al., 2019). A unidimensional perspective of perceived value views customers as rational entities who make purchase decisions based on the price and benefit the product offers. In line with this, Kainth and Verma (2011) defined perceived value as “what the customer believes that they will receive for a certain amount of money”. This approach is considered appropriate for fast-moving consumer goods; however, Lee et al. (2011) argued that the value domains linked to sport consumption are multifaceted and require further interrogation. Consistent with the call of Lee et al. (2011), Kunkel et al. (2017a) adopted the dimensions of perceived value dimension postulated by Sheth et al. (1991) (functional value, social value, emotional value, epistemic value and conditional value) and the multidimensional PERVAL scale by Sweeney and Soutar (2001) (functional value, economic value, conditional value and epistemic value) and conceptualized a concise multidimensional consumers’ perceived value of sport games (CPVSG). Kunkel et al. (2017a) suggested that the multidimensional approach has the tendency to influence fan behaviour such as loyalty, and called for further interrogation. This study seeks to fill multiple gaps and make significant contributions to the process. Firstly, the study contributes to the growing literature on club branding and its impact on the loyalty of football fans. Second, assess the mediating role of perceived value on the relationship between club branding and fan loyalty. Thus, explaining the mechanisms through which club branding can influence fan loyalty. Finally, the existing research on club branding, perceived value and fan loyalty has primarily focused on the settings other than developing leagues. This study will interrogate these variables from a developing league perspective, i.e. Ghana Premier League. Literature review and hypothesis formulation Club branding versus fan loyalty Sports marketing researchers (for example, Ross et al., 2012; Bauer et al., 2008; Kunkel et al., 2017b; Gladden and Funk, 2002; Maderer et al., 2018; Irianto and Kartikasari, 2020; Hinson et al., 2020; Bodet and S�eguin, 2021; Manoli, 2022) across varying geographical locations have adopted and operationalised different brand approaches. Extant literature suggests that football clubs that embark on effective branding strategies stand to become advantageous over teams that do not manage their brands effectively. In sports, fans see and associate with the brands as the entirety of the club (Tapp, 2004). They feel emotional and passionate about the brand and even in some situations, live as though their lives are dependent on the success or failure of the brand, representing a strong sense of commitment and loyalty. A study by Kunkel et al. (2017b), conducted in Australia found out both attributes (that is, product-related attributes and nonproduct-related attributes) and benefits influence fan loyalty. In Germany, Bauer et al. (2008) found the relationship between brand-image dimensions (product-related attributes, nonproduct-related attributes and benefits) and fan loyalty to be significant. In the UK,Mills et al. (2022) identified that branding strategies contributes significantly to both private and public loyalty. This study assumes that the benefits derived from branding can be realized in the developing leagues contexts like Ghana when adequate attention is paid to the strategy. Based on these assertions, we suggest that: H1. Club branding has a positive relationship with fan loyalty. AJEMS The mediator: perceived value Zeithaml (1988) defines perceived value as a customer’s ultimate appraisal of a product or service based on their perception of what businesses offer their clients and what they “receive” in return. Some scholars have defined perceived value as a unilateral concept while others view it as a multidimensional construct. The unidimensional approach tends to treat value as a compromise between quality and cost; the multidimensional approach expanded the unilateral approach to include value, social value, emotional value, epistemic value and conditional value as proposed by Sheth et al. (1991). In another study, Sweeney and Soutar (2001) adapted Sheth et al. (1991)’s conceptualization of perceived value but eliminated conditional and epistemic values and replaced them with price and quality. Lee et al. (2011) asseverates that the scale for perceived value could be adapted andmodified. In line with this, Kunkel et al. (2017a), adapted and modified the scales of Sheth et al. (1991) to include functional value, economic value, social value, emotional value and epistemic value, which this study used to measure perceived value. Functional value is derived from the specific characteristics of a product or service (Sheth et al., 1991). It comprises attributes such as durability, reliability and price of the product (Kim et al., 2019). Empirical evidence suggests that functional value leads to high levels of satisfaction and commitment (Brady et al., 2006; Charni et al., 2020). Tied to the emotions of consumers, emotional value is aroused by experiencing products and services (Kwon et al., 2020). It is also said to include the hedonic aspect of the fan’s experience (Kunkel et al., 2017a). These emotions are triggered by either excitement or diversion (Kwon et al., 2020). Scholars have over the years identified that it is connected to customer satisfaction, retention and eventually, loyalty (Lai et al., 2012; Jiang et al., 2016; Rahi and Ghani, 2016; Mursid, 2022). Bearden and Netemeyer (1999) explain the social value to mean social approval that enhances the image of an individual among others. Sheth et al. (1991) also describes social value as the usefulness gained from the ability of the commodity to boost social self- conception. Sweeney and Soutar (2001) proffer that, this variable can be measured in three ways: social acceptance –where the football club makes the fan feel accepted; image in the eyes of peers – where the club brand or offering improves the way they feel others perceive them and finally, impression made when purchasing, using or representing the brand. The epistemic value represents novelty, curiosity or knowledge gained as a result of associating with a product (Pura, 2005; Hassan, 2015). Even though some scholars excluded this dimension during the conceptualization of perceived value, Kunkel et al. (2017a) assert that it has become necessary to include it since enjoying and participating in the game of sports require specific knowledge or expertise. Economic value can be explained as the benefit one gets from sports brands or clubs, as a result of the expected short and long-term costs (Sweeney and Soutar, 2001). In that, customers want value for money even though some see their spending on the club as an investment rather than a cost. A study by Kim and Cruz (2016) reveals that economic and hedonic values have positive effects on loyalty, even though economic value is not affected by the availability of quality of information. Similarly, Chen and Wang (2016) also found a positive relationship between economic value and loyalty. Looking at the immense role of perceived value, Kunkel et al. (2017a) conceptualized a multidimensional perceived value of sports teams and presented it for further interrogation. It is not far-fetched to consider: H2a–e. Functional value (a), economic value (b), social value (c), emotional value (d) and epistemic value (e), when combined with club branding, yield a strong positive relationship with fan loyalty. Perceived value in football club branding Fan loyalty The loyalty that supporters show to their teams straddles the emotional, logical and moral aspects of human makeup (Tapp, 2004). As such, contrary to the traditional literature on loyalty, football fans usually stay glued to their clubs irrespective of their performance. Irrespective, football clubs cannot believe in the idea of unending loyalty since consumer behaviour is not a given. Redden and Steiner (2000) cautioned that not all sports consumers are equally passionate, fanatical engrossed in clubs’ history or resistant to change that threatens team values and practices. Loyalty can be defined as a deeply held commitment to re-engage a preferred brand consistently in the future (Stevens and Rosenberger, 2012). This comprises of both attitudinal and behavioural loyalty. Attitudinal loyalty involves a positive attitude and intention to repurchase a brand, while behavioural loyalty involves repeated patronage over time. Attitudinal loyalty gauges the emotional attachment of fans to their team and can distinguish superficial or intentional and genuine loyalty, whereas behavioural measures focus on consumer’s purchase behaviour. Both attitudinal and behavioural loyalty, which involves greater search motivation, game attendance and favourable sports behaviours are necessary in conceptualising fan loyalty (Gladden and Funk, 2001). Football fans reinforce their loyalty by engaging in supportive and repetitive consumption such as purchasing tickets and attending games, purchasing team merchandise and watching live games on TV or the Internet (Mastromartino and Zhang, 2020). Samra andWos (2014) indicate that football is ingrained into the culture of nations across the globe, where people even receive it as a form of inheritance and elicit a lot of emotions (Towery, 2023; Jin et al., 2023), the behavioural elements might not be the same across the board. This is because, most behavioural commitment may require some financial commitment, which may cause differences in terms of the developed and developing sports contexts. Research method Primary data were conveniently collected from the fans of football clubs in Ghana. A reflective measure with multiple measurement items were used to explain the constructs of the study (i.e. club branding, perceived value and fan loyalty). The first section of the questionnaire contained the demographics of the respondents. As indicated in Table 1, the second section adopted 13 items from the scholarly works of Gladden and Funk (2001, 2002), Bauer et al. (2005) and Kunkel et al. (2017b). The second section contained 22 items proposed by Kunkel et al. (2017a), for measuring the perceived value. The final section of the questionnaire contains items adapted for measuring fan loyalty proposed by Bauer et al. (2008). All items in section 2, 3 and 4 of the questionnaire were measured on a five-point scale with the end point ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). A pilot surveywas conducted using a random selection of ten respondents, whowere sports fans and academics. The attempt helped to establish face validity of the items in the questionnaire which influenced some modifications of items used for the study. Cross-sectional research design was used for the study. Participants of the study consist of 700 sports fans of football clubs in Constructs Number of items Sources Club branding 13 Gladden and Funk (2001), Bauer et al. (2005), Kunkel et al. (2017b) Perceived value 23 Kunkel et al. (2017a), Yuen et al. (2018) Fan loyalty 17 Bauer et al. (2008) Source(s): Authors’ own creation Table 1. Constructs and their sources AJEMS Ghana on the 20th of February 2022, who were conveniently selected. All participants were assured of their confidentiality. Out of the 700 responses, Table 2 reveals that 564 accounts for a response rate of 80.57%. It consisted of 428 males (75.9%) and 136 females (24.1%) with the maximum range of respondents within the age range of 30–39 years. The data collected were inputted into IBM SPSS statistical tool version 23 after sorting out the incomplete and improperly answered questionnaires. The same statistical tool was used to analyse the sociodemographic variables. SmartPLS v3 was used to measure the structural model. Measurement model assessment The indicator reliability has been described as the extent towhich a variable or sets of variables are consistent with what the researchers intend tomeasure (Baumgartner andHomburg, 1996). Hair et al. (2016) recommended that a reflective indicator loading of 0.70 and above explains more than 70% of the variance of the indicator and thus ensures acceptable reliability of the item. Itwas identified that CB9 (0.41), PVF1 (0.33), PVEC5 (0.16), PVS1 (0.32), PVEM4 (0.23), FL5 (0.42) and FL8 (0.21) fell below the recommended threshold and were deleted. All other indicators loaded significantly on their corresponding variables. With a threshold of 0.70, Cronbach’s alpha to test the internal consistency (Table 3). Using composite reliability and Cronbach’s alpha loading, the study assessed internal consistency (Diamantopoulos et al., 2012; Baumgartner and Homburg, 1996; Senanu and Narteh, 2022). Composite reliability for all the items was acceptable, ranging between 0.76 and 0.93. The result of the measurement model is shown in Table 3. In addition to composite reliability, the Rho_A is also considered a good measure for internal consistency with a threshold of 0.70. All latent variables possess Rho_A values of more than 0.70, as indicated in Table 3. The acceptable threshold for AVE is 0.50, which implies that the latent construct explains at least 50% of the variability of its items (Hair et al., 2019; Urbach and Ahlemann, 2010; Alhassan et al., 2020). The AVE values for all the variables were acceptable. Heterotrait– monotrait (HTMT) criterion was used to measure discriminant validity. Gold et al. (2001) and Henseler et al. (2015) recommend that discriminant validity is absent if values exceed the threshold of 0.85. Results shown in Table 4 indicate that discriminant validity has been achieved using the HTMT criterion. Structural model assessment To assess the model, the study first examined multicollinearity by analysing the variance inflation factor (VIF) for each independent construct. From Table 5, all the VIF values are Demographics Characteristics Frequency (564) Percent (100) Gender Male 428 75.9 Female 136 24.1 Age (in years) 10–19 64 11.34 20–29 212 37.85 30–39 162 28.72 40–50 104 18.34 Above 50 22 3.9 Education JHS 50 8.86 Shs 86 15.25 Diploma/certificate 148 26.24 Degree 248 43.97 Graduate 16 2.84 Source(s): Authors’ own creation Table 2. Participants’ demography Perceived value in football club branding below 5 hence, there are no issues with collinearity. Having assessed the collinearity, we assessed the significance of the coefficient between the model’s latent variable (Urbach and Ahlemann, 2010). Thiswas done by carrying out bootstrapping algorithm in SmartPLS using 5,000 subsamples at 0.1 (10%) two-tailed distribution. Table 6 reveals that as at 95% confidence interval is assumed, a minimum critical value of 1.65 is ideal for a significance level of 10% (two-tailed). Construct Item Loadings AVE CR rho_A CA Club branding 0.59 0.93 0.93 0.91 CB1 0.73 CB2 0.83 CB3 0.72 CB4 0.83 CB5 0.79 CB6 0.82 CB7 0.82 CB8 0.74 CB10 0.73 Functional value 0.62 0.91 0.89 0.87 PVF2 0.83 PVF3 0.77 PVF4 0.90 PVF5 0.86 PVF6 0.75 Economic value 0.71 0.91 0.87 0.86 PVEC1 0.81 PVEC2 0.87 PVEC3 0.83 PVEC4 0.85 Social value 0.62 0.86 0.87 0.78 PVS2 0.76 PVS3 0.93 PVS4 0.92 Epistemic value 0.71 0.92 0.90 0.89 PVEP1 0.85 PVEP2 0.87 PVEP3 0.84 PVEP4 0.83 PVEP5 0.84 Empirical value PVEM1 0.86 0.69 0.87 0.83 0.78 PVEM2 0.89 PVEM3 0.73 Fan loyalty 0.77 0.76 0.94 0.95 FL1 0.77 FL10 0.80 FL2 0.71 FL3 0.81 FL4 0.77 FL6 0.78 FL7 0.76 FL9 0.70 Note(s): Club branding (CB), Functional perceived value (PVF), Emotional perceived value (Emotional perceived value), Social perceived value (PVS), Epistemic perceived value (PVEP), Economic perceived value (PVEC) and Empirical perceived value (PVEM) Source(s): Authors’ own creation Table 3. Construct reliability and loadings AJEMS The coefficient of determination (R2) was used to measure the total effects of the independent variables on the dependent variables. R2 varies from 0 to 1 with higher explanatory power values. As a guide, R2 values of 0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 can be termed as weak, moderate and substantial, respectively (Henseler et al., 2015). Table 7 shows the R2 of the model is 0.502 (which is considered moderate). It means that the combined exogenous latent variables account for 50% of the endogenous factor variations (Hair et al., 2019; Urbach and Ahlemann, 2010). The study then assessed the effect size of each path the model using Cohen’s f2 (Cohen, 1969). Empirically, effect sizes of 0.02, 0.15, and 0.35, respectively, are regarded as small, moderate and substantial (Cohen, 1988). Table 7 displays the f2 values of the constructs, Club branding Economic value Emotional value Epistemic value Fan loyalty Functional value Social value Club branding Economic value 0.84 Emotional value 0.65 0.66 Epistemic value 0.74 0.79 0.84 Fan loyalty 0.51 0.48 0.66 0.53 Functional value 0.81 0.81 0.81 0.67 0.84 Social value 0.80 0.81 0.93 0.92 0.54 0.67 Source(s): Authors’ own creation Constructs Variance inflator factor Club branding 3.198 Economic value 3.089 Emotional value 3.212 Epistemic value 3.588 Functional value 3.231 Social value 3.903 Source(s): Authors’ own creation R-square R-square adjusted F-square Q-square Fan loyalty 0.502 0.491 0.217 Club branding 0.002 Economic value 0.003 0.393 Emotional value 0.052 0.226 Epistemic value 0.005 0.325 Functional value 0.016 0.333 Social value 0.089 0.313 Source(s): Authors’ own creation Table 4. Discriminant validity with HTMT ratio Table 5. Variance inflation factor (VIF) Table 6. Coefficient of determination Perceived value in football club branding which show that the effect size of most of the predictors are lower than 0.02. Therefore, their removal will not have a significant influence on the model. It was necessary to calculate the predictive relevance or Stone–Geisser’sQ2 after the effect size was determined. According to Geisser (1974) and Stone (1974), Q2 values above 0, 0.25 and 0.50 indicate the path model’s small, medium and large Q2 (Hair et al., 2019). All the variables presented in Table 6 reveal a relatively significant predictive relevance. Result of hypothesized relationships. Direct effect. To test the relationship as depicted in Figure 1, a bootstrapping was carried out and the result in Table 7 (p5 0.00) shows that club branding and fan loyalty are positive and significant at a significant level of 0.05. Thus, H1 was supported. Original sample (O) Sample mean (M) Standard deviation (STDEV) T-statistics (jO/STDEVj) P- values Club Branding → Fan Loyalty 0.11 0.56 0.04 14.90 0.00 Club Branding → Economic Value 0.11 0.56 0.04 14.90 0.00 Club Branding → Emotional Value 0.74 0.74 0.03 26.92 0.00 Club Branding → Epistemic Value 0.58 0.58 0.05 11.97 0.00 Club Branding → Functional Value 0.67 0.67 0.04 15.39 0.00 Club Branding → Social Value 0.72 0.72 0.04 20.70 0.00 Economic Value → Fan Loyalty 0.73 0.74 0.03 23.46 0.00 Emotional Value → Fan Loyalty �0.09 �0.09 0.07 1.39 0.16 Epistemic Value → Fan Loyalty 0.35 0.35 0.07 5.09 0.00 Functional Value → Fan Loyalty �0.04 �0.04 0.08 0.46 0.65 Social Value → Fan Loyalty 0.22 0.22 0.07 3.26 0.00 Source(s): Authors’ own creation Multi-dimensional Perceived Value Club Branding Epistemic value Social value Functional value Economic value Emotional value Fan Loyalty H1 H2a-e Source(s): Authors’ own creation Table 7. Direct relationship Figure 1. Conceptual model of the research AJEMS Mediating effect Each dimension of perceived value (functional, emotional, social, epistemic and economic values) was found to have different effects on the relationship between club branding and fan loyalty. Table 8 revealed that the relationship between Club Branding → Emotional Value → Fan Loyalty (p 5 0.00), Club Branding → Functional Value → Fan Loyalty (p 5 0.00), Club Branding → Social Value → Fan Loyalty (p 5 0.00) were all significant at p < 0.05. Club Branding → Epistemic Value → Fan Loyalty (p 5 0.65) and Club Branding → Economic Value → Fan Loyalty (0.17), were not significant at p < 0.05. Discussion This study assesses the mediating effect of perceived value on the relationship between club branding and fan loyalty. To achieve this, the study formulated two hypotheses. The findings did not support all the hypotheses specified, however, there remain significant implications for the theory and practice. The first hypothesis of the study suggests that club branding has a positive influence on fan loyalty. This was supported and thus, confirms the assertion of Kunkel et al. (2016) that fans will favour sports brands that resonate well with them. The positive effect thus found reinforces the assertions of Bauer et al. (2008) andDoyle et al. (2013) that developing and using effective branding strategies enhance brand loyalty. It indicates that effective club branding that sports fans can relate with and own is crucial to sports consumption (Da Silva and Las Casas, 2017). The finding reinforces the warning of Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2000) that there is no place for mediocre when branding and that it would be inappropriate not to be conscious of a firm’s brand. Football club branding presents a unique case because irrespective of the performance of the clubs, they are still loyal fans. This is because, in some instances, club brand attachments are inherited from family and friends (Kucharska et al., 2020). The findings of this study confirm that football clubs with effective branding have a positive significance effect on fan loyalty. In hypotheses H2 a, b, d, e, f, functional value, economic value, social value, emotional value and epistemic value were tested as mediators. The results indicate that all the Original sample (O) Sample mean (M) Standard deviation (STDEV) T-statistics (jO/STDEVj) P- values Confidence interval 0.050 0.950 Club Branding → Economic Value → Fan Loyalty �0.07 �0.07 0.05 1.38 0.17 �0.15 0.01 Club Branding → Emotional Value → Fan Loyalty 0.20 0.20 0.04 4.64 0.00 0.13 0.27 Club Branding → Epistemic Value → Fan Loyalty �0.02 �0.03 0.05 0.45 0.65 �0.12 0.06 Club Branding → Functional Value → Fan Loyalty 0.16 0.16 0.05 3.18 0.00 0.08 0.24 Club Branding → Social Value → Fan Loyalty 0.21 0.21 0.06 3.68 0.00 0.11 0.31 Source(s): Authors’ own creation Table 8. Mediating effect Perceived value in football club branding dimensions of perceived value had different influences on the baseline relationships. While the findings indicate that functional value (H2a), social value (H2c) and emotional value (H2d) all mediate the relationship between club branding and fan loyalty, economic (H2b) and epistemic (H2f) values, on the other hand, did not mediate the baseline relationship. As expected, functional value significantlymediates the relationship between club branding and fan loyalty. This finding confirms Al Chalabi (2017) and Zang et al. (2022) suggestion that functional perceived value is essential in explaining the loyalty of customers. The significance of functional value indicates that football fans see impeccable value in associating with club brands that provide quality performance through their service environment, related service personnel and the entire output of the team. The relationship between club branding and fan loyalty was mediated by social value. This corroborates the assertion of Kunkel et al. (2017a) that the game of football like any other sports creates an environment for social bonding and peer group associations. As hypothesized, emotional value mediated the baseline relationship for the studies. This corroborates the findings of Al Chalabi (2017), which indicate that the loyalty of customers can be explained by emotional value. Matches between football clubs go beyond the game Tapp (2004), as it draws emotions of nostalgia, anxiety and curiosity explaining why emotional value essence is in explaining the relationship between club branding and fan loyalty. The study also hypothesised that epistemic value mediates the relationship between club branding and fan loyalty. This assertion was, however, rejected. This result was counter to our expectation because researchers have previously shown that epistemic value influences customers brand loyalty (Hassan, 2015). The results can be explained based on the fact that the football fanswithin the context of the studymay be interested in the performance or social bond they could build associating with the club rather than the technical or tactical aspects of the game. This result was, however, in line with the findings of Hassan (2017), where perceived epistemic value was found to be insignificant in influencing customer brand loyalty. Finally, our assumption on the postulation that economic value mediates the relationship between club branding and fan loyalty was rejected by the result of the analysis. This finding is in line with the results found by Crespo Herv�as et al. (2020). This result shows that the balance between the value offered by clubs and what the fans are willing to pay is insignificant in determining the loyalty of the supporters. This might also explain the fact that the clubs fail to provide avenues through which fans can actually relate with the club in economic terms. Contributions, implications and limitations The study contributes to the ongoing argument about the relevance of club branding in determining the various forms of fan behaviour. Club branding has been relevant but has not always been significant as some studies found it to be insignificant in determining fan loyalty (Khodadai et al., 2014). This study contributes to this ongoing argument from an emerging economy perspective. This is relevant as most leagues and clubs from emerging leagues and economies such as Ghana do not put lots of attention on branding and the value perceived by their fans. Hitherto, perspectives on the multidimensions of perceived value have been from developed leagues. This current study contributes to the literature by testing a proposed multidimensional perceived value as a mediating variable between club branding and fan loyalty. This study was carried out for knowing which variables of the multidimensions of consumers’ perceived value of sports teamgames is relevant to the context, where the game is still undergoing various forms of development and facing competitions from the developed leagues. AJEMS The findings of this study offer management a range of managerial actions that can help clubs present their brands in a way that will appeal to fan loyalty, that is, practitioners will be able to make informed decisions based on their understanding of club branding and its impact on each of the dimensions, allowing them to raise the perceived value of supporters and persuade them to become loyal to the club. For instance, from the results, the club brands may not influence the economic value of the fans, and this could be because fans do not have access to club brandmerchandise or game tickets. This implies that teams have tomake these things available and affordable for fans to patronise. Sports managers or marketers should focus on enhancing brand associations that relate to the team’s personnel, service environment and performance of the team to increase their loyalty. The results also indicated that the clubs should focus on enhancing fan loyalty through social and emotional values. For example, clubs can encourage fan groups and some form of social engagements that will make the brands relevant to the fans socially. The findings also reveal that what works in the developed leagues setting may not be applicable to the developing leagues. As such, football clubs must put in some more effort to identify the specific needs and preferences of the local fan base and should invest in creating and maintaining a strong, reliable brand identity that resonates with them. Even though epistemic value and economic values were insignificant in this study, this study suggests that they cannot be overlooked as it is relevant in other contexts, and when combined properly with other initiatives and values of the club can be beneficial. Clubs should seek to align their brands with values perceived by the fans to facilitate loyalty. Theoretically, this study sought to evaluate the link between club branding and loyalty of football fans in the wake of the renewed branding efforts of clubs in the context of the study. Also, the study responded to the call of Kunkel et al. (2017a) for other researchers to test their proposed multidimensions of perceived value. The study of Kunkel et al. (2017a) confirmed that all the proposed dimensions of perceived value – functional, economic, epistemic, social and emotional – had a significant relationship with loyalty. This was not the case for these studies. Two of the sub-hypotheses of the H2 were disproved. This was not consistent with the findings by Kunkel et al. (2017a). This implies that, while conceptualizing perceived value for developed leagues, functional, social and emotional values stand out. As such, sports managers must not focus only on delivering quality on the pitch but also enhance the emotional, social and functional aspects of the fan experience. Like any other research, this study has limitationswhichmust be acknowledged. First of all, the study focused on clubs in Ghana and the transferability of this study to other leagues requires consideration. As a result, further study should be considered to explore the relationships tested in this study on other leagues. Also, the respondents of the studywere fans who paid some form of allegiance to the clubs chosen for the study. This implies that, the tendency to remain loyal even if value is not perceived is high. 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Corresponding author Prince Yao Amu can be contacted at: amuprinceyao@gmail.com For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website: www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm Or contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com Perceived value in football club branding https://doi.org/10.2307/2334733 https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2019.1706603 https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-4359(01)00041-0 https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.dbm.3240221 https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.dbm.3240221 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2018.06.002 https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19053043 mailto:amuprinceyao@gmail.com The role of perceived value in football club branding: a developing league perspective Introduction Literature review and hypothesis formulation Club branding versus fan loyalty The mediator: perceived value Fan loyalty Research method Measurement model assessment Structural model assessment Result of hypothesized relationships Direct effect Mediating effect Discussion Contributions, implications and limitations References