Community building in virtual participation charity sport events

ABSTRACTThe study aims to explore the drivers of community building in virtual participation charity sport events. The authors conducted a case study of virtual charity events governed by Team World Vision, the sports arm of a global not-for-profit service organisation. They conducted semi-structured interviews with World Vision marketing managers and virtual running race participants, analysed survey and podcast interview data, and performed a document analysis. Four overarching themes were revealed as drivers of community building: community engagement, social networking, impression management, and fitness philanthropy practicing. The study uncovers the peculiarities of the virtual format that helped build virtual communities and create excitement around the cause, such as digitised communication plans, social media- and technology-facilitated opportunities to connect both locally and globally, and the adapted fundraising strategies in the virtual format.KEYWORDS: Virtual communitycause-related marketingCOVID-19digital marketingphysical activitycommunity engagement Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. See Nowell and Boyd (Citation2010) for a critique on the theory.2. Also, the virtual format may have allowed participants to stay safe during COVID-19.3. One might argue that self-reflection and interest in the cause may have decreased during COVID-19 because people were interested in their own and their family's health and were occupied with mastering tasks around COVID-19 related restrictions (e.g. home schooling, working from home). Especially during this time, people may have had other things on their mind than supporting social causes by virtual event participation. Such aspects might have influenced what practices were performed by the members during the COVID-19 pandemic.4. Brand use was identified by Schau et al. (Citation2009), but not in our study. This is not surprising given the focus of Schau et al.s" (Citation2009) work on brand communities. McMillan (Citation2011, pp. 509–510), in his work on local community building, refers to membership/spirit, influence/trust, integration of fulfilment of needs, shared emotional connection/art, time symbolised in rituals, common symbols, and traditions/shared stories, as well as spiritual bond emerging from shared history. Within each of these themes, McMillan (Citation2011) identifies a complex structure involving 'at least five or six subelements' (p. 509). To reduce complexity, we mostly relate to Schau et al. (Citation2009) in highlighting the novelty of our findings.Additional informationFundingThis research was supported by the Harold and Muriel Berkman Charitable Foundation Marketing Research Grant to Dr. Elina Tang.Notes on contributorsKyle BundsKyle Bunds is an Associate Professor of Sport and Sustainable Community Development in the Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management at NC State University. His research interests include environmental sustainability, community equity, and community development. His work has been published in Sustainable Development, Journal of Sport Management, Sociology of Sport Journal, and Qualitative Inquiry amongst others.Yihui (Elina) TangYihui (Elina) Tang is Associate Professor of Marketing in the College of Business at Northern Illinois University. Her publications have appeared in the Financial Times' top business journals such as Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Marketing Science, and Journal of the American Statistical Association. Her work has been featured by Adweek, American Marketing Association, CBS, Missourian, among other outlets.Joerg KoenigstorferJoerg Koenigstorfer is Professor of Sport and Health Management in the School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Germany. He investigates managerial decisions of sport and health companies, and their impact on consumers and welfare. His work was published in the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, the Journal of Sport Management, and Sport Management Review, among others, and was cited by various mass media outlets. He is Associate Editor for the European Sport Management Quarterly.