Indian Journal of Fundamental and Applied Life Sciences ISSN: 2231– 6345 (Online) An Open Access, Online International Journal Available at www.cibtech.org/sp.ed/jls/2014/04/jls.htm 2014 Vol. 4 (S4), pp. 1812-1819/Jamaat et al. Research Article © Copyright 2014 | Centre for Info Bio Technology (CIBTech) 1812 DEVELOPING A MODEL OF SPORT CONSUMPTION BASED ON PERCEIVED RISK Khatereh Jamaat, *Farshad Tojari and Ali Zarei Department of Physical Education, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran *Author for Correspondence ABSTRACT An important factor that affects consumer behavior is perceived risk. The purpose of this study was to provide a model of sport consumption based on customers’ perceived risk. In this descriptive-analytical research, a researcher-made questionnaire was used for data collection. The population consisted of 4000 male students of Saveh Branch of Islamic Azad University. Using Morgan’s Table, 370 questionnaires were randomly distributed among a sample of students which 359 were returned. After determining content validity (by experts), construct validity (by confirmatory factor analysis), and reliability (by Cronbach’s alpha), the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling in LISAREL. The results showed that the components of perceived risk (financial/time risk, performance risk, psychological/social risk, and physical risk) are significant predictors of behavioral intentions (attendance, recommendation to others, merchandise purchase, and media consumption) (NFI = 0.94, CFI = 0.94, NNFI = 0.92, RMSEA = 0.05, χ2/df = 2.51). The results also indicated that managers and marketers must consider the positive and negative effects of perceived risk on sport consumption behavior during all the steps of their planning process. Keywords: Sport Consumption Behavior, Perceived Risk, Behavioral Intentions INTRODUCTION Bad economic conditions has significantlyinfluencedthe behavior of sport consumers, including spectators, participants, and buyers of goods and service. Therefore, it is very important to study sport consumer behavior. Consumer behavior focuses on how and why customers choose to spend their money on buying goods and services. However, assessing consumption behavior is challenging, since it is difficult and costly to distribute questionnaires during purchase and consumption. Also based on the theory of planned behavior and the theory of reasoned action, behavioral intention is studied as the referent of actual behavior (Ajzen, 2005; AjzenandFishbein, 1980). These theories state that intention is the main predictor of behavior. Ajzen defines behavioral intention as an indication of an individual’s readiness to perform a given behavior. Thus, behavioral intention can be studied as a determinant of future consumption (Eggert and Ulaga, 2002). There are many factors that affect consumer behavior and their buying decisions. One of the most comprehensive models for describing consumer behavior is the consumer decision-making model. The inputs of this model are external factors such as marketing activities of organizations within the framework of marketing mix (4Ps)—i.e. product, price, promotion, and place. Other inputs or the sociocultural environment include such factors as social class, culture, and subculture. Process components in this model are internal factors such as motivation, perception, learning, personality, and attitudes. Buying decision process involves three steps: (1) need recognition, (2) information search, and (3) evaluation of alternatives. These steps are followed by purchase decision and post-purchase behavior. Consumer perception is an important internal factor that affects consumer decisions. This construct has three dimensions: perceived quality, perceived price, and perceived risk. The present research focuses on perceived risk as an important determinant of sport consumer behavior. Haddock (1993) defines perceived riskan individual’s subjective assessment of the real risk present at any time, which can be different for each product, service, or activity (Haddock, 1993) Researchers tend to focus on perceived risk instead of actual risk (Bauer, 1960) because people are generally more concerned with the results of a