Theses on Media, Communication and Messaging
Lisen Lundvall and Styrbjörn Roald (2022)
Abstract: Football is one of the most followed sports globally, and its communication reaches a large audience, including both fans and other stakeholders. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how Swedish football clubs in the top league, Allsvenskan, ascribe causes to their wins and losses in the match reports published online. The analysis of the clubs’ communication was based on attribution theory and its three most frequently applied dimensions: locus, stability, and controllability. A content analysis was conducted, and the selected sample consisted of 169 randomly chosen match reports from the 2021 season.
The results show only tendencies and differences in the locus and controllability dimensions. Plausible explanations for the revealed attributional tendencies include cultural differences, where the effects of impression management and cognitive bias are discussed. Feelings such as pride and responsibility are speculated to have an impact when football clubs explain their outcomes in match reports.
Alexander Pagot and Lennart Reje (2021)
Abstract: The purpose of the study was to explore the degree to which Swedish football fans believe that managerial change leads to better results. It also investigates how fan loyalty affects this belief. The study is based on previous research on managerial change and examines the phenomenon from a new perspective of fan loyalty. The thesis is empirical in nature, and data were collected on the opinions of fans through a survey distributed via Swedish football internet forums.
The results show that Swedish football fans seem to believe that managerial changes lead to improved results. The results also suggest that there might be a correlation between this belief and the level of fan loyalty. The belief in managerial change among football fans is suggested as an explanation for why football clubs often fire managers during periods of poor results. This is the case even though statistics on managerial change in sports show no clear positive impact on results. The potential correlation between fan loyalty and belief in managerial change suggests that football clubs should communicate decisions differently to different groups of fans.
(Mis)conceptions About the Product Allsvenskan Football (BSc)
Emma Sahlin and Steven Nehme (2018)
Abstract: The purpose of this Bachelor thesis was to empirically study three common cognitive beliefs associated with Swedish football as a product. The ambition was to confirm or reject each cognitive belief and discuss what measures Swedish football clubs and the Swedish Football Association can take in terms of marketing efforts to improve the product. Data from 1,198 games during the 2013–2017 Allsvenskan seasons were used.
The results show that there is a systematic home bias among Swedish referees, that the concept of momentum in Allsvenskan is a myth, and that changing a team’s coach does not improve team performance. Based on these results, the thesis concludes with proposals for marketing efforts that Swedish football clubs and the Swedish Football Association can consider to improve Swedish football as a product for consumers.