Affiliations: Business Information Systems, Haworth College of Business, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Reza Mousavi, Assistant Professor of Business Information Systems, Haworth College of Business, Western Michigan University, 1903 W Michigan Ave, Kalamazoo, MI 49008, USA. Tel.: +1 269 387 5405; Fax: +1 269 387 5710; E-mail: reza.mousavi@wmich.edu.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:As the growth of the Internet continues to impact the way that individuals and businesses interact, companies are forced to bring new online markets to the forefront of their strategic business decisions. In recent years online innovations in Internet content offerings have produced a myriad of highly interactive fantasy sports sites designed to entice users to wage funds on sports team. Although factors such as accessibility and anonymity encourage people to wager online, many hesitate to wager for reasons that must be examined if online fantasy sports (OFS) sites are to innovate and thrive. OBJECTIVE:Although research findings suggest that users have questioned the legitimacy and fairness of online fantasy sports sites, issues of trust do not yet appear to be negatively influencing the industry’s growth. Users continue to spend large sums of money without high confidence in OFS sites. To understand why this might be the case, we conducted a preliminary study to examine the nature and role of psychological contract violation (PCV) in OFS sites.Our research examines how OFS users’ past experiences and the perceived reputation of OFS sites influence psychological contract violation (PCV), as well as perceived institutional effectiveness as it pertains to OFS sites’ features and products. We also investigate the effect of institutional effectiveness on users’ concerns and their behavioral intentions. METHODS:We implemented previously validated scales to survey OFS users and test our hypothesized model. The original sample size included 198 individuals. After removing the incomplete and non-fantasy sports site user responses, the final sample dropped to 142. PLS-SEM was used to analyze measurement and structural models. RESULTS:Initial results suggest that OFS users have concerns about transactional information even though they tend to be less risk adverse than non-OFS users. Our study also found that psychological contract violation minimizes users’ protection perceptions concerning overall OFS structures’ effectiveness. CONCLUSIONS:This study creates new knowledge about minimizing risks in online fantasy sports sites, thereby assisting businesses that want to increase user participation and transactions.
