Attitudes of Consumers from Autonomous Province of Vojvodina toward Advertising through Sport in relation with the Frequency of Watching Sports Events

This investigation was aimed at gaining relevant knowledge about the attitudes of the consumers from the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina toward advertising through sport in relation with the frequency of watching sports events. The sample included 451 students from Faculty of Sport and Physical Education,Faculty of sport and tourismin Novi Sad and Chemical, Biotechnology and Medicine Department in Subotica, and it was divided into six subsample groups: consumers who do not watch sports events at all, consumers who do watch sports events 1-30 minutes, consumers who watch sports events 31-60 minutes, those who watch them 61-90 minutes, those who watch them 91-120 minutes, as well as those who watch sports events more than 120 minutes during one typical day. The sample of variables contained the system of three general attitudes which were modelled by seven-point Likert scale. The results of the measuring were analysed by multivariate analysis (MANOVA), univariate analysis (ANOVA), and Post Hoc test. Based on the statistical analyses, it was found that signifi cant diff erences occur at multivariate level, as well as between all three variables at a signifi cance level of p=.00. Hence, it is interesting to highlight that it was found that signifi cant diff erences showed up between the attitudes of consumers toward advertising through sport among the frequency of watching sports events. The signifi cant diff erences were found in two out of three variables, while the consumers who do not watch sports events had much more negative attitudes toward advertising through sport.


Methods
Th e population of this study consisted of students of the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education,the Faculty of Sport and Tourism in Novi Sad and the High School of Vocational Studies for Education of Teachers and Coaches in Subotica who were residents on the territory of Serbia during the survey, while the sample was organized by combining or decomposing, so that the diff erent properties of said population and the various spaces in which it existed were treated.
Th e questionnaires were distributed to undergraduate students in printed and electronic form. A total of 470 questionnaires were collected, but 19 questionnaires were excluded from the analysis, since they were not adequately fi lled, so that 451 respondents (randomly selected students of the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, Faculty of Sport and Tourism in Novi Sad and Chemical, Biotechnology and Medicine Department in Subotica).Th e research instrument was a standardized questionnaire (Popović, 2011) which consisted of two parts, general attitudes towards sports commercials and socio-demographic characteristics of respondents when the frequency of sporting eventsduring a day was taken into consideration. Th e system of variables in this questionnaire contained three statements that the respondents needed to evaluate according to the seven-degree Likert scale and the six socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents (Not watching at all, 1-30 minutes, 31-60 minutes, 61-90 minutes, 91-120 minutes, and more than 120 minutes). Completing the questionnaire did not last too long, about 10 minutes on average, and respondents participated voluntarily in the survey. It is important to point out that the survey was anonymous and that all responses were strictly confi dent. It is also worth noting that the respondents, in addition to all the above mentioned, had the opportunity to withdraw their participation in the survey at any moment, but none of them decided to do so.
Empirical data were analysed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS 20.0), and as a fi rst step, descriptive statistics was used for calculating the frequency in the fi rst place, then the arithmetic mean, the standard deviation, as well as the measures of the asymmetry Skewness and measures of tailedness Kurtosis for each of the claims. Since the variables in this study were on nonparametric scales, for the detailed analysis that followed, it was necessary transform them into higher order scales using Blom's method. Th en, using the multivariate variance analysis (MANOVA), the univariate variance analysis (ANOVA) and the LSD Post Hoc test, the diff erences in the general attitudes of the respondents towards advertising in sport in relation to the frequency of watching sports events during the day have been found.

Results
Th e fi rst table shows descriptive statistics for all three claims that are in relation with the general attitudes of the respondents towards advertising in sports. First of all, the arithmetic mean which refl ects the positive values of attitudes when all three claims are concerned is depicted, while the values of standard deviation show that the elements together do not deviate signifi cantly from the arithmetic mean. When it comes to measures of asymmetry (Skewness) and tailedness (Kurtosis), the negative values of asymmetry in all variables show that most of the results are right from the mean, among the higher values, while the negative values of fl attening, for all three are variable (GSS1, GSS2 and GSS3), show that the distribution is more fl at than normal, i.e., that there are more results accumulated on the distribution tails. Legend: GSS1-My general opinions is in favor of advertising in sports; GSS2-Comprehensively, I consider advertising in sports a good thing; GSS3-Comprehensively, do you like or dislike advertising in sports In the continuation of this study, comparative statistics of general attitudes towards sports advertising are shown. Th ey were obtained by using the multivariate variance analysis (MANOVA), the univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the LSD Post Hoc test, in order to determine the diff erence in the general attitudes of the respondents towards adver-tising in sport in relation to the frequency of watching sport events during the day.
By inspecting the second table which shows the results of the multivariate analysis, it is clearly evident that there is a sta-tistically signifi cant diff erencein the whole system of the compared parameters in the general attitudes towards advertising in sport related withthe frequency of watching sport events during the day (p=.013).
By inspecting the third table showing the results of the univariate analysis, it is clearly noted that there were also statistically signifi cant diff erences in general attitudes towards advertising in sport in relation to observing sport events in a single variable (GSS3), while in two variables (GSS1 and GSS2) stated discrimination has not been established.
Inspecting the next three tables which show the results of the Post Hoc test, will indicate the signifi cance of the differences between the pairs of individual entities with diff erent habits when observing sport events in question for each variable. According to the results that have appeared on the univariate level, statistically signifi cant diff erences in the individual parameters with all three variables are noticed.   Table 4. Identifi cation of signifi cant diff erences in the system of general attitudes towards advertising in sport using the Post Hoc test between individual entities with diff erent habits of watching sport events in the statement "My general opinion is in favor of advertising in sports" It was concluded at the fi rst claim, "My general opinion is in favor of advertising in sports", that there are diff erences between respondents who do not observe sport events and those entities that observe them 1-30, 61-90 and 91-120 minutes a day. We can notice that members of the group who watch sport events 61-90 minutes a day have the most positive answers, while the least positive results are seen in respondents who do not watch sport events.
Th e second claim "Comprehensively, I consider advertising in sport a good thing", led to a conclusion that there are diff erences between respondents who do not observe sporting events and those entities that observe sporting events 1-30, 61-90, and 91-120 minutes a day. We can notice that members of the group who watch sporting events 61-90 minutes a day have the most positive answers, while the least positive results are seen in respondents who do not watch sporting events.
We came to the conclusion that with the third claim: "Comprehensively, do you like or dislike advertising in sports?", there are diff erences between respondents who do not observe sporting events in general and most other entities. Also, there are diff erences among respondents who watch sporting events 61-90 minutes a day and those entities that watch sporting events 1-3 and 31-60 minutes per day. Finally, diff erences are still noticed among the respondents who observe sporting events from 31-60 and over 120 minutes a day. We can notice that members of the group who watch sporting events 61-90 minutes a day have the most positive answers, while the least positive results are seen in respondents who do not watch sporting events.

Discussion
Th e results showed that the respondents have a very positive attitude towards advertising in sport, which is confi rmed with the high value of the arithmetic mean for all three variables, and that almost two thirds of the respondents have a positive attitude towards advertising in sport, which is refl ected in the extremely negative values of the asymmetry measures. It is important to mention that these results are in accordance with the results of the previous studies (Bjelica & Popović, 2011;Popovic, 2011b;Popovic, Molnar, & Radovanovic, 2011a;Popovic, Matic, Milasinovic, Jaksic, & Bjelica, 2015a;Popovic, Matic, Milasinovic, Hadzic, Milosevic, & Bjelica, 2015b;Popovic, Matic, Milasinovic, Vujovic, Milosevic, & Bjelica, 2015c), and that there are no signifi cant diff erences that should be mentioned. Th e results obtained also clearly indicate that respondents who live in diff erent locations, such as the United States, Turkey, Montenegro, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, have positive attitudes towards advertising in sport, while, for the sake of comparison, it is worth mentioning that according to Mittal (1994), various studies point to negative attitudes when advertising products in traditional industries in question.
Th erefore, it is more than obvious that the use of sport in modern business communication has infl uenced signifi cantchange of the general attitude of consumers when advertising is concerned, and recognizing the attractiveness of sports has enabled business organizations to approach sports consumers, and aff ect their behaviour in more subtle way.
By determining the diff erence in the general attitudes of the respondents towards advertising in sport in relation to observing sporting events during the day, this study found differences in attitudes among respondents who have diff erent habits of watching sporting events over the course of the day. Th ese diff erences occurred in one of three variables at the univariate level. With all three variabl es "My general opinions is in favor of advertising in sports", "Comprehensively, I consider advertising in sports a good thing" and "Comprehensively, do you like or dislike advertising in sports", it is noticed that Table 5. Determining signifi cant diff erences in the system of general attitudes towards advertising in sport using the Post Hoc test between individual entities with diff erent habits when watching sport events at the question "In a comprehensive way, I consider advertising in sport a good thing" members of the group watching sporting events 61-90 minutes a day, have the most positive answers, while the least positive results are seen in respondents who do not watch sporting events. It is interesting to note that signifi cant diff erences were found between consumers who observed sporting activities at diff erent time intervals, which was the case in previous studies (Molnar, Lilić, Popović, Akpinar, & Jakšić, 2011;Popović, Jakšić, Matić, Bjelica, & Maksimović, 2014;Popović, Bjelica, Georgiev, & Akpinar, 2011b;Popovic, Matic, Milasinovic, Jaksic, & Bjelica, 2015d;Popovic, Matic, Milasinovic, Hadzic, Milosevic, & Bjelica, 2015e;Popovic, Matic, Milasinovic, Vujovic, Milosevic, & Bjelica, 2015f;Popović, Jakšić, Matić, Bjelica, & Maksimović, 2015g). Th ese results are very important for business entities in Serbia but also for the scientifi c public, mainly because they cannot connect all potential consumers who observe sports activities at diff erent time intervals in a homogeneous group, which is in accordance with previous research studies (Bjelica, Popović, Jakšić, Hadžić, & Akpinar, 2014b;Bjelica, & Popović, 2015a;Bjelica, & Popović, 2015b;Bjelica, Gardasevic, Vasiljević, & Popović, 2016;Bjelica, Gardasevic, Vasiljevic, & Popovic, 2016c).