What new practices emerged following VAR in football among spectators, and how do these practices relate to potential value co-creation and co-destruction?

Abstract

Technological tools are widely used in all industries. In football, Video Assistant Referee (VAR) has been implemented and is becoming more common in nearly all domestic leagues and international organizations. Previous research has shown how VAR affected the game objectively, as well as people's perspectives toward this new technology. However, there has been no research into how VAR affects customers and their consumption practices. In our research, we focus on spectators and the types of new consumption practices that emerged after implementation of VAR, as well as their potential of value formation throughout the football consumption process. To understand this, we used a qualitative research method and conducted interviews with ten people who regularly watch football games. Taking practice theory and the concept of value co-creation and value co-destruction into consideration, we reveal that two emotional practices trigger consumption practices: calm emotion as a practice and anger/anxiety as a practice. These emotional practices led people to engage in other practices such as illegal betting, non-football-related social media checking, small things to do, social media checking, and focusing on the game. Each practice has a unique relationship with value co-creation and co-destruction. Our study presents a novel concept in which emotional practices shape people's consumption practices in football after the implementation of VAR, as well as a novel concept of value co-formation with emotional practices.