This study confirmed that there were at least two levels of running involvement,
which were categorized as running participants and enthusiastic runners. The majority of
enthusiastic runners tended to consider running as a harmonious activity. Although runners
who fell under the OER group also considered running to be an activity that was in harmony
with other activities in their lives, they also exhibited an obsessive feeling towards running.
The data validated that the dualistic theory of passion was also accurate when tested on the
running population, with a couple of exceptions discussed in Chapter 4.
The study concluded that Self-Image Congruence did not have a significant influence
on runners’ purchase intentions for running apparel brands. However, Functional Congruity
was considered to be important to runners, and was able to influence their likelihood of
purchase intentions for running apparel brands. The findings suggested that runners
considered their running apparel as equipment, and hence required their apparel products to
meet their performance expectations. The survey data also suggested that most runners,
regardless of their level of involvement, exhibit brand loyalty behavior toward running shoes,
but not toward running tops or bottoms. However, when considering only running tops and
bottoms, runners were more brand loyal to running bottoms. The results ultimately suggested
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that runners would be more likely to switch brands when purchasing running apparel if they
found that a certain product offered more appealing functional attributes