Abstract

Long trailing their American counterparts, Canadian university sports (USport) have experienced rapid growth in recent years, with new broadcasting deals generating national buzz. Of particular interest to sport managers is student engagement, which plays a key role not only in financial success but also in fostering long-term loyalty. However, research on behavioural intentions in sports has largely focused on prestigious, well-established teams and leagues. This trend extends to university athletics, where the NCAA continues to dominate scholarly attention. As a result, niche markets like Canadian university sports remain underexplored. Additionally, the concept of ego depletion has yet to be examined in relation to behavioural intentions in sports. Similarly, research on vicarious pride, a secondary emotion rooted in collective achievement, is underexplored in comparison to emotions such as happiness or sadness. In light of the rising popularity of USport, this study investigates the effects of ego depletion and vicarious pride, as well as the mediating role of team identification, on university students’ behavioural intentions (information search, word-of-mouth communication, ticket purchase intention, social media engagement and, engagement in promotional content). An experimental research design was employed, using two online questionnaires to collect data. The results indicated no significant effect of ego depletion, or vicarious pride, on any of the behavioural intention measures. Additionally, team identification did not mediate the relationship between vicarious pride and behavioural intentions. As the first study to examine these variables within the context of Canadian university sports, this research adds to the limited body of literature in this area and offers several directions for future study.