Curiosity generating advertisements and their impact on sport consumer behavior

• We created three advertisements with low, moderate, and high knowledge gap.• Those watching moderate knowledge gap advertisements show greater generated state curiosity.• Generated state curiosity shows a significant impact on intention to watch the sport.• Fortifying generated state curiosity will increase sport consumers’ behavioral intentions.• Mediation effect of generated state curiosity on the relationship between the knowledge gap and the intention exists.The purpose of this study was to expand on the work of Menon and Soman and examine the impact of different levels of knowledge gap on the generation of state curiosity in a sport setting, and to investigate the impact of state curiosity on the intention to watch a novel sport. A total of 507 participants were recruited and ANOVAs, multiple regressions, and structural equation modeling were employed to examine the relationships. The results indicated that generated state curiosity was significantly greater for the group that viewed the moderate knowledge gap advertisement. Results also indicated that generated state curiosity had a significant mediating effect on the relationship between knowledge gap and the intention to watch the novel sport indicated in the advertisement. This study suggests that an increased understanding of the impact of curiosity and knowledge gap on sport consumers may be useful. Detailed implications for both practitioners and researchers are suggested.