Title: Sport Development Meets Consumer Culture: Basketball, Generation Z, and Business Opportunities in Vietnam
Authors: Minh Pham Tuan,Ngan Nguyen Thi Thuy
Volume: 9
Issue: 11
Pages: 203-208
Publication Date: 2025/11/28
Abstract:
Though commercially integrated worldwide, basketball remains relatively underdeveloped in Vietnam's secondary schools compared to the United States, Europe, and China. The U.S. has well-established high school and NCAA college basketball systems, China has expanded professional operations and leagues, while Vietnam has relied largely on state-sponsored initiatives and the informal reach of social media to engage the population. This research focuses on basketball within the context of secondary schools in Vietnam, with particular emphasis on the unique and often overlooked challenge of promoting offline physical leisure to teenagers in the digital age. This study adopts a mixed-methods design, combining survey data from 500 high school students in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with interviews involving educators, coaches, and sport business professionals. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the influence of online engagement, peer influence, and institutional support on basketball participation. Results show that online engagement (? = 0.42) and peer influence (? = 0.36) are stronger predictors of participation than institutional support (? = 0.19), underscoring the centrality of digital culture for Generation Z in Vietnam. Theoretically, the findings extend the Sport Development Model by highlighting digitally mediated entry points into sport participation and demonstrate how Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) explains identity construction through both physical and digital basketball consumption. From a business perspective, the study suggests that sporting goods companies can capitalize on Vietnam's digitally active youth by leveraging influencer-driven campaigns, sponsoring grassroots tournaments, and gamifying training experiences. By integrating digital ecosystems with grassroots investment, firms can accelerate both cultural adoption and commercial growth of basketball in Vietnam.