Sport Management Research Articles

Developing Servant Leadership through Experience and Practice: A Case Study in Service Learning.

Servant leadership is characterized by a core altruistic calling and central attributes of genuine caring, humility, and empathy, and in recent years, has become a style of leadership recommended to be addressed in sports management classrooms because of its associated positive outcomes and emphasis on ethical behavior and decision-making. As the relevance and popularity of servant leadership continue to grow, it gives rise to matters of how this approach to leadership can be better studied and taught to current and aspirant sports professionals. Thus, the purpose of this qualitative case study is to analyze a community-based service-learning project as a mode for developing servant leaders as part of a college sports management curriculum. Nineteen upper-level college sports management students participated in this study by serving as mentors in an after-school program for underprivileged elementary school students for 12 h across the course of six weeks. Participants then completed a written reflection upon the conclusion of the service project. Content analysis of these reflections suggests that service learning may be a positive method for developing servant leaders. The article closes with a discussion of findings, proposed future research questions, as well as ideas for future service-learning projects aimed at developing servant leaders.

Using feminist critical management studies to examine LGBTQ+ women’s experiences of inclusion and exclusion in rugby

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to examine the experiences of lesbian, bisexual, gay, takatāpui, queer, and allies (LGBTQ+) women in rugby in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Using Feminist Critical Management Studies (FCMS) the research shows the potential of these experiences to inform the development of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in sports organisations. FCMS places feminism at the centre of organizational research and seeks to disrupt hegemonic masculinity. This means that DEI policy and practice generation, and implementation, are informed by the knowledge experiences of a marginalized group, in this case, LGBTQ+ women. Mixed methods were used, comprising an online Qualtrics survey, which enabled the collection of descriptive quantitative data about 143 respondents’ demographics and experiences. The quantitative data revealed that women’s rugby is generally inclusive for LGBTQ+ community members. Of the 143 respondents, 69 also provided open text qualitative responses. The qualitative results were thematically analysed, revealing further details, such as inclusion as personal support; and inclusion as rugby culture. Constraints to inclusion were identified, as well as exclusion through traditional club environments. The respondents provided thoughts on future inclusion through the development of education and awareness. The research contributes to DEI in sport management by asking questions about how DEI knowledge is created in sport organisations, who are the guardians of that knowledge, and whether and how might sport managers adapt their practices to respectfully ensure that marginalized peoples’ views inform DEI.

Investigation of the effects of some demographic characteristics of female athletes on emotional intelligence and life satisfaction

In many subjects and fields, emotional intelligence refers to the ability of individuals to understand, express and manage their own emotions and the emotions of others. Especially sport is known to have a significant effect on emotional intelligence. In this study, it was aimed to examine the effects of some demographic characteristics of female athletes on emotional intelligence and life satisfaction. The participants were all women and analyses were performed by taking into account age groups, sports branches and education departments. Emotional intelligence and life satisfaction scales were evaluated by factor analysis and the suitability of the data was confirmed by Bartlett's test. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was evaluated with Cronbach's alpha coefficients. Anova, Kruskal Wallis and Jonckheere-Terpstra tests were used to analyse the data. All analyses were performed with SPSS v22.0. 34% of the participants were 18-21 years old, 45% were 22-25 years old and 21% were over 26 years old. 31% were interested in team sports and 69% were interested in individual sports. The fields of education are 37% coaching, 32% physical education and sports teaching, 31% sports management. According to the factor analysis results, Bartlett's test p<0.001 and KMO coefficient 0.896 were found. Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged between 0.583 and 0.924. While some factors differed according to age, no difference was found according to sport branch. While evaluation of own emotions and social skills differed according to departments, other factors did not differ. Participants over 26 years of age had low scores in the use of emotions and life satisfaction factors. These findings provide important clues for developing strategies for improving emotional intelligence and increasing life satisfaction.

A Typology of Design Archetypes in Professional Football Leagues: Autonomy and Openness as Key Factors Explaining Design Variance

Previous approaches to design archetypes in sport management have taken a single-country, multisport approach with a focus on National Sporting Organizations. While this line of research has provided significant breakthroughs for understanding sport organizations, there is a need to extend the boundaries of these investigations to explore variations within professional leagues in one sport and across multiple countries. Accordingly, the current study takes a single-sport, multicountry approach to explore how design archetypes vary and the factors influencing the variation. We analyzed the design archetypes of 104 professional football leagues using 44 organizational variables and identified four different design archetypes that can be used to categorize professional football leagues globally. Autonomy and openness were identified as the key factors determining design archetype structure in this environment. Our analysis of professional football league archetypes provides a foundation for understanding design archetype variation, and the insights can be used for comparison and analysis of meaningful change.

Evaluation of sports organizational systems and performance of floorball athletes the Indonesian Floorball Association

The coaching program with outstanding achievements has indeed been implemented based on the objectives of the coaching itself and the critical factors contained in a program. Factors from an organizational system that is not good can also affect achievement results. With appropriate stages and fulfilling these factors, it is hoped that achievement will be more easily achieved. Looking at the introduction above, it is clear that Indonesian floorball still has many obstacles in its sports management system. Still needs to be developed in all regions of Indonesia. Besides that, Indonesian floorball athletes' performance is considered less able to match Asian countries. Hence, this study aims to evaluate the sports organization system and the implementation of floorball athletes in the Indonesian Floorball Association. The objects of this research include the Chairperson of Floorball at the central and regional levels, the Secretary, the Treasurer, the Coach, and 96 athletes who competed in the big eight rounds of the national floorball championship in Jakarta. Data was collected using the mixed method by administering a CIPP questionnaire and giving physical test items to floorball athletes. The output of this research is an evaluation of the sports organization system in which policymakers can improve and create a good formula so that the future organization can be better so that floorball athletes' achievements can increase.

Bioethics in Sport

Whether recreational or professional, sport is an integral part of human life, so its daily impact on society is undeniable. It is, therefore, important to recognise the role of moral values and ethics in sport, which can help to ensure fairness and preserve the integrity of professional sports. In recent years, there has been a growing awareness of the importance of implementing these values in professional sport, as it is crucial to enable physical performance without compromising the very essence of sport. However, using prohibited substances and methods in professional sports today has become an increasingly worrying ethical issue, particularly in sports medicine. The primary aim of sports science, especially sports physiology, is to help athletes improve their performance and prevent and overcome injuries, while the primary goal of sports management and some athletes is often to win, which can lead to unethical means to achieve this goal. This behaviour raises many ethical doubts and highlights the need for a framework to address these contemporary challenges increasingly facing professional sport today. Bioethics can effectively address these challenges by examining medical and scientific advances’ ethical, social, moral, and legal implications. By considering the values, principles, and norms underlying medical and scientific practices, bioethics in the context of sport can provide guidance and recommendations for bioethical decision-making concerning (bio)ethical doubts or controversies that may arise, such as the use of performance-enhancing drugs, non-therapeutic use of gene therapy and ethical considerations related to using new technologies. This paper, therefore, aims to emphasise the importance of bioethics as a bridging science in sport in the context of the (bio)ethical challenges that increasingly characterise the professional practice of sport today.

Management of Sports and Recreation Centers in Karanganyar District Through Knowledge Based Worker-Based Sports Human Resources Development

This research aims to explore innovation in management through the development of knowledge-based sports human resources in the sports and recreation center of Karanganyar Regency. The main focus of this study is on the development of knowledge-based sports human resources (knowledge-based workers). In the corporate context, the development of sports human resources should involve several important aspects, including participation in training, mandatory learning, training to improve skills relevant to various modern positions, as well as providing a broad career path and competency development. In addition, performance and competency assessment as well as effective communication in providing feedback are also an integral part of this process. Knowledge-based development is considered a fundamental requirement for achieving sustainable competitive advantage. This underlines the important role of professional intellect in creating value and profits for sports and recreation centers to face business competition. The concept of professional intellect is implemented at four levels, namely cognitive knowledge (professional intellect), skill improvement (advanced skills), system understanding (system understanding), and self-motivated creativity (self-motivated creativity)

‘Seeing it as a whole’: A research agenda for the sociology of sport and climate change

Climate change poses an existential, if varied, threat to sport. Equally, sporting activity is having a substantial impact on the natural environment, an impact to which sporting bodies have been slow to quantify and mitigate. Despite this bidirectional threat, social science research on the relationship between sport and climate change is underdeveloped. Much of the existing research is generated by scholars within sport management and the nascent sub-discipline of sport ecology, both of which tend to focus on organisations’ and managerial responses to climate change. By contrast, climate change and the natural environment have been understudied within the sociology of sport. In this paper, I argue that the limited contribution of sociological perspectives to the debate has restricted the ability to critically examine the social context within which sport and climate change intersect. In response, I advocate for the value of a sociological approach and propose a research agenda for examining climate change within the sociology of sport.

Environmental Behavior Framework Revisited: Where Do We Stand Ten Years Later and Where Do We Go from Here?

Increasing environmental challenges are prompting sport managers to act to minimize negative ecological impacts. Educational opportunities for sport management students are critical for developing awareness and understanding of environmental sustainability across the sport industry. In 2012, Casper and Pfahl examined the personal environmental actions of sport administration and recreation students. The purpose of our current research is to expand on Casper and Pfahl’s work by assessing the predictive relationships of values, beliefs, and norms on behaviors related to environmental sustainability using the Value–Belief–Norm (VBN) framework. Sport management students (N = 510) representing 23 higher education institutions completed the online survey. Structural equation modeling showed minimal changes over ten years. Norms were the strongest predictors of pro-environmental behaviors, and results indicated that students hold sport management organizations to a higher environmental standard than traditional businesses. The authors provide discussion and recommendations on bridging the gap between academia and industry to better prepare students for their professional futures in the sport industry.

Determinants of the Willingness to Pay for Environmental Sustainability in Participatory Sport Events

Awareness is rising that sport events can serve as a platform to stimulate pro-environmental behavior. To fulfil this role, event organizers might have to invest in the environmental sustainability of their events, which can be expensive. This paper investigates whether the participants of a running event would be willing to pay to compensate these costs and which factors determine their choice. A sample of 1,056 online surveys was collected in collaboration with the event organizer. Using a contingent valuation scenario, an average willingness to pay of 4.5 EUR for sustainability measures on top of the participation fee is identified. Unlike socio-demographic and sport-related characteristics, the environmental attitude of the participants and the experienced social pressure appear significant predictors of the amount they are willing to pay. As such, this study contributes to the current body of literature and has implications for sport managers and the sustainability of their events.

Examining the Leadership Styles and Effects of Sport Managers

This study aims to investigate the leadership styles of sports managers and the impacts of these styles. Leadership, in its modern sense, was first used in the British Parliament in the 19th century and has gradually become a significant concept in business, education, and social fields. Leaders guide groups towards specific goals and enhance motivation through tasks such as crisis management, rewarding, and innovation. Management, on the other hand, focuses on coordinating resources and people in harmony to achieve organizational goals. While managers utilize hierarchical authority, leaders create influence through personal skills and charisma. Sports managers bear significant responsibilities when making strategic decisions and managing daily operations. Leadership styles reflect managers' strategic visions, values, and management strategies, and these styles yield different outcomes on organizational performance, team cohesion, motivation, and individual development. Research has shown that various leadership styles, such as transformational, autocratic, and democratic leadership, are key factors determining the effectiveness of sports managers. Leadership influences the dynamics within the organization and enhances employee motivation. This study examines the leadership styles of sports managers and their effects through a literature review methodology. The findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the leadership styles of sports managers and their impacts. These findings will contribute to the existing body of knowledge and serve as a foundation for future research on sports management leadership.

Protecting the play: An integrative review of cybersecurity in and for sports events

Although sport has become an important topic in management research, academics have not fully examined the area of cybersecurity and its strategic relevance in sports management, in particular in and for sports events. In the present study, we examined the relationship between sports and cybersecurity and conducted an integrative literature review that categorizes the research that has been published to date, based on technology-organisation-environment (TOE) framework. The findings show that the role of cybersecurity in and for sports events is a heavily under-researched area that provides an abundance of scientific opportunities. It is also one that deserves further attention, because cyber-attacks on sports events and associated organisations are increasing. Our integrative literature review offers a more structured understanding of this field of investigation and led to the development of a comprehensive research agenda at the intersection between sports management and information security. As one of the first studies to use a literature review that specifically focuses on cybersecurity in and for sports events, we advance the state-of-the-art scholarship in this critical space, and we take the first step to disseminate best practices in cybersecurity and sports management.

Experience is all you need: a large language model application of fine-tuned GPT-3.5 and RoBERTa for aspect-based sentiment analysis of college football stadium reviews

ABSTRACT Despite extensive research in service industries, fine-grained explorations of customer experience within spectator sports remain limited. This study pioneers a transfer learning approach grounded in a post-positivism paradigm, underpinned by an integrative customer experience framework for aspect-based sentiment analysis of user-generated content, shedding light on the complexity of the college football game day experience. Three fine-tuned large language models were employed to qualitatively identify and quantitatively analyze customer experience from Tripadvisor reviews on college football stadiums. Our findings indicated that fans’ positive reactions to stimuli related to core (game dynamics), functional (facilities/services), emotional (intense feelings), and socialization (fan interactions/bonding) significantly increased the likelihood of them giving a five-star rating. Mitigating negative experiences across functional, emotional, socialization, safety, and monetary experience was crucial for achieving a top rating, with reducing negative functional issues and safety concerns having the greatest positive impact. Our study contributes to the sport management literature by establishing a unified view of customer experience, enabling a holistic conceptualization and operationalization of customer experience in spectator sports. Empirically, our research proposes targeted strategies to manage customer experience in college football and offers sport management professionals ready-to-use large language models along with detailed deployment guidelines tailored for distinct use cases.

Evaluasi Pembinaan Prestasi pada Olahraga Prestasi Koni Kabupaten Dompu

The purpose of this research to evaluate on the construction of achievement coaching on KONI sport performance in Dompu Regency. This research is an evaluation study using a qualitative method, with an approach using the CIPP (Context, Input, Process, Product) evaluation model. The research subjects consisted of KONI, coaches, athletes, parents, and sport managers. The study's findings demonstrated that the level of accomplishment in terms of context-related factors for KONI's athletic performance development in the Dompu Regency falls into the category of rather good. From an input perspective, the category as a whole is sufficiently good. The category's process is deemed to be fairly good. Regarding the item in the wide range inside the favorable classification, where the performance in the regional and national competition, specifically PORPROV NTB 2023, has improved from the third place on PORPROW 2018 to the second place on PORPROV 2023. Additionally, the number of athletes from Dompu Regency has increased in PON Aceh 2024.

Research on Jinhua City Sports Facilities Planning and Urban Spatial Structure Optimization

With the increasing awareness of national fitness, the planning and management of sports venues has become the key to improving the level of urban public services. Taking the POI data of sports venues in Jinhua City as the research object, this paper analyzes the spatial distribution characteristics of sports venues in Jinhua City, traffic accessibility and its relationship with housing prices. The study found that all the sports venues in Jinhua have good traffic accessibility, and there is a positive correlation with housing prices. Among them, the average housing prices in urban public sports venues and commercial fitness and leisure venues are higher. The research results provide a scientific basis for the planning and management of sports venues in Jinhua City, and are of great significance for promoting the balanced development of sports facilities and improving the quality of life of residents.

Uncovering the Hidden Variable: Corruption and the Underperformance of Zimbabwean Soccer Teams

This study investigates the factors contributing to the underperformance of Zimbabwean soccer teams, with a specific focus on the often-overlooked variable of corruption. Through a mixed-methods approach, combining statistical analysis and qualitative interviews, we identify the determinants of soccer success and propose strategies to address maladministration. Our findings suggest that corruption, alongside economic performance, talent pool size, experience, culture, and political factors, plays a significant role in national soccer team performance. However, the literature lacks exploration of these factors in the African context. Our research reveals a lack of clear strategic planning processes, inadequate governance structures, and limited financial incentives in Zimbabwean soccer clubs. We recommend education and training, business coaching, ethical leadership, transparency, accountability, and punitive measures for corruption to improve soccer development in Zimbabwe. This study contributes to the understanding of soccer development in Africa and highlights the need for urgent reforms to address corruption and maladministration in sports management.

Enhancing operational performance: The impact of smart algorithms in Saudi Arabian sports facilities

The objective of this study was to examine the impact of utilizing smart algorithms on enhancing the operational performance of sports facilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. These algorithms, based on principles and concepts of artificial intelligence, aim to achieve functions such as learning, decision-making, data analysis, pattern recognition, planning, and problem-solving. The study aimed to identify the extent to which smart algorithms are utilized in sports facilities, assess the level of operational performance, explore the correlation between the use of smart algorithms and operational performance, and predict the level of operational performance based on the use of smart algorithms. The study employed a descriptive approach, specifically utilizing a survey study method. Participants included chairmen and members of boards of directors, executive directors, sports directors, administrators, specialists, and members of various committees. The study sample was intentionally selected from different categories within the study population. Two questionnaires were used to collect data from 325 participants. The findings revealed a lack of utilization of smart algorithms in sports facilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, indicating a low level of operational performance. Additionally, a correlation was observed between the use of smart algorithms and operational performance, suggesting that the level of operational performance can be predicted based on the utilization of smart algorithms. The study concludes that the implementation of intelligent algorithms can enhance the operational performance of sports facilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It provides valuable insights into the effects of utilizing smart algorithms on improving operational performance.

Structural relationship between mobile shopping characteristics, consumption values, impulse buying, and consumer satisfaction

This study aims to empirically determine the structural relationship between mobile shopping characteristics, consumption values, impulse buying, and satisfaction in order to promote an understanding of impulse buying in the mobile shopping environment. To this end, we conducted a survey using the convenience sampling method on sports management majors attending a four-year university in Seoul, South Korea, who have experience purchasing sports products on a mobile device. We analyzed the collected data using descriptive statistics analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling. The key findings are as follows: First, mobile shopping attributes had a positive effect on consumption values. Second, consumption values of college student consumers in the mobile shopping environment had an effect on impulse buying. Third, impulse buying in the mobile shopping environment had a positive effect on the satisfaction of college student consumers. The results of this study have significance in that they provide the basic data for establishing efficient marketing strategies that can induce impulse buying to act as a positive shopping driver. Furthermore, this study is significant because it empirically demonstrates the casual relationship between impulse purchases and consumer satisfaction, and that consumption value is a determinant of impulse purchases.

The effectiveness of public administration of sports in rural communities under decentralization (experience for Ukraine)

The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of public administration of sport in rural communities of Ukraine through the prism of a comparative analysis of the experience of European countries in this sphere. General scientific methods (analysis and synthesis) and public management methods (expert assessment, comparative analysis) were involved. The results showed that before the beginning of decentralization, the Ukrainian system of financing and management of sports developed according to the French model—with a certain centralization of the management of state structures and vertical reporting. At the same time, it has been established that under the new realities such a system will not be able to function, which is already noticeable based on reports on the financing of the industry. Starting from 2015, local budgets (including those of rural communities) gradually invested much more in the development of sports than the state budget. Accordingly, a logical step would be their initiative in the development of the sports sphere, particularly in mass sports. Based on the practices of European countries, the Ukrainian authorities need to introduce practices of more active involvement of sponsors.

Application of IC-PBL in Sport Management Course : Experiential Learning through Journey Mapping and Sponsorship Recall

Application of IC-PBL in Sport Management Course : Experiential Learning through Journey Mapping and Sponsorship Recall