A model of the relationship among sport consumer motives,spectator commitment,and behavioral intentions

The concept of commitment in sport marketing has largely been regarded as unidimensional. In the broader study of organizational behavior, commitment has been studied as a multidimensional construct. The multiple dimensions of commitment construe that one's behavior can be conveyed by different psychological states, comparable to those found to characterize different forms of commitment. The multidimensional perspective appears to yield more detailed and relevant information regarding a consumer's commitment in predicting specific behaviors. In past decades, a variety of researchers in organizational psychology and organizational behavior have investigated the relationship between motivation and commitment in order to better understand the two processes and their impact on behavior. However, there have been few attempts to integrate the two domains in order to demonstrate how motives and commitment combine to influence sport consumer behavior. Accordingly, a model of commitment and its relationship to sport consumer motives (i.e., antecedent) and behavioral intentions (i.e., consequence) is proposed.     

Sociocognitive self-regulatory mechanisms governing judgments of the acceptability and likelihood of sport cheating

This study extends previous psychosocial literature (Bandura et al., 2001, 2003) by examining a structural model of the self-regulatory mechanisms governing the acceptability and likelihood of cheating in a sport context. Male and female adolescents (N = 804), aged 15-20 years, took part in this study. Negative affective self-regulatory efficacy influenced the acceptability and likelihood of cheating through the mediating role of moral disengagement, in females and males. Affective efficacy positively influenced prosocial behavior through moral disengagement or through resistive self-regulatory efficacy and social efficacy, in both groups. The direct effects of affective efficacy on beliefs about cheating were only evident in females. These results extend the findings of Bandura et al. (2001, 2003) to the sport context and suggest that affective and resistive self-regulatory efficacy operate in concert in governing adolescents' moral disengagement and transgressive behaviors in sport.     

Navigating barriers: A qualitative examination of the under-representation of Black females as head coaches in collegiate basketball

Although sport management researchers have produced findings with regard to diversity in the leadership positions of college athletics, this examination has focused separately on gender (Inglis et al., 1996, Inglis et al., 2000; Inglis, Danylchuk, & Pastore, 2000; Knoppers et al., 1991, National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2009a, Sartore and Cunningham, 2007) or race (Cunningham and Sagas, 2004a, Cunningham and Sagas, 2004b, Cunningham et al., 2001, Cunningham et al., 2006). The current study, framed by intersectionality, identifies barriers contributing to the under-representation of Black women in head coaching jobs in Division I women's basketball in the United States. The assistant coaches cited access discrimination, lack of support, and prevalent stereotypes as barriers. In negotiating these barriers, the women discussed the importance of networking, mentoring and presenting “a proper image” for big-time athletics. To eradicate these barriers, the women recommended expanding job pools; more mentoring by athletic department personnel; and more development programs offered for young Black females.     

Techniques and considerations for determining isoinertial upper‐body power

Power is an integral aspect of many sports. Although power output of the lower body is often measured during jumping and cycling movements, much less is known about power as pertains to the upper body musculature. Recently, isoinertial methods ‐ with constant gravitational load ‐ of power testing have become common, but little is known of the reliability and criterion validity of these tests as they pertain to sport performance. In addition, the varied methodology makes a lucid model more evasive. The aims of this review are to examine the various methods of assessing upper body power, to establish its role in predicting athletic performance, and to assess the body of literature that has assessed power output of the upper extremities by isoinertial methods. To our knowledge, only two studies on isoinertial upper‐body power have shown a direct correlation to sporting ability (Baker, 2001; Baker et al., 2001); therefore, many unanswered questions exist as to the efficacy of these tests as predictors of athletic ability or as a method to track athletes’ training over time. From this review we hope to allow the sport coach to assess the overall utility of these tests in terms of availability, safety and external validity.     

Techniques and considerations for determining isoinertial upper-body power

Power is an integral aspect of many sports. Although power output of the lower body is often measured during jumping and cycling movements, much less is known about power as pertains to the upper body musculature. Recently, isoinertial methods--with constant gravitational load--of power testing have become common, but little is known of the reliability and criterion validity of these tests as they pertain to sport performance. In addition, the varied methodology makes a lucid model more evasive. The aims of this review are to examine the various methods of assessing upper body power, to establish its role in predicting athletic performance, and to assess the body of literature that has assessed power output of the upper extremities by isoinertial methods. To our knowledge, only two studies on isoinertial upper-body power have shown a direct correlation to sporting ability (Baker, 2001; Baker et al., 2001); therefore, many unanswered questions exist as to the efficacy of these tests as predictors of athletic ability or as a method to track athletes' training over time. From this review we hope to allow the sport coach to assess the overall utility of these tests in terms of availability, safety and external validity.     

Consumer experience quality: A review and extension of the sport management literature

Over the last two decades, the number of studies examining the roles of the core sport product, ancillary services, social interactions among consumers, and relationship marketing programs in the sport context has grown. However, it is also true that these topics have been advanced in many independent research endeavors depending on the touch points (e.g., sport, service, social, and communication encounters) being assessed. To integrate this body of research with sport consumer behavior, the purpose of this conceptual paper, which represents a contribution to the 20th anniversary of Sport Management Review (SMR), is to introduce the construct of consumer experience quality as consisting of four important dimensions – core product, service, social network, and relationship investment quality – into the sport management literature. In order to explain the utility of the proposed construct in the sport context, this article presents an integrative conceptual framework that draws on multiple theories and bodies of literature. A series of propositions are offered to not only understand the role of consumer experience quality in sport consumer decision-making, but also to specify the conditions under which sport consumers are more likely to be satisfied with the core sport product and ancillary services, feel and behave in response to brand-related stimuli, and engage in both transactional and non-transactional behaviors. The paper concludes that future research should be directed at testing the propositions offered in the conceptual framework.     

Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2): evaluating the Swedish version by confirmatory factor analyses

The Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) is one of the most frequently used instruments when assessing competitive state anxiety in sport psychology research. However, doubts have been expressed about the factorial validity of both the English and the Greek versions of the scale. Hence, a revised version of the inventory (CSAI-2R) has recently been suggested to be more psychometrically sound (Cox et al., 2003). In the present study, the aim was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Swedish version of the CSAI-2 using confirmatory factor analyses. A total of 969 athletes (571 men and 398 women) competing in 26 different sports completed the Swedish version of the CSAI-2. Three different factor structures were evaluated: the original three-factor model (with cognitive anxiety, somatic anxiety and self-confidence), a two-factor model in which self-confidence was excluded, and a three-factor model containing 17 items (CSAI-2R). The results revealed that only the 17-item model displayed an acceptable fit to the data. Although some doubts remain about the amount of variance that can be attributed to error variance in the subscales, the results suggest that it is better to use the CSAI-2R rather than the original CSAI-2.     

The paradoxical relationship between fantasy football and NFL consumption: Conflict development and consumer coping mechanisms

Fantasy sport participation represents an increasingly popular consumer experience among the contemporary sport consumption alternatives. Previous work on fantasy sports draws attention to both its positive and negative effects on traditional sport consumption. This study investigates fantasy football participants’ perspectives, meanings, and experiences regarding their fantasy football and NFL consumption behavior. Employing a grounded theory methodology, the study draws on literatures spanning from sport consumption and fantasy sports to consumer co-creation and intrapersonal conflict, and combines them with data collection and analysis. The outcome is a new organizing framework that illustrates why there is conflict between fantasy and favorite team fandom and how fantasy sport participants cope with this conflict. First, the study illustrates that this conflict stems from the non-traditional co-creation opportunities inherent in the empowering fantasy sports experience, which leads to a psychological connection to the fantasy team and players through the feeling of self-achievement. Second, the study identifies various coping strategies that sport consumers employ to manage conflicts with player selection (i.e., safe selection, convergent selection, divergent selection, and impartial selection strategies) and rooting interests (i.e., balanced interest, principal interest-shift, temporal interest-shift, and benefit-seeking interest-shift strategies).     

南宁市羽毛球场馆体育消费的调查与分析

采用文献法、调查法、数理统计法,对南宁市羽毛球场馆的体育消费进行了研究.结果表明：场馆体育消费主要集中在青年人、中年人以及文化程度较高、职业稳定、中高收入水平的人群;其体育消费动机体现出趋同性,各年龄段的侧重点不同;大多数人了解羽毛球运动,有持久兴趣,但满足于业余爱好,接受专业指导的需求较弱;人群主要以随机方式到场馆进行消费为主,一半人每周到场馆消费2至3次;从消费的频率、规模等方面看,南宁市羽毛球运动的体育消费相对稳定且已具规模;消费结构以实物形式的消费资料为主,服务形式的消费资料比例较小,精神产品形式的消费资料有一定需求.     

Global self-esteem, goal achievement orientations, and self-determined behavioural regulations in a physical education setting

We examined a theoretical model of global self-esteem that incorporated constructs from achievement goal and self-determination theories. The model hypothesized that self-determined or autonomous motives would mediate the influence of achievement goal orientation on global self-esteem. The adapted version of the Behavioural Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire (Mullan et al., 1997), the Perception of Success Questionnaire (Roberts & Balague, 1991), and Rosenberg's (1965) self-esteem scales were administered to 634 high school students aged 11 - 15 years. A structural equation model supported the hypotheses and demonstrated that autonomous motives mediated the effect of goal orientations on global self-esteem. The results suggest that generalized motivational orientations influence self-esteem by affecting autonomous motivation and is consistent with theory that suggests that experiences relating to intrinsic motivation are the mechanism by which global motivational orientations are translated into adaptive outcomes like self-esteem. The findings suggest that physical activity interventions that target autonomous motives in physical activity contexts are likely to enhance young people's general self-esteem.     

Does your left hand know what your right hand is doing? Impacts of athletes’ pre-transgression philanthropic behavior on consumer post-transgression evaluation

Despite the importance of an athlete’s image and reputation as an individual brand, the academic literature lacks investigations on whether and how an athlete’s brand can be protected when they engage in unethical transgressions. Focusing on athletes’ pro-social activities, the authors presented an experimental study to test how an athlete’s pro-social efforts can alleviate negative impacts from his/her transgression. In particular, the authors test the impacts of athletes’ involvement level (high vs. low) with a pro-social cause and level of fit between an athlete and a cause (high vs. low) on sport consumers’ perceptions. Results demonstrate that an athlete’s pre-scandal charitable behaviors can mitigate adverse impact of a transgression on consumer response only when the athlete has deeply engaged in charitable behaviors. The results also show that a higher fit between an athlete and a cause can generate more severe damaging impacts on consumer evaluation than a lower fit due to consumer skepticism caused by a combination between a negative reputation and a high-fit cause.     

A role of team and organizational identification in the success of cause-related sport marketing

As sport marketers are increasingly engaging in cause-related sport marketing (CRSM) programs, there is a growing interest in understanding what CRSM characteristics and circumstances can lead to success. This study extends prior research by examining the direct and moderating impacts of team identification and cause organizational identification on consumer attitudes toward cause related sport marketing (CRSM) programs using intercollegiate sport contexts in the United States. A two groups (high vs. low-fit CRSM messages), between subject, and post-test only experiment (N = 309) denoted that respondents showed more positive attitudes toward high-fit CRSM messages and both team identification and cause organizational identification had different moderating effects of sport/cause fit on attitudes. Fit between a sport team and a cause had a greater impact on attitudes when consumer affinity toward the sport team was more positive. However, fit had little or no impact when consumer affinity toward the cause was positive, but it played a significant and positive role when consumers showed low affinity toward the cause.     

Glory Out of Reflected Failure: The examination of how rivalry affects sport fans

Most studies on participant or fan rivalry have employed quantitative methods to investigate the phenomenon (Kilduff et al., 2010, Kimble and Cooper, 1992, Smith and Schwartz, 2003). The current study adds to the existing literature by using qualitative analysis to investigate the way fans make meaning of the rivalry. Intercollegiate football and men's basketball fans in the United States were interviewed about their perceptions of their favourite and rival teams, and the enjoyment they experienced when someone other than their favourite team defeated the identified rival. Social identity theory guided the investigation (Tajfel, 1974), and four themes were identified regarding fan reactions to rivalry: (1) socialisation, (2) in-group bias, (3) sense of satisfaction and (4) out-group indirect competition. Further, Glory Out of Reflected Failure (GORFing) extends research on disidentification (Elsbach & Bhattacharya, 2001), in-group bias (Tajfel, 1969, Turner, 1982), and schadenfreude (Heider, 1958) and asserts that fans will rejoice when their rival team has been defeated in indirect competition. Findings from the current study provide academics and administrators many avenues to further the understanding of fan social psychology and sport rivalry. Theoretical and practical implications of the current study along with areas for future research are presented.     

Organisational impression congruence: A conceptual model of multi-level impression management operation in sports service organisations

The management of images projected to consumer audiences is a key task for sport service organisations; however, the number of “touch points” (interactions between employees and consumers) adds complexity to the process. In this article, the authors present a conceptual model of organisational impression congruence (OrgIC), proposing that organisations will elicit positive consumer-related outcomes if there is alignment between the desired organisational image(s), those projected by the organisation at the management/strategic level, and those projected by customer-facing employees. The conceptual model is underpinned by theories associated with impression management, reputation (as an outcome of impression management action), and cognitive dissonance theory as the basis for outcomes of in/congruence. The authors discuss possible implications and outcomes in relation to previous literature emanating from various fields (e.g., sport management, management, and marketing), and suggest directions for future research. Through the model of OrgIC, the authors contribute to theoretical development and discussion, and provide a tool that could be useful for evaluating the way that sport service organisations present themselves to consumers, and other external audiences.     

Power and discourse in the politics of evidence in sport for development

The field of sport for development (SFD) has been criticised for the way that evidence has been produced and used to account for and demonstrate the perceived success of SFD programmes. Much of this critique has highlighted shortcomings in approaches to monitoring and evaluation (M&E), which underpins a perceived weak evidence base concerning what works, why and within which contexts (Coalter, 2007, Coalter and Taylor, 2010, Pawson and Tilley, 1997). Conceptually a lack of evidence discourse (Nicholls et al., 2010) has emerged. This paper explores and analyses the power dynamics that shape this discourse and argues that an understanding of the dominant neoliberal context within which SFD is located is critical. While offering a Foucauldian framework, the power, knowledge and discourse related to political actors in SFD processes are examined. This paper addresses two key questions: what is power and who is it for? Whose interests are served in the interpretation, generation and reporting of evidence? The paper concludes that the role of the sport development practitioner (SDP) is underprivileged and to enable the field of sport for development (SFD) to move forward, the very people who implement the programmes need to be better understood. Furthermore it is argued that a deeper understanding and interpretation of the terrain of the sport development practitioner (SDP) within UK and international shores are a necessity if a more open and transparent knowledge transfer process, surrounding evidence, is to be entered into.     

‘Girls just want to have fun?’ Sex differences in motives of watching the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championship

With global media attention and a global reach, mega-sporting events play a crucial role in sports communication. Although the audience of these events has traditionally been overwhelmingly male, in recent years they have attracted an increasing number of women. The present paper therefore explores women’s and men’s motives for watching three mega-sporting events – FIFA World Cup 2006, the UEFA European Championship 2008 and FIFA World Cup 2010 – and compares the intensities of the three central motives of thrill, entertainment and information, especially as they relate to participants’ levels of general interest in sport. The results indicate that as their interest in sport increases, the differences between the motives of women and men decrease. This finding provides valuable initial insights into the increasing popularity of mega-sporting events among women.     

Leader prototypicality in sport: The implicit leadership theories of women and men entering sport management careers

Implicit leadership theories (ILTs) matter because they are used as the benchmark against which people determine who is a leader and who is not. This assessment informs their behavioral responses. People are thought to have a superordinate-level ILT representing their prototypical mental model of leadership and a series of basic-level ILTs. Each of these represents how people conceptualize leadership in particular domains (e.g., sport, politics, and popular culture). In this study, the authors generate the structures of basic-level sport management ILTs for women and men who are about to enter this industry. These form the baseline from which socialization to work, organizational cultures, and the sport management industry begins. The ILTs of women entering sport management careers have a 35-item, 6-factor structure (Sensitivity, Knowledgeable, Physical Attractiveness, Inspirational, Dedication, and Focused), whereas men entering the industry have a 32-item, 7-factor structure (Sensitivity, Dedication, Physical Attractiveness, Focused, Creativity, Inspirational, Courageous). The resulting sport management ILT profiles differ from superordinate ones by emphasizing physical and vitality attributes, incorporating emotional elements, and by eschewing antiprototypical elements. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications for leadership research in sport management.     

Goal striving, goal attainment, and well-being: adapting and testing the self-concordance model in sport

Grounded in self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) and the self-concordance model (Sheldon & Elliot, 1999), this study examined the motivational processes underlying goal striving in sport as well as the role of perceived coach autonomy support in the goal process. Structural equation modeling with a sample of 210 British athletes showed that autonomous goal motives positively predicted effort, which, in turn, predicted goal attainment. Goal attainment was positively linked to need satisfaction, which, in turn, predicted psychological well-being. Effort and need satisfaction were found to mediate the associations between autonomous motives and goal attainment and between attainment and well-being, respectively. Controlled motives negatively predicted well-being, and coach autonomy support positively predicted both autonomous motives and need satisfaction. Associations of autonomous motives with effort were not reducible to goal difficulty, goal specificity, or goal efficacy. These findings support the self-concordance model as a framework for further research on goal setting in sport.     

Team-referent attributions among sport performers

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a team-referent attribution scale. Conducted over three studies, Study 1 modified items from McAuley, Duncan, and Russell's (1992) Causal Dimension Scale II by rewording items to reflect team attributions and adding one item per factor. This led to the development of a 16-item scale (Causal Dimension Scale-T, CDS-T). Study 2 tested competing models of attribution theory among a sample of 433 team sport players. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated strongest support for a four-factor model (robust comparative fit index = .961; root mean squared error of approximation = .054). Study 3 tested the predictive validity of the scale among a sample of 201 team players. Results indicated that winners reported more internal and stable attributions than losers. Further, performances perceived as successful were associated with stable attributions. The results of the study, therefore, suggest that the CDS-T provides a valid measure of team-referent attributions in sport.     

Team-Referent Attributions Among Sport Performers

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop and validate a team-referent attribution scale. Conducted over three studies, Study 1 modified items from McAuley, Duncan, and Russell's (1992) Causal Dimension Scale II by rewording items to reflect team attributions and adding one item per factor. This led to the development of a 16-item scale (Causal Dimension Scale-T, CDS-T). Study 2 tested competing models of attribution theory among a sample of 433 team sport players. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated strongest support for a four-factor model (robust comparative fit index = .961; root mean squared error of approximation = .054). Study 3 tested the predictive validity of the scale among a sample of 201 team players. Results indicated that winners reported more internal and stable attributions than losers. Further, performances perceived as successful were associated with stable attributions. The results of the study, therefore, suggest that the CDS-T provides a valid measure of team-referent attributions in sport.