Small-scale event sport tourism: A case study in sustainable tourism

Scholars have suggested that small-scale sports events may be a sustainable form of tourism development for communities (e.g., Higham, 1999). The purpose of this study was to examine six small-scale sports events and the work of a local sports commission in the context of the three pillars of sustainability: economic, social, and environmental. Small-scale sports events are largely competitor or parent-as-spectator based, often annual, and attract little media attention. The six events were: a marathon, Senior Games, archery, soccer, softball, and swimming. The participants or spectators of the six events were surveyed onsite or online over an 18-month period and additional data from the sports commission, where relevant, were included. Sample sizes ranged from n = 68 to n = 447. The results suggest that a small-scale sports event portfolio consistent with a community's infrastructure and human and cultural capital may be a viable form of sustainable tourism development.     

我国体育赛事旅游目的地可持续发展:利益相关者视角分析

体育赛事旅游目的地的可持续发展需要对不同的利益相关者建立相应的利益管理机制。运用文献资料法对可持续发展理论和利益相关者理论进行系统归纳和评述,在此基础上,就体育赛事旅游目的地利益相关者的界定、构成和分类进行探讨。体育赛事旅游目的地利益相关者分为:核心利益相关者、蛰伏利益相关者、边缘利益相关者三部分,并主要对体育赛事旅游目的地的政府及其职能部门、体育赛事旅游企业、赛事旅游者、当地居民这四个关系密切和影响力较大的核心利益相关者进行分析,期望通过构建“双向沟通-协调合作-互利共赢”的核心利益相关者管理机制构建体育赛事旅游目的地利益共同体,进而实现体育赛事旅游目的地的可持续发展。     

Core values brand building in sport: Stakeholder attitudes towards intercollegiate athletics and university brand congruency

The purpose of this case study was to investigate stakeholder attitudes toward athletic department behavioral congruency with the stated core values of a major BCS¹ university located in the Southwestern portion of the United States. Research has indicated that positive and negative attitudes toward intercollegiate athletics can contribute to the perceptions of congruency with the established university mission and values. Over time, however, the increase in negative attitudes attributed to athletic department behavior brings into question their congruency with the university core values. Document analysis and personal interviews (N = 13) were conducted with individuals from each of six university internal and external stakeholder groups. Findings revealed four primary themes: (a) Excellence Equals Winning, (b) For Public Relations Purposes Only, (c) Separation and Isolation of the Athletic Department, and (d) Lack of Leadership from the Top-Down. Implications and future research concerning university brand image and core value accountability are discussed.     

我国定向体育旅游发展的现状与对策

定向体育旅游是体育旅游的重要组成部分,发展定向体育旅游已成为保持我国体育旅游可持续发展的一个重要课题。提出并阐述了定向体育旅游的概念,分析了我国目前定向体育旅游发展的现状和存在的主要问题,并提出了发展定向体育旅游的对策。     

The roles and responsibilities of a change agent in sport event development projects

There is increasing evidence that NGOs and Government agencies are turning to sport events as a tool for reconciliation and inter-community development (Burnett, 2006; Gasser & Levinsen, 2004; Stidder & Haasner, 2007; Sugden, 2006), yet the different roles and responsibilities of the organising ‘change agent’ within development projects have not received much empirical investigation. To address this gap, this paper analyses the different roles and responsibilities of an international sport event change agent in the ethnically divided Sri Lanka. Following an interpretivist mode of inquiry, findings of this research are derived from the analysis of 2 focus groups and 35 in-depth interviews with Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim and international event stakeholders.Findings suggest that the change agent holds nine key roles and responsibilities in the inter-community development process. These are being an agent for community participation; a trust builder; a networker; a leader; a socially responsible advocate; a resource developer; a proactive innovator; a financial supporter; and a strategic planner for the long-term sustainability of projects. This research suggests that it is important to fulfil these roles to secure active community participation, to achieve positive socio-cultural event impacts and outcomes, and to provide a strategic framework for sustainable inter-community development.     

Social and charitable impacts of a charity-affiliated sport event: A mixed methods study

In this mixed methods research, the authors examine a unique type of small-scale event – a charity-affiliated sport event – and define and measure its social and charitable impacts as perceived by residents. Findings from interviews (N = 37) and surveys (N = 459) with residents indicated that the event’s social impacts can be defined by its capacity to develop social capital, enhance collective identity and pride, and promote sport, health, and well-being. Three types of charitable impacts also emerged, including empathy for cause, informational support, and tangible support. Of them, empathy for cause, which addresses a central social issue in the host community, had the strongest association with residents’ perceptions of social impacts. These results provide evidence of a variety of positive impacts that a charity-affiliated sport event has on a community, which can be used to bolster appeals for corporate sponsorship and government support to assist in event delivery.     

奥运文化品牌的提升与国家形象塑造

奥运会不仅是全球性的体育盛会,更是国际文化盛宴,也是主办国展示国家形象、传播本国文化的绝佳机遇.第29届奥运会梦圆北京,北京奥运文化传播实现了其预定的双重目标:既展示了博大精深的中华文化,又体现了开放进取的当代风貌,极大地提升了中国国家形象.     

The role of sport in community capacity building: An examination of sport for development research and practice

Population health promotion and preventing disease remain important global policy goals. Because of the complex nature of health, and the recognition of the limits of individual-oriented health promotion strategies, recent decades have seen increased interest by public health researchers and practitioners in community-level approaches to health promotion. Increasingly, community-level approaches have been based upon the theoretical concept of community capacity. Community capacity is seen as a critical mechanism for supporting and promoting community-level health and through the sport for development (SFD) model, there is evidence of sport being an important practice for community development. However, little is known about the potential role of sport as a mechanism for building community capacity. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to examine the efficacy of sport to contribute to the process of community capacity building. Using seven established dimensions of community capacity, there is evidence that many SFD practices can effectively facilitate dimensions of community capacity when conducted in intentional, culturally relevant ways. Specifically, sport has demonstrated efficacy in building local skills, knowledge, and resources, increasing social cohesion, facilitating structures and mechanisms for community dialog, leadership development, and encouraging civic participation. More research is needed to understand sport's ability to promote capacity building through collective action, developing value systems that support democracy and inclusion, and encouraging critical reflection. To increase the usefulness of sport to support community health development, SFD principles should be included as part of sport management university curricula. Additionally, practitioners need grounding in community and human development research to support non-sport components of programs. Finally, participatory action research techniques should be used by researchers and practitioners. Sport-based development often generates high interest from residents, funders, and policy makers. By applying principles of community capacity building, sport may be uniquely positioned to enhance sustainable community health development initiatives.     

少数民族传统体育的发展与旅游开发构想

通过对民族体育商品化与文化真实性的探讨,对当前日益高涨的资源开发热潮提出质疑.民族传统体育作为民族文化的重要载体,与民族文化的传承与发展息息相关.基于人类学对民族文化的认识和理解,借鉴和运用人类学"舞台真实"理论,审视少数民族传统体育的旅游开发,有利于用更加长远的眼光和多维的视角把握少数民族体育的文化传承与现代发展的关系,以符合生态文明的时代要求.     

An unacceptable status quo: A sport development case study of swimming and drownings

This case study illustrates the complexity of sport development decision-making and specifically highlights the public health concern of drowning disparities in the United States. Using sport development research to demonstrate the linkage between empirical study and practice, students must consider various factors for the most effective approach to attract and retain participants involved in a local swimming program. The parks and recreation department director, Bob Shell, is tasked with determining the best program structure based on the sets of sport development proposals he received from a member of the management staff. To further ensure students are presented with a realistic scenario, this case offers a combination of fictional and real life events from an innovative swimming program in Memphis, Tennessee. Students must critically evaluate not only sport development practices and the merits of the swimming program, but other organizational partnerships that may be formed in the community. Therefore, students are placed in a decision-making role that is common to managers in many sport contexts beyond swimming. This case study is appropriate for both undergraduate and graduate sport management courses, with specific application to sport development, policy and governance, strategic management, and recreation or leisure topics.     

Examining the antecedents of sport team brand equity: A dual-identification perspective

Although the practice of building brand equity in the context of professional sport teams is popular, the formation of sport team brand equity in the sport marketing literature is still relatively unknown and incompletely understood. In this study, the authors propose a dual-identification model to examine the formation of sport team brand equity in an Asia-based professional team sport setting. Baseball fans (N = 548) of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan participated in the self-administered survey. A Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model analysis revealed that marketplace characteristics (including group experience, salient experience, team history, and fan rituals) and brand-identified-related factors (including self-congruity and team brand prestige) were significantly related to identification with sport team and identification with sport team brand, respectively. In turn, both identification with sport team and identification with sport team brand were significant predictors of sport team brand equity. These findings highlight the importance of studying a dual-identification model in order to understand how sport team brand equity forms and suggest implications for sport team managers.     

Sport Education as a pedagogical application for ethical development in physical education and youth sport

The purpose of this paper is to consider four pedagogical applications within the Sport Education model to examine the ways in which a young person can become a literate sports person and develop ethical behaviour through engagement in physical education and youth sport. Through a systematic review of the Sport Education research literature we present evidence to suggest that although notions such as inclusion, responsibility and ownership, personal and social development and social justice are part of the architecture of this pedagogical model, our findings show that rather than simply being caught, ethical conduct must be taught. Consequently, in the final part of the paper, we present four pedagogical applications within Sport Education that physical education teachers as well as youth sport practitioners and administrators may find useful to promote ethical development: (1) ethical contracts; (2) sports panels; (3) modified games; and (4) awards and rewards.     

Sport event legacy: A systematic quantitative review of literature

The study of sport event legacies has grown rapidly since 2000 across a number of disciplines related to planning and hosting large-scale sport events. However, to date, there have been limited attempts to systematically review and synthesise extant sport event legacy research, reflect on existing knowledge, and identify key gaps for future research. In this article, the authors reviewed the state of sport event legacy research through a systematic quantitative review of 305 original, peer-reviewed research articles published in English language journals between 2000 and 2016. Results demonstrate that a small group of academics concentrated in particular countries are driving the publication of studies on sport event legacy in predominately specialised sport and event journals. There is a clear research interest in legacy outcomes realised through hosting sport events in areas of public life, politics, and culture, as well as mass participation sport. The authors identify key areas for future research and make recommendations for empirical research designs to progress scholarship and better inform policy and practice pertaining to sport event legacy.     

Defining sport tourism: a content analysis of an evolving epistemology

ABSTRACT

This paper conducts a systematic evaluation of one of the primary journals in the field of sport tourism research since its establishment in 1993. Drawing on extant literature with varying disciplinary approaches, this meta-review traces the development of key concepts and definitions underlying an evolving epistemology connected to sport tourism, as evidenced within the Journal of Sport & Tourism (JS&T). It does so by examining research specific to content previously unexplored. The study first conducted a content analysis based upon a keyword search, focusing on phrases in which sport and tourism appeared together. The study reviewed all texts, including articles, book chapters and editorials (n?=?517), for the years 1993–2014. We then constructed a thematic analysis based upon the most common defining elements found within these texts. These extracted definitions were analyzed according to their paradigmatic elements. Based on these findings, this paper suggests the need to further define the epistemological boundaries of sport tourism for the twenty-first century.     

Image recovery from negative media coverage of a sport event: Destination,venue, and event considerations

The successful hosting of test events in the lead-up to a major event is not only a useful logistical tool and systems evaluation, but also signals to the world that the host city is ready and competent to host the main event. With the intense scrutiny of the media on all aspects of the venue, the city, and the competition, test events offer the potential for a city to establish (or enhance) its reputation as an event host, or to create doubt in its ability to host major events. The case follows the media coverage of the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships held on the Gold Coast Queensland, Australia, which served as a test event for the newly renovated Gold Coast Aquatics Centre in the lead-up to the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The case considers the implications and impacts of negative media coverage of an international event on the destination image of the host city. The case highlights the need for image recovery strategies for stakeholders within the destination who are concerned with the city's ability to host international sport events.     

Applying the tourist area life cycle within sport tourism: the case of Stellenbosch and German athletes

The popular tourist town of Stellenbosch in South Africa has long been a favoured training destination for European athletes during the northern hemisphere winter months. This paper considers the case study of German athletes – one of the most prominent groups to train in Stellenbosch since the early 1990s. The analysis involves the application of the concept of the Tourist Area Life Cycle (TALC) to the town’s sport tourism offering. In this regard Stellenbosch continues to experience notable demographic changes, not all of which are related to tourism. The impact of these changes is considered in the context of the factors which have historically made the town a sought-after destination for high performance athletics training camps. Consequently this paper offers an analysis of Stellenbosch’s current and future attractiveness as far as this particular dimension of sport tourism is concerned. This is an important consideration given the availability of alternative training destinations both in South Africa and internationally.     

Creating fans from scratch: A qualitative analysis of child consumer brand perceptions of a new sport team

When a new sport team enters an existing league, branding becomes an important tool the team uses to establish itself and gain a following within the community. Previous research on new sport teams has focused on adult attachment and formation of fan communities, but few researchers have focused on children learning to value brands and branding techniques. Through this study, the authors examine the aspects of branding efforts, specifically branded imagery and associations, that children find important, relevant, and representative of a new sport team. A drawing contest for children ages 5–14 enrolled in public schools executed in conjunction with a local single-A baseball team after their inaugural season revealed many brand associations traditionally tied to adult fans of both new and established sport teams were irrelevant to the child participants included in this study. Branded imagery was also not used by any participants before the age of 7, extending current research on branding and child development to highlight the lack of effectiveness of branding on children younger than 7. Further findings are also discussed.     

Capacity building in nonprofit sport organizations: Development of a process model

Despite the growing literature on organizational capacity in nonprofit and sport organizations, considerable gaps remain when the analysis shifts to building that capacity. This study proposes a comprehensive model of capacity building that recognizes the concepts and relationships involved in that process. The model was developed according to de Groot's (1969) interpretative-theoretical methodology, consisting of four phases that guide the collection and review of relevant literature: exploration, analysis, classification and explanation. As a comprehensive process, effective capacity building acknowledges that a capacity needs assessment occurs in response to some environmental stimulus. The subsequent identification of specific objectives for capacity building is followed by the generation and selection of a strategy(s) and consideration of multiple aspects of readiness to build capacity. The short-term impact and long-term maintenance of built capacity must be assessed following the implementation of the strategy(s) to build, with consideration of the implications for program and service delivery that address the initial stimulus. The model is described in the context of community sport organizations, however it is intended for broad application. Concepts and relationships presented in the model are relevant to the nonprofit voluntary organizational setting in general, while allowing for contextualization based on the unique factors and influences that may be involved in the process of building capacity. The paper concludes with consideration of how the model may be used in practice and directions for future research.     

Challenges and strategies of building and sustaining inter-organizational partnerships in sport for development and peace

While sport management scholars have explored inter-organizational partnerships and their associated challenges, they have devoted less attention to inter-organizational partnership development and sustainability in sport for development and peace (SDP), particularly across a wide range of organizations with varied missions and foci. Hence, the purpose of this qualitative study was to examine challenges faced by SDP organizations when forming and sustaining inter-organizational partnerships across contexts and partnership types, and to uncover strategies they have employed to overcome these challenges. Common challenges encountered across 29 SDP organizations included competition for resources, skepticism of sport as a development tool, unequal power relations, misaligned goals and mission drift, and implementation issues. Strategies included focusing on building relationships and networks, demonstrating benefits to partner, starting small then diversifying, keeping focused on mission and goals, involving partner, and treating the partnership as a business relationship. Theoretical extensions and practical implications are discussed, along with directions for future research.