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2017-August-01-Austin Herink, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Upward Football Reclassification On Revenues, Football Attendance, And Enrollment, Charles Bell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With an ever increasing chasm between the have and have nots in college athletics, athletic directors and university administrators view reclassification as a way to increase financial standing and gain valuable exposure for their school despite mixed findings by recent studies. The process of reclassification costs schools sizable financial and labor investments detracting from their academic endeavors. The schools at the highest level of collegiate football competition enjoy constant national television exposure for their school resulting in many direct and indirect benefits. A repeated measures ANOVA was utilized to assess the change in athletic department revenues, student enrollment and football …

Investigating The Impact Of Corporate Social Responsibility On Conative Loyalty In Collegiate Sports, Sunyoong Kim

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been an important topic in business and other disciplines due to its various benefits for both society (e.g., contributing to public health, safety, education, human rights, community well-being, environment) and organizations (e.g., attracting new customers, enhancing sales of products, developing positive brand image or reputation) (Inoue, 2011; Kim, 2015; Kotler & Lee, 2005; Smith & Westerbeek, 2007). Many consumers expect corporate organizations to demonstrate their commitments and contributions to the community (Marin, Ruiz, & Rubio, 2009; Walker & Heere, 2011). Thus, it is important to satisfy their expectations through social activities since consumers are considered …

An Investigation Of Sport Sponsorship Antecedents And Outcomes Through Levels Of Sponsor Prominence, Benjamin Colin Cork

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Currently, global sport sponsorship is a multi-billion dollar industry that continues to show strong year-to-year growth (IEG, 2016). Additionally, the current body of sport sponsorship literature has reported the effects of salient attitudinal and behavioral constructs on sponsorship effectiveness. For example, previous studies have indicated that the perceived sincerity and attitude toward a sponsor do positively effect a consumer's behavioral intentions toward a sponsor (Speed & Thompson, 2000; Biscaia, Correia, Rosado, Ross, & Maroco, 2013). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to measure consumer attitudes and behavioral intent toward sponsor, through experimental design, when exposed to one of three …

An Examination Of Demographics, Personal Values, And Philosophical Orientations Of College Students From Multiple University Campuses, Mary Kovach

The Journal of Values-Based Leadership

The purpose of this study is to identify what current students value today and to determine whether there is a link between personal values and student demographics. A brief demographic survey of fourteen questions was developed and distributed, along with a twenty-question survey which is used determine participant’s values, or philosophical orientation (McKee, Boyatzis, & Johnston, 2008). There were two hundred and forty-two subjects who volunteered over a two-week time period for this research project. Analysis was completed comparing various demographics (such as age, gender, nationality, first generation students) to determine if certain demographics strongly correlated with a particular philosophical …

Domestic Violence And The National Football League, Kelsey Rentner

Master of Arts in Media and Communication Plan II Graduate Projects

In 2014, the National Football League (NFL) faced extreme criticism for the way it handled the three domestic violence cases that emerged into the spotlight. The Ray Rice video that showed him punching his at-the-time fiancé, as well as the several other domestic violence cases among NFL players that quickly followed, shed a light on what seemed to be a well-hidden problem within the league. Since being in the public eye, the league has not been effective with its communication efforts to prevent the issue of domestic violence and rebuild its reputation among stakeholders. This project uses evidence-based literature to …

Strategic Management In Small Business: An Exploratory Study, Nicholas Gary Schlereth Ph.D., Mba

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

Small businesses make up approximately 98% of all businesses in the United States, but little is known about how they engage with their communities and engage in strategic management (Small Business Administration, 2016). To understand more about how small businesses engage in these practices, this study seeks to explore these topics through a technology enhanced qualitative study design (Marshall & Rossman, 2015). The study sought to replicate face-to-face interviews through an online survey with open-ended questions designed to learn from small business decision makers regarding their actions and the actions of their organizations. The study had 45 total participants from …

Identity Discovery And Verification In Artist- Entrepreneurs: An Active Learning Exercise, A. Erin Bass

Marketing and Management Faculty Publications

Entrepreneurship curricula are becoming increasingly more interdisciplinary, with higher education institutions offering a variety of “entrepreneurship and” courses that cross the boundaries into other fields. Despite this, many entrepreneurship curricula are centered on business theory, which is not suitable for nonbusiness students. For example, business students are trained to define success by financial statements and organizational viability, whereas artists enjoy success by achieving creative satisfaction. This article explores the importance of identity to the entrepreneurial process, highlighting the similarities and differences between the artist and entrepreneur identities. Pedagogical in approach, the article demonstrates the utility of an active learning exercise …

Body Mass Index Associations Between Mother And Offspring From Birth To Age 18: The Fels Longitudinal Study, Stacie S. Swanton, Audrey C. Choh, Miryoung Lee, Lloyd L. Laubach, Jon K. Linderman, Stefan A. Czerwinski, Matthew J. Peterson

Health and Sport Science Faculty Publications

Background: Parental obesity is a known determinant of childhood obesity. Previous research has shown a strong maternal influence on body mass index (BMI) during infancy and early childhood.

Objectives: The purpose of this research was to investigate the BMI associations between mother and offspring from birth to age 18 years.

Methods: Participants were selected from the Fels Longitudinal Study. The current study sample includes 427 (215 mother/son and 212 mother/daughter) mother/child pairs. These pairs are repeatedly measured at multiple age groups in children, resulting in a total of 6,263 (3,215 mother/son, 3,048 mother/daughter) observations for data analysis. Inclusion criteria were …

Bgsu Men's Soccer Business Plan, Joseph Sullivan

Honors Projects

This honors project was an application based project performed by Joe Sullivan for the BGSU men’s soccer team. Being a business major, along with a student-athlete for the team, my project ties both of these passions together in the creation of a business plan for the team. I created and explained in detail 5 initiatives that the team can take in order to improve and grow as a program. These 5 initiatives will increase overall profitability, brand image, brand awareness, performance and overall team culture. Overall, I believe that this project details tangible action items that the team can take …

Cultural Factors Influencing Chinese Residents And Students’ Views On Solar Photovoltaic Rooftop Adoption, Ashleigh Bell

Honors Program Theses and Projects

With a large focus on global warming, the idea of using solar energy has become popular worldwide. However, the adoption rate of solar energy in China is relatively low in comparison to the sizeable quantities of solar Photovoltaic (PV) products produced in the nation. By using Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions (Hofstede & Minkov, 2013) this paper investigated cultural factors and their impact on solar adoption based on the responses of surveys. This research used primary data collected from both Chinese residents and Chinese college students in the major cities: Shanghai and Beijing, China and secondary sources to examine the cultural …

Using Sport As A Global Change Agent: The United Nations Model Of Sport For Development, Meghan Burke

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Since 2001, the United Nations (UN) has used sport as a development tool through the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP). This paper examines the issues in the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) movement that warranted the UN’s involvement and looks at how and why the UN uses sport. It will also offer recommendations on how it can continue to do so in a more sustainable way. Academics have struggled to find a way to measure the success of the SDP movement and the only evidence that exists that shows that sport is creating long-term …

Factors That Influence Sporting Equipment Purchases, Anthony G. Lee

Sport Management Undergraduate

No abstract provided.

Non-Statistical Factors Present In Successful Nba Rookies, Colin R. Salisbury

Sport Management Undergraduate

Becoming a successful NBA rookie is a desire of many. Athletes want to be them and coaches and GM’s want to know how to predict them. What non-statistical factors are present in successful NBA rookies? This research used secondary data to show non-statistical factors that were present in successful rookies and what kind of similarities they had. They included, conference, institution, coaching, and draft position, etc... It is important to know what a successful rookie is and if there is a correlation between draft position and rookie success. The point of this research is to show the journeys that the …

Design, Financial Trends And On-Field Success, Daniel T. Baylard

Sport Management Undergraduate

Since college athletic departments are considered non-profit organizations and it’s expected they spend revenue in support of their overall mission which can be considered as achieving on-field success. Previous literature has uncovered multiple relationships between expenditures and revenue in comparison to on-field success. The common theory is that athletic programs must increase spending to increase wins, and increase wins to increase revenue. The purpose of our research is to explore financial trends within the rank based competition structure of NCAA Division I college football’s top 25 football teams in the 2012-2015 seasons. We will also acknowledge the effects of the …

Comparing Two Organizational Structures In Professional Ultimate, Jack Dowling

Senior Theses

Leaders of business organizations have always strived to find the most efficient method of organizing and conducting their business. New strategies are constantly being developed and adapted to new situations. The business of Sport is no different. Over the past century, the sport industry in America has experienced an explosive level of growth, with the largest major sport leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL) earning multibillion dollar revenues in recent years.[1-4] In addition to these “Big Four,” there are numerous minor-league and semi-professional sport leagues. Each of these leagues must operate in a way to consider geographic, economic, and other important …

The Institutional Factors That Affect The Academic And Financial Success Of Mid-American Conference Schools, Mckayla Johnson

Sport Management Undergraduate

Athletic departments and institutions are spending an increasing amount of money on athletics. They believe that increasing spending will meet their mission to improve student-athletes’ academic success. However, the question arises, is the money being spent on athletics actually contributing to that goal? Secondary data was correlated to find the relationship between the institutional, academic, and financial factors. The results of this study found that the majority of these relationships were not significant meaning that these factors are not working together to meet that mission. Therefore, those institutions who participate in the athletic department arms races will not see an …

Factors Contributing To Consumers Decisions To Attend A Sporting Event, Sarah Gensler

Sport Management Undergraduate

Previous research on consumer attendance patterns has explored the impact of single factors on desired outcomes. This is problematic because people rarely have a single motive behind their decision making to attend a sporting event. This study aimed to determine which factors were the most important to college students when deciding to attend sporting events. Using a cross-sectional survey, the research found that desire for excitement, geography, and social media all had statistical significance in influencing decision making. Contradictory to existing research, on field promotions, level of fandom, and consumer emotion were not found to be tied to their decision …

Fandom: A Study On How College Students Selected A Favorite Professional Sports Team, Zachary R. Brown

Sport Management Undergraduate

This research aimed to uncover key factors in how college students select a favorite sports team. An important issue in today’s sport industry is recognizing fans motives for supporting their favorite sport teams. Sport managers need to better understand fan’s motives in order to address the team's needs and increase the fan base. Also, the team needs to cultivate a relationship for fan involvement to garner economic benefits. The subjects for this study were college students at St. John Fisher College. Using an online survey, the results of this uncovered that team factors were the most important in someone supporting …

Media Constructed Retirement Articles Of Professional Baseball Players, Kevin T. Berge

Sport Management Undergraduate

The career of an athlete may shape the narrative that the media uses when writing articles on that player when they retire. Many people fail to understand how the media constructs articles the way they do on Major League Baseball (MLB) players upon retirement. This research study used a mixed method approach to show how the media covers certain professional MLB players when they retire. The researcher counted how many times chosen variables were mentioned in two different articles of sixteen retired MLB players, and then extracted quotes from those articles. This study found that superstar pitchers and superstar hitters …

What Factors Affect An Athlete's Injury Reporting Decisions, Zachary Mallard

Sport Management Undergraduate

The purpose of this research was to find out what factors impact or have an influence on the decisions and coping behaviors athletes after they have sustained an athletic injury. Semi-structured interviews with 11 SJFC student-athletes explored their thought processes and behaviors during the process of dealing with injury. Time loss factors play a critical role in their thinking about reporting and dealing with injuries. Eligibility concerns and role on the team also shape their reporting and return to play. Throughout the entire process, athletes discussed their identity changes when coping with injuries.

A Proposal For A Community Soccer Website For San Francisco Soccer Participants And Stakeholders, Christian Martin

Sport Management

This paper looks into the needs and desires of various San Francisco soccer community stakeholders and proposes a mobile-friendly website to serve as both an information hub and a social platform to meet these stakeholder needs and desires. Stakeholders interviewed and surveyed for this paper include San Francisco professional, semi-professional, and college teams, adult and youth leagues and clubs, soccer shops, soccer bars, soccer supporters’ groups, coaches, referees, and more. This paper also includes a plan of execution for the proposed website and illustrations of its proposed

webpages.

Is Human Capital Development The Missing Element Of The Aerotropolis Model?, John Roosevelt Hubbard

Dissertations

Until the early 20th century, transportation by land or water served as the primary methods of trade. As competition in the global marketplace increased in the 21st century air transportation emerged as a new and faster method of trade. Convinced of the economic benefits of air transportation, many policymakers of airport communities were quick to make plans for growth such as building infrastructure around the airport. This aerotropolis model often ignored the human capital development required for success.

Central to this study is this question: Is human capital development the missing component of the aerotropolis model economic development strategy? The …

Wage Penalties In Major League Baseball, Thomas Kraemer

Honors College Theses

This study examines discrimination both by race and by foreign-born status in the context of Major League Baseball (MLB). The goal of this study is to determine if employer-based discrimination is present in MLB by looking for average differences in wages amongst groups and by looking for differences in returns to on-field output for players of different groups. MLB is an interesting industry to look for evidence of discrimination because it is one of the few industries where employee output is clear to see and compensation information is widely available, which is unusual for labor market studies. Sports is an …

Developing Computer Vision Technology To Automate Pitch Analysis In Baseball., Mahdi Moalla

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lokator is a baseball training system designed to document pitch location while teaching pitch command, selection and sequencing. It is composed of a pitching target and a smartphone app. The target is divided into a set of zones to identify the pitch location. The main limitation of the current system is its reliance on the user's feedback. After each throw, the pitcher or the coach needs to identify and report the target's zone that was hit by the ball by just relying on the naked eye. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the possibility of using computer vision …

I Love My Team! Factors Leading To Relationship Formation With A Sports Team, Carly L. Odom

Honors Theses

The sports industry is highly profitable, with a large and diverse fan base. Many people claim to be loyal to different teams, but what moves a more ‘casual fan’ to the team ‘fanatic’ status? Prior research in sports marketing focuses on elements such as geography and family history, while general marketing research considers the impact of behavioral and emotional loyalty (Chaudhuri and Holbrook, 2001). This focus on strict loyalty can, however, be limiting. Examining the factors within the larger relationship context gives us more insight into extreme fans (Pimentel & Reynolds, 2004), as well as the more casual fan. Prior …

Motivation To Play Esports: Case Of League Of Legends, Yaoyao Sun

Theses and Dissertations

The population of playing electronic sports has increased recently, and the most popular one is League of Legends (LoL). As a multiplayer online battle arena video game, it’s not only a game, but also a competitive electronic sport. The purpose of this study was to assess the motivations of playing League of Legends and to relate them by genders, age groups and frequency groups. The final sample comprised 111 LoL players. The study categorized 12 items into three factors: achievement, socialization and immersion. Results indicated that achievement factors were stronger motives for men than women. For different age groups, there …

The Effect Of Floss Bands On Elbow Range Of Motion In Tennis Players, Kenna Hodeaux

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Floss bands have been used to improve ROM, restore joint mechanics, and break down adhesive tissue from previously injured musculature, however, there is limited research available and the few research studies have mixed results on the usefulness of floss bands. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of floss bands in increasing elbow range of motion (ROM) in tennis players. Twelve elite tennis players (6 female and 6 male) participated in this randomized crossover design study. Subjects attended two separate sessions. Passive ROM measures were taken with a standard goniometer for elbow flexion and extension and forearm …

Measuring Racial Competence In Athletic Academic Support Staffs, Aquasia Thornhill

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Critical Race Theory, a theoretical framework that has been gaining much recognition in sport literature, is a useful and beneficial tool in discussing race and racism. To better understand the context in which academic support staff appreciate the functionality and significance of race, the present study measures the racial competence of athletic academic support staffs. This research study explores the need to integrate a model such as Critical Race Theory that promotes “racial competency” among academic support staffs working closely with student-athletes of color, and measures Color-Blind Racial Attitudes that may have effects on the types of interactions individuals are …

A Cross-Cultural Comparative Analysis Of Print Advertisements: Fifa World Cup Sport Magazine Issues, Sarah Elliott

Undergraduate Theses

This study analyzes advertisements in the top sports magazines in the United States and United Kingdom, Sports Illustrated and SPORT respectively, during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Sports magazines see an increase in sales during the time of the FIFA World Cup, meaning companies will put more effort into the production of their advertisements as the audience is larger and more diverse. The study uses content analysis methods to gain insight into the informational content and gender representation in the advertisements. The results demonstrate both hard and soft-sell approaches to selling goods and services. The study uses predictive analysis to …