Digital Commons Network^™

From Coping Strategies To Fan Well-Being: Resource Dynamics Of Team Identification, Impulse Control, And Psychological Capital In Negative Experiences, Hyun-Woo Lee, Yelim Yoo, Kun Chang, Jun-Phil Uhm

Journal of Applied Sport Management

Guided by conservation of resources theory, the authors examine how team identification, impulse control difficulties, coping strategies, and psychological capital shape fans’ well-being in negative fan experiences. Survey from 300 sport fans were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results showed that identification promoted adaptive coping and reduced cutting off reflected failure, whereas impulse control difficulties increased denial and cutting off reflected failure. Denial unexpectedly enhanced psychological capital while reducing well-being, and venting functioned as a double-edged mediator across positive/negative pathways. Psychological capital was the strongest predictor of well-being, underscoring its role as a central resource linking coping to outcomes.

A Cause For Celebration: Jasm Indexed In Scopus, Marshall J. Magnusen, Lawrence W. Judge, Jun Kim

Journal of Applied Sport Management

The Journal of Applied Sport Management (JASM) achieved a major milestone in Fall 2025 with its acceptance for indexing in Scopus, marking a pivotal advancement in the journal’s visibility, credibility, and global reach. This accomplishment reflects years of collaborative effort among JASM’s editors, reviewers, authors, and the Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange (TRACE) team at the University of Tennessee–Knoxville. Since its founding in 2009 as the Journal of Sport Administration and Supervision and subsequent rebranding in 2013, JASM has evolved into a leading open-access platform for applied sport management scholarship. Under the leadership of Dr. Marshall Magnusen (2020–2025), the …

Achieving Empowerment In Transition: Advice From Former Female Athletes, Ashlyn Hardie, Molly Harry, Kristi Oshiro, Marlene A. Dixon

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

Scholars have highlighted the various challenges college athletes encounter in their transition from sport. Yet, the strategies athletes adopt to navigate this transitory period require further examination. Thus, we leveraged Zimmerman’s Psychological Empowerment Model and Schlossberg’s Transition Theory to explore these strategies and associated processes in-depth. The sample for this study consisted of 20 former female athletes from the U.S. who played a college sport. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed numerous strategies current and future female college athletes implement to mitigate the challenges present in their transition, specifically: Finding Acceptance, Be Proactive, Don’t Stop 100%, Embrace the …

Sport Media Consumption In Ncaa Division І Fbs Subdivision: A Panel Regression Model Using X/Twitter, Seungbak Lee, Minsoo Kang, Wonson Lim, Ju-Pil Choe, Brennan K. Berg

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

Athletic departments in collegiate sports have increasingly focused on enhancing sport consumer interest through social media. As social media usage continues to grow in college sports, understanding audience behavior on these platforms has become essential for athletic departments. This study examines the factors influencing consumer interest in Division I football teams’ X (formerly Twitter) accounts, utilizing a panel dataset comprising 18,221 team-day observations. Key determinants of changes in X followers were identified, including teams’ social media activity, on-field performance, scheduling events, and timing effects, with a focus on fan interest across temporal patterns such as month-to-month and day-to-day variations. The …

Sport Employees And Resilience: An Examination Of Organizational Change With Ncaa Conference Realignment, Hailee Hernandez, Claire C. Zvosec, Brent D. Oja

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

NCAA conference membership is critically important to institutions as it is closely associated with revenue generation (i.e., conference-wide revenue distribution, ticket sales, fundraising, etc.) in addition to institutional visibility and prestige. Therefore, universities may pursue conference realignment opportunities based on higher potential revenue, institutional and athletics financial stability, and increased notoriety. Over the past 20 years, there have been at least 80 cases of schools moving conferences at the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level. As universities move conferences, employees within the athletics department are exposed to rapid change in organizational structure and are forced to adapt to new institutional, athletics …

Name, Image, And Likeness: A Critical Exploration Through Self-Determination Theory, Molly Harry

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

Through Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this study explored college athletes’ experiences with Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL). Analyzing congressional testimonies from 10 current and recently graduated college athletes, this research highlighted how NIL fostered/constrained athlete development within the broader power structures of college sport. Findings revealed while NIL enhances self-determination through autonomy, competence, and relatedness, institutional discourses and governance mechanisms continue to regulate athlete development. Through Fairclough’s (1995) CDA framework, this study demonstrated how language throughout the athletes’ testimonies maintained/disrupted power dynamics which reinforced/challenged authority of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The integration of SDT and …

The Perception Of Hooliganism And Its Impact Among Naia Collegiate Soccer Players, Eric Street, Fred Cromartie, Steve S. Chen, Brandon Spradley

Findings in Sport, Hospitality, Entertainment, and Event Management

There have been multiple studies with regard to the different aspects of soccer hooliganism throughout the world. Most commonly, studies of hooliganism covered areas such as harassment, vandalism, fighting, theft, public intoxication, and crowd disorder revolving around the games of soccer in various countries. This phenomenon has been studied among the major four professional sports in the United States, yet there has been no extensive research on soccer “hooliganism” associated with Major League Soccer (MLS). This study examined the survey responses from 101 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) soccer players to identify their perceptions on severity of hooliganism and …

Nba Player Types And Salaries: Assessing The Disparities In Pay, Nick Riccardi, Rodney J. Paul

Sport Management - All Scholarship

The purpose of this study was to identify player types that exist in the modern National Basketball Association (NBA), test whether player types are paid differently controlling for performance and other factors and construct successful rosters with cheaper payrolls.
We collected performance statistics and salary data for players and teams across five seasons (2018-19 to 2022-23). Cluster analysis is leveraged to group together player-seasons to identify the player types that exist in the NBA. Linear regression models are run to test for differences in pay by cluster membership while controlling for performance, age, and contractual details. Linear programming simulation models …

Family Ties: Nba Draft Position And Player Performance, Nick Riccardi, Rodney J. Paul

Sport Management - All Scholarship

This study aims to investigate the role, if any, that nepotism plays in the careers of players in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Career performance is compared between the 780 players drafted from 2007-2019 with familial relationships considered. Ordinary Least Squares and logistic regression models are specified to estimate the effect of having a relative on the success of an NBA player’s career. We find that siblings of NBA players earn more and reach minimum games played thresholds more often, while sons of NBA players earn more, but generally do not reach games played thresholds more often than similarly-drafted peers.

An Analysis Of Potential Factors Influencing College Sport Communicators Feels Of Being Overworked And Underappreciated, Kelly P. Elliott, Natalie Bunch, Tyler Williams

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

CSCs play pivotal roles, balancing the preservation of student-athlete narratives with the real-time demands of media-driven communication. However, a persistent challenge has emerged: many CSCs experience a pronounced sense of being overworked and undervalued. This study aims to explore predictors contributing to CSCs' feelings of being overworked and underappreciated, investigating factors like years of experience, career motivations, reasons for institutional selection, and tenure plans to understand their impact on CSCs' perceptions before employment. Researchers sent a survey instrument that included Likert scale, closed-ended items related to feelings over being overworked and underappreciated to CSCs. The primary analysis involved an independent …

“I Want To Continue Athletics And I Also Want To Study”: Exploring International Student Athletes’ Transition Experiences To The Naia Affiliated Colleges, Kibaek Kim, Karina Jolly, Chris Corr, Jinwook Han

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

There are over a million international students pursuing their degrees in U.S. universities. Among them are 25,000 international student-athletes (ISAs) who are enrolled in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) affiliated Universities. While studies have been striving to foster and support this population’s successful transition to the U.S., few studies are available that deal with international student-athletes competing in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) affiliated universities. Hence, based on the transition theory, this study utilized focus group interviews to explore the transition experiences of ISAs competing in NAIA. Based on previous studies that explored the transition experiences of ISAs …

Do They Belong? Inquiries Into The Perceptions Of The Black Male College Athlete Identity In Higher Education, Marcis Fennell, Kayla Martinez, C.Keith Harrison, Whitney Griffin, Nick Kopka

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

This qualitative study examined attitudes about Black male college athletes (BMCA)in predominantly White higher education institutions. To investigate the experience in the classroom, the purpose of this study was to inquire into the perception of the BMCA identity from the identity of the non-college athletes (NCA). Using the social identity complexity model, we sought to understand the perceptions that influence group formation among college students. The present study employed the film elicitation technique to examine the NCAs’ perceptions of the legitimacy of the BMCA identity in higher education during faculty interactions and its correlation to ingroup formation. The findings from …

Meet The Fars: An Examination Of The Background, Roles, And Appointment Of Faculty Athletic Representatives At National Collegiate Athletic Association Member Institutions, Chris Corr, Christopher Atwater, Mark S. Nagel, Richard Southall, Rick Eckstein, Marek Taškár

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

As many National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) member institutions continue to engage in athletic centric decision-making processes, academic integrity and the campus experience for college athletes is often marginalized. Mandated by the NCAA to represent athletes’ academic interests, the faculty athletics representative (FAR) position is designed to occupy a central role in maintaining the primacy of academia among college athletes. FARs, however, exist within an institutional setting muddled by competing and contradictory logics. Accordingly, given the inherent juxtaposition between the operation of collegiate athletics and the stated role of FARs, the present study sought to examine the characteristics and positional …

Assessing College Athletic Departments’ Ability To Implement The Ncaa Mental Health Best Practices, Grace O. Louis, Shaine Henert

Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics

Student-athletes endure rigorous schedules, intense pressure, and significant physical and mental strain, all while being expected to show no signs of weakness. This high-stakes environment can exacerbate mental health challenges (Harris & Maher, 2023; Rice et al, 2016 & Brown, 2021). To address these concerns, the NCAA’s Sport Science Institute developed mental health best practices to support college student-athletes. However, FBS Division I non-autonomous athletic programs often struggle to fully implement these guidelines due to resource limitations, despite their commitment to student-athlete well-being (2021; Beebe & Petrie, 2024). This study employs an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach to explore the …

How Name, Image, And Likeness Has Affected Ncaa Legislation, Lauren Versteeg

Honors Thesis

This paper analyzes the impact that name, image, and likeness (NIL) has affected the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) legislation. To answer this question, I reviewed the NCAA’s website on their legislative body and rules that related to financial compensation. I also analyzed court cases about NIL that were brought against the NCAA. What I found was that NIL has been a short and recent change to the NCAA’s operations, but it has been an impactful one nonetheless. Over recent years, the legislation for NCAA has changed in order to accommodate athletes’ name, image, and likeness. A distinct outlook from …

Ua80/1 Agenda, W Club

University Organizations

Agenda of the August 2025 W Club Board of Directors meeting.

Engaging In Movement At Work: Exploring Engagement And Physical Activity., Spencer A. Cavan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High levels of employee engagement provide organizations competitive advantages such as increased customer satisfaction, profits, and employee productivity. Despite potential benefits, the number of engaged employees is declining and organizations need to find innovative ways to enhance engagement. Emerging evidence suggests workplace physical activity may generate organizational benefits extending beyond health improvement. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions of engagement among employees participating in a physical activity intervention at work. A qualitative design, guided by phenomenology, examined perceptions of workplace physical activity and perceived levels of engagement, as well as constraints related to involvement among university …

An Empirical Analysis Of The Pitch Clock On Major League Baseball, David Langton Jr

All Theses

The pitch clock was instituted in baseball to speed up the pace of play and make the game more watchable. While it has achieved this effect, it may have affected other areas of the sport, like the balance between offense and defense and pitching injuries. This analysis explores the results of a difference-in-difference regression comparing MLB and AAA 2015-2024 seasons. Overall, it finds that pitching statistics were not significantly affected, including elbow injuries. This includes games, ERA, and times a batter is hit by a pitch. In fact, the number of home runs and walks both went down significantly by …

The Role Of Managerial Support In Influencing The Attitudes Of Highly Educated Millennials In Serbia, Dimitrije Gasic, Vladimir Dzenopoljac, Mladen Cudanov, Jozsef Poor, Nemanja Berber

All Works

This study explores the influence of managerial support on the attitudes of highly educated (BSc, MSc, and PhD) millennials in Serbia, focusing on job satisfaction, turnover intention, and job stress. Understanding this relationship is crucial for enhancing employee retention and organisational efficiency given the evolving workplace dynamics. Managerial support, encompassing emotional, instrumental, and informational assistance, is hypothesised to positively impact job satisfaction while reducing turnover intention and job stress. Data were collected through an online survey from 367 respondents in two waves (the first wave in January 2024 and the second in July 2024) and analysed using partial least squares …

Book Review: Winters Of Discontent, Simon Barrick

Global Sport Business Journal

Editor Russell Field, through Winters of Discontent: The Winter Olympics and a Half Century of Protest and Resistance, offers the first focused academic inquiry into the myriad ways that individuals, organizations, and communities have resisted these sport mega-events. More specifically, each chapter contributor “chronicles the ways in which the issues raised by anti-Olympic advocates have increasingly become part of a mainstream discourse” (Field, 2025, p. 5). Various core themes run through the book including concern over public spending amid rising neoliberalism, the contested relationship between Indigenous self-determination and settler colonial domination, balancing local community priorities against the backdrop of Games-related …

Can You Slow Down A Ticking Clock? An Examination Of The Predictors Of Workaholism And How Each Influences A Correlation Between Workaholism And The Work-Life Balance Of Ncaa Division I Coaches, Brooke Elizabeth Yerger

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is one of the largest companies in the world. It is responsible for generating millions of dollars through various sporting events, including the College World Series, the College Football Playoffs, and March Madness. However, this industry is prone to high stress levels, workaholism, and poor work-life balance among the coaches employed by NCAA institutions. Lower work-life balance levels can result in poor overall well-being. These coaches are responsible not only for themselves and their families, but also for the many student-athletes they interact with. If they are not satisfied, their ability to interact positively …

The Influence Of "Ifbb Pro" Designation On Consumer Decision-Making In Online Personal Training Services: An Experimental Investigation, Zehua Hei, Alan Morse

Global Sport Business Journal

The recent rising health awareness, social media occurrence, and digital access to fitness services promote the growth of online personal training. Drawing upon signaling theory, a recent rising group of trainers, “IFBB Pro” athletes, who are perceived as elite bodybuilders, often signal a high level of expertise and competency in fitness training. With content marketing as the background, posted content plays a key role in this process as social media platforms become increasingly popular for fitness professionals to market their personal training services and attract clients. However, scarce research exists to investigate how this designation influences consumer perceptions and purchase …

Is Inequity In Nba Team Salaries Hurting Team Performance?, Alec R. Plante

Business and Economics Summer Fellows

The NBA is known for being the premier basketball league. However, are the allegedly best minds in the sport choosing salaries in a way that contributes to success? Our research extrapolates trends between team equity and win rates. We use Gini coefficients to establish team equities across the league between the 2011-2012 and 2024-2025 seasons. Our research establishes a relationship between team equity and win rates. This suggests that more equitable teams, in relation to held constant variables like All-NBA selections, may be more successful compared to other teams. We speculate on the reasons for this effect, including the possibility …

Exploring Coaching Leadership Behaviours In Strength And Conditioning Coaching: Preferences Of Ncaa Division I And Ii Collegiate Student-Athletes Based On Task Variability, Severiano Tiberi, Jeremy Moody, Steve Cooper, George Jennings, Joseph I. Esformes

Journal of Athlete Development and Experience

This study aimed to explore collegiate student-athletesˈ preferences of coaching leadership behaviours in strength and conditioning coaching and evaluate differences between the student-athletesˈ preferences of behaviours based on task variability. In total 145 National Collegiate Athletic Association student-athletes (closed sports athletes = 51, open sports athletes = 94) completed an electronic questionnaire involving the athletesˈ preference version of the Revised Leadership Scale for Strength and Conditioning. Results revealed that the most favoured behaviour was ˈtraining and instructionˈ, whilst the least favoured was ˈautocraticˈ. Similar results were observed for closed and open sports groups, though closed sports athletes preferred ˈtraining and …

Need Frustration And Poor Mental Health Among Collegiate Athletes: The Indirect Role Of Ruminative Thinking, Alanni N. Brown, Adrian J. Bravo, Stimulant Norms And Prevalence 2 (Snap2) Study Team

Journal of Athlete Development and Experience

Vulnerability to negative mental health outcomes (i.e. anxiety and depression) among DI collegiate athletes may best be understood using Self Determination Theory (SDT) and the framework that need frustration impairs autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Need frustration may also relate to negative mental health symptoms via higher ruminative thinking, known to relate to both need frustration and poor mental health. The present study tested these two path models (i.e., SDT need frustration components [autonomy, relatedness, competency]-->rumination facets [problem-focused thoughts, counterfactual thinking, repetitive thinking, anticipatory thoughts]-->mental health problems (one for depression and one for anxiety as outcomes) among 341 collegiate …

Mentoring Of Para-Athletes And Its Impact On The Preparation Process For The 2020 Paralympic Games, Irina Perfilova, Joshua R. Pate, Robin Hardin

Journal of Athlete Development and Experience

Many factors contribute to successful athletic performance, and athletes have reported that mentors have played a vital role in their athletic performance as well as their personal development. Mentoring relationships can have a transformative impact on people’s lives, and mentored athletes, either by peers or coaches, have higher levels of dedication, confidence, and individual performance. Having a mentor is critically important during unexpected challenges in life such as was the case with the extraordinary uncertainty for para-athletes during the postponement of the 2020 Paralympic Games. The purpose of this study was to explore how mentoring aided para-athletes’ navigating the challenges …

Development And Transition In Crisis: The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Division I College Athletes, Grace Kazmierski-Davie, Khalid Ballouli

Journal of Athlete Development and Experience

The aim of this study is to explore how Division I college athletes made meaning of their experiences during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020. Though existing literature details various athlete transitions, there is limited knowledge about how athletes navigate unprecedented disruptions like a global pandemic. This qualitative study employed semi-structured interviews to gather in-depth data. The study included a diverse sample of 19 college athletes, ranging from freshmen to seniors, representing various sports and academic levels. Findings revealed that athletes employed diverse strategies to maintain readiness and mental sharpness, reflecting both proactive and reactive coping mechanisms. …

Book Review: The Architecture Of The Playing Field, Eddie G. Walker Ii

Global Sport Business Journal

Athletic fields, facilities, golf courses, stadiums, and arenas are at the heart of the sport management industry. Physical activity has been “an essential component” of mankind’s life on Earth since the beginning of time (Elgammal & Abdel-Razek, 2022; p. 26). Throughout history, the methods of hosting athletic events have undergone significant evolution. Dr. Richard Cleary provides a concise yet thorough resource on how the structure of these spaces influences the experience for both participants and spectators. The Architecture of the Playing Field: Shaping Space in Sport comprises four chapters and an Epilogue that utilize architectural design and sociocultural theories to …

Book Review: The Olympics That Never Happened: Denver '76 And The Politics Of Growth, Samuel M. Clevenger

Global Sport Business Journal

The issue of economic growth and its historical ties to modern sport is of central importance to contemporary sport business researchers. After all, considering that the growth-driven sport industry is increasingly trying to balance improving the sustainability of their present practices and facilities with maintaining its emphasis on expansion, accumulation, and revenue generation–resulting in organizations like the International Olympic Committee (IOC) engaging in “greenwashing” (Boykoff, 2025)–we (meaning sport researchers) need plentiful work that takes seriously the issue of economic growth and its impacts on the decision-making of sporting organizations. Adam Berg’s recent book The Olympics That Never Happened: Denver ‘76 …

Effects Of Seasonality On The Experiences Of Employees In Minor League Sports, Amanda Barefoot

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The temporal rhythms of sport organizations, driven by recurring cycles of in-season and off-season activity, create a unique organizational context that shapes decision-making, leadership behavior, and the experiences of employees. While seasonality is widely recognized in operational planning and revenue forecasting, its implications for organizational behavior in sport management remain underexplored. This three-paper dissertation examines seasonality as a temporal force influencing sport organizations at conceptual, strategic, and affective levels.

The first paper develops a sport-specific taxonomy of seasonality by synthesizing literature from econometrics, tourism, and organizational theory. It distinguishes between natural, internally institutionalized, and externally institutionalized seasonal influences, offering a …