Sports Management Commons^™

Online Fan Communities: Welcoming Behavior, Brand Community Markers, And Multiple Identities In Sports Fandom, Blaine R. Huber

Doctoral Dissertations

Online fan communities have revolutionized the way sport consumers engage with fellow fans and the sports product. The traditional regional boundaries that once characterized sports fandom have been mitigated by the emergence of new media, social media platforms, and online fan communities. This dissertation explores the non-geographically bound nature of contemporary sports fan communities, examining the evolving dynamics of fan behavior in the digital age. In Study 1, an interactional perspective is employed to explore online fan socialization. The focus is on how new fans' self-presentation influences acceptance within NFL team-specific Reddit communities. Utilizing data mining, textual analysis, and qualitative …

The Esport Points Of Attachment Index (Epai): Exploring Psychological Connections Of Esport Consumers On Behavioral Intentions Toward Esport Organizations, Se Jin Kim

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the literature gap in understanding the different psychological mechanisms of eSport consumers, as determined by their various points of attachment they possess depending on different sport contexts. The electronic sports (eSports) industry has been growing rapidly in popularity, but exploration of eSport fandom has been limited. Especially, a better understanding of the eSport consumers’ behavior and their psychological connection to particular eSports and teams is necessary. The first study in this dissertation identifies the points of attachment in eSport fans, based on an extensive literature review. The second study develops and validates the eSport Points of Attachment …

Uncovering The Gendered Sport Workplace: A Field Study In Men’S Professional Sports, Lauren C. Hindman

Doctoral Dissertations

Women working in sport management are underrepresented and face sexism and harassment. While previous research has explained such disproportions and discrimination through examining the behaviors of individual men and women, in this dissertation, I instead examined ways in which sport organizations are “gendered;” that is, how ideas and norms about gender are embedded into sport organizations’ structures and social processes in ways that create and reproduce organizational inequalities. Taking a critical approach grounded in gendered organization theory, I conducted an ethnographic study inside the administrative offices of two men’s professional sports teams. Data include 165 hours of field observations, 29 …

Multiple Identities In Sport Fandom: Balance, Conflict, & Negotiation, Aaron Mansfield

Doctoral Dissertations

Simultaneous to the sport industry’s ascent, obesity has become an issue of growing societal concern. Scholars have explored the role of social-psychological identification in both fandom and physical health, but have not yet explored the intersection of the two. Throughout life, individuals must negotiate all of their identities, including their attachment to sport teams, yet understanding of role identity within sport management is limited. Likewise, scholars have noted the need for greater illumination of the relationship between fandom and physical well-being. I address these gaps through three studies. In Study One, I completed semi-structured interviews with individuals who consider both …

Petco Park: Evaluating Economic Health Of The Dining Establishment Industry In The Vicinity Of A Downtown Major League Baseball Stadium, Georgy Shukaylo

Masters Theses

This thesis analyzes the economic health of the dining establishments in

Downtown San Diego, CA, specifically in the vicinity of Petco Park. Opened in

2004, Petco Park is home to the San Diego Padres, a Major League Baseball

franchise. In addition, it serves as a venue for outdoor concerts and shows. The

venue is used for most of the year due to an expanded Major League Baseball

schedule, especially compared to other professional sports. Much of the

transformation of San Diego’s Downtown can be attributed to the late 1990’s East

Village Revitalization Plan, which included municipal anchors like the San …

Covering All Their Bases: An Investigation Into Identity Covering In The Sport Workplace, Jeffrey Maccharles

Doctoral Dissertations

The sport industry has historically struggled to diversify its workforce. However, shifting racial and ethnic demographics in the United States in the coming decades, and greater numbers of individuals identifying as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender (LGBT), will soon force its hand. Recruiting and retaining a talented workforce from a diverse labor pool will require that sport organizations ensure their workplaces are inclusive spaces where employees can present their authentic selves without fear. Unfortunately, employees from marginalized groups often face implicit and explicit pressures to downplay aspects of their stigmatized identity through identity covering, which can have negative effects for …

Corporate Social Responsibility Authenticity: Csr Authenticity On Consumer Behavioral Intentions Toward A Sport Organization, Soyoung Joo

Doctoral Dissertations

While authenticity has been researched as a vital concept in various marketing streams, little is known in regard to consumer perceptions of authenticity in a CSR program and its effects on consumer responses. In particular, prior research on authenticity in CSR has not identified authenticity dimensions that are germane in the context of CSR in sport. The purpose of the current research is to (1) elucidate the key dimensions of CSR authenticity that are appropriate to the context of CSR in sport, (2) develop a valid and reliable instrument to measure authenticity in CSR activities in sport organizations, and (3) …

Exploring The Role Of Collective Narcissism In Sport Team Identification, Ben Larkin

Doctoral Dissertations

Team identification is among the most widely studied concepts in sport fan behavior. This is largely due to the fact that highly identified fans exhibit drastically different and more avid consumption and purchase behavior compared to those low and/or moderate on team identification. Most notably, this has been manifested in a greater propensity to attend games, watch the team on television, and purchase team merchandise. While the study of team identification has focused both on its development and outcomes, one constant is that scholars have generally assumed team identification to take the form of a healthy and positive team attachment. …

Mega Versus Local Sport Sponsorships, Jakeun Koo

Doctoral Dissertations

The present study aims to fill the gap by comparing mega sport sponsorships to local sport sponsorships relative to consumers’ perceptions. Specifically, the study examines whether or not event size has significant impact on consumers’ perceptions of goodwill. In the relationship between event size and perceived goodwill, sponsorship duration and sponsor-event congruence are tested as moderating variables. Finally, it is anticipated that perceived goodwill affects attitudes toward the sponsor, subsequently influencing purchase intentions. To support the hypotheses, the current study conducted an experiment with a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects factorial design: (1) event size, (2) sponsorship duration, and …

Amalgamation And The Ideology Of White Supremacy In American Sport, Todd Crosset

Todd Crosset

Prepared for Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: 7th session of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of Complementary Standards to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD)

Western Women, Physicality And Movement In India: On Learning Kabaddi, Todd Crosset

Todd Crosset

No abstract provided.

Fan Response To League Playoff Structure And Consecutive Season Competitive Balance In Professional Sports, Ryan L. Spalding

Doctoral Dissertations

Competitive balance (the level of equality of playing talent across teams) is presumed to be a necessary element for league success due to the unique inter-dependent economic nature of professional sports which requires teams to have financially healthy rivals in order to field games (Rottenberg 1956). Underlying this notion is the uncertainty of outcome hypothesis, which suggests that a fan’s interest in professional sports is dependent on various levels of uncertainty of outcome: individual game uncertainty (who will win the game), individual season uncertainty (who will win the championship), and consecutive season uncertainty (does the same team win the championship …

Sociotechnical Consumption: A Digital Story Of Empowerment And Social Consumer Experiences, Mujde Yuksel

Doctoral Dissertations

Digital technologies have become a ubiquitous element in contemporary consumption practices. Consumers shop online, take online classes, play fantasy sports, date online, have virtual personal trainers in their phones and even live virtual lives. How do such digital experiences integrate into and reflect upon consumption experiences in the material world? In this dissertation, I propose a theory of sociotechnical consumption that explores this relationship through the digital empowerment (technical) and social interaction (social) elements embedded in consumer products and services in digital spaces. Accordingly, I extend the concept of sociotechnical to the study of consumer behavior, advocating the perspective that …

Fan Communities And Subgroups: Exploring Individuals' Supporter Group Experiences, Bruce David Tyler

Open Access Dissertations

The aggregate of a sport team’s fans may be viewed as a consumption community that surrounds the team and its brand (Devasagayam & Buff, 2008; Hickman & Ward, 2007). Beneath this larger consumption umbrella, smaller groups of consumers may exist (Dholakia, Bagozzi, & Pearo, 2004), such as specific supporter groups for a team. Individuals thus may identify with multiple layers of the consumption group simultaneously (Brodsky & Marx, 2001; Hornsey & Hogg, 2000). Although past researchers have studied supporter groups (Giulianotti, 1996, 1999a; Parry & Malcolm, 2004) and consumption communities (Kozinets, 2001; Muñiz & O’Guinn, 2001; McAlexander, Schouten, & Koenig, …

The Role Of Capabilities In Innovation Adoption Decisions, Kevin Snyder

Open Access Dissertations

Successful innovations have been assumed by prior literature to ultimately be adopted by all competitors within an industry based on social explanations or economic rationale specific to the efficiency of the innovation. However, capabilities possessed by a firm can enhance or inhibit the adoption based upon their similarity to those used in the innovation. In categorizing a firm's capabilities as complementary, substitutive, or neutralizing to the innovation, this study provides an economic explanation for the role of internal capabilities in adoption decisions.

Using a sample of professional football teams adopting the West Coast Offense, I find that capabilities influence the …

Coach Leadership Effect On Elite Handball Players’ Psychological Empowerment And Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Young Han Lee, So-Hee Kim, Joon-Ho Kang

Young Han Lee

This article examines the significance of the correlation between coach leadership behavior and players' organizational citizenship behavior, and the mediating role of psychological empowerment in the process. A total of 73 professional handball players from five different teams assessed leadership style, psychological empowerment, and organizational citizenship behavior based on the scale adapted from Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire form 5X. Regression analysis and bootstrap methods were utilized to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings indicated that both transactional and transformational leadership styles significantly predicted players' organizational citizenship behavior. In particular, psychological empowerment played a mediating role in the association between coach leadership and …

Considering Cultural Influences In Volunteer Satisfaction And Commitment, Sheranne Fairley, Young Han Lee, B. Christine Green, Mi Lyang Kim

Young Han Lee

Volunteers are crucial to the delivery of sport events worldwide. This research examines the efficacy of Western models of volunteering for Korean volunteers. Specifically, this research examines the relationship between benefits, sense of community, satisfaction, and commitment in a Korean context. A survey of 218 volunteers at the 2011 Formula One Grand Prix in Seoul, Korea was conducted. The results indicate that the structure of benefits obtained was less differentiated than previous research that has been conducted in Western cultures where volunteering is more prevalent. Further, the results show that the two benefits that Korean volunteers believed they obtained, excitement …

Male Coach-Female Athlete Relationships A Preliminary Description And Analysis Of Abusive Male Coach, Todd Crosset

Todd Crosset

No abstract provided.