The process toward commitment to running - The role of different motives, involvement, and coaching

The purpose of this investigation was twofold: (a) to explore and describe the relationships between different facets of motivation, involvement, and commitment to running, and (b) to test whether recreational coached runners differ from non-coached runners in their motivation, involvement, and commitment to running. Drawing on the psychological continuum model (PCM), a model was proposed to test relationships among motives, attitudinal and behavioral involvement, and commitment to running as a leisure activity. Results showed that two (enjoyment and health) out of five motives were significant indicators of attitudinal involvement. Attitudinal involvement was a significant predictor of behavioral involvement, which in turn was a significant predictor of commitment. Coached runners differed from non-coached runners in all tested variables. The structural relationships among the variables varied based on the tested group. Implications for theory and practice are presented

Does Distance Matter? Geographical Distance and Domestic Support for Mega Sports Events

Residential support is one key factor that increases the probability of a positive outcome of mega events. Especially, pre-event support seems important, since hosting the event often requires public consensus. Within the discussion of determinants of pre-event support, the distance between a resident’s home (district) and the event area has been neglected so far. To explore the spatial nature of event support, representative survey data (n= 900) from the 2016 Olympic Games is analyzed using ordered probit and spatial regression models. Estimates reveal a lower probability of high support for residents living close to the main event area. Moreover, the rate of marginal changes in the probability of support decreases with decreasing distance to other areas

Item parcels in structural equation modelling: an applied study in sport management

The purpose of this study is to describe the influences of different parceling strategies on goodness-of-fit measures and parameter estimates of a sport management structural model with latent variables. The use of small sample sizes to test models with a large number of parameters can produce poor fit indexes, mainly because many indicators tend to increase the chances of cross-loadings, which in turn reduce the common variance. Considering that in social and behavioral sciences is not quite easy to have access to large-enough samples, item parceling has been proposed as a remedy for this kind of situation. Using a theoretically-supported sport management model and real data, we compared total disaggregation model (items as indicators) with partial disaggregation models (parcels as indicators) and total aggregation model (summated score as the indicator). Results showed that different strategies of parceling could lead to very distinct conclusions. Implications for future studies using parceling in the field of sport management are discussed

Sources of support for employees in sport organizations

First paragraph: What makes an organization successful? One would agree that employees of the organization play a key role in the success of overall organization since employees’ positive work attitudes and behaviors are essential to maintaining an organization. This may be particularly true for organizations that provide service. As a matter of fact, service organizations greatly rely their performance on employees because the employees are the ones who have direct contact with the customers and influence shaping the image of the organization in consumers’ mind. Since many sport organizations deal with service, keeping positive employees’ work attitudes and behaviors is essential for them

The wonders of the wonderful city: social impacts and legacies of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the social impacts and legacies expected for Rio de Janeiro as the Brazilian city prepares to host the 2016 Olympic Games. The analysis is focused on four aspects: urban regeneration, people displacement, sport participation and nationalism. These are some of the claims used by sporting mega-events proponents (government and elite groups) to justify the public spending on the spectacle

Support for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games

The purposes of this research were (a) to explore and describe the relationships relative to the evaluation of the work of the organizers, expected legacy, and support for hosting the 2014 World Cup (WC) and the 2016 Olympic Games (OG); and (b) to compare Brazilians’ support for these two events. Social exchange theory (Blau & Scott, 1962) supported three structural models. Results indicated that Brazilians college students (n = 914) do not strongly support the country’s hosting of either the 2014 WC or the 2016 OG. They also do not believe the organizers adequately prepared the country to host the events, and, subsequently, do not have high positive legacy expectations. Mediated models indicated that higher perceptions of the work of the organizers in preparation for the sport mega-events predicted more positive legacy expectations of these events, and subsequently, larger intentions to support the events. Significant indirect effects indicated that a fully mediated model might be useful to describe relationships among intentions of support, expected legacy, and evaluations of the work of the organizers in preparing to host sport mega-events. Implications for theory and practice are discussed

Organizational Effectiveness of Athletic Departments and Coaches’ Extra- Role Behaviors

The objective of the current study was to explore and describe the relationship between coaches’ extra-role behaviors (precisely organizational commitment – OC and organizational citizenship behavior – OCB) and the organizational effectiveness (OE) of athletic departments. OC was measured through 12 items that represent its three dimensions: affective, normative, and continuance commitment (Meyer, Allen, & Smith, 1993; Turner & Chelladurai, 2005). OCB was measured using five items that represent its three dimensions: sportsmanship, civic virtue, and helping behaviors (Podsakoff & Mackenzie, 1994). Following the current tendency in the literature (Cunningham, 2002; Putler & Wolfe, 1999; Smart & Wolfe, 2000), OE of athletic departments was investigated in four dimensions: athletic achievement, student-athletes education, social performance, and financial performance. Coaches (N = 241) from NCAA Division I universities responded to the questionnaire. The results indicated coaches’ commitment and citizenship behaviors were not good predictors of effectiveness of athletic departments. Coaches’ extra-role behaviors either explained small changes in effectiveness or did not explain effectivenes