This quantitative correlation study examined high school football players in the state of California and the high school teams they played for. The problem that was addressed is high school coaches, ...parents and student-athletes do not know how to best gain the exposure necessary for a lower-ranked (three-star and below) player to earn a division I football scholarship. This study used the Social Exchange Theory to evaluate the interactions between college recruiters and student-athletes. The purpose of the study was to determine if high school football team on-field success played a role in predicting whether or not a low-star student-athlete would earn a college scholarship, or if a successful team would generate more low-star scholarship offers. Using two logistic regression models, the study analyzed three factors of team success, school scholarship production, and player ratings as predictor variables for low-star player scholarships. The research questions that guided this study focused on whether historic, previous or current team success would increase a low-star players exposure to obtaining a scholarship. The study found that player rating and high school scholarship production were statistically significant in increasing low-star scholarships. Of the high school success factors, it was found that playing for a successful team as an underclassman (previous year success) did provide a statistical significance to producing low-star scholarships on a high school football team. The implications from these findings could help future student-athletes in chosing a high school to attend or transfer to, that may offer higher exposure opportunities. Athletic Directors, Administrators, and State Officials could also utilize this research when making decisions regarding transfer-athletes. Future research could analyze other success factors not covered in this study, along with taking a deeper examination into high scholarship production schools.
Emotional intelligence (EI) competency plays a critical role in a healthy coach-athlete relationship. Coaching with transformational leadership is demonstrated to fulfill the psychological needs of ...athletes’ well-being. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate current student-athletes’ emotional intelligence between Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) and University of Taipei (UT) and to compare their preferred multifactor leadership styles. Also, the present study focused on the analysis to evaluate culturally specific perceptions regarding emotional intelligence competencies as well as preferences for coaching behaviors.The analysis of the 218 valid responses (74 from IUP and 144 from UT) was assessed based on completed measures of the preferred leadership styles and self-report emotional intelligence test. The results showed there was a significant difference in EI scores and the preferences of leaderships between IUP and UT. The cross-cultural study indicated more preferences for transformational leadership in the western than the eastern culture. Our findings supported that current collegiate student-athletes with higher EI tended to prefer transformational leadership. It reflected the overall athletes’ trend toward transformational leadership, which was demonstrated to meet their satisfaction and contribute to effective coaching behavior. As a result, the suggestions of optimal coaching behaviors for sports leadership in the USA and Taiwan were different.
In 2018, the United States Supreme Court overturned PASPA, a law which had previously deemed sports betting illegal. Following this ruling, states have already or have begun passing legislation which ...legalizes sport betting. As legalization continues to sweep the nation, an untapped domain of research has emerged. From a sport management perspective, there is a new, highly lucrative sport industry with which there is minimal research. The main purpose of this research project is to examine how bet presentation influences consumer behavior related to sports gambling. Specifically, the role that bet format presentation has on consumers’ willingness to bet and the amount they are willing to bet. Additionally, the potentially mediating effects of numeracy and team identification were examined. Participants (N=703) were recruited from the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, as these locations natively use different forms of bet presentation (American, fractional, and decimal). This study utilized a Latin square experimental design that examined whether participants were willing to bet more money when shown American odds first compared to fractional odds first. Further, evidence was provided demonstrating the positive mediating influence of team identification, and the influence of subjective numeracy. Practically, the results from this study can inform sports betting organizations, sports betting consumers, as well as government and industry regulators. Theoretically, knowledge is contributed to the domains of sport management, behavioral pricing, and appraisal theory literature.
This project is expected to help explain how workplace competencies affect employee development, performance, and decision-making in the sport industry. This study utilized an in-depth qualitative ...examination of the lived experiences of employees in intercollegiate athletics departments. To do so, the researcher embedded himself into an ordinarily restrictive environment (i.e., intercollegiate sport organizations) which offered unique data regarding the intersection of organizational politics, job design/crafting, and employee engagement in the sport workplace. This study utilized the framework of Human Resource Development (HRD) to explore how job crafting and design can enable sport employees’ understandings of engagement and performance. Sport employees are an essential element of their respective organizations, and the success or failure of these organizations are contingent on employee performance, which can be enhanced through HRD practices.The researcher conducted observations and semi-structured interviews at multiple NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics departments in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States. A total of 29 participants provided results for the current research. The data obtained from this project supported sport organizations by improving the understanding of how sport employee growth and skill development is enabled, thus fostering an enhanced experience for employees, and signifying a channel to organizational growth and performance. The key variables identified within the study accentuated how sport employee development impacts employee and organizational performance. The findings of this project add to the literature concerning HRD in sport with nuanced interpretations of organizational politics, job design/crafting, and employee engagement within the sport workplace by focusing on the experiences of sport employees. The benefits of analyzing HRD practices in an effort to determine antecedents for employee development in the workplace offer a sustained competitive advantage for sport organizations via improved organizational functionality. Enhancing organizational functionality is shown to have positive implications for sport participants and consumers.
The para sport system across Canada is relatively new in relation to the Canadian sport system that serves able bodied participants. Given the relative newness of the system, combined with the ...inherent ableism and lack of understanding that accompanies disability, all stakeholders, but particularly the athletes, coaches and administrators within the para system, experience substantive and affective conflict that impacts positive progress in the development of the para sport system. This study, using Dugan’s (1996) Nested Theory of Conflict to understand the layers of conflict within the system, and work of Fletcher (2004), Bilal et al. (2019), and Brown (2014) to understand the differences between feminine, post heroic, shared leadership, and masculine, heroic leadership structures, examines the conflict experienced by coaches and administrators in the para sport system.Through participatory action research, coaches and administrators in the Canadian sport system participated in semi structured interviews and a focus group to explore both the conflict they experienced and their ability to respond to it. Ultimately, the study identifies a lack of psychological safety caused by the power dynamics that exist within hierarchical leadership structures as the main contributors to a state of threat and fear for coaches and administrators. Perceived threat and fear, combined with a conflict skillset that is largely centered on avoidance, leaves coaches and administrators with low capacity to advocate for positive adjustments to the para sport system. Future recommendations are to explore the opportunities that exists in shared leadership structures, as well as educational opportunities to impact the conflict skillset of coaches and administrators across the sport system.An outcome of this project was to create understanding of effective conflict competencies needed by coaches and sport administrators as they navigate the sport system. This research combined with future research contributes to refinements of the Canadian sport development system.
The first purpose of this study was to re-examine the valuation of collegiate sport venue naming rights agreements in light of the significant growth in deals since prior work by Gerrard et al. ...(2007) and Popp et al. (2016). An OLS regression model was developed utilizing a sample of 74 collegiate sports venue naming rights agreements. Average prior attendance, all-time winning percentage, and construction cost were found to be significant predictors of average annual deal value. The second purpose was to determine whether the announcement of a corporate naming rights agreement for a collegiate venue had any relationship with event attendance or donations to the athletics departments. Two fixed-effects models analyzing within- subject variation were employed utilizing a sample of 38 college sports venue naming rights agreements from 2013-2019. This study found there was no significant difference in attendance or donations after a naming rights deal was signed.
The following study sought to gain an understanding of Christian leadership and what it means to be a Christian head men’s college basketball coach. This study is important so that Christian coaches ...can gain an understanding of what a Christian coach should reflect and embody in their leadership. In addition, college athletic directors and presidents who desire to hire a Christian coach will have a better understanding of what cues to look for and what questions to ask during the interview process when striving to identify a genuine Christian coach. This qualitative study was conducted by interviewing ten Christian head men’s college basketball coaches from the NCCAA, NAIA, and NCAA Division II. In addition, narrative research was conducted so that the participants were able to articulate their experience as a Christian coach. The interviews lasted between 20 minutes and an hour, and the interviews took place via Zoom. The seven major themes that emerged from the study were the following: eternal perspective, ten-plus years from now, wins and losses, servant leader, discipleship, does not eliminate ethical misconduct, and sinner. In addition, there were nine minor themes: pillars/core values, countercultural, Bible study and prayer, relationships, I serve as an example, our team serves as an example of Christ, can improve it/integrity, apologize/repent, and walking the talk is a challenge. The findings of this study imply that those who are seeking to hire genuine Christian coaches should locate coaches who are concerned with the future and eternal well-being of their student-athletes. Christian coaches will place a priority and focus on the person, rather than the player. A Christian coach will not be perfect, but will aim to glorify God in their leadership.
Digital technology transformation within the sports industry has led to increasing attention being given to how digital services can influence fans’ positive psychological perspectives. In ...particular, through this study I aimed to understand the effects of fantasy sports and social media engagement on positive psychological benefits, such as perceived value and flourishing. In the current study, regulatory engagement theory was applied to understand whether the digital engagement of sports consumers is positively associated with perceived value and flourishing as a form of well-being. In the implementation of the pre-, mid-, or post-consumption model, three groups were created based on the participants' habits of using fantasy sports and social media before, while, and after watching television. I then attempted to explore how the aforementioned relations can differ across these three groups. Responses from a total of 629 sports fans were collected via an online Qualtrics panel. Data analysis was conducted using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), structural equation modeling analysis (SEM), multi-group CFA, and multi-group SEM to verify the hypotheses. It was found that engagement in fantasy sports and social media had a positive effect on perceived value and well-being. In addition, perceived value mediated the relationship between fantasy sports or social media engagement and flourishing. The findings of the group comparison showed that there were no differences across the three groups in the effects of fantasy sports and social media engagement on perceived value and flourishing. This empirical study contributed to supporting that digital consumption among sports consumers plays a positive role in their lives, suggesting the need to develop strategic management in the digital sports field. In addition, the digital activity patterns of sports consumers were successfully classified based on game schedules, providing a better understanding of their digital consumption journey in the future.
The problem addressed by this study was that collegiate student-athletes that participate in marquee sports such as football and men’s basketball are at a disadvantage compared to non-athlete ...collegiate students when it comes to preparation and career transition to the workforce. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to identify the perceived problems that exist within current academic and counseling programs offered to student-athletes of collegiate football and men’s basketball programs. Specifically, the aim was to determine the need for student-athletes to participate in skill-certifying programs alongside traditional academic courses of study for a better preparation and transition of student-athletes to the workforce. Four student-athletes, four academic advisors, and four academic administrators from an NCAA Division I university belonging to a Power Five conference comprised the study’s population. Krumboltz’ learning theory of career counseling served as the foundation of the conceptual framework. Data collected through participant interviews and institutional websites resulted in the formation of seven themes: institutional goals, lack of connection between student-athletes’ interest and studies, a lack of a career plan for student-athletes, reluctance, the value of a CTE, potential opportunities for the institution, and inconsistency with institutional goals. The results of this study illustrated that the current academic offerings for collegiate student-athletes of revenue generating sports are more directed towards obtaining a college degree rather than career development. Findings also indicated that barriers exist in implementing CTE programming into an NCAA Division I university. Data collected shows that the addition of a CTE curriculum to an NCAA Division I institution needs further exploration as a possible option for student-athletes. Future studies may focus on how the implementation of CTE curricula could be accomplished at a four-year NCAA Division I educational institution.
