Roberto Fernández-Villarino, J. A. Dominguez-Gomez
{"title":"The financial impact of the financial fair play policy on Spanish football","authors":"Roberto Fernández-Villarino, J. A. Dominguez-Gomez","doi":"10.1108/sbm-05-2021-0061","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/sbm-05-2021-0061","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis study aims to explore how responsible corporate behaviour, specifically self-imposed financial regulatory control, might subsequently be reflected in the financial performance of companies subject to such regulation.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the authors aim to explore how financial compliance in the form of the Economic Control Regulation (ECR) has impacted on the financial performance of professional football clubs in Spain. To this purpose, the authors adopted a quasi-experimental before and after study design. This type of design assesses the object of study before and after a specific event in order to determine whether this event has had any effects on the object. In this case, the event was the coming into effect of the ECR in the fiscal year of 2012, and the object hypothetically affected was the clubs’ economic performance.FindingsThe authors can confirm that in general terms and for the whole set of clubs analysed, the ECR has had a strong and positive effect on financial performance.Research limitations/implicationsIn this study, the authors wish to establish a link between the idea of “compliance” and that of “responsible corporate management practice”. It is not just a matter of compliance with the law. The fact of complying with certain laws could, in general terms, or from the point of view of common sense, be qualified as “responsible behaviour”. However, under the contemporary concept of corporate responsibility, compliance with the law is a behaviour that must be taken for granted. Responsibility, therefore, would entail going beyond such expected behaviour to one that exceeds the environment's expectation of the corporate actor.Practical implicationsWhat extent improvements in financial performance have also boosted social performance. Confirming such a positive effect endorses the argument that ethical improvements in corporate culture have a general effect on business sustainability in its different aspects: economic, social, environmental and in governance.Social implicationsThe authors may foresee that the culture of compliance will spread from the finance departments to other management areas. Its connection with ethical business practice is directly linked to the more complex concept of the “citizen company”. There are suggest interesting bases on which professional football clubs might move from a traditional profit-oriented company model towards a more contemporary one oriented towards relationships of integrity with the sport's environment. This study shows that the ECR has been a starting point for the development of Spanish professional football clubs towards this type of “citizen company”.Originality/valueIt was a single-sector study whose principal value lies in the verification of whether responsible economic management (the main consequence of applying the ECR) had any effects on company profits, financial results and other important indicators. In addition to fostering responsibility, ","PeriodicalId":45818,"journal":{"name":"Sport Business and Management-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79644676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The influence of brand experience on satisfaction, uncertainty and brand loyalty: a focus on the golf club industry","authors":"M. Chung, Jon Welty Peachey","doi":"10.1108/sbm-11-2020-0115","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/sbm-11-2020-0115","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeUnderstanding the advantages of brand experience is important for brand managers to more effectively grow satisfied and loyal customers. To date, little research has examined the relationship between brand experience and customer satisfaction, uncertainty, and brand loyalty with sport products. Therefore, this study examined these relationships with golf club products in the golf industry.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from golf players in South Korea (n = 386) through online surveys. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to examine the relationship between the variables.FindingsThe results revealed that brand experience influences golfers' uncertainty toward other brands. In other words, doubts about the brand will decrease when consumers experience sensory, affective, behavioral, and intellectual interactions with a brand. Interestingly, brand experience does not influence golfers' satisfaction as indicated by previous studies. Also, findings showed that just having experience with a brand does not lead to golfers' loyalty.Originality/valueThis study helps to understand how consumers' direct experiences influence brand beliefs and attitudes. Moreover, this study is significant for sport marketing practitioners since it explores an alternative marketing approach to brand differentiation, which has the potential to attract and retain more customers.","PeriodicalId":45818,"journal":{"name":"Sport Business and Management-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-08-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86310237","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
W. Jang, K. Byon, Antonio S. Williams, P. Pedersen
{"title":"Augmenting the formation of esports gameplay intention: interaction effects of genre and gender","authors":"W. Jang, K. Byon, Antonio S. Williams, P. Pedersen","doi":"10.1108/sbm-04-2021-0049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/sbm-04-2021-0049","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeWhile each genre and gender has been revealed as significant moderators for esports gameplay intention, exploring the interaction effects between genre and gender could broaden our understanding of the drivers’ relative effects on esports gameplay intention. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the interaction effects of gender and genre in the relationship between esports gameplay intention and its drivers (i.e. hedonic motivation, habit, price value, effort expectancy, social influence and flow).Design/methodology/approachThe hypothesized model was examined using data from a sample (N = 1,194). For the purposes of data analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to examine the hypothesized model. Then, a series of structural invariance tests were conducted to compare the interrelationship between the six determinants and esports gameplay for the six-group model.FindingsThe results of the six-group model comparison indicated that the interaction between gender and genre moderates the relationship between drivers and esports gameplay intention. In particular, the following moderation effects were observed: (1) “social influence-esports gameplay intention” between “male-physical enactment” and “female-physical enactment”; (2) “habit-esports gameplay intention” and (3) “effort expectancy-esports gameplay intention” between “female-imagination” and “female-physical enactment”; (4) “hedonic motivation-esports gameplay intention” and (5) “effort expectancy-esports gameplay intention” between “female-physical enactment” and “female-sport simulation.”Originality/valueThe findings of this current study contributed to clarifying the genre and gender effects in esports gameplay intention and thus the extension of the Esports Consumption (ESC) model (Jang et al., 2020a) and the technology adoption literature. Since the ESC model grounded the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2), the improvement of the ESC model extended UTAUT2. In consumer behavior research in the esports context, this current study contributed to the extension of UTAUT2 on the new moderating mechanisms by adding the interaction between gender and esports game genre.","PeriodicalId":45818,"journal":{"name":"Sport Business and Management-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90217055","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Soojin Kim, Yongjae Kim, Seungbum Lee, Younghan Lee, Eun Yeon Kang, Mi-Lyang Kim
{"title":"The moderating role of consumers' ad perception in athlete endorsement effectiveness","authors":"Soojin Kim, Yongjae Kim, Seungbum Lee, Younghan Lee, Eun Yeon Kang, Mi-Lyang Kim","doi":"10.1108/sbm-01-2021-0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/sbm-01-2021-0001","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis paper aims to examine the structural relationships among the variables of social cause involvement, attitudes toward the endorser, attitudes toward advertising, attitudes toward the brand and social cause behavioral intentions. Additionally, by using the persuasion knowledge model (PKM) as the guiding framework, the moderating effects of ad perception on the proposed relationship were investigated.Design/methodology/approachBy using Amazon Mechanical Turk, a total of 291 usable surveys were retained for analysis. Following the participants' exposure to the Nike commercial, they completed a survey containing questions about advertising perception and their consequent responses to the advertisement. Structural equation modeling was used to test the conceptual model. Multigroup analysis was also performed to discover any moderating effects of consumers' advertising perception in endorsement effectiveness.FindingsThis study highlights the extensive impact of social cause involvement in the domain of celebrity endorsements, while attitudes toward the endorser are not a significant antecedent of celebrity endorsement effectiveness in the sport contexts. Additionally, this study demonstrates and confirms the presence of the moderating effects of advertisement perception on the proposed relationship. This supports the general premise of the PKM that consumers' attitudes and thoughts are influenced based on consumers' judgment of persuasion attempts.Originality/valueThe current study extends the line of research on the role of advertising perception in the domain of celebrity endorsement. In particular, this study found that the PKM is a theoretically sound model that can be used to predict sports fans' attitudinal and behavioral responses.","PeriodicalId":45818,"journal":{"name":"Sport Business and Management-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86178826","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Personal branding on Instagram: an examination of Iranian professional athletes","authors":"Z. Sharifzadeh, Natasha T. Brison, Gregg Bennett","doi":"10.1108/sbm-01-2021-0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/sbm-01-2021-0007","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThis study investigates the personal branding strategies utilized by Iranian professional athletes. It also examines the challenges these athletes face in attempting to create a personal brand. For example, unlike their global counterparts, Iranian athletes’ access to social media is limited to only Instagram, due to a ban in Iran on the use of Facebook and Twitter. This specific situation provides unique opportunities and interactions in the personal branding process.Design/methodology/approachUtilizing a criterion purposive sample of Iranian professional athletes, the authors conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews to understand the branding strategies and challenges of these athletes.FindingsTwo categories (branding strategies and cultural/societal challenges), along with Six themes emerged. The categories were derived based on the literature review and the subsequent research questions.Originality/valueThis paper provides valuable information on challenges and opportunities for athletes' personal branding from international perspectives. Also, the results of the study broaden our understanding of how athletes' personal branding can function in different countries and contexts. Findings will provide governing bodies and sport marketers have a better understanding of athletes' social media usage.","PeriodicalId":45818,"journal":{"name":"Sport Business and Management-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-08-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89908388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Football fans and stakeholder theory – A qualitative approach to classifying fans in Germany","authors":"J. Jaeger","doi":"10.1108/sbm-11-2020-0127","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/sbm-11-2020-0127","url":null,"abstract":"PurposePublic debates and scholarly literature on football fandom are often characterised by generalisation and lacking differentiation. The changing ethnography of fans, affected by the rapid commercialisation and internationalisation of the game, reinforces the demand for contemporary classification criteria and fan typologies that take the complexity and heterogeneity of fans into account and draw a more differentiated picture of fans and sub-groups.Design/methodology/approachBased on the grounded theory methodology and a systematic literature review on stakeholder theory, stakeholder classification criteria and football fandom, the authors conduct and analyse 14 semi-structured expert interviews with fan managers employed by German professional football clubs. Building on the analysis, the authors identify, present and discuss ten contemporary criteria and five corresponding typologies for the classification of football fans.FindingsThe grounded theory analysis suggests that football fans can be characterised according to ten classification criteria. Building on the analysis, the authors derive five fan typologies that differ in their characteristics along the continua of the identified criteria. Typologies comprise (1) active fans, (2) consuming fans, (3) event fans, (4) corporate fans and (5) passive followers.Originality/valueThe paper enlarges prior knowledge on the behavioural and attitudinal characteristics of fans as individuals and adds knowledge regarding relationships within fan groups, and regarding formal and non-formal relations between fans and clubs. The results provide scholars with a framework for further scientific investigation and practitioners with a concept for a more sophisticated and differentiated approach to managing fan relations.","PeriodicalId":45818,"journal":{"name":"Sport Business and Management-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74684670","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gamification through fantasy sports – Empirical findings from professional sport leagues","authors":"M. Buser, Herbert Woratschek, B. D. Ridpath","doi":"10.1108/sbm-08-2020-0080","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/sbm-08-2020-0080","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeIn this paper, Fantasy Sports (Hereafter FS) is conceptually classified as a concept of gamification for professional sport leagues. From a sporting perspective, FS is often criticized because such online activities may be at the expense of physical activities. Otherwise, gamification can ultimately lead to economic advantages for sport leagues. To further empirically analyse this supposed juxtaposition, an empirical study is presented.Design/methodology/approachIn the empirical study, participation and non-participation in a sport league-related FS league are analysed and the study uses a divided sample (N = 319) for a one-factor Welch-ANOVA. FS effects on sport practice (engaging in doing sport) and usage (engaging with sport) of FS players as well as on gaining and retaining fans are investigated.FindingsResults demonstrate that participating in gamified FS experiences increases sport usage while not harming general sport practice. Furthermore, FS participation increases consumption capital as well as sport fans' loyalty and word of mouth (WOM) towards the league brand. Building on the results, league brands should foster gamified FS applications to retain their fan base and acquire new fans.Originality/valueThe authors’ theoretical contribution indicates the importance of FS as a gamified application and essential marketing tool for professional sport leagues. By introducing the terms sport practice and usage, the authors bridge the traditional logic of sport consumption with innovative approaches around engagement in and with sports. The results refute the prejudice that FS leads to less physical activity due to time substitution or displacement.","PeriodicalId":45818,"journal":{"name":"Sport Business and Management-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-08-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75086525","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Jumping to conclusions – an analysis of the NBA Draft Combine athleticism data and its influence on managerial decision-making","authors":"Tobias Berger, F. Daumann","doi":"10.1108/SBM-11-2020-0117","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-11-2020-0117","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe NBA Draft policy pursues the goal to provide the weakest teams with the most talented young players to close the gap to the superior competition. But it hinges on appropriate talent evaluation skills of the respective organizations. Research suggests the policy might be valid but to date unable to produce its intended results due to the “human judgement-factor”. This paper investigates specific managerial selection-behavior-influencing information to examine why decision-makers seem to fail to constantly seize the opportunities the draft presents them with.Design/methodology/approachAthleticism data produced within the NBA Draft Combine setting is strongly considered in the player evaluations and consequently informs the draft decisions of NBA managers. Curiously, research has failed to find much predictive power within the players pre-draft combine results for their post-draft performance. This paper investigates this clear disconnect, by examining the pre- and post-draft data from 2000 to 2019 using principal component and regression analysis.FindingsEvidence for an athletic-induced decision-quality-lowering bias within the NBA Draft process was found. The analysis proves that players with better NBA Draft Combine results tend to get drafted earlier. Controlling for position, age and pre-draft performance there seems to be no proper justification based on post-draft performance for this managerial behavior. This produces systematic errors within the structure of the NBA Draft process and leads to problematic outcomes for the entire league-policy.Originality/valueThe paper delivers first evidence for an athleticism-induced decision-making bias regarding the NBA Draft process. Informing future selection-behavior of managers this research could improve NBA Draft decision-making quality.","PeriodicalId":45818,"journal":{"name":"Sport Business and Management-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77272952","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Analysis of price bundling and framing: the impact of availability and discount messaging","authors":"M. Won, S. Shapiro","doi":"10.1108/SBM-09-2020-0093","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-09-2020-0093","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine consumer behaviors toward a bundle of tickets and lodging using two different message framing: (1) scarcity framing for a high demand event, the All-Star Game, and (2) discount framing for a lower demand event, an MLB mid-week game.Design/methodology/approachData were collected through two online surveys of 836 sport consumers in total on Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) and were analyzed using a mix of analysis of variances (ANOVAs) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).FindingsConsumers are likely to buy products separately in a scarce situation. When discounts are offered as benefits of choosing a bundle, consumers with high willingness to pay (WTP) have higher purchase intentions (PI) and perceived value toward cumulative discounts.Originality/valueThis is the one of few studies that investigate (1) price bundling of products from two disparate industries where consumer demands fluctuate, (2) the effects of scarcity in a bundle, and (3) all possible discount messaging in a bundle.","PeriodicalId":45818,"journal":{"name":"Sport Business and Management-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-07-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86750352","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Crystal market: a way to study knowledge-based dynamic capabilities","authors":"C. Curado, P. Henriques, Isabel Proença, D. Maia","doi":"10.1108/SBM-06-2020-0060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-06-2020-0060","url":null,"abstract":"PurposeIn this work, the authors address a gap in the literature on the contribution of dynamic capabilities and internal contingencies to performance in a highly competitive environment.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use data from the Premier Football (soccer) League in Portugal over ten years. This league works as a laboratorial setting and enables the authors to identify the influences of the variables in the study.FindingsThe authors find evidence that human capital is decisive to a team's performance. This study’s findings question the role of the alignment between the different levels of the organization: strategic, tactical and operational.Research limitations/implicationsWith this work, the authors stress the importance (1) of using alternative scenarios in management research and (2) of the way that human and social capitals and managerial cognition and internal contingencies influence the development of knowledge-based dynamic capabilities, especially in highly regulated industries such has sports clubs.Practical implicationsThis work provides evidence on the importance of strategic coherence at different structural levels of the organization. Furthermore, it highlights the need to secure the right resources at the right time.Originality/valueThe authors propose a setting to run the study: a crystal market and an original measure of performance that reflect the relative achievement of market potential.","PeriodicalId":45818,"journal":{"name":"Sport Business and Management-An International Journal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2021-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90939082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}