This document summarizes a study that examined consumer perspectives on sport participation as a mechanism for social change and the resulting marketing implications. The study tested relationships between constructs like the importance of societal dimensions of sport, sport participation motives, and participation intentions. It found that physical, sociological, and psychological dimensions were viewed as most important. Younger participants perceived greater importance of dimensions than older groups. While motives correlated with importance, they were poor predictors of intentions. The implications are that marketers should highlight benefits of participation to build membership. Further research with an ecological model is needed.
The stress-buffering model of social support in glycaemic control in adolesce...Emily Mattacola
Poster presented at the British Psychological Society's Division of Health Psychology Conference 2015
The behaviour of peers can have a significant impact on self-care, particularly in adolescents. Adolescents with long-term conditions such as Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) must manage the challenges of this life stage alongside the additional burden of their long-term condition. It is unlikely to be a coincidence that as peer pressure peaks, adolescents with T1DM display decreasing self-care in exchange for peer acceptability. Previous research has shown that this combination of aspirations can influence daily choices in disease management.
Aim: To assess whether social bonding is associated with glycaemic control in T1DM via the stress-buffering model of social support.
Method: Biomarkers of social bonding (oxytocin) and HPA axis activity (cortisol) were analysed and compared to glycaemic control (HbA1c) and self-reported self-care behaviours. Participants were aged 15-18, recruited from two paediatric outpatient clinics in the East Midlands of England. Participants supplied salivary samples of biomarkers via Salivettes for analysis using immunoassay. Glycaemic control was provided by the clinic, with self-care assessed using the Self-Care Inventory
.
Findings: Despite significant correlations between oxytocin and cortisol, neither biomarker was found to be associated with glycaemic control or self-care. However, when looking at demographic characteristics, both males and those aged 17 or over indicated a relationship between cortisol and self-care behaviours. This relationship was maintained during regression analysis. with cortisol explaining a significant proportion of the variance in self-care.
Discussion: Despite social support being found as beneficial in previous research, these findings suggest that the mechanism through which social support is associated with glycaemic control is not via the HPA axis. Rather, a positive impact of cortisol on self-care behaviours was found. In males and those aged 17 and over, it is suggested that a sufficient amount of stress is required to increase self-care behaviours. It is proposed that optimal stress provides motivation to appropriately self-manage in these demographic groups. Further research is required to assess if this stress is disease-specific, or if daily hassles and other generic sources are also associated with this improved self-management.
The Impact of Physical Activity on Socializing Mentally Handicapped Childreninventionjournals
This research is conducted to determine socialization of individuals with moderate mental retardation by physical activity. In order to meet the needs of physical activity of individuals with mental retardation, programs including work and play are being prepared today. These games and practices are aimed on their abilities, limitations and interests. A well-planned program of physical activity can have a positive contribution to all areas of development on children with mental disabilities. In this study, which proceeds on the basis of The Focus Group Interview (FGI), a part of qualitative research strategy, 19 parents with disabled kids were interviewed. Children of parents who participated in the study have moderate mental retardation (MR) and they have been playing basketball for two days a week, swimming for one day a weekend short walking at least three times a week on a regular basis for the last two years. The study was made by Maximum Diversity Sampling as a sampling method and interview form was used as a data collection means. Verbal explanations given by parents to open-ended questions were analyzed through content analysis. Main themes of each research question were chosen by comparing a pre determined part of the creation of common themes. As a result, parents who are suffering from hyperactive or inactive children, tell that they observe a significant change in their children after doing sports. Parents who see this positive change become happy and therefore they have spare time for themselves while their kids are doing sports. Both parents and children defined the positive changes at home and social life along with sports as happiness and calmness. Parents state that they feel their kid’s sense of achievement, improved ability to make an action and communications kills. They also observe the fact that they gain acceptance in the community
This presentation attached are of ownership of Justin Brooks and the Exercise and Sports Science Program of the University of Memphis. It discusses how exercise with focus on visual- reactive stimuli can be highly beneficial when training the geriatric population. Research gathered showed large increases in confidence, as well as slight increases in muscle strength, balance, agility, and a drop in reaction time. For more information associated with this presentation, please feel free to contact me at my email or phone which can be found upon my profile.
Some people realized about the importance of physical activity in maintaining health and wellness. This perception exists because there is a lot of efforts and studies done to improve people health and wellness through physical activity. In top of that, it is known that motivation is one of the main effects of the people participation in sports or physical activity. Therefore, whether intrinsic or extrinsic, many have agreed that motivation plays important role in determining physical activity level. Hence, this study will be conducted to determine the relationship between extrinsic motivations with the physical activity level. The researcher has randomly selected 172 students from Faculty of Education UiTM as a respondent of this study. The study was conducted using questionnaire based on the Exercise Motivation Inventory (EMI) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) which then been edited to fulfil the requirement of the study. This study is to examine the relationship between extrinsic motivations with the physical activity level. The results showed that there was significant relationship between extrinsic motivations with the physical activity level. The male respondent was found to have high level of physical activity better than female respondents.
How Women Over 40 Use Exergames (like Wii Fit Plus)Lorna Boschman
Lorna Boschman, a researcher from Simon Fraser University, presents early results from her study of women over forty who use exergames. Presentation at Games for Health in Boston, May 19, 2011.
The stress-buffering model of social support in glycaemic control in adolesce...Emily Mattacola
Poster presented at the British Psychological Society's Division of Health Psychology Conference 2015
The behaviour of peers can have a significant impact on self-care, particularly in adolescents. Adolescents with long-term conditions such as Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) must manage the challenges of this life stage alongside the additional burden of their long-term condition. It is unlikely to be a coincidence that as peer pressure peaks, adolescents with T1DM display decreasing self-care in exchange for peer acceptability. Previous research has shown that this combination of aspirations can influence daily choices in disease management.
Aim: To assess whether social bonding is associated with glycaemic control in T1DM via the stress-buffering model of social support.
Method: Biomarkers of social bonding (oxytocin) and HPA axis activity (cortisol) were analysed and compared to glycaemic control (HbA1c) and self-reported self-care behaviours. Participants were aged 15-18, recruited from two paediatric outpatient clinics in the East Midlands of England. Participants supplied salivary samples of biomarkers via Salivettes for analysis using immunoassay. Glycaemic control was provided by the clinic, with self-care assessed using the Self-Care Inventory
.
Findings: Despite significant correlations between oxytocin and cortisol, neither biomarker was found to be associated with glycaemic control or self-care. However, when looking at demographic characteristics, both males and those aged 17 or over indicated a relationship between cortisol and self-care behaviours. This relationship was maintained during regression analysis. with cortisol explaining a significant proportion of the variance in self-care.
Discussion: Despite social support being found as beneficial in previous research, these findings suggest that the mechanism through which social support is associated with glycaemic control is not via the HPA axis. Rather, a positive impact of cortisol on self-care behaviours was found. In males and those aged 17 and over, it is suggested that a sufficient amount of stress is required to increase self-care behaviours. It is proposed that optimal stress provides motivation to appropriately self-manage in these demographic groups. Further research is required to assess if this stress is disease-specific, or if daily hassles and other generic sources are also associated with this improved self-management.
The Impact of Physical Activity on Socializing Mentally Handicapped Childreninventionjournals
This research is conducted to determine socialization of individuals with moderate mental retardation by physical activity. In order to meet the needs of physical activity of individuals with mental retardation, programs including work and play are being prepared today. These games and practices are aimed on their abilities, limitations and interests. A well-planned program of physical activity can have a positive contribution to all areas of development on children with mental disabilities. In this study, which proceeds on the basis of The Focus Group Interview (FGI), a part of qualitative research strategy, 19 parents with disabled kids were interviewed. Children of parents who participated in the study have moderate mental retardation (MR) and they have been playing basketball for two days a week, swimming for one day a weekend short walking at least three times a week on a regular basis for the last two years. The study was made by Maximum Diversity Sampling as a sampling method and interview form was used as a data collection means. Verbal explanations given by parents to open-ended questions were analyzed through content analysis. Main themes of each research question were chosen by comparing a pre determined part of the creation of common themes. As a result, parents who are suffering from hyperactive or inactive children, tell that they observe a significant change in their children after doing sports. Parents who see this positive change become happy and therefore they have spare time for themselves while their kids are doing sports. Both parents and children defined the positive changes at home and social life along with sports as happiness and calmness. Parents state that they feel their kid’s sense of achievement, improved ability to make an action and communications kills. They also observe the fact that they gain acceptance in the community
This presentation attached are of ownership of Justin Brooks and the Exercise and Sports Science Program of the University of Memphis. It discusses how exercise with focus on visual- reactive stimuli can be highly beneficial when training the geriatric population. Research gathered showed large increases in confidence, as well as slight increases in muscle strength, balance, agility, and a drop in reaction time. For more information associated with this presentation, please feel free to contact me at my email or phone which can be found upon my profile.
Some people realized about the importance of physical activity in maintaining health and wellness. This perception exists because there is a lot of efforts and studies done to improve people health and wellness through physical activity. In top of that, it is known that motivation is one of the main effects of the people participation in sports or physical activity. Therefore, whether intrinsic or extrinsic, many have agreed that motivation plays important role in determining physical activity level. Hence, this study will be conducted to determine the relationship between extrinsic motivations with the physical activity level. The researcher has randomly selected 172 students from Faculty of Education UiTM as a respondent of this study. The study was conducted using questionnaire based on the Exercise Motivation Inventory (EMI) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) which then been edited to fulfil the requirement of the study. This study is to examine the relationship between extrinsic motivations with the physical activity level. The results showed that there was significant relationship between extrinsic motivations with the physical activity level. The male respondent was found to have high level of physical activity better than female respondents.
How Women Over 40 Use Exergames (like Wii Fit Plus)Lorna Boschman
Lorna Boschman, a researcher from Simon Fraser University, presents early results from her study of women over forty who use exergames. Presentation at Games for Health in Boston, May 19, 2011.
STUDY OF SPORTS AND COMMUNICATIONS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE CREATIVE INDUSTRYectijjournal
The emergence of the sports phenomenon is closely related to the process of communication. Sport is a
social phenomenon that accomplishes a variety of tasks. The integrity and popularity of sport guide the
birth and development of the sports industry which unites all human activities. The sports industry changes
with changing social and technological developments. The aim is to meet the needs of society at various
levels (personal, group, social, national and international). Sport helps solve personal growth tasks.
Analysis of the basic elements of sport and the sports industry makes it possible to assess their importance
and determine the stages of development of the sports industry. Sport phenomena and related fields require
in-depth research, including seemingly unrelated fields (e.g. education, physiology, psychology, law,
economics, culture, technology), sport. Visualization in this case is used as a variable that is represented
by various screens including; Observe all phenomena in the world of sport, including communication,
industry, behavior and interpersonal patterns. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative
method. Another qualitative research tool in this study is data collection through observation and research
on the subject. Reality shows that today's global social changes cause changes in values and goals in
sports. Sport has changed from just a physical activity to become an integral part of modern life in today's
society. Changes in sport content and goals lead to a growing relationship with the creative process, which
encourages greater integration between the creative fields and sport.
Provides an overview of the reasons why kids quit participating in sport. Provides useful strategies for coaches and parents in how to encourage participation and reduce the likelihood that kids will quit.
Instructor’s Feedback Depth and Relevance 4.5 out of 4.5Rep.docxLaticiaGrissomzz
Instructor’s Feedback
Depth and Relevance: 4.5 out of 4.5
Reply post responds completely to all facets of another student’s initial post, incorporating different points of view, ideas or concepts related.
Utilization of Course Material and References:
4 out of 4
Reply post integrates course materials (textbook and ancillary article from student’s post).
Word Count: 2 out of 2
Reply post has between 250-350 words. (This word count does not include the actual discussion question being written or the reference list.)
Hello Samuel,
There are several ideas you have expressed in your post, which I support. First, I want to join you in your view that there is inadequate research on cultural diversity in sport psychology. The increasing population of diverse populations in sports in the United States, whereby many immigrants have been incorporated into sports and athletics, should be characterized by more research on cultural diversity to enable diverse players to understand how they can relate with their coach, fellow athletes, and sportsmen and women (Schinke & Moore, 2011). It is also important because it will ensure that all the affected parties understand and can interpret rules and regulations safeguarding sports in foreign countries. Many reports have shown that the United States is more diverse today, with a greater population of African players and athletes dominating the country.
Cultural diversity in sports has contributed to the current intense competition, innovation, and talented players and athletes in America. In your post, I agree that research on cultural diversity in sport psychology will ensure that sports psychologists gain an in-depth understanding of the athletes with whom they work. It is also key in demonstrating respect for and integration of cultural constructs in the treatment room (Ryba et al., 2013). Another important idea you have identified in your post is that intense research on cultural diversity in sport psychology is key because it helps sports psychologists maintain personal and professional self-awareness.
From your post, it is evident that a lack of research on cultural diversity in sport psychology can lead to an organization's lack of inclusive culture. This is mainly occurring due to a diverse organization that is not properly oriented and guided by organizational behaviors and culture (Gill & William, 2008). The resultant effect of a diverse culture is that it can change an organization's culture, which can make it miss its core values and general mandate.
References
Gill, D. L., & William, L. (2008). Gender, diversity, and cultural competence.
Psychological dynamics of sport and exercise. 2nd. Champaign: Human Kinetics, 267-290.
Schinke, R., & Moore, Z. E. (2011). Culturally informed sport psychology: Introduction to the special issue.
Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology,
5(4), 283-294.
Ryba, T. V., S.
Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty, In...Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty,
International FDP on Fundamentals of Research in Social Sciences
at Integral University, Lucknow, 06.06.2024
By Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
Macroeconomics- Movie Location
This will be used as part of your Personal Professional Portfolio once graded.
Objective:
Prepare a presentation or a paper using research, basic comparative analysis, data organization and application of economic information. You will make an informed assessment of an economic climate outside of the United States to accomplish an entertainment industry objective.
This slide is special for master students (MIBS & MIFB) in UUM. Also useful for readers who are interested in the topic of contemporary Islamic banking.
Read| The latest issue of The Challenger is here! We are thrilled to announce that our school paper has qualified for the NATIONAL SCHOOLS PRESS CONFERENCE (NSPC) 2024. Thank you for your unwavering support and trust. Dive into the stories that made us stand out!
Acetabularia Information For Class 9 .docxvaibhavrinwa19
Acetabularia acetabulum is a single-celled green alga that in its vegetative state is morphologically differentiated into a basal rhizoid and an axially elongated stalk, which bears whorls of branching hairs. The single diploid nucleus resides in the rhizoid.
Model Attribute Check Company Auto PropertyCeline George
In Odoo, the multi-company feature allows you to manage multiple companies within a single Odoo database instance. Each company can have its own configurations while still sharing common resources such as products, customers, and suppliers.
A review of the growth of the Israel Genealogy Research Association Database Collection for the last 12 months. Our collection is now passed the 3 million mark and still growing. See which archives have contributed the most. See the different types of records we have, and which years have had records added. You can also see what we have for the future.
A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
A workshop hosted by the South African Journal of Science aimed at postgraduate students and early career researchers with little or no experience in writing and publishing journal articles.
Unit 8 - Information and Communication Technology (Paper I).pdfThiyagu K
This slides describes the basic concepts of ICT, basics of Email, Emerging Technology and Digital Initiatives in Education. This presentations aligns with the UGC Paper I syllabus.
Unit 8 - Information and Communication Technology (Paper I).pdf
Naylor ISDPA Presentation
1. Sport Participation as a Mechanism forSocial Change: Consumer Perspectives and Marketing Implications Saturday, June 12th, 2010 Michael Naylor Dr. Jeffrey James
2. Background Field of Sport Management Traditionally focused on collegiate & professional sport, recent emphasis on fantasy gaming/video gaming Lack of attention on sport participation – “sport for all” (Scheerder, Vanreusel & Taks, 2005) Legitimations of sport identified, a shift proposed (Chalip 2006; Zeigler, 2007) Interdisciplinary research called for (Inglis, 2007)
3. Sport Participation “Fundamental to human development” (Sport Canada, 2002) Significant benefits possible – physically active participation is key (Beaton, Funk & Alexandris, 2009) There is a need to better understand the psychological processes involved with sport participants, so more focused marketing is possible (Crompton, 2008) “desperate need for effective strategies promoting physical activity to the public” (Latimer et. al, 2008)
4. Significance Important health benefits attainable through sport participation (Bloom, Grant & Watt, 2005; World Health Organization, 2004) Promotional efforts to date have not been effective (perhaps due to an overemphasis on demographic correlates) Inactivity is increasing – modern conveniences
5. Societal Orientation Relates to the long-term impacts of goods or service provision for both individuals and society (Kang, 2004) May be consistent with public mandate for public leisure services (Kaczynski, 2008) Increasingly, citizens are showing concern for their health and environment – may shape sport participation decisions (Coalter, 2007)
6. Sport Participation Motivation When developing physically active programs – motivational structures are key (Netz & Raviv, 2004) There is “hardly anything more basic” than studying motivations in sport settings (Iso-Ahola, 1989) Linked to adherence – important to accrue benefits of sport participation (Koivula, 1999) Motivation in sport settings may be linked to meaningfulness or importance of benefits (Gill & Overdorf, 1994)
7. ATTITUDES MOTIVATIONS INTENTIONS Importance of Societal Dimensions of Sport Quality Sport Participation Motives Model of Sport Participation Physical Social Contact Body Image Psychological Competition Sociological Participation Intentions H2 Challenge H1 Economical Physical Exercise H3 Entertainment Environmental
8. Hypotheses H1: Those who place high importance on the societal dimensions of sport will be motivated to participate in sport. H2: Those who place high importance on the societal dimension of sport will report higher levels of participation intentions. H3: Those who are highly motivated to participate in sport will report higher levels of participation intentions.
9. Purpose Test relationships among constructs Assess psychometric properties of the revised SOC*QUAL instrument Examine gender, age and participant/non-participant) differences on the revised SOC*QUAL instrument
10. Participants Participants (n=720) were intercepted by a team of graduate students Community members in a variety of venues such as malls, workplaces and various locations around campus. Variety of ages, an equitable mix of men and women and a combination of both active sport participants and non-participants Mean age of 30.7, 56 % male
11. Instrument Demographic variables Three constructs of interest 1) the importance of the five societal sub-dimensions (Kang, 2004) 2) sport participation motives (Caro & Garcia, 2007) 3) sport participation intentions.
12. Scale Development Societal sub-dimension importance scale was developed for this research project Kang’s (2004) original (and validated) 37 item SOC*QUAL measure was re-worded Scale alterations simply involved adding the word importance to each item as well as changing the context from an organization to sport participation in general. For example, Kang’s (2004) item reworded to ‘it is important that participating in sport improves physical health’ 7 point, likert-type, fully-anchored scale of agreement.
13. Scale Development Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) Five initial Eigenvalues were more than one, meaning the factors they represented were kept Nunnally (1978). 5 factors emerged as theorized on five sub-dimensions (Physiological, Psychological, Sociological, Economic, Environmental)
14. Scale Development Cronbach’s alpha reliability analysis Criteria is greater than 0.70 (Kline, 2005) physical (α=.86) sociological (α=.94) psychological (α=.95) economic (α=.94) environmental (α=.89) scale as a whole (α=.96) *indication of internal consistency
15.
16. Relationships Among Constructs Significant correlations present between societal dimension importance and motive variables, but small effects Logistic Regression analyses showed poor predictive capacity of both societal dimension importance and the motives on participation intentions
17. Discussion Evidence that sport participants and non-participants do not differ in the importance they attribute to societal benefits attainable through sport participation is promising to the extent that non-participants do view these benefits as important. Why don’t they participate? Constraints or exercise? The sample rated the physical, sociological and psychological importance of sport participation more highly than the economic and environmental sub-dimensions. Are these dimensions appropriate in sport participation settings? The fact that the new instrument was found to be reliable and internally consistent (α=.96) is promising. In addition, the sub-dimensions showed discriminant validity, and the factor structure determined through an EFA was consistent with what was theorized. These are all signs that participants were able to interpret the items effectively and that the construct is multi-dimensional. Further testing needed in fuller models and alternate settings.
18. Limitations Conceptual issue with measuring economic sub-dimension Random sampling – an explicitly defined assumption of EFA procedures Not a “full” model of sport participation Simple measures of motivation and outcomes
19. Managerial Implications Sport managers should be aware of and highlight benefits of sport participation For example, a sport marketer attempting to build membership at a new tennis club, could highlight the physiological (get fit!), sociological (make friends!) and psychological (take your mind of work!) benefits possible for new members through creative promotional efforts.
20. Next Phase Data Collection – Fall 2010 Three dimensions only – discard environmental & economic Ecological Model (Spence & Lee, 2003) Add complexity to motivation measurement Add constraints to model Add a measure of self-efficacy Add complexity to outcome measures
21. Selected References Beaton, A. A., Funk, D. C., Alexandris, K. (2009). Operationalizing a theory of participation in physically active leisure. Journal of Leisure Research, 44, 177-203. Bloom, M., Grant, M. & Watt, D. (2005). Strengthening Canada: The socio-economic benefits of Sport Participation in Canada. Ottawa, ON: Conference Board of Canada. Chalip, L. (2006). Toward a distinctive sport management discipline. Journal of Sport Management, 20, 1-21. Crompton, J. L. (2008). Evolution and implications of a paradigm shift in the marketing of leisure services in the USA. Leisure Studies, 27, 181-206. Kaczynski, A, T. (2008). A more tenable marketing for leisure services and studies. Leisure Sciences, 30, 253-272. Kang, G. D. (2004). Soc*Qual: The development of a scale to measure a societal marketing dimension. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Illinois, Urbana. Koivula, N. (1999). Sport participation: Differences in motivation and actual participation due to gender typing. Journal of Sport Behavior, 22, 360-380. Latimer, A. E., Rench, T. A., Rivers, S. E., Katulak, N. A., Materese, S. A., Cadmus, L., Hicks, A., Hodorowski, J. K., Salovey, P. (2008). Promoting participation in physical activity using framed messages: An application of prospect theory. British Journal of Health Psychology, 13, 659-681. Netz, Y. & Raviv, S. (2004). Age differences in motivational orientation toward physical activity: An application of social-cognitive theory. The Journal of Psychology, 138, 35-48. Scheerder, J., Vanreusel, B. & Taks, M. (2005). Leisure-time sport among physical education students. A time trend analysis of sport participation styles. European Sport Management Quarterly, 5, 415-441. Spence, J. C. & Lee, R. E. (2003). Toward a comprehensive model of physical activity. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 4, 7-24. Sport Canada. (2002). The Canadian Sport Policy. Ottawa, ON: Sport Canada. World Health Organization (2004). Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity; and Health. Retrieved April 15th, 2010 from the World Health Organization website: http://who.int/diet/phsicalactivity/strategy/eb11344/en/index.html Zeigler, E.F. (2007). Sport management must show social concern as it develops tenable theory. Journal of Sport Management, 21, 297-318.
I’d like to start by providing a bit of a background of the field of sport management, as I understand that this conference has attracted participants from a wide background of academic disciplines.Sport management scholars are, among other things, interested in managerial functions, ethics, law, finance, facilities and marketing. Our particular interest, and the focus of this presentation lies in marketing.Most marketing research in sport management has focused on collegiate and professional sport, with new streams of research emerging lately toward fantasy gaming and video gaming. These studies are usually geared toward placing more “butts in seats” in stadiums, increasing merchandise sales or sport related consumption of other kinds. Very little, if any research has examined sport participation from a marketing perspective, this despite the long-term trend of increased involvement and academic interest in sport participation – known as the “Sport for All” movement since the 1970’s. Recently troubling signs of citizens living more sedentary lifestyles have emerged, increasing the need to understand why people do (or don’t) choose to participate in sport. Several of our field’s most esteemed scholars including Dr. Chalip and Dr. Zeigler have suggested that the focus of sport management research should realign toward the unique aspects of sport or “Sport for Good” which generally involves active physical participation as opposed to other types of passive involvement such as those just mentioned. Sociological, Psychological and Physiological benefits of sport participation are now well-established, but it’s not clear how important these benefits are to citizens or how they may fit in the greater psychological process of sport participation. Several studies incorporating a Theory of Planned Behavior framework in physical activity settings have examined the determinant role of attitudes – but not specifically in terms of the importance of benefits, and not specifically in terms of sport (as opposed to exercise) participation.
One national sport organization referred to sport participation as “fundamental to human development”.Although this perspective is not held by all, as mentioned there is a body of research that has provided evidence that playing sport is more than just fun. Of the benefits potentially attainable, many require physically active participation. Clearly, psychological and sociological benefits are possible without physically active participation – but an argument can be made that these benefits are enhanced through actual involvement as opposed to vicarious or passive involvement. Dr. Crompton, prominent amongst recreation scholars , has called for a better understanding of the psychological processes associated with sport participation, which will enable more effective marketing practices. Latimer and her colleagues echoed this sentiment, noting that due to increasing inactivity and obesity, our society is in desperate need for effective strategies promoting physical activity to the publicPsychological processes have been examined extensively with regard to physical activity and exercise, but the focus has rarely been on sport. It is not yet clear how exercise and sport participation should be marketed differently, if at all.
I have alluded to the significance of this area of research already – and admittedly some of the rationale is well-known to sport scholars and I’m sure many of you.-The health benefits attainable through sport participation are of particular note and include a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, type-2 diabetes, arthritis and obesity. -Clearly these benefits are not unique to sport, they are related to the physically active component of sport and can be obtained through other means. -They are worth mentioning however, because sport may be perceived as a preferable means to realize these benefits over sometimes monotonous workout routines. -Attempts to promote physical activity and sport, when taken together, are considered by many to be unsuccessful… an increasingly sedentary population is cited as evidence of this. Some have suggested that this may be a result of an over reliance on demographic correlates of physical activity and not a thorough understanding of psychological processes that is preferred by marketers-work in this area is also important because of the formidable opposition that exists through powerful marketing campaigns promoting modern conveniences that can lead to inactivity and sedentary lifestyles.
A body of literature is well-established in mainstream marketing related to social marketing and what can be referred to as a societal orientation. Originally, the idea was conceived that social ideas (in this case “a physically active lifestyle through sport”) could be marketed (or sold) using similar techniques as toothpaste, automobiles or other goods and services. An organization espousing a societal orientation takes into consideration the betterment of society and individuals.Kang, Kaczynski, Coalter and others have theorized that this type of orientation may be a natural fit for those promoting physical activity and sport. With this in mind Kang created an instrument that essentially measured the degree to which organizations espoused a societal orientation. In other words, to what degree an organization was concerned with long-term impacts on individual and societies. -Five dimensions emerged from an exhaustive scale development process that reflected what he called “societal dimensions of quality”… physical, sociological, psychological, environmental and economic-it’s not clear if the latter two dimensions are appropriate in sport participation settings, but that will be discussed further in just a minuteFred Coalter has suggested that citizens concerns for these types of factors may shape sport participation decisions. So, one of the purposes of this study was to measure how important these dimensions (or benefits, as they can be thought of) are in the eyes of both participants and non-participants.
Whenthis study was developed, we decided to include a simple measure of motives to examine how (if at all) citizens’ attitudes about the importance of individual and societal benefits of sport participation would be linked to motives (which we know lead to intention and action).Examining motivations in physical activity and sport settings have been described as “key” and “basic” to building understandings of behavior.Further, Koivula noted that motivation is linked to adherence in sport settings.-adherence (or consistent immersion of some type) is probably essential to accrue the benefits that we are studying Gill and Overdorf suggested that attitudes about meaningfulness may be linked to motivation. It’s clear that motivation plays a role in the psychological process that leads to sport participation but we are still not clear exactly what it is
So, here is a diagram of the model we utilized in this study. This model does not purport to be a full or complete model of sport participation. As it sits now, it simply depicts how the new societal importance measure may fit with motives and intentions. -The goal of the study was primarily to test the psychometric properties of the importance scale, not structural linkages amongst potentially related constructs.You can see the five sub-dimensions of the societal orientation are modeled as a driver of both motives and intentions.Six sport participation motives were selected for this study, because of their simplicity: SOCIAL CONTACT, BODY IMAGE, COMPETITION, CHALLENGE, PHYSICAL EXERCISE, ENTERTAINMENT
720 community members were approached by trained research assistants and asked to complete a survey. They were approached in various places around the City of Tallahassee.Research assistants were specifically asked to sample a variety of ages, an equitable mix of men and women, as well as a combination of both sport and non-sport participants. As you can see – the average age was just over 30, and slightly more than half of the sample were male.
In addition to a range of demographic and behavioral variables, three constructs of interest were measured through the questionnaire – societal dimension importance, motives and intentions. The importance measure was developed in a procedure I will describe next. Motivates were taken from the work of Caro and Garcia and include the six dimensions seen in the diagram.Finally, participation intentions were measured with an ordinal-level measure asking participants to indicate whether they intended to decrease, maintain or increase their frequency of sport participation.
As mentioned, the societal sub-dimension importance scale was developed from the original work of Kang and was reworded to reflect the importance that participants place on these various benefits. As you can see from the sample item listed on the slide, the word importance was added to items and the context was changed from an organization to sport participation in general.
Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the items and the way that they were loading. In fact, the items loaded in a very similar fashion as the original work of Kang – which was a promising sign. Oblique (or oblimin, as it’s called in SPSS statistical software) rotation was utilized as is appropriate for this type of social science research in which factors can be expected to correlate with one another
Coefficient alpha’s were calculated for each dimension and the scale as a whole.The values that you see listed are larger then the most popular critera of .70. These values can be interpreted as evidence that the measures utilzed in this research were consistent and stable.
Composite variables were calculated for each of the five sub-dimensions.The purpose was to provide one means of comparison as to the relative importance that the groups placed on the various benefits potentially attainable through sport participation. As you can see, the participants viewed the physical benefits as most important. In fact a series of paired samples t-tests showed that the differences (although not huge) were statistically meaningful.
Next, a series of analyses were conducted in order to test for gender and behavioral differences on the composite variables. Of interest was the fact that women in our sample viewed these benefits as more important than men.There were no differences between participants and non-participants on the importance of the five dimensions. Finally, the youngest age category perceived each of the five dimensions as more important than the older age categories. These differences should be interpreted with caution due to measurement error inherent to the calculation of composite variables as well as the relatively small differences on some of the differences. For example, there is probably no meaningful difference between 6.1 and 5.8 on the 7 point scale. Nevertheless, these preliminary results do provide talking points and are of some interest, at least descriptively.
Significant correlations present between societal dimension importance and motive variables, but small effectsLogistic Regression analyses showed poor predictive capacity of both societal dimension importance and the motives on participation intentions On the whole a bit dissapointing but perhaps a revamped research model will provide better results in future.
Although there are economic gains that can accrue from sport participation (i.e. lower health care costs) it’s not apparent that this was considered by the participants in the study. This is an interesting issue that can and should be pursued in alternate research projects. Random sampling – an explicitly defined assumption of EFA proceduresNot a “full” model of sport participationSimple measures of motivation and outcomes
According to prospect theory, and the work of Latimer and her colleagues, physical activity may be most effectively marketed by using gain framed messages as opposed to loss-frame.In this case, some evidence has emerged here regarding the relative importance of these benefits in the eyes of sport participants. So, sport managers should be aware of and highlight benefits of sport participationFor example, a sport marketer attempting to build membership at a new tennis club, could highlight the physiological (get fit!), sociological (make friends!) and psychological (take your mind of work!) benefits possible for new members through creative promotional efforts.
I am pleased to briefly outline the next phase of this research project which will commence next fall.The relative importance that citizens perceive in association with the benefits of sport participation remains of interest and clearly more work needs to be done in this area.Although the environmental and economic sub-dimensions make sense in an organizational context, perhaps they don’t make as much sense in terms of sport participation, and probably won’t add much to the explanatory capacity of a fuller model. Spence and Lee have suggested applying an ecological modeling framework to research in sport participation. -To this end, it probably makes sense to add additional factors to the model that impact the psychological process that leads to sport participation from both an intra-individual and extra-individual level. -A measure of self-efficacy or perceived behavioral control is probably relevant here from an intra-individual perspective, while structural and inter-personal constraints definitely shape participation decisions from an extra-individual perspective. -Finally, the way in which motivation is measured can be approached in another way. Instead of thinking about this in terms of motives like social contact and competition… it could be approached from an intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivational perspective. -Research has shown that intrinsic motivation generally drives sport participation while extrinsic motivation has been generally linked to exercise. In this context however, we would expect that those participation in sport specifically accrue benefits, may be somewhat extrinsically motivated. This examination would have interesting marketing implications.
Here is some of the work we used to shape our research.
Thank you very much for listening!I am eager to discuss any portion of the research or try to answer any questions you may have!