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This study aims to explore the impact of board size, board gender diversity and federation age on the likelihood of having a female chair in National Sports Federations (NSF).

A quantitative methodology compares 300 sports boards in five countries (Italy, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the UK), using data collected from NSF’s websites.

The board size and federation age have no significant impact on having a female board chair when the countries and the percentage of female directors are included in the model. When the number of women is measured in absolute value rather than in relative terms, the only variable that predicts a woman chair is the country. When the model does not include country differences, the percentage of female directors is key in predicting a chairwoman, and when the number of women is used as a variable instead of the percentage, a board’s smaller size increases the odds of having a chairwoman.

There are some limitations to this study which we believe provide useful directions for future research. Firstly, the authors have not considered the role of gender typing in sports activities which explains the extent that women participate in specific sports (Sobal and Milgrim, 2019) and the related perception of such sports in society. The social representation of sports activities classified as masculine, feminine or gender-neutral can hypothetically influence women’s access to that specific federations’s leadership. The authors included the country factor only partially, as a control variable, as the social representation of sports usually goes beyond national boundaries.

This study has implications for sport policymakers and stakeholders, and for institutions such as the IOC or the European Union that implement equality policies. If the aim is to increase female presence in the highest position of a sports board and to achieve gender equality more generally, other policies need to be implemented alongside gender quotas for the sports boards, namely, those specifically related to the recruitment and selection of the sports board chairs (Mikkonen et al., 2021). For example, given the implications of critical mass and its ability to increase more female’s engagement then the role of existing chairs acting as mentors and taking initiative in this objective may be warranted. Furthermore, attention should be paid to the existing gender portfolio of each board and its subsequent influence on recruiting a female chair, regardless of the organization’s age. Knoppers et al. (2021) concluded that resistance to gender balance by board members is often related to discriminatory discourses against women. The normalization of the discourses of meritocracy, neoliberalism, silence/passivity about the responsibility of structures and an artificial defence of diversity emphasise that equality should not only be determined by women (Knoppers et al., 2021).

When countries are included in the model, the results suggest that the social representation of a female board member is different from that of a female board chair.

The originality of the study is that it shows the factors that constrain women taking up a chair position on NSFs. Theoretically, it contributes to existing literature by demonstrating how a critical mass of females on boards may also extend to the higher and most powerful position of chair.

Community libraries now constitute a significant proportion of library provision in the UK; however, there is relatively little research on how the transfer to this model has affected those libraries and the wider balance of provision. The purpose of this paper is to broaden the discourse and understanding about the impact of changing libraries to community models.

The paper provides a qualitative evaluation of all the libraries transferred to community-managed models within a large city council region in the UK. Structured research visits were made to appraise each library. These are discussed in the context of published literature and data, both specific to the study area and nationally.

Transferring the management of libraries to community organisations is often reactive and perceived with negative associations. This study uncovers increases in use and diversification of services following transfer; however, support from the local authority and the previous experience of managing organisations are significant factors. The paper also reveals how the successful transfer of a library to a community organisation led to more being moved out of local authority control, but that the support they receive from the local authority can be inconsistent between them.

The paper provides a study of community-managed libraries across a large city council area, affording an in-depth understanding of their impact on overall provision over one region. It will be of value to those involved in library management and service provision at both local and strategic levels, including local authorities and community groups considering library transfer.

In this chapter I argue that intimate massacre and home-grown jihadi terrorism can be explained similarly through the concept of the Doomed Antihero. In both forms of public mass killing the perpetrator has subjectively experienced a long period of humiliation; he has slowly converted humiliation into rage; he has adopted an antiheroic style from a culturally available catalog to channel his rage; he has identified a symbol of his humiliation for attack; he has become determined to permanently destroy the symbol by killing people inhabiting it; and he sees “his” attack as a final act that will erase his past and reify his future.

This paper aims to contribute to discussion about the changing role of libraries and their collections, through discussing projects designed by architecture students.

The paper reflects on design projects produced by final-year students studying for an undergraduate degree in architecture. A project was set for a group of students to design a “Book Repository”. Each researched their own interpretation of what this might be, given contemporary issues such as increasing digitisation, falling numbers of library visitors, changing users’ needs and what they interpret as a future for books. This paper reviews a selection of the projects in the context of contemporary research, and discusses the book as a physical object, contemporary library design and the role of libraries as civic buildings.

Despite being designed by digitally literate students, physical books are highly significant in every project; however, the cultural significance of the books is more important than the objects themselves. Also, the provision of spaces for the act of reading is notably absent. The relationship between the library and its context was a key theme for several projects, which explore innovative means through which to engage the public.

Collectively these projects contribute to debate over the role of books and libraries in contemporary culture through the eyes of young designers. The paper will be of interest to those involved in the procurement and design of libraries.

Celebrity endorsement on microblogging platforms (such as Twitter or Weibo) has become a widely adopted marketing practice. Compared to its counterpart on traditional mass media, celebrity endorsement on microblogging platforms has some unique characteristics. For example, the endorsement information is usually more implicit and the endorsers tend to use different tactics so as to maximize the impact on their followers. However, these new practices have not been thoroughly investigated and the underlying mechanism by which the endorsers influence potential information receivers is not well understood. Anchored on the theory of parasocial interaction borrowed from the mass communication literature, this paper aims to reveal the underlying mechanism of celebrity endorsement on microblogging platforms. More specifically, it examines the relationship between the intensity of microbloggers’ various celebrity-following activities and endorsement effectiveness.

The authors designed and conducted a Web-based survey containing scales for all focal constructs and demographic and control variables. Through online and offline campus advertisement, undergraduate and graduates students who have used microblogging for at least three months were recruited.

First of all, the survey results show that the intensity of users’ celebrity-following activities on microblogging platforms has a positive effect on the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement. Second, the positive effect of the intensity of microbloggers’ celebrity-following activities on the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement is mediated by the perceived parasocial interaction with the endorsers.

Firstly, most respondents of the survey are university students. Second, because of the intrinsic disadvantage of the survey method, the causal relationship between constructs cannot be examined directly. Last, parasocial interaction/relationship is a complex theoretical construct whose influence is unveiled partially in this research.

First, this study found that the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement on microblogging platforms are largely affected by celebrity-followers’ online involvement. Second, this study revealed that celebrity-following activities that help enhance followers’ perceptions of parasocial interactions are particularly beneficial for endorsement effectiveness. Last, the exploratory analysis further revealed that followers’ perceptions of ingenuousness and companionship are two key sub-dimensions of parasocial interaction.

First, the authors verified the positive relationship between information receiver’s involvement and the effectiveness of celebrity endorsement in the context of microblogging platforms. Second, this study found that parasocial interaction fully mediates the relationship between celebrity-following intensity and endorsement effectiveness. Last, through an exploratory factor analysis, the authors further decomposed the construct of parasocial interaction into three sub-dimensions, namely, ingenuousness, empathy and companionship.