Search results

The function, utilization, and resource allocation of sport facilities in residential areas have attracted increasing attention in China along with the country's rapid economic development and the popularization of the health concept. To optimize the allocation of public sports resources and develop functions for sports facilities in China, this study analyzed existing policies concerning the planning and construction of sports facilities in residential areas and actual problems in the operation, management, and construction of sports facilities in the country. The analysis was conducted using document, investigation and expert consultation methods. Corresponding improvement measures were proposed by combining actual situations of urban sport participation of residents. Sports facilities in urban residential areas in China are facing various problems, such as inadequate quantity, uneven layout, poor management, and imperfect related laws and regulations as well as planning policies. Formulating sports facility planning policies and updating existing sports facilities are beneficial in relieving the sports facility shortage caused by the increased, diversified, and actual demands of residents. These measures could also guide the future construction of sports facilities in residential areas in high-density cities in China.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the beliefs and attitudes toward the use of information and communication technology (ICT). The study examines the challenges of implementing ICT-based training and provides insights for promoting the acceptance of online training in volunteer sports communities.

The study uses an action design research methodology that combines the implementation of ICT-based training, interviews, and a survey of 523 participants to examine the influence of online training on beliefs and attitudes.

The study shows that before the COVID-19 pandemic, soccer referees had negative beliefs about the use of ICT for learning. However, the experience of being forced to use ICT for training during the pandemic led to a positive shift in their beliefs about ICT.

The study offers four lessons learned for promoting the use of ICT-based training in voluntary sports. Future research should investigate the influence of blended learning approaches on affective, cognitive, and skill-based learning outcomes.

The study has practical implications for those responsible for implementing ICT-based training in voluntary sport. The findings suggest that design features such as usefulness, ease of use and enjoyment should be emphasized to increase the acceptance of online training.

The study contributes to the literature by providing insights into the challenges of implementing ICT-based training in voluntary sport contexts. The findings suggest that the experience of being forced to use ICT can promote the acceptance of online training in volunteer sports communities.

The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the sponsorship of a gay and lesbian sports event, and whether this differs from the sponsorship of more mainstream sports events. This is achieved by focusing on one particular non-mainstream sport and event, the Gay Softball World Series. It concludes that nonmainstream sports, such as gay and lesbian softball, have become a significant and legitimate, if problematic, cultural force and a desirable magnet for sponsors as corporations attempt to reach new target groups.

Since 2014, “sport for all” has been promoted as a new national strategy in China, which injects powerful dynamism and vitality for its development in numerous aspects. However, there has been very little feedback on sport service provision in community, and the satisfaction level of community participants is largely unmeasured. To promote physical and mental health of residents and form a stronger foundation of sport culture, more attention should be directed to community sports. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of community-sport service provisions on participants’ satisfaction and, in turn, on their sport participation behavior.

Community-sport program participants in China (n=576) responded to a survey measuring the proposed concepts.

Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that community-sport services in the areas of sport facility, grassroots sport organizations and sport activity programs had strong influences on participant satisfaction and, in turn, their desire for participation, which highlighted the demand for high-quality sport service provision by community.

The study contributed to the literature by proposing two clear dimensions (core sport service and peripheral sport service) for the measurement of public sport service provision in community sports. A second theoretical contribution of the study relates to the clarification of the relationship between the two dimensions of community-sport service provision (both core and peripheral services) and community participants’ satisfaction levels.

Social media has promoted anti-brand communities, which build around the shared aversion to a specific brand. The purpose of this paper is to investigate social media-based anti-brand communities and their effects on the sports team brand in question.

The authors conducted a netnographic study of Facebook-based anti-brand communities that oppose a professional football team.

The netnographic study reveals characteristics and drivers of Facebook-based anti-brand communities that oppose a professional football team. The research further identifies co-destructive behaviours of anti-brand community members that harm the sports team brand and even its sponsors. However, the findings also reveal that anti-brand communities may play a positive role in sport, as they strengthen the relationship between fans of the opposed brand and this brand and foster rivalry among football fans.

This research establishes the relevance of social media-based anti-brand communities for sports brands. Recommendations are made for team sport brands with regards to how to deal with the phenomenon of anti-brand communities.

While the previous research on anti-brand activism focused on either offline movements or movements using traditional websites, this research is the first to investigate the pivotal role of social networking sites for anti-brand activism. The paper further uncovers unique motivational, attitudinal, and behavioral patterns of fans that meet in communities opposing not only the rival team, but also the brand associated with the team. Findings show ways to better understand and deal with such anti-brand communities in sports.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a social-network sp.orts lottery system to support users in predicting and simulating sports lottery betting. The community data were generated to support user decision and featured instant game records and odds data synchronisation. Furthermore, the next development cycle were evaluated through a questionnaire.

An extended prototype website development methodology was applied to develop the system. An online sample was collected to evaluate the function, interface, operation, and prediction designs. The χ2 test and variance analysis were used to determine the association between facets and basic demographics. Finally, the regression model was used to identify the potentially essential predictors that influence the measurement facets.

The high frequency of Facebook users, sports lottery purchases, and sports game viewers prefer the ability to predict the results of future sports games as advanced decision-making functions. However, the agent-based virtual gift presentation function was the least preferred function.

The study sample was limited only to users: who used PTT and Facebook; were of uneven age, education, and gender; and none segment groups. The study sample primarily comprised Taiwanese respondents. These differences might influence the practicality and prediction bias of the designed website and related models.

The proposed method integrates social-network messages with real-time data access by using APIs, crawler schemes, and prediction mechanisms that enable developers to devise strategies for obtaining high system satisfaction. The system can be improved by adding the results of future sports games and excluding authorised Facebook message posts.

A social-network-based sports lottery and prediction prototyping website was evaluated through a user-preference survey regarding design functions. The measurement results indicated that users share their opinions, predictions, and personal betting results and interact with their friends.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of macro-level regulatory systems on alcohol management for community sport organisations (CSOs). It examines how alcohol regulations translate into meso-level management actions and interactions that impact alcohol consumption in community sport clubs.

Management of alcohol was explored through the holistic lens of macro, meso, and micro-levels of influence. Sixteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with Australian club administrators from community sports clubs.

Thematic analysis revealed macro-level influences on alcohol management in CSOs, with government regulations and the state sport associations being the most influential. Challenges arise in alcohol policy implementation when sport administrators do not prioritise alcohol consumption as a problem to be addressed, or where a conflict of interest arises between alcohol revenue generation and clubs positioning as health promoting environments.

Targeting club administrators’ attitudes towards alcohol as a benign influence and revising alcohol management practices are recommended as priority strategies to enhance the implementation and promotion of responsible alcohol management in sport clubs. Affiliate state sport associations were also identified as influential settings to provide administrative or strategic direction to CSOs, which would reduce the resources required by volunteers and standardise alcohol management practices across sports clubs.

The prevailing alcohol research focuses on the consumption behaviour of individual members and sports players. The study findings are novel and important as they explore the macro-level influences that administrators experience when enacting and policing alcohol management strategies in sports clubs. To-date, administrators of CSOs have not been included in many studies about alcohol consumption regulation; therefore, the findings provide an original perspective on alcohol regulation and demonstrate how CSOs operationalise alcohol management in club settings. The original insights from this study informed the conceptualisation of a multilevel sport system framework, which can be applied to guide future governance of alcohol consumption in sport settings.

This study investigates the role that sports brands play in building group identity within a niche sports subculture, via research from two different trail running events. Participants exhibit some of the characteristics of an activity-based subculture of consumption, and brands play a role in building group identity. A key factor that drives a serious leisure pursuit to become an activity-based subculture of consumption is identified as high levels of socialising among participants.

This study aims to investigate how organizations can utilize sport sponsorship to build their corporate social responsibility (CSR) image effectively, by examining the attributes of a sports property that are most conducive to a sponsor gaining CSR image benefits.

A between-subjects experimental design was used, which simulated different sponsorship scenarios by varying community proximity (operationalized by property scope) and property engagement in community initiatives. Hypotheses were tested with a non-parametric bootstrapping-based procedure, using a panel sample of 400.

The results show that a sporting property’s proactive community engagement is conducive to an enhanced CSR image for its sponsor, especially when the property operates on the national rather than grassroots level. Further analysis also demonstrates the critical contribution of altruistic motive attributions in the process.

This study advances knowledge on how organizations may build their CSR image while leveraging on the strong audience involvement and the mass appeal of sport sponsorship. It is the first to offer insights into the extent to which a sports property’s proactive engagement in the community, rather than that of the sponsoring firm itself, enhances the CSR image of the sponsor, particularly if the property’s community proximity is low. Furthermore, our results provide an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms determining the benefits that sponsors can reap from a property’s activities.