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This study aimed to identify subgroups of esports players based on their gaming behavior patterns across game genres and compare self-efficacy, social efficacy, loneliness and three dimensions of quality of life between these subgroups.

324 participants were recruited from prolific academic to complete an online survey. We employed latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify subgroups of esports players based on their behavioral patterns across genres. Additionally, a one-way multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was conducted to test the association between cluster memberships and development and well-being outcomes, controlling for age and gender as covariates.

LPA analysis identified five clusters (two single-genre gamer groups, two multigenre gamer groups and one all-genre gamer group). Univariate analyses indicated the significant effect of the clusters on social efficacy, psychological health and social health. Pairwise comparisons highlighted the salience of the physical enactment-plus-sport simulation genre group in these outcomes.

This study contributes to the understanding of the development and well-being benefits experienced by various esports consumers, as well as the role of specific gameplay in facilitating targeted outcomes among these consumer groups.

This paper studies the interactive valuation discourses of an online user community (transfermarkt.de) that seeks to determine market values for soccer players. Despite their seemingly casual nature, these values have featured in newspapers, transfer negotiations, academic research, and capital market communication – and have thus become reified.

The paper employs netnographic research methodology to collect and thematically analyze a wide range of user entries on the platform. These entries are studied using theoretical insights from the sociology of quantification and valuation.

The analysis reveals how values are constructed in constant interaction between value-proposing users and value-justifying “experts.” This dynamic form of relational valuation positions players relative to one another as well as to actual transactions on the transfer market. In the absence of authoritative guidelines, it is this possibility and affordance for interaction that enacts a coherent valuation regime. The paper further reveals the platform's response to a disruptive event, which risked bringing the user-expert dynamics to a halt, requiring intervention from the platform to repair its valuation frame.

The paper responds to increased scholarly interests in the valuation of professional athletes. It contributes to the extant literature on valuation, first, by analyzing the dynamic valuation work that feeds into the social construction of values and, second, by studying platform participation and user interaction in a socially engineered online space.

The purpose of this manuscript is to highlight how gamification is transforming recruitment, retention and training to resolve employee engagement challenges in the ever-changing workplace. In collaborating with game industry experts and designers, the authors taught students team leadership skills by demonstrating how to design and play their own original cooperative strategy games. In doing so, students learn what gamification is and how it can be used to train our multigenerational workforce; how designing board games teaches team leadership skills (e.g. communication, conflict management, power, decision-making); and how to develop cooperative strategy game elements (player characters, roles and actions) that motivate engaging gameplay with successful learning outcomes.

In this paper, the authors discuss the practical implications of a three-phase semester-long experiential learning experience, where game design demonstrates to students how employees can work collaboratively together in teams. Students’ developed storylines (i.e. strategic objectives) including motivation challenges, social media communication breakdowns, sabotage, global sustainability and other real-world challenges. In Phase 1, students learn about how companies are using gamification in training high-performing teams. In Phase 2, students play a cooperative strategy game Forbidden Island with their student teams. In Phase 3, students design (and play) their original cooperative strategy game, instructions booklet and build a facilitation guide.

Approximately, 400 students developed 48 original cooperative strategy games that can be used to teach team leadership skills. These student teams designed cooperative strategy board games – in which the entire team either wins or loses based on their control of valued resources and player actions as key decision-making points. The data and feedback indicate that the learning experience helped them practically consider team interdependence in making effective decisions, and in creating creative self-efficacy, resilience and self-confidence in their own leadership voice. In this manuscript, the authors focus on providing an overview and implementation plan for our semester-long experiential learning exercise.

This experiential exercise was implemented from 2019 to 2023 in different learning modalities (face-to-face, hybrid, 100% synchronous online learning) and during challenging times (prepandemic, pandemic and postpandemic learning environments). These varying experiences provided them with a challenge to persevere and learn about their own interpersonal skills and resilience in a creative engaging way with limited resources. Students developed 26 original games during 100% synchronous remote learning due to COVID. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other business school is working with gaming industry experts and game designers to teach team leadership to this degree during pre- and postpandemic environments.

In a dynamic, continuously evolving sports landscape, social media have become an indispensable tool for sports organizations to cultivate meaningful connections with fans. The rapid pace of technological advancements has elevated these digital platforms from a supplementary role to a pivotal position within strategic management frameworks. The existing literature explores how football clubs can utilize social media, but analyzing social media strategies within the context of football leagues is lacking. The absence of comparative studies benchmarking clubs across different geographical regions while simultaneously analyzing multiple social media platforms is especially noteworthy. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of social media engagement is undertaken within esteemed football leagues spanning Europe, South America and North America.

Drawing on relationship marketing and employing content analysis as a methodological tool, the study examined 10,772 posts from the official accounts of eight football leagues on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Across the leagues, the findings reveal that content quality drives engagement more than frequency. In addition, several format combinations were identified that facilitate engagement and Instagram emerged as the top social media platform for generating fan engagement.

This is one of the first empirical studies focusing on optimizing the use of social media to amplify fan engagement across various geographies and social media accounts and formats simultaneously.

From the buying club’s perspective, the transfer of a player can be interpreted as an investment from which the club expects uncertain future benefits. This paper aims to develop a decision-oriented approach for the valuation of football players that could theoretically help clubs determine the subjective value of investing in a player to assess its potential economic advantage.

We build on a semi-investment-theoretical risk-value model and elaborate an approach that can be applied in imperfect markets under uncertainty. Furthermore, we illustrate the valuation process with a numerical example based on fictitious data. Due to this explicitly intended decision support, our approach differs fundamentally from a large part of the literature, which is empirically based and attempts to explain observable figures through various influencing factors.

We propose a semi-investment-theoretical valuation approach that is based on a two-step model, namely, a first valuation at the club level and a final calculation to determine the decision value for an individual player. In contrast to the previous literature, we do not rely on an econometric framework that attempts to explain observable past variables but rather present a general, forward-looking decision model that can support managers in their investment decisions.

This approach is the first to show managers how to make an economically rational investment decision by determining the maximum payable price. Nevertheless, there is no normative requirement for the decision-maker. The club will obviously have to supplement the calculus with nonfinancial objectives. Overall, our paper can constitute a first step toward decision-oriented player valuation and for theoretical comparison with practical investment decisions in football clubs, which obviously take into account other specific sports team decisions.

In the age of nine-figure transfer fees and football stars building their own brands and follower base, a shift in fan identification in football appears to be taking place as athletes can build strong connections with their followers. This paper examines the level of identification shown by football fans towards both their favourite team and their favourite player, in connection with the concept of fan loyalty.

A total of 4,707 international respondents participated in an online survey to examine the relationship between fan identification and fan loyalty, and to measure the impact of variables like country, player, club, on fan identification using multi-regression analyses.

The results underline the strong presence of team identification compared to identification of single players. Results have also revealed that the relationship between a fan's favourite team and player has a significant impact on identification levels towards both actors. Fans supporting a foreign club were found to show significantly stronger team identification than those who support a club from their own country or region.

This research contributes to the growing body of publications in the field of sports consumer research and underlines the importance of understanding the quality of relationships and thus the identification of fans with clubs and individual players for the stakeholders involved. International sports marketing is becoming increasingly important and an understanding of fan interests is essential for effective marketing, as information on trends in fan interests enables a more tailored strategy for clubs and sponsors.

The study aims to determine the outcomes of mentorship in an online game system, as well as the characteristics of good mentors.

A combination of anonymized survey measures and in-game behavioral measures were used to power longitudinal analysis over an 11-month period in which protégés and non-mentored new players could be compared for their performance, social connections and retention.

Successful people were more likely to mentor others, and mentors increased protégés' skill. Protégés had significantly better retention, were more active and much more successful as players than non-protégés. Contrary to expectations, younger, less wealthy and educated people were more likely to be mentors and mentors did not transfer their longevity. Many of the qualities of the mentor remain largely irrelevant—what mattered most was the time spent together.

This is a study of an online game, which has unknown generalizability to other games and to offline settings.

The results show that getting mentors to spend dedicated time with protégés matters more than their characteristics.

Good mentorship does not require age or resources to provide real benefits.

This is the first study of mentorship to use survey and objective outcome measures together, over time, online.

ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) has taken on increased importance in recent years for all stakeholders, with the S dimension now taking on a stronger focus in the real estate space. This paper proposes a new metric to be used in the S space to assess improvements in aspects such as gender equality and cultural diversity in real estate. It adds to the S metrics currently available to see the more effective delivery of the S dimension into real estate investment decision-making.

A new S metric in ESG is proposed and validated. Using this metric, examples regarding gender equality and cultural diversity are assessed among leading real estate players in Australia. This S metric is assessed over a number of time periods to demonstrate the improvements in gender equality and cultural diversity in these major real estate players.

This new S metric is seen to be highly effective and robust in capturing the changes in various aspects of the S dimension in ESG in the real estate space today; particularly concerning gender equality and cultural diversity. It is clearly able to demonstrate the significant changes in increased participation of women at the more senior leadership levels by leading players in the real estate space.

With ESG becoming a critical issue in the real estate sector, issues involved in the S space will take on increased significance going forward. This is critical, as the elements of the S dimension such as gender equality and cultural diversity are important aspects for an effectively functioning real estate industry. The S metric developed in this paper can be used for benchmarking purposes over time, as well as between real estate players, between sub-sections within a real estate organisation, and comparing against other industry sectors. It is also relevant in all organisations, and is not just limited to the real estate sector. Additional metrics in the S space are an important development to further empirically assess the effective delivery of the S dimension of ESG in the real estate sector and more broadly.

This paper specifically proposes this new S metric in ESG in the real estate industry. This is a key issue for the real estate industry going forward at all levels, as it will facilitate a more diverse real estate industry and more effective real estate investment decision-making. This S metric is applicable in all organisational sectors where the S dimension of ESG is important.

The environmental characteristics of international football can vary significantly from one country to another. As a result, the economic and market possibilities and the objectives of each national league are very heterogeneous. This article aims to examine the differences in revenue structures amongst European national football leagues (n = 50) and cluster them based on these structures. It also investigates which revenue structure would be more effective for similar leagues, considering the previously mentioned varying environmental characteristics of international football.

The study utilises a theoretical framework of business modelling, applied in a unique way to league organisers of national championships. Data on sports and business aspects were collected from sources such as the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Financial Benchmarking Reports, transfermarkt.de and related sources for the period 2015 to 2018. K-means cluster analysis, using the Euclidean distance approach, was employed to develop clusters based on revenue sources over a four-year average.

The paper presents the characteristics and year-to-year changes of nine developed clusters. Throughout the analysis, variables such as average overpayment and inequality between player values amongst leagues were prioritised. The study's practical implications can assist league organisers in enhancing the competitiveness of their leagues, supported by short case studies that provide illustrative examples.

The novelty of the current article lies in introducing innovative variables such as the variance of player value whilst focussing on meso-level analysis, providing a fresh contribution to the existing literature in the field for understanding revenue structures and performance in European national football leagues.

Research on electric sports (eSports) has experienced significant growth in recent years as a consequence of increasing connectivity, institutionalization, and technological advances. However, the interdisciplinary nature of the eSports as a field and the burgeoning growth in eSports articles have rendered it necessary to conduct a systematic review of extant literature to take stock of the knowledge accumulated. To this end, we aim to undertake a comprehensive review of extant literature that takes stock of published research to derive opportunities for future research in the realm of eSports. In so doing, we contribute to the advancement of the field by mapping out the knowledge trajectory of eSports research and elucidating areas that have remained underexplored thus far.

To conduct systematic review of the eSports literature, we employed a framework that included six essential steps: protocol, search, appraisal, synthesis, analysis, and report. This comprehensive approach enables us to meticulously investigate the existing body of literature on eSports and identify key trends and topics addressed within the field. By conducting the multidisciplinary systematic literature review, we thoroughly assess the current state of eSports literature and subsequently outline potential research avenues that can contribute to eSports fields.

This study draws on a six-phase framework – member preparation, team formation, character selection, team coordination, team performance, and team reflection – to illustrate the roles played by different levels of analysis unit (i.e. characters, players, and teams) and three distinct yet interconnected stages (i.e. inputs, process, and outputs) within eSports games as well as the research opportunities it brings.

We conducted a rigorous systematic review of the eSports literature by using quantitative citation analysis and qualitative content analysis. Furthermore, we adopted team dynamic view of eSports to identify potential research avenues for future research that contribute to advancing our understanding of the eSports tournaments.