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This paper aims to use social network analysis (SNA) to determine whether compulsive exercise (CE) was related to social connections and network position among participants of group-exercise programs.

Members from two group-exercise programs (Gym 1: n = 103; Gym 2: n = 56) completed an online survey measuring their social connections within the program, CE, depressive symptoms and sense of belonging. Network position was calculated for each person based on network centrality scores (i.e. closeness, eigenvector centrality). Linear network autocorrelation models determined whether respondents reported similar CE as their network ties (i.e., network effects) and whether network position was related to CE in these networks.

Eigenvector centrality (i.e., being connected to popular/important people within the network; Gym 1: parameter estimate [PE] = 0.51, p < 0.01, Gym 2: PE = 0.39, p = 0.02) and network effects (i.e. having similar CE scores as direct network ties; Gym 1: PE = 0.07, p < 0.01, Gym 2: PE = 0.19, p < 0.01) were related to CE among participants in these programs.

This study builds on existing SNA research suggesting the importance of social connections and network position on CE, and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, is the first to explore these effects among group-exercise participants. This study describes how the social environment can impact, both positively and negatively, someone’s susceptibility for CE and supports fostering social connections within group-exercise programs as a way to potentially combat harmful CE among its participants.

There is growing evidence of the efficacy and effectiveness of targeted parenting programmes but the evidence for universal parenting programmes is much less developed. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of Parent Gym, a parenting programme delivered in schools.

In this paper a quasi-experimental design was utilised. Parents were recruited to the Parent Gym programme comprising six two-hour weekly sessions. Parents completed measures of their parenting efficacy, parenting satisfaction, interest in parenting and mental well-being at pre- and post-course. Comparative data were derived from a retrospectively-defined randomly selected group of non-participant parents at two time points, equivalent to the length of the Parent Gym course.

Changes in the Parent Gym group were compared with the comparison group using repeated measures mixed 2×2 ANOVAs, which accounted for the potential effect of demographic characteristics (parent gender, ethnicity, parent age, parent education level and single parent status), and their potential interaction with group membership. Parenting satisfaction showed a significantly greater increase for the Parent Gym group with a large effect size (d=0.80). Regarding parenting efficacy, there was a significant time × group interaction indicating efficacy scores increased in the Parent Gym group but decreased in the comparison group (d=1.93). Mental well-being also improved for the Parent Gym group from below the national norm before the course (d=−0.26) to significantly greater than the national norm at post-course (d=0.29).

A limitation of the present study is the absence of data on outcomes for children. Second, the administration of the research at local level, primarily the distribution and collection of the measures and return to the research team for analysis, is a potential source of data loss: both pre- and post-programme data were available on 55 per cent of Parent Gym parents, similar to other community studies. Third, the present study did not include a longer term follow-up after the programme ended. Future research is required to examine the sustainability of effects produced from community implemented programmes.

Findings from the present study indicate that a universal programme, Parent Gym, was effective in aiding the positive development of aspects of parenting behaviour, namely parents’ self-efficacy, parenting satisfaction and mental well-being, when delivered in community settings. This demonstrates its potential as part of a regular service delivery option of evidence-based support for parents.

Successful parenting requires both the development of parenting skills and a positive relationship between parent and child. Parents vary in the resources (e.g. family) available to develop positively. Evidence-based parenting programmes have an important role in aiding parenting development, both those targeted at parents with most challenges and those (universal) aimed across the population. This study demonstrated that the universal Parent Gym programme is effective across a wide range of parents and has the potential to be a positive social resource for community delivery.

This is the first rigorous study of Parent Gym. It adds to the limited evidence about parenting programmes delivered outside of trials, as part of normal service delivery. With this evidence, parent choice of a suitable evidence-based programme is increased.

This study aims to examine the association of social media advertising with deposit contracts and consumers joining a fitness club/gym.

This paper surveyed 745 college students. Three deposit contract options were presented with goals of losing 5% of your original weight, losing 10 pounds from your weight and exercising for 75 min.

This paper found that consumers chose deposit contracts at higher rates than no contract or regular contract options. This paper found that behavioral control was positively associated with choosing a deposit contract. This paper found that presence of a weight problem was positively associated with choosing a deposit contract with very concrete goals of losing 10 pounds or exercising for 75 min while no association occurred for the less specific concrete goal of losing 5% of your original weight.

In conclusion, marketers can consider a novel advertising approach on social media of advertising deposit contract information to possibly interest consumers to join a fitness club/gym.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate gym and non‐gym users' use and understanding of nutrition labels.

A consumer survey in the form of a questionnaire conducted in the Greater London area in February/March 2005. Subject recruitment process took place in both a gym and university setting. Frequency tables and χ²‐test are used to assess relationships between variables (p=0.05).

The resulting sample consisted of 187 subjects, with predominance of females and gym users. Of the subjects, 88 per cent reported to at least occasionally read nutrition labels, with higher reading rates amongst women, irrespective of gym user status. Total and saturated fats are the most often information viewed on labels, however the overall knowledge of the calorie content of fat is low, with 53 per cent of subjects responding saturated fat contains more calories per gram when compared with other types of fats. This paper does not find significant differences in the use and understanding of nutrition labels between gym and non‐gym users, but highlights the publics' continued lack of understanding of nutrition labels.

This paper is unique as it investigates whether there is any difference between gym/non‐gym users' use and interpretation of use of nutrition labels. It finds gender impacted more on nutritional labels knowledge than gym user's status. This points to a gender issue and questions the quality of information available to the general public. This paper is valuable as it highlights and identifies an area that requires further research and assessment, and is therefore useful to key stakeholders responsible for public health nutrition.

There are two-fold objectives to this research. First is to analyse the importance of technology readiness (TR) for the users in using sports and fitness wearable devices in India. And second is to explore if gymnasium (gym) users are much more technologically ready as compared to non-gym users to use sports and fitness wearable devices.

The study uses technology readiness and acceptance model (TRAM) to examine the users' intention to use sports and fitness wearable devices. Data from a survey of 907 respondents from India were collected and partial least squares (PLS)-structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was used to empirically examine it.

The outcomes reveal that innovativeness and optimism have a positive influence on perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU), and insecurity and discomfort have a negative influence on PEOU and PU. Both PEOU and PU act as important determinants in the user's intention to use sports and fitness wearable devices. The multi-group analysis (MGA) suggests that gym users tend to exhibit more positive intention towards using sports and fitness wearable devices and show higher probability of using the wearable devices relative to non-gym users.

There are hardly any studies on intention to use sports and fitness wearable devices in India. The current research tries to understand the intention behind the gym users and non-gym users to use sports and fitness wearable devices. The outcomes of the research will help the marketers to align their promotional campaign based on the new segmentation variable “gym-user/non-gym user”. The research also highlights the importance of TR in the use of sports and fitness wearable devices in India.

Disruptive student behavior contributes to poor student outcomes, loss of classroom instructional time, and teacher burnout. Physical movement is an intervention that has been used to target and ameliorate disruptive student behavior for students with learning and behavioral disabilities. A review of two movement-based interventions – Brain Gym® and antecedent bouts of exercise – reveals different levels of research support. Brain Gym®, a commercial movement-based curriculum, is not supported by extant empirical research. Alternatively, a growing body of research empirically supports antecedent bouts of exercise as an effective behavioral intervention. This chapter provides a description and review of research for each intervention. Implications for instructional practice and recommendations are provided.

The article explores the potential for self-employed personal trainers (SEPTs) to resist exploitation by gyms, with a focus on the attitudes of SEPTs towards trade unions and collective action.

This article is based on a multiple-method study with qualitative data drawn from participant observation and interviews and quantitative data from a questionnaire survey. The data were collected in 2018.

The potential for individual resistance to exploitation among SEPTs is limited. However, attitudes towards a collective response were largely positive, albeit there is certainly no consensus agreement on the value of trade unions. The logic of coopetition is applied to explain the issues on which trade unions might organize SEPTs.

The study suggests coopetition as an organizing logic for highly individualized self-employed workers in intense proximal competition with one another. However, the research presented in this article was undertaken with a unique group of solo self-employed workers. Further study is required to demonstrate the applicability of these findings.

The commercialization of work poses a threat to traditional employment and trade unions. It is crucial that trade unions represent the interests of all workers by focusing on workers who do not traditionally form the vanguard of its membership (e.g. dependent workers and the falsely self-employed). The study illustrates the way in which trade unions can organize micro-entrepreneurs.

Coopetitive representation whereby micro-entrepreneurs collaborate to resist exploitation while remaining independent has the potential to change the perspectives and values of entrepreneurs.

The article assesses the potential of organizing a highly individualized and competitive self-employed worker. Coopetitive representation is presented as distinct from other approaches to representation and as a means of trade union revitalization.

Considering the importance of services and innovation for the modern economy and the peculiarities that differentiate services from tangible goods, the purpose of this paper is to better understand how, based on the capabilities approach, innovation takes place in services.

A qualitative multi-case study was conducted in five instances of innovation in the fitness market, using a semi-structured questionnaire as devised in Zawislak et al. (2014).

The results show that the traditional capabilities framework is limited in explaining service innovation, as there are many levels of intangibility and non-linearity in service provision. Cases show that it is not possible to think of capabilities linearly in the service context. The authors propose that capabilities overlap, and the results show that this is a more accurate way of describing service dynamics. An alternative framework is suggested based on field findings, and a set of propositions are made for future research.

For many years, services were perceived as non-innovative, complementary activities, geared mainly towards the production of goods. The value of this study is to investigate a topic (innovation) that is widely studied in the industrial sector in a service context, contributing to a largely unexplored field.

Considerando a importância dos serviços e inovação na economia moderna, e as peculiaridades que diferenciam serviços de bens tangíveis, este estudo visa entender melhor como se dá a inovação nos serviços baseado na abordagem das capacidades.

Foi conduzido um estudo qualitativo multi-casos em cinco ambientes do mercado de atividades físicas utilizando um questionário semi-estruturado baseado em Zawislak et al. (2014).

Os resultados mostram que a abordagem tradicional das capacidades é limitada em explicar a inovação em serviços, dado que existem diversos níveis de intangibilidade e não-lineariedade na provisão dos mesmos. Propomos que as capacidades se sobrepõem, e os resultados indicam que essa é uma forma mais acurada de descrever a dinâmica da inovação em serviços. É sugerida uma abordagem alternativa e uma série de proposições para pesquisas futuras.

Por muito tempo serviços eram percebidos como atividades complementares não inovativas direcionadas para a produção de bens. O valour desse estudo é investigar um tópico (inovação) já amplamente estudado no setor industrial, porém num contexto de serviços, assim contribuindo para um campo quase inexplorado.

The purpose of this paper is to integrate the theory of planned behavior (TBP) and the technology acceptance model (TAM) in social marketing to predict and explain technology adoption (gym equipment use) in physical activity (PA) behavior among Ghanaian youth.

A quantitative approach was adopted for this study. The empirical data for this paper were drawn from 314 youth who are gym equipment users. The hypothesized relationships were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

This study found that the salient beliefs, namely, attitude, subjective norm and behavioral control toward gym equipment use, do not sufficiently explain PA adoption. However, a better result emerges when these salient beliefs are combined with perceived usefulness (PU) and ease of use (TAM).

This paper provides evidence for issues of potential research, policy and managerial interest. The study findings showed that PA adoption, not PEOU, was directly impacted by PU. Thus, policymakers and implementers of social marketing intervention programs should promote the positive attitude toward gym equipment technology use and the perceptions of usefulness (improve cardiorespiratory fitness, feeling healthy and building muscle strength) of using gym equipment technology instead of ease of use to increase PA technology adoption behavior.

Considering the uniqueness of this current study in the Ghanaian context, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to integrate two influential theories, namely, the TPB and TAM, to examine the effects of the TPB and TAM variables on the adoption of technology (gym equipment use) in PA among the youth.