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The purpose of this study is to examine the food and beverage revenue changes in private clubs in the USA during the economic downturn from 2008 to 2010.

Over 1,000 private club managers in the USA were surveyed to determine the impacts of two economic downturns on their financial performance.

Findings of this study indicated that most clubs experienced a decrease in their overall net food and beverage revenues and consequently experienced significant losses in their overall food and beverage operations, especially affecting private party business in 2010.

This study examined private clubs requiring sponsorship of membership candidates by existing club members in order to maintain their exclusivity, whereas many for‐profit clubs, semi‐private clubs, and non‐private clubs do not require sponsorship. Future studies should investigate if for‐profit clubs, semi‐private clubs, and non‐private clubs experienced the same negative impact on their food and beverage services as the private and exclusive clubs of CMAA explored in this study.

City/athletic clubs are severely impacted during economic downturns because most members only use their clubs for business purposes. Therefore, private club managers, particularly in city clubs, need to take into account expanded promotional strategies to retain or grow member food and beverage revenues during economic downturns.

The analysis of economic downturns and their impact on food and beverage revenues and overall profitability provides valuable information for private club managers in their quests for revenue generation, membership growth and improved profit performance.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of the size of the board of directors and board involvement in strategy on financial performance in the private club industry.

Data were collected in a web‐based survey of chief operating officers (COOs) and general managers (GMs) who are members of the Club Managers Association of America (CMAA). Hierarchical regression analysis of data from 360 respondents was used to examine the proposed model.

The results showed that board members' involvement in strategy and the size of the board of directors have a positive influence on a private club's financial performance.

Further research is indicated to include other board‐related influences such as group composition and the quality of relationships between board members and GMs/COOs to measure a club's financial performance.

The paper contributes to the limited existing literature on the association between a board of directors and financial performance in the private club industry.

Private club members belong to an organization where people with common interests, experiences, backgrounds and professions meet for social and recreational purposes. This study aims to examine the relationships among private club members’ perceptions of social media regarding perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment, attitude toward social media involvement and behavioral intention toward social media usage.

An online survey was conducted among private club members across the USA (n = 571). The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The findings of this study center on the perceptions of club members and their beliefs and attitudes associated with their social media usage behavior. This study extends the social media literature by supporting previous studies that suggest a causal flow from perceived ease of use to intrinsic and extrinsic motivations (perceived usefulness, perceived enjoyment) based on a motivational model.

This study is meaningful for revealing the perceptions of private club members and their beliefs and attitudes associated with their social media usage behavior. It is untested whether this study’s model applies to other hospitality businesses. Future research could examine other segments and add other variables such as perceived security and trust.

This study can provide private club managers, and the members of the clubs that they lead, with a better understanding of online social media.

This study is one of a few empirical online social media studies in the area of the private club industry. This study seeks to provide baselines regarding social media perceptions and usage in the hospitality literature by providing a comprehensive model.

This paper aims to identify systematic ways of linking club members’ behavioral and demographic characteristics to their use of mobile devices in clubs. While the traditional private club experience is characterized by intensive personalization and face-to-face interactions, clubs are increasingly deploying information technology (IT) tools to optimize some of their internal processes and offer a better value proposition to their members.

Based on data from 737 actual club members from the USA, this research used a series of logistic regressions to reveal the manner in which a series of behavioral and demographic variables can be used to predict the likelihood of use of mobile devices in clubs for specific club-related tasks.

This research revealed that there are differences between the two main types of clubs (i.e. golf/country and city/athletic), as well as differences among club members residing in different regions of the USA in the manner in which members use mobile devices for club-related tasks.

This research offers a number of notable theoretical contributions. This research uses actual mobile device use data from actual club members in the USA. In addition, this research offers a comprehensive operationalization of the actual mobile use behaviors in clubs, and offers a methodological blueprint for predicting mobile device user behavior using easily collectable variables.

This research provides specific suggestions to pinpoint the mobile technology deployment in clubs according to behavioral and demographic profile criteria.

This research could lead to feasible segmentation procedures and explicates the increasing role of mobile devices within the contemporary society.

This research addresses a novel research topic in an industry characterized by a grave lack of research on IT.

The purpose of this study was to examine the antecedents and consequences of brand prestige in the private country club industry. More specifically, it was proposed that five attributes of a private country club form brand prestige: golf course conditions, service quality during a round, food and beverage cart service, golf shop and clubhouse food and beverage service. In addition, it was also hypothesized that brand prestige can result in three managerial outcomes: social value, brand attachment and brand loyalty. During the theory-building process, it was proposed that brand consciousness moderates the relationship between brand prestige and its outcome variables.

Based on the theoretical relationships between the conceptual constructs, a model was proposed and then tested utilizing data collected from 290 amateur golfers in the USA.

Data analysis results show that four attributes of a private country club (all except for food and beverage cart service) help to enhance brand prestige and, thus, aid in the creation of social value, brand attachment and brand loyalty. Lastly, brand consciousness plays a moderating role in the relationship between brand prestige and brand loyalty.

First, private country clubs are required to consider golf course management before (e.g. hiring top golf architects) and after operating the club (e.g. hiring competent golf course managers). Second, private country clubs need golf course rangers with much experience who can properly manage pace of play. Third, the golf shop needs to prepare diverse souvenirs that well symbolize the private country club. Fourth, the clubhouse at private country clubs needs to provide services at the same level as that found in fine dining restaurants.

Despite the important role played by the prestigious image, no research has attempted to empirically test its influence on the private country club industry. Therefore, this study is the first to apply the concept of brand prestige to the private country club industry. In this regard, the study extends the existing literature on brand prestige by finding the antecedents and consequences in the private country club industry.

This research aims to predict private club members’ intentions to switch service providers based on the benefit exchange theory through a structural model with a second-order factor.

This study uses a qualitative procedure to develop a functional, social and psychological model based on the benefit exchange and switching intention literatures. A further quantitative analysis surveyed a sample of 366 private club members and assessed the usefulness of this model.

The results of the confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling indicate that social benefits have a stronger impact on switching intention than loss of functional benefits under the context of a high level of interaction between members and between members and service providers. In addition, they confirm the moderating effects of psychological benefits on the relationship between functional benefits and switching intention.

The findings indicate that members are unlikely to switch if there are positive word of mouth and interpersonal interactions between members and the club (social benefits). Even if they are disappointed with the functional benefits of the club’s products or services, they may still choose to stay with it owing to psychological benefits affecting their decision to switch. The findings offer managerial insights into utilizing relationship marketing activities to strengthen interpersonal relationships, word of mouth, trust, commitment and emotional factors to retain members.

This research confirms that the benefit exchange theory can explain members’ intentions to switch from their current clubs and provides valuable recommendations to managers on retaining their clubs’ members. Because the switching intentions of club members have not previously been adequately studied, this study fills an important gap in the literature.

Notes that the private club industry is a unique segment within the broader hospitality industry and, relative to other segments of the hospitality industry, very little research has focused on it. Pannell Kerr Forster (PFK) publishes an annual publication that tracks the operating and financial performance of more than 200 private clubs. Provides a statistical analysis of data from PKF’s Clubs in Town & Country publication in order to identify top line trends emerging in the North American club market. Membership, revenue and expense trends are explored over a 20‐year time line.

This study was conducted with the aim of examining important and frequently used managerial competencies for private club managers. Sandwith's five‐competency domain model was applied to private club managers who were members of the Club Managers Association of America (CMAA).

A total of 800 private club managers from throughout the USA were invited to participate in this study. Managers were randomly selected from the Club Managers Association of America (CMAA) membership list.

This study investigated managerial competencies for private club managers. A total of 28 competencies were classified as essential competencies, 120 were classified as considerably important competencies, and three were classified as moderately important competencies for private club managers. These were classified into five domains: the conceptual/creative domain, the leadership domain, the administrative domain, the interpersonal domain, and the technical domain. Leadership and interpersonal competencies were rated as the most important and the most frequently used managerial competencies. These results are consistent with previous research in other segments of the hospitality industry.

This study provides club managers with information on which competencies are important and frequently used to manage private clubs. By measuring the importance of individual competencies, managers can show how critical they are within a particular profession. It is also important to see how often competencies are used in a particular job. The results of this study should help managers and educators identify a list of skills that should be developed in future private club managers through training programs and curriculum offerings.

Previous studies on management competencies in the private club profession have only addressed managers' administrative and technical competencies. This is the only known study of its kind to examine Sandwith's conceptual‐creative, interpersonal and leadership competency domains for private club managers.

The private club industry is undergoing major change as it forges new links with academia in the areas of research, teaching and management development. This bodes well for hospitality management programmes. Indeed, the primary mission of most hospitality programmes in North America includes the dissemination of information in ways that will translate into tangible benefits for the greater hospitality industry. This article examines the context within which changes are taking place in the relationship between private clubs and hospitality education in North America, discusses the current research agenda on club management and reports the results of a survey of club managers about the nature and importance of industry/education linkages. It concludes by proposing a framework for continued collaboration that would strengthen both academic and industry partners while emphasizing a renewed and refocused research agenda.

The case was written to help students understand the value that a product or service can offer a consumer in terms of helping them accomplish important tasks and overcome obstacles. It is intended to help students understand the link between marketing strategy and different business models.

The case was written after two of the co-authors assisted the organization with developing a marketing strategy and communications plan. The details in the case were gathered through personal interviews with staff as well as document analysis, including marketing documents, financial statements and strategic plans.

This case is suitable at the undergraduate level in third and fourth year marketing courses or strategy courses where all students have completed, at minimum, an introductory level marketing course. It can also be used in graduate-level business administration courses that focus on marketing strategy and positioning.