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The purpose of this paper is to explore the corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices of three major professional sport leagues in South Korea to investigate the general beliefs, values, and norms influencing the institutional isomorphism of CSR engagement.

Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with three league chiefs of CSR initiatives and senior managers of related divisions to explore the general beliefs, values, and norms that are institutionalized in their CSR practices. The Gioia method of inquiry and data analysis was employed.

Using institutional theory, the current research found evidence of all three institutional pressures of institutional isomorphism that contribute to the institutionalization of CSR practices in professional South Korean sport. The data revealed that CSR has been institutionalized in these leagues through isomorphic pressures – coercive, mimetic, and normative – as antecedents to their CSR practices.

The current research identified that conforming to the institutional norms may not only act as a force causing the organization to behave in a socially responsible manner, but also to provide the organization with competitive advantages.

The authors extend the current literature in sport CSR by using institutional theory as a framework to uncover organizational CSR motives. In particular, this is the first study to provide evidence of how three isomorphic pressures work to institutionalize CSR practices in South Korean professional sports leagues.

This chapter draws upon the sociological concept of rationalization to explore the role and practice of sports medicine. It highlights attempts by the profession to create a rationalized model of health care for sports participants – particularly those involved in high-performance sports settings and the enabling and constraining elements of its enactment.

The chapter explains how changes in the organization of sports medicine have dovetailed with the increasing rationalization of sport which has been significant in enacting changes in sports medicine that are aligned with a more rationalized model of care.

Key findings from the literature highlight the difficulties of implementing rationalized health care policy into practice. Specifically, the chapter examines macro-organizational changes to the structure of sports medicine and the extent to which sports medicine represents a rationalized model of health care by virtue of micro-organizational constraints.

While the discussion draws upon a breadth of research by sociologists of sport who have examined sports medicine practices, the chapter draws heavily on the UK model of sports medicine care in high-performance sport and thus the conclusions may not be wholly transferable to non-UK and non-sports contexts.

This paper aims to evaluate the applicability of the concept of benchmarking as a research tool for furthering understanding of the management of élite sport systems.

The research used semi‐structured interviews and documentary analysis to investigate the élite sport services offered by two successful Scandinavian sports.

It was found that a number of the services that led to the success of the two investigated systems are strongly context dependent. This suggests that benchmarking is only appropriate as a tool to further understanding of élite sport systems if it is approached as a way of learning, rather than copying.

The research does not consider all élite sport system services.

The research suggests that managers should be careful about tranferring practices directly from other élite sport systems.

This is the first research study to apply benchmarking to the élite sport system context.

Although much of the discussion on entrepreneurship education focuses on introducing entrepreneurship skills into other disciplines, the reality is education should be already about challenging existing practices and ways of thinking. This chapter argues that the trend toward integrating entrepreneurship skills into other curricula presents an important shift in teaching practices for sport management teachers. If we begin with the assumption that other disciplines do not have an entrepreneurial mindset, then sport entrepreneurship education cannot be sustainable in its own right but rather needs to be integrated as the foundation for all education courses. Therefore, a number of new approaches to entrepreneurship education are beginning to emerge about the need to develop stronger links between business and other disciplines. These potential synergies will help bring sport entrepreneurship education to the forefront of other disciplines and change sport student's mindsets in terms of learning practices. This chapter aims to contribute to the growing field of sport entrepreneurship education by presenting and analyzing existing research and to suggest future research areas.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze if the sport trajectory could be an impact factor in leadership development.

A qualitative research method has been adopted by conducting 17 in-depth, semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed with the program Open Code (4.03).

The findings of this study revealed that the interviewed managers perceived that their sport trajectory has had an important influence in the development of their leadership. This influence is determined by four factors: (1) sport profile, (2) sport referents, (3) competences, values and abilities and (4) experiences from different sport roles played during their lifespan.

The research is based on interviews with a small sample of managers. In order to develop the research further, a more extensive sample is required.

The paper is unique as it examines the impact of the sport trajectory as an impact factor in leadership development.

In this chapter, I use a critical sociological lens to look at ways sport organisations and scholars could think about and practice gender equity in institutional contexts in the United Kingdom. Sport clubs or organisations shape the participation of those involved in the sport and those working in and for these organisations as volunteer, coach, manager, referee, director, board member, etc. Differences in organisational forms and settings inform ways sport organisations think about sport, gender, race, abilities, sexuality and class relations. These ways of thinking may enhance and/or resist the use of sport equitable practices. Organisations are constructions, however, and not fixed objects but always in flux and becoming. In this chapter, I use a critical/queer perspective to make visible and question organisational processes that may contribute to the exclusion of women and minorities in sport governance. I specifically focus on the normative embodiment of leadership, dominant heteronormative practices and diversity as an organisational value. I suggest several ways in which attention to these processes could be part of a critical research agenda that focuses on initiatives that promote gender equity. I end with a few examples of what such an approach might look like.

In advanced societies, lifestyles are increasingly sedentary, and it is important to identify strategies to help people acquire healthy habits, such as exercise. The present study proposes the use of gamification as a strategy for encouraging users to exercise regularly, based on the possibilities offered by “smart” devices such as smartbands.

The work analyzes how individuals experience their participation in a gamification program, on the premise that it should provide an experience that is intrinsically motivating and fun. Also the moderator effect of the gender and age on the relationship between their experience of participating in a gamification program and perceived self-efficacy.

The results show that individuals' experience of participating in a gamification program exerts a positive influence on their perceived self-efficacy in the practice of sport or exercise. The study also finds that the variables “gender” and “age” moderate the relationship between their experience of participating in a gamification program and perceived self-efficacy, such that it exerts a greater influence on women and older people.

The practical implications for the professionals and institutions involved in promoting the adoption of regular sport and exercise in society are about taking advantage of the potential of wearable technology such as smartbands. The present study finds that the use of gamification for encouraging people to adopt regular physical activity is more effective for women than for men, and for older people than for younger users.

The findings of this study provide a better understanding of whether gamification is an appropriate strategy for helping participants to perceive themselves as having greater self-efficacy in their chosen sport or exercise, taking into account the moderating effect of participant gender and age.

In this paper, Fantasy Sports (Hereafter FS) is conceptually classified as a concept of gamification for professional sport leagues. From a sporting perspective, FS is often criticized because such online activities may be at the expense of physical activities. Otherwise, gamification can ultimately lead to economic advantages for sport leagues. To further empirically analyse this supposed juxtaposition, an empirical study is presented.

In the empirical study, participation and non-participation in a sport league-related FS league are analysed and the study uses a divided sample (N = 319) for a one-factor Welch-ANOVA. FS effects on sport practice (engaging in doing sport) and usage (engaging with sport) of FS players as well as on gaining and retaining fans are investigated.

Results demonstrate that participating in gamified FS experiences increases sport usage while not harming general sport practice. Furthermore, FS participation increases consumption capital as well as sport fans' loyalty and word of mouth (WOM) towards the league brand. Building on the results, league brands should foster gamified FS applications to retain their fan base and acquire new fans.

The authors’ theoretical contribution indicates the importance of FS as a gamified application and essential marketing tool for professional sport leagues. By introducing the terms sport practice and usage, the authors bridge the traditional logic of sport consumption with innovative approaches around engagement in and with sports. The results refute the prejudice that FS leads to less physical activity due to time substitution or displacement.

The purpose of this paper is to perceive the perspective of Portuguese and Czech’ talented athletes regarding: the main reasons pointed to drop out of sport, putting into analysis motivational factors; the conciliation of School and Sport, and how the organization of schools and sports contexts are articulated in relation to the training and promotion of students, athletes and citizens; and the contributions (positive/negative) of sports to daily life and society.

This study uses a qualitative approach to interview eight talented athletes from different sports that had to drop out the practice of sport and explores their narratives regarding experiences and the relational dynamics between sports contexts and schools.

Athletes identify factors that led to drop out: the coach profile or the methodology and dynamics of practicing/training; time consuming; and the impossibility of reconciling sports with school/job. Athletes can identify the sport’s culture, self-development and health being as positive contributions of sports, whereas injuries were referred as the main negative factor of sport. As proposal of changes, athletes referred to the need of a more professional organization of the sport contexts and to more proximity between school policies and sport policies allowing conciliating both.

One limitation that could be pointed to this research is the difference between the Czech and Portuguese socio-cultural and political situation, not only in the concept and organization of sports activities (since scholar years) but also in the general society. This difference could have more visibility when interpreting the data that led to this fact referred above.

It is recommended a more proximity relationship between researchers and the contexts of practice (sport contexts) being that it is important that these contexts should have feedback from the investigations carried out. Only in this way coaches, federations and confederations can be aware of the motivational factors that lead to talented athletes drop out, and make a greater investment in initial formation of the coaches and propose policies that try to establish partnerships with schools or professional contexts which could help the management of athletes’ times outside of sport.

Departing from the athletes’ feelings, concerns and motivations related to sport and the reasons that led to their drop out, we argue for the definition of public policies, in both countries, that promote non-discrimination of young people who wish to maintain a path linked to sports in articulation with other areas of their lives.