Search results

It is important students learn about leadership. The purpose of this study was to assess whether a leadership course for sport management graduate students led to gains in knowledge of leadership and understanding of themselves as leaders. Using quantitative (pre- and post-surveys) and qualitative (email interviews) data, this study found a one-semester course in sport leadership led to gains in theoretical and applied knowledge of leadership. Additionally, students grew personally as leaders and felt more comfortable practicing leadership in their current jobs and more prepared for future professional lives. Teachers should consider using a mix of active learning, case studies, and writing assignments to help students learn leadership concepts, practice making leadership decisions, and reflect on their leadership capabilities when educating effective leaders.

This study explores the positive and negative factors influencing transformational learning experiences of female leaders in women’s leadership development programmes in sports and examines the differences in learning/change factors cited by those who successfully addressed them and those who failed.

The study adopted a qualitative research method, using phone interviews with women leaders in a sports setting.

The findings revealed that participants presented clear progress in terms of leadership skills, but they failed to report whether this progress can be achieved if the programme is running within a specific sports organisation, targeting a specific kind of sports leadership in the long term.

There were a number of limitations for this study, e.g. selection of participants, sample size, exploratory methodology, which affected generalising the findings to other sports organisations or other countries.

The study provides a starting point for the exploration of the effectiveness of women leadership development programmes and how designers can evaluate the outcome of such initiatives in the UK.

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a sport-leadership program on minority incarcerated young adults’ health-related fitness markers.

This study occurred at an all-male juvenile detention center. A total of 41 participants in this study were obtained from a sample of 103 incarcerated young adults. Data collection entailed body mass index (BMI) evaluation, cardiovascular endurance tests and 1-min pushups and situps at two different time periods (before and after three months). A 2 × 2 mixed factorial analysis of variances was used to test for differences among the within subjects’ factors (time [pre × post]) and between subjects’ factors (groups [flex × control]) for the above-mentioned dependent variables.

Over the course of three consecutive months of engagement, preliminary indications demonstrated participants had a slight reduction in BMI and significant increases in cardiovascular endurance and muscle strength. Contrarily, during this same time period, non-participating young adults exhibited significant increases in BMI and decreases in cardiovascular endurance and muscle strength.

Integration of sport-leadership programs is generally not free but can be a low-cost alternative for combatting many issues surrounding physical activity, weight gain and recreational time for those incarcerated.

The purpose of this study is to capture the journey of the first female leader in sports management in her country in the south-east Asian region for their National Sport and the values and behaviors enabling her to achieve it.

The study uses a mixed-methods case study design, quantitative and qualitative outcome measures, to assess the career progression of the first female executive director of a national sporting organization in her country, namely, BWN and her involvement in a two-week intensive sports management, leadership and development program.

A professional and courageous approach to identify and implement honest and evidence-based solutions were key for BWN’s success. BWN complemented professionalism with soft skills, clear communication and an outcome-based approach to challenging situations, successfully influencing change within her national sporting organization. This female leader is an inspiring role model for other women and her professionalism her most influential value driving innovation in sports management and organizational change. The positive impact she had in her community highlights the significant contributions female leaders can have within the sports leadership context, given the opportunity and scope to do so.

For the first time in her country, the unsolicited and unprecedented evidence-based approach, professionalism and proactivity assisted BWN with her colleagues accepting her as the first woman on the executive board of her national sporting body of one of the most celebrated national sports. Breaking the mold with unexpected (positive) behavior might be the secret to further breakthroughs for women in sports management.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the competencies of leadership used and the reasons behind their use in an attempt to understand the nature of leadership competencies in non-profit sports organisations, and guide the experts to focus on specific competencies for general purposes.

The current study adopts a qualitative method to achieve the aim of the study.

The results revealed that four groups of competencies, namely, understanding the whole,communication, general management relation, and change tend to be specific competencies for general purposes in different leadership positions. The findings demonstrate the value of the approach in discoveringinsights that would not have emerged from more commonly utilised methodologies.

Overall, these findings suggest that individuals, in different sport leadership positions, need four groups of competencies to overcome internal and external challenges effectively. Implications of this research may exist in business and other domains. Specifically, several competency frameworks are suggested in business for leaders to meet their internal and external challenges.

This research represents the first attempt to understand and explore the nature of leadership competencies in non-profit sports organisations in the Middle East.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the transformational and transactional leadership styles and organizational learning at for-profit and non-profit sports organizations, and the impact of these leadership styles on enhancing organizational learning in these sports organizations.

A quantitative questionnaire survey method was adopted. The data were collected from for-profit and non-profit sports organizations in the UK.

Management by exception-active in transactional leadership and idealized leadership in transformational leadership seem to be equally important for facilitating organizational learning. The results also revealed significant differences between for-profit and non-profit sports organizations in leadership styles and organizational learning.

The generalizability of the results for different sports settings or different countries must be examined, given that only some sports organizations under the umbrellas of non-profit and for-profit sectors were used as the target population. The research is limited to the use of moderating variables, such as motivation, organizational structure, culture and innovation, that might attenuate this effect. This study contributes to the field by investigating the direct relationship between leadership styles and organizational learning in a sports setting.

The originality of this study is its advances of sports leadership research that is linking leadership styles and organizational learning in for-profit and non-profit sports organizations.

In an ever-interconnected world dominated by discourses on the internationalization and marketization of higher education, concerns related to language and employability have been the focus of recent debates. There is, however, a dearth of research investigating how these dimensions relate to one another in recent comparative and international higher education research. By focusing on how issues related to language and employability have been presented in recent higher education research worldwide, this chapter aims to contribute to our understanding of this concern. To achieve this goal, we conducted a scoping literature review using the Web of Science, Scopus, and the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) databases, considering the years 2011–2020. The findings, perhaps not surprisingly, suggested that language skills are perceived to be valued by both graduates and employers though the discussions predominantly focused on one language, English. The research focus on English for employability in Anglophone contexts is understandable. However, the fact that the trend is observed in contexts where the language is not the primary or official language seems to indicate the influence of internationalization of higher education and global labor markets primarily dominated by English. The literature also suggested that (English) language training in higher education programs needs to move from solely linguistic and qualification-related content areas to a broader sphere of English for communication purposes that cover both specialized disciplinary content and broader generic employability skills. Considering this finding, we suggest that higher education systems and institutions incorporate recent developments in English for occupational purposes in their curriculum. We also recommend that there needs to be a shift from the overwhelmingly English language-dominated discussions to more inclusive research that assesses the impact of other dominant languages on employability-related concerns.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate why and how universities in the Glasgow region sought to leverage the 2014 Commonwealth Games to achieve their own benefits.

An in-depth qualitative case study, utilising documentary evidence and in-depth interviews, was employed to examine how Glasgow universities leveraged the Games, and the outcomes they sought.

Universities sought to leverage the 2014 Commonwealth Games to garner a range of benefits, including increased brand awareness, student and staff development opportunities, new or improved infrastructure, and strengthened stakeholder relationships. Leveraging strategies included developing relationships with other Games’ stakeholders to establish and participate in collaborations, committees, and research consortia, hosting ancillary events, and hosting teams on training camps. However, data revealed substantial barriers to effective leveraging, such as insufficient resourcing and lack of leadership, and consequently several interviewees conveyed a sense of missed opportunities.

The results can inform universities located in host regions about the opportunities and challenges to strategically leveraging an event. Also, if event organisations understand the leveraging ambitions of event stakeholders, such as universities, they can better facilitate and manage their relationships with such stakeholders to maximise event benefits in the host region.

This research considers the leveraging activities of a previously un-researched event stakeholder group (universities) that have the potential to deliver benefits that reach students, staff, and industry interest groups in event host communities. The knowledge contributed could aid universities in future event host regions to strategically leverage to maximise the benefits of major sport events.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors which influence male prisoners’ motivation for, and engagement in, exercise and subsequent healthy behaviours.

The first authors conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with male prisoners inside an English medium-security male prison. Interviews were recorded and transcribed, themes were identified using thematic analysis and a critical realist perspective applied to understand objective processes behind prisoners’ experiences and shared meanings of exercise and engaging in healthy behaviours in prison.

Emerging themes indicate that in the context of healthy behaviours male prisoners aspired to a masculine ideal that was characterised by a culture of either adaptive behaviours, or maladaptive behaviours. The former fostered an adaptive exercise culture which promoted psychological well-being through an autonomy-supportive environment, consequently internalising motivation and minimising perceived barriers to engaging in healthy behaviours. Conversely, a culture of maladaptive behaviours fostered a maladaptive exercise culture which led to negative psychological well-being, underpinned by external forms of motivation which emphasised barriers to engaging in healthy behaviours.

Findings emphasise the need for prisons to promote an internal perceived locus of control for male prisoners when engaging in healthy behaviours.

The authors adopt a rare interdisciplinary approach combining a psychological theory of motivation and criminological perspectives of prison culture to understand how best to minimise the impact of prisons as an institution on the psychological well-being of male prisoners.