Yasuhiro Watanabe, Cassendra Gilbert, Mohd Salleh Aman and James J. Zhang
The purpose of this paper is to examine the systematic influence of core product features, event operation quality, sport fan identification, and image of host city as a tourism…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the systematic influence of core product features, event operation quality, sport fan identification, and image of host city as a tourism destination on behavioral intentions of international spectator at a Formula One (F1) event held in Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey form assessing the specified concepts was designed and employed to examine the structural relationships. The research participants were international spectators (n=512) attending the event. Data were randomly split into two halves, one for EFA (n=256) and the other for CFA and SEM (n=256).
Findings
Findings revealed that core product feature and sport fan identification factors were significantly (p<0.05) related to both of international spectators’ desire to stay at the event, attend the event in the future, and revisit the country; whereas, event operation quality was only found to be significantly influential of the re-patronage, and destination image was only significantly influential of the desire to stay. The findings highlight the importance and relevance of these concepts in attracting, serving, and retaining international visitors to the event.
Originality/value
Unlike other studies that are centered merely on game and event factors, this study expanded on a bigger ecological spectrum surrounding a F1 event and systematically evaluated the critical concepts and factors affecting international tourist to the event that can be considerable sources of economic growth. The findings provide empirical evidence for event and tourism management and marketing.
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Lei Luo, Tyreal Yizhou Qian, Gregg Rich and James J. Zhang
The current study was designed to (1) identify core and peripheral market demand for a recurring hallmark sporting event, testing their impact on event identification and…
Abstract
Purpose
The current study was designed to (1) identify core and peripheral market demand for a recurring hallmark sporting event, testing their impact on event identification and behavioral intentions; and to (2) explore the effect of core and peripheral market demand on event identification between first-time and repeat spectators.
Design/methodology/approach
Research participants (N = 540) were spectators at the Shanghai Masters over a span of seven days. Data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and partial least squares multi-group analysis (PLS-MGA).
Findings
Significant, positive relationships were found between core market demand and event identification, and between core market demand and behavioral intentions. In contrast, peripheral market demand only had significant, positive effect on event identification; however, findings revealed that event identification fully mediated the relationships between peripheral market demand and behavioral intentions. Additionally, the effect of peripheral market demand on event identification was greater among first-time spectators than repeat spectators.
Originality/value
This study contributed to the application of PLS-SEM in sport management research by adopting a formative-formative hierarchical component model (HCM) to address the prevailing measurement model misspecification of market demand constructs. The findings highlighted the merits of promoting market demand associated with recurring hallmark sporting events and the importance of enhancing event identification through differential market penetration schemes across different spectator groups.
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Brandon Mastromartino, Michael L. Naraine, Windy Dees and James J. Zhang
There remains a critical issue in sport management scholarship in that the field lacks a well-defined framework for delineating practical implications in research. This research…
Abstract
Purpose
There remains a critical issue in sport management scholarship in that the field lacks a well-defined framework for delineating practical implications in research. This research aims to answer the following research questions: (1) What types of practical implications can be identified in sport management research? (2) How can sport management research frame the practical implications of the study in a way that is both theoretically sound and useful for practitioners?
Design/methodology/approach
Through a scoping review and within the lens of Jaworski (2011)'s framework for managerial relevance, the study examined 427 articles from European Sport Management Quarterly, Journal of Sport Management and Sport Management Review published between 2000 and 2020.
Findings
This study presents a five-pronged framework that identifies target managers, organizational tasks, time horizons, philosophical impact and desired outcomes. Furthermore, the current research offers suggestions for how to present managerial implications in sport management research.
Originality/value
The findings shed light on the managerial relevance of the recent sport management body of work, developing an important framework for practical implications for the field to reflect and incorporate into future studies. With a theoretical understanding of how to frame the practical implications of sport management research, the gap between academia and industry can continue to narrow, and the relevance to the industry may be more pertinent than ever before.
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This study was conducted to ensure that the selected antecedent concepts, including market demand and psychological factors, were fully focused and studied in detail and depth…
Abstract
Purpose
This study was conducted to ensure that the selected antecedent concepts, including market demand and psychological factors, were fully focused and studied in detail and depth. The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a theoretical framework that specifies direct and indirect relationships among market demand, perceived benefits, perceived constraint, perceived value, consumer satisfaction and member commitment in martial arts programs.
Design/methodology/approach
Research participants (n=595) were martial arts school participants, who resided in the USA. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to evaluate the measurement model and the proposed model was tested by conducting structural equation modeling analyses.
Findings
Findings of this study indicated that perceived benefits and perceived constraints partially mediated the relationship between the market demand factors and perceived value, which in turn influenced member satisfaction and commitment. Economic Condition Consideration was found to be the most critical predictor of market demand.
Originality/value
Generating what-to-do and how-to-do implications that were specific to martial arts school and marketing practices were the priority of the investigators of this study. Administrators of martial arts programs may consider adopting the resultant theoretical framework as a general guide in their marketing efforts to recruit and retain program participants.
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Tyreal Yizhou Qian, Jerred Junqi Wang, Winston Wen-hao Chou, Euisoo Kim, James J. Zhang and Bo Gong
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of Chinese youth’s attention to and involvement with Chinese soccer and its professional league, the Chinese Super League (CSL)…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of Chinese youth’s attention to and involvement with Chinese soccer and its professional league, the Chinese Super League (CSL), on their level of satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey study was employed to test the hypotheses. Research participants (n=948) were students from five major universities that represented each of the five main geographic regions of China. Data were randomly assigned into two halves: one half for CFA (n=474) and the other half for structural equation modeling (SEM) (n=474). Mplus 7.0 was used to conduct both the CFA and SEM.
Findings
The findings of this study indicated an overall lack of attention to and involvement with Chinese soccer and CSL among Chinese youths. Discussions have been presented on the causes of the lack of youth passion for Chinese soccer and suggestions have been articulated to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of policy formulation, business operation and marketing strategy.
Originality/value
The present study built on the extant sport management literature, demonstrated the complexity of consumers’ cognition and conation in the professional soccer setting, and revealed counter-intuitive relationship between attitudinal traits and behavioral patterns, which in turn provided unique insights for Chinese professional soccer marketers, managers and administrators.
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Yibo Zhang, Tawei Wang and Carol Hsu
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of companies’ voluntary adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as the readability of privacy…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of companies’ voluntary adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as the readability of privacy statements on US customers’ intention to disclose information and their trust in a company.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on the construal level theory and psychological distance, the authors conduct a 2 × 2 + 2 between-participants experiment with 255 participants.
Findings
The findings show that a company’s voluntary adoption of the GDPR has positive effects on customers’ intention to disclose information to and their trust in that company. In addition, the effects of GDPR adoption are stronger when the adopting company’s privacy statements possess a higher level of readability.
Originality/value
The authors believe this study poses policy implications for the outcomes of GDPR adoption and the recent debate on both a stricter data breach and privacy regulation.
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Dongfeng Liu, James J. Zhang and Michel Desbordes
Growth of China’s sport industry has brought tremendous opportunities to sport and non-sport organizations domestically and globally; nonetheless, the enlargement has also raised…
Abstract
Purpose
Growth of China’s sport industry has brought tremendous opportunities to sport and non-sport organizations domestically and globally; nonetheless, the enlargement has also raised many challenges. To a great extent, China has chartered into unprecedented new sport business territories. Because of social, cultural, historical, and governmental differences, many theories and knowledge, professional experiences, best practices, and lessons learned in Western countries may or may not be directly applicable to the diverse setting(s) in China. Until now, only limited empirical evidence is available to address these challenges. Thus, formulating a special issue in the International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship to examine contemporary subject matters and concerns would be significantly meaningful to help understand, stimulate, and improve sport business operations in China, provide guidance to transnational organizations for doing sport-related business in China, offer constructive suggestions for Chinese corporations going global, and ultimately build up theories and best practices to address unique perspectives of China’s sport industry. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is conceptual and presents a review of literature.
Findings
In addition to this leading paper, there are a total of eight manuscripts selected for this special issue inquiring on contemporary matters and development of China’s sport industry, including four short articles that were formulated based on qualitative research information derived from case studies and interviews and four full-length articles that adopted a quantitative research protocol or a mixed research design involving both qualitative and quantitative information.
Research limitations/implications
While it is impossible to capture all contemporary topics in the development of China’s sport industry within one journal issue, articles selected in this special issue of the International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship have provided useful highlights into some of the critical issues faced by the industry and research directions by academicians. It is sincerely expected that studies in this special issue would help inspire more scholarly inquires and ultimately improve the continued formulation and advancement of a strong sport industry in China.
Practical implications
While it is impossible to capture all contemporary topics in the development of China’s sport industry within one journal issue, articles selected in this special issue of the International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship have provided useful highlights into some of the critical issues faced by the industry and research directions by academicians. It is sincerely expected that studies in this special issue would help inspire more scholarly inquires and ultimately improve the continued formulation and advancement of a strong sport industry in China.
Social implications
While it is impossible to capture all contemporary topics in the development of China’s sport industry within one journal issue, articles selected in this special issue of the International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship have provided useful highlights into some of the critical issues faced by the industry and research directions by academicians. It is sincerely expected that studies in this special issue would help inspire more scholarly inquires and ultimately improve the continued formulation and advancement of a strong sport industry in China.
Originality/value
While it is impossible to capture all contemporary topics in the development of China’s sport industry within one journal issue, articles selected in this special issue of the International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship have provided useful highlights into some of the critical issues faced by the industry and research directions by academicians. It is sincerely expected that studies in this special issue would help inspire more scholarly inquires and ultimately improve the continued formulation and advancement of a strong sport industry in China.
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Liangjun Zhou and James J. Zhang
The purpose of this paper is to examine the market demand of sport lottery in China from the following perspectives: available types and varieties of sport lottery, number of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the market demand of sport lottery in China from the following perspectives: available types and varieties of sport lottery, number of retail outlets, public welfare funds, promotion costs, per capita income, and population.
Design/methodology/approach
As the earliest province of issuing the sales of sport lottery and having one of the largest sales volumes in China, Guangdong Province was chosen for conducting the current study. Data were obtained from 14 sport lottery administration and distribution centers and statistics bureaus of 14 corresponding municipal cities. Multiple regression analysis was used.
Findings
Multiple regression analyses revealed that number of retail outlets, promotion cost, per capita income, and public welfare funds were positively (p<0.05) predictive of sport lottery sales; however, available types and varieties of sport lottery were not found to be significantly (p>0.05) related to total sport lottery sales. The findings are discussed in the context of theories and practices in the marketing and administration of sport lottery sales in China.
Research limitations/implications
Similar studies are suggested to be conducted in provinces and regions beyond Guangdong Province.
Originality/value
This study combined socioeconomic characteristics of the population, lottery game characteristics and management factors for the first time.
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James J. Zhang, Euisoo Kim, Brandon Mastromartino, Tyreal Yizhou Qian and John Nauright
The purpose of this paper is to encourage scholarly inquiries to critically examine broad perspectives of marketing and business operations in the sport industry of growing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to encourage scholarly inquiries to critically examine broad perspectives of marketing and business operations in the sport industry of growing economies.
Design/methodology/approach
A comprehensive review of literature was the primary research method to introduce the following critical questions, “what are the major challenges in the sport industry of developing economies in a globalized market environment and what to do?”.
Findings
Seven articles are selected based on their theoretical and practical contributions.
Originality/value
This special issue is committed to trigger more investigations into sport businesses in developing countries and ultimately advancing theories and seeking solutions.
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Hüseyin Çevik, Sam S. Chen, Brandon Mastromartino and James J. Zhang
This study aims to identify the key attributes of esports venues as perceived by spectators. Using the stimulus-organism-response framework, it also examines how these attributes…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify the key attributes of esports venues as perceived by spectators. Using the stimulus-organism-response framework, it also examines how these attributes influence customer experience, satisfaction and re-attendance intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
This mixed-methods research comprises two main stages. In the qualitative stage (Stage 1), we conducted a literature review, interviews with live esports event attendees and observations at two esports events to identify key esports venue attributes from spectators’ perspectives. In the quantitative stage (Stage 2), we recruited 564 esports game attendees at two live events to validate a measurement scale developed from the qualitative procedures. We also examined the relationships between venue attributes and the three spectator outcomes by using structural equation modeling.
Findings
Five key perspectives of esports venue attributes emerged from the qualitative analysis: (1) stage and stage lighting, (2) Internet infrastructure, (3) visibility of display screens, (4) concourse layout and (5) seating comfort. These dimensions were validated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and were found to directly influence spectator experience and satisfaction, but not re-attendance intentions.
Originality/value
This study provides pioneering insights into the specific esports venue attributes that drive spectator outcomes. The findings offer valuable directions for future esports research and practical strategies for esports venue management.