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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of attractiveness on perceptions of female athletes' potential success in managerial positions using role congruity as the theoretical framework.

Using a simulated employment evaluation, participants (n=68 male, n=121 female) were asked to evaluate the résumé of either an attractive female athlete or an unattractive female athlete for an entry‐level management position in a sport organization. Participants evaluated the athlete on hiring recommendations, competence, and anticipated liking for the applicant.

Analysis of the data indicated that attractive‐looking athletes had a significant advantage over unattractive‐looking athletes on all dependent measures. Athletes perceived to be unattractive were more harshly evaluated for entry‐level managerial positions.

The unattractive‐looking female athletes in this study may have been perceived as having both the masculine characteristics of athlete in addition to appearing to be less feminine. This combination of the masculine role of athlete, heightened by a less‐feminine appearance (i.e. unattractive‐looking), may have negatively impacted the unattractive‐looking female athletes in this study, providing further support that when women demonstrate characteristics considered to violate appropriate gender roles, they will be punished for such violations. These findings are a potential addition to role congruity theory in that backlash was occurring as a result of violating two roles; being both athletic and less attractive.

This study was the first to explore if the influence of perceived attractiveness on hiring preferences for female athletes applying for management positions was similar to the influence of attractiveness as reported in research that has examined this influence for women in social and managerial settings. The results of the current study indicated female athletes that are perceived as unattractive must walk the tightrope of being masculine, but not too masculine.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of transformational leadership, organizational commitment, job embeddedness, and job search behaviors on voluntary turnover intentions among senior administrators in intercollegiate athletics departments in the USA.

In total, 196 senior athletic administrators completed an online questionnaire assessing transformational leadership of the athletic director, organizational commitment, job embeddedness, job search behaviors, and voluntary turnover intentions. A model of turnover intentions was tested using structural equation modeling.

Results indicated that organizational commitment did not mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and job search behaviors, nor did job search behaviors mediate the relationship between organizational commitment and turnover intentions. However, job embeddedness moderated the relationship between organizational commitment and job search behaviors.

While the study results cannot be generalized outside of the intercollegiate context, the findings further the understanding of variables influencing the relationship between transformational leadership and turnover, which can guide future research.

To limit job search and retain employees, managers would benefit from targeting retention efforts on employees with less organizational commitment and lower levels of job embededdness. Managers should strive to foster job embeddedness among employees.

This study examines potential mediating and moderating variables of the relationship between transformational leadership and voluntary turnover intentions, an area of inquiry that has not been fully explored in the literature.

Retailers, it is said, are behaving as brands. Tests whether retailers can be considered to be brands by comparing the current practices of British retailers against four criteria for a brand which are developed from the existing literature on branding. The four criteria are that the brand should: differentiate; be capable of a separate existence; command a premium price and; offer the customer some psychic value. Concludes that retail brands not only exist but also exist in two forms: the more obvious merchandise brands, commonly known as own‐brand that are now marketed as more than generic commodities; and the less obvious process brand that represents the experience that retailers provide. Argues that the process brand is purchased with the shoppers′ time rather than with their money. The process brand has value to the retailer as it generates customer flow, customer loyalty and higher expenditure.

In this chapter, the authors argue that organizational controls are best depicted and studied as sets of control configurations. Concepts from extant control research streams describing basic control elements as well as ideal types of control systems are used to identify and classify control configurations. The authors present compositional distinctions among four control configurations using a decade-long case study of a start-up company. By displaying how specific control elements are simultaneously distinct and intertwined in this company, the authors reveal significant theoretical insights that can assist scholars in distinguishing between different configurational patterns and in comprehending dynamics present in holistic perspectives of control. The authors conclude by discussing how conceptualizing controls as configurations most accurately reflects both organizational and managerial practice in ways that can motivate the development of new theories and approaches to studying this key aspect of organizational design. Because control configurations inherently reflect interdisciplinary concerns, and because such configurations affect the attainment of strategic goals, this work provides findings and ideas that fit the interests of a broad audience.

This study examined the factors influencing willingness-to-repurchase for each class of airline service, and integrate the constructs of service quality, satisfaction and willingness-to-repurchase which were rooted on Engel-Kollat-Blackwell (EKB) model. The study focuses on the domestic and international arrival of passengers at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja. Information was gathered from domestic and foreign passengers who had post-purchase experience and had used the airline's services more than once. The survey data were obtained concurrently from arrival passengers at two major international airports using an electronic questionnaire through random and purposive sampling techniques. The data was analysed using the ordinal logit model and structural equation model. From the 606 respondents, 524 responses were received but 489 responses were valid for data analysis and reporting and were obtained mostly from economy and business class passengers. The study found that the quality of seat pitch, allowance of 30 kg luggage permission, availability of online check-in 24 hours before the departing flight, quality of space for legroom between seats, and the quality of seats that can be converted into a fully flatbed are the major service factors influencing willingness-to-repurchase economy and business class tickets. Also, it was found that passengers' willingness to repurchase is influenced majorly by service quality, but not necessarily influenced by satisfaction. These results reflect the passengers' consciousness of COVID-19 because the study was conducted during the heat of COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations were suggested for airline management based on each class.

Purpose: Sexual minority youth are more likely than their heterosexual peers to consider and attempt suicide, in part due to victimization experienced within schools. While existing research suggests that rates of school victimization and suicidality among sexual minority students vary by school and community context, less is known about variation in these experiences at the state level.

Methodology: Using data from a large, representative sample of sexual minority and heterosexual youth (2017 Youth Risk Behavior States Data, n = 64,746 high school students in 22 states), multilevel models examine whether differences between sexual minority and heterosexual students in victimization and suicide risk vary by state-level policies.

Findings: Results suggest that disparities between sexual minority and heterosexual boys in bullying, suicide ideation, and suicide attempt are consistently smaller in states with high levels of overall policy support for LGBTQ equality and nondiscrimination in education laws. Sexual minority girls are more likely than heterosexual girls to be electronically bullied, particularly in states with lower levels of LGBTQ equality. Disparities between sexual minority and heterosexual girls in suicide ideation are lowest in high equality states, but state policies are not significantly associated with disparities in suicide attempt among girls.

Value: Overall, findings suggest that state-level policies supporting LGBTQ equality are associated with a reduced risk of suicide among sexual minority youth. This study speaks to the role of structural stigma in shaping exposure to minority stress and its consequences for sexual minority youth's well-being.

In this chapter, we explore gender equity issues in relation to the governance of sport in Wales. Our focus is primarily on Sport Wales (SW), the national agency responsible for developing and promoting sport and physical activity in Wales and for distributing National Lottery and Welsh Government funding. As a public authority, SW has a statutory responsibility to promote equality and eliminate direct and indirect discrimination. Their recent policy commitments express a desire to advance equality and promote inclusion and diversity within sports organisations in Wales. They also set the agenda for National Governing Bodies (NGBs) in Wales, in terms of providing a policy framework for understanding and pursuing gender equity in sport and sport governance. In this chapter, we present a snapshot of the governance and leadership policy landscape for Welsh sport, with a specific focus on gender equity. We present data collected from publicly available online policy documents relating to SW, and their NGB partners, relevant to gender equity provision. Based on the data, we suggest that there is evidence of progress in terms of the numbers of women on boards in Wales as well as the creation of gender equity policies within NGBs in Wales. We argue, however, that progress is inconsistent across the different NGBs in Wales, and it is less clear whether sport governing bodies can implement policies to effectively challenge organisational culture and ethos. We concluded by suggesting future Wales specific research priorities on this topic.

This paper explores the potential that block teaching offers to enhance employability in the context of large-scale classes. It suggests that block teaching, with its condensed structure, necessitates curriculum innovation, fosters participatory learning and peer-to-peer networking, and has been shown to increase student focus and enhance engagement and attainment, especially amongst diverse learners. As these are the same challenges that large-scale teaching faces, it is proposed that intensive modes of delivery could be scaled up in a way that may help to mitigate such problems as cohorts in business schools continue to increase in size.

The paper is based on secondary research and provides an overview of literature that looks at block teaching, followed by that which explores the challenges of large-scale teaching contexts. It compares and contrasts the gaps in both to suggest a way that they could be combined.

The paper provides key insights into changes in the contemporary landscape of teaching within UK business schools, which have seen increasingly large cohorts and draws out the key strengths of intensive modes of delivery, which include helping students to time manage effectively, encouraging curriculum innovation and the creation of participatory learning opportunities as well as providing closer personal relationships between students and staff. Outlining some of the well-documented issues that can arise when teaching larger cohorts, the paper suggests that scaling up blocked delivery may offer a new way help to overcome them.

Because of the chosen research approach, the research results are subject to generalisation. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions in large-scale teaching scenarios.

This paper includes implications for the development of innovative modes of teaching in the context of large cohorts, an experience that is increasingly common amongst British business schools and beyond.

This paper brings together two bodies of literature for the first time – that of intensive modes of teaching and that focuses on large-scale teaching contexts – for the first time to show how the former may help to overcome some of the key issues arising in the latter.

Distribution has been a major element of retailers′ marketing strategy in recent years as companies strive to control costs but at the same time seek competitive advantage through improving service to stores and gaining greater control of stock in the supply chain. In an interview survey of distribution directors from major multiple groups, all companies were reviewing their distribution strategy and many had made major changes to their distribution system. Centralisation of stock in strategically located RDCs and the use of third party contractors were main features of retail companies′ strategy. Contractors were much more aggressive in marketing their services to retailers than hitherto. This is partly related to the competitive and turbulent nature of the industry. In a survey of marketing directors/managers of distribution companies, it was clear that firms were trying to raise their profile in the market as they “went public” and/or because they were moving into new industry sectors away from their “core” specialist areas.