Bo Li, Olan K.M. Scott and Stephen W. Dittmore
The purpose of this paper is to examine how Olympic audiences utilized Twitter to follow American National Governing Bodies (NGBs) during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how Olympic audiences utilized Twitter to follow American National Governing Bodies (NGBs) during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Design/methodology/approach
Guided by economic demand theory, the researchers sought to explore whether factors such as the content of social media messages, athlete’s performance, event presentation, scheduling, and TV broadcasting contribute to enhancing fans’ interests in following NGBs on Twitter during the Olympic Games. In total, 33 American NGB Twitter accounts formed the data set for this study. Each of NGBs’ Twitter data was collected every night at midnight from August 7 to 23, 2016. Data collected from each NGB account included number of followers, number of accounts followed, number of tweets, and number of “likes.”
Findings
Results of this study revealed that team’s performance and the number of tweets had direct and positive relationships with increasing the number of NGB’s Twitter followers on each competition day. The number of “likes,” however, had a significant negative relationship with fans’ interests in following NGBs’ Twitter.
Originality/value
The results of the study are expected to help Governing Bodies in the Olympic sports have a better understanding of fans’ social media usage.
Details
Keywords
Nicholas Masafumi Watanabe, Ann Pegoraro, Grace Yan and Stephen L. Shapiro
Previous research on rivalry games in sport has predominantly focused on understanding the nature of these games and their effects on consumer behavior. As such, the purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
Previous research on rivalry games in sport has predominantly focused on understanding the nature of these games and their effects on consumer behavior. As such, the purpose of this paper is to conduct an empirical examination to provide better theoretical and empirical understanding of how rivalries may impact the posting of content online.
Design/methodology/approach
This research utilizes Twitter data measuring the number of posts by individuals about college football teams to model how often fans create content during game days. The models in this study were estimated using fixed-effects panel regressions.
Findings
After controlling for a number of factors, including the type of rivalry game, results indicate fans post more during traditional rivalries. Furthermore, newer rivalry games had less impact on the amount of content posted about a team.
Practical implications
The findings from this research provide sport marketers with important information regarding fan use of digital platforms. Notably, the results suggest rivalries can help to boost the volume of content individuals post about a team, indicating these games provide teams with an opportunity to maximize their engagement with fans and focus on key marketing objectives.
Originality/value
To date, there has been little examination considering whether rivalries affect behaviors in the digital realm. Therefore, the current investigation is one of the first studies to examine how rivalries impact social media behavior.
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Jinwoo Park, Minhong Kim, John Nauright and Young Hoon Kim
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among athlete star power, enjoyment and revisit intention of sport event tourists in a sport mega-event (SME).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among athlete star power, enjoyment and revisit intention of sport event tourists in a sport mega-event (SME).
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted in the context of 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games. A total of 419 respondents completed a survey. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data.
Findings
This study proved the final structure model fit well by having the values and scores higher than the minimum cutoff in all categories. Path coefficients indicate that H1a, H1c and H2 were supported while H1b was not supported by the analysis. In addition, enjoyment partially mediated the relationship between athlete star power and revisit intentions. In particular, two mediating effects were found: enjoyment mediated trustworthiness and revisit intention and expertise and revisit intention. However, enjoyment did not mediate the relationship between attractiveness and revisit intentions.
Research limitations/implications
The limitation of this study lies within two perspectives. Since the data have been collected in one country, the results may be viewed and interpreted for a specific location and time. Thus, it is strongly recommended to conduct the similar studies in the future Olympic Games. In the other perspective, the results could be different from one to another sport game because of the popularity by star power and game itself.
Originality/value
This study adds the literature on sport event research. Although there were a few studies on the effect of athlete star power, a dearth of research examined the relationships among athlete star power (trustworthiness, attractiveness and expertise), enjoyment and revisit intention. These results are valuable to SME managers to increase the propensity of tourists’ revisit intention at sport mega-event by understanding the factors that lead to increased tourist enjoyment.
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Shivinder Nijjer and Sahil Raj
The high rate of internet penetration has led to the proliferation of social media (SM) use, even at the workplace, including academia. This research attempts to develop a…
Abstract
Purpose
The high rate of internet penetration has led to the proliferation of social media (SM) use, even at the workplace, including academia. This research attempts to develop a topology and thereby determine the dominant use motive for faculty’s use of SM.
Design/methodology/approach
In this two-part study, a two-stage research design has been adopted for topology development based on the application of Uses and Gratifications Theory. In the second part, the Technology Acceptance Model is applied to discern the dominant motive for SM use in academia.
Findings
The work is able to develop a seven-item topology, conforming to the basic three use motives, namely, hedonic, utilitarian and social. The work shows faculty attach more value to the instrumental utility of SM, while the hedonic function is also significant.
Practical implications
Discerning dominant motive implies that SM use at the workplace should not be banned, rather effective regulated use will instil the faculty to enhance work outcomes. The conceptualisation of topology for SM use in academia at the workplace can aid in designing an effective organisation policy, and design of an internal SM platform.
Originality/value
The study is unique towards topology development for academic faculty and has many important implications for management and academia, especially towards policy design for SM use at the workplace.
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Nina Michaelidou, George Christodoulides and Caterina Presi
Limited research has examined the segment of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs). This study aims to explore how this segment self-presents with regard to luxury on…
Abstract
Purpose
Limited research has examined the segment of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs). This study aims to explore how this segment self-presents with regard to luxury on Instagram.
Design/methodology/approach
We use a qualitative research approach to content-analyze 815 publicly available photos on Instagram. The analytical approach involves multiple stages and yields three key themes.
Findings
Through Instagram images, UHNWIs engage in inconspicuous consumption via subtle displays of luxury possessions and more cues that indicate luxury experiences, power and social connections. The results further identify four dimensions of self-presentation in luxury consumption on social media: ostentatious, humble, revealed and hidden.
Research limitations/implications
The study adopts an inductive approach to identify themes related to UHNWIs’ self-presentation on Instagram. Other research could adopt a quantitative approach to identify drivers of the various themes. In addition, the unit of analysis was the photo posted by the UHNWI rather than the UHNWI himself or herself. Further research might explicitly consider the overall profile of each UHNWI and their holistic approach to posting with a view to developing a typology of UHNWIs based on the way they self-present and portray their luxury consumption.
Practical implications
Luxury marketers should focus on inconspicuous products and experiences that allow the UHNWIs to decelerate and spend time with their loved ones, access rare experiences and demonstrate power via their networks.
Originality/value
We extend prior research on self-presentation on Instagram. The authors focus on UHNWIs, a neglected yet significant segment of the luxury market.