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This study aims to examine the influence of a sports-related accident and its severity on sponsorship effects, including brand recognition, attitude toward the sponsoring brand and purchase intention.

The fear appeal theory and sensation-seeking are applied as a theoretical framework. The research is carried out via an experiment using auto racing video footage and print material that manipulates the severity of accidents at three levels – no accident, an accident with a minor injury and an accident resulting in a fatality.

The analyses demonstrate that the severity of the accident elicits varying sponsorship effects. Sponsorship effects are maximized in a minor injury condition, while smaller sponsorship effects are garnered in the absence of an accident or during fatal injury conditions, as expected via the fear appeal theory. These results suggest that sports fans are excited by auto racing crashes, but are averse to witnessing a fatal accident.

The participants of the experiment were all students. Consequently, the participants did not represent all sports fans. Only auto racing was examined as experiment stimuli. Different demographic characteristics (e.g. age, race, nationality) and sports could differently influence the relationships among the research variables.

Potential sponsors do not need to take a negative view of the dangers of sports accidents. Rather, it is recommended that such companies actively plan their sponsorship activities with the appropriate strategy.

The relationship between the severity of a sports-related accident and sponsorship effects has received little attention regarding its potential impact on brand recognition, attitude toward the sponsoring brand and purchase intention. The current study is the first known empirical research using the fear appeal theory in sports sponsorship. It investigates the severity of a sports-related accident and determines how that severity influences sponsorship effects in auto racing. This study provides a better understanding of the effects of an accident and its severity on sponsorship effects.

The purpose of this study is to propose a conceptual model for identifying the factors of e-service quality (e-SQ) and for investigating the impact of team identification, e-SQ and satisfaction on behavioural intention to revisit sports websites. The proposed conceptual framework includes five service quality factors of sports websites (usability, privacy, reliability, information, appearance). Based on the previous literature in the areas of e-SQ and team identification, this study attempts to develop a model to better understand the relationships between each construct. The Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) results with a convenience sample of 409 college students reveal that team identification has a positive and significant effect on e-SQ, satisfaction and revisitation. In addition, satisfaction is found to be a mediator between e-SQ and revisitation.

The purpose of this study was to examine purchasing intentions in online sports ticketing websites. Based on previous research related to business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce, this study developed a conceptual model to test the effect of perceived risk, trust and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) on purchase intentions in online secondary ticket websites. College students (N = 251) from the northeastern region of the United States were chosen as the sample. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to investigate the proposed relationships among four major components (i.e. perceived risk, trust, TAM and behavioural intention). The results showed that there were positive effects of key TAM constructs (i.e. perceived usefulness and ease of use) and trust on purchasing intention, but perceived risk was not a significant indicator of purchase intention.

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the motivation factors associated with American volleyball athletes' migration to Korea and to identify the constraints that interfered with their leisure pursuits away from their primary sport engagement. Using semi-structured in-depth interviews with 12 participants, four themes were identified under migration motivation: (1) career extension and longevity, (2) monetary compensation, (3) cultural experiences, and (4) coach/player recommendations, and three themes under leisure obstacles associated with acculturation: (1) language barrier, (2) lack of time, and (3) limited social networks. This study provides athletes with information on migration motivation and what elements prevent them from thoroughly engaging in leisure participation while they are stationed abroad.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamics of an online community by examining its participants’ centrality measures: degree, closeness, and the betweenness centrality. Each centrality measure shows the different roles and positions of an individual participant within an online community. To be specific, this research examines how an individual participant’s role and position affects her/his information sharing activities within an online community over time. Additionally, it investigates the differences between two different online communities (a personal interest focussed community and a social interest focussed community), in terms of the interaction patterns of participants.

For this research, the authors collected log files from Korean online discussion communities (café.naver.com) using a crawler program. A social network analysis was used to explore the interaction patterns of participants and calculate the centrality measures of individual participants. Time series cross-sectional analysis was used to analyze the effects of the roles and the positions on their information sharing activities in a longitudinal setting.

The results of this research showed that all three centrality measures of an individual participant in previous time periods positively influenced his/her information sharing activity in the current periods. In addition, this research found that, depending on the nature of the discussion issues, the participants showed different interaction patterns. Throughout this research, the authors explored the interaction patterns of individual participants by using a network variable, the centrality, within a large online community, and found that the interaction patterns provided strong impact on their information sharing activities in the following months.

To investigate the changes of participant’s behaviors, this study simply relies on the numbers of comments received and posted without considering the contents of the comments. Future studies might need to analyze the contents of the comments exchanged between participants, as well as the social network among participants.

Online communities have developed to take a more active role in inviting public opinions and promoting discussion about various socio-economic issues. Governments and companies need to understand the dynamics which are created by the interactions among many participants. This study offers them a framework for analyzing the dynamics of large online communities. Furthermore, it helps them to respond to online communities in the right way and in the right time.

Online communities do not merely function as a platform for the free exchange and sharing of personal information and knowledge, but also as a social network that exerts massive influence in various parts of society including politics, economy, and culture. Now online communities become playing an important role in our society. By examining communication or interaction behaviors of individual participants, this study tries to understand how the online communities are evolved over time.

In the area of online communities, many previous studies have relied on the subjective data, like participant’s perception data, in a particular time by using survey or interview. However, this study explores the dynamics of online communities by analyzing the vast amount of data accumulated in online communities.

Based on a single case approach, this chapter empirically explores the triple helix configuration of Centurion University of Technology and Management (CUTM) and its social innovation programme. The study uses case files and web available material to consider the nature of the university’s relationship with industry and government. The findings show that triple helix social innovation has yet to be studied in an Indian context. Also, CUTM’s human and social orientation is a driver of its triple helix interaction. The university’s pursuit and trust in employers’ participation in the curriculum and campus experience is the hallmark of its social and pedagogic success. To advance the literature, this chapter draws attention to a much-overlooked Indian context and, for practitioners, it demonstrates the inner-workings of a functioning triple helix system.

From 1953 to 1961, the South Korean economy grew slowly; the average per capita GNP growth was a mere percent, amounting to less than $100 in 1961. Few people, therefore, look for the sources of later dynamism in this period. As Kyung Cho Chung (1956:225) wrote in the mid‐1950s: “[South Korea] faces grave economic difficulties. The limitations imposed by the Japanese have been succeeded by the division of the country, the general destruction incurred by the Korean War, and the attendant dislocation of the population, which has further disorganized the economy” (see also McCune 1956:191–192). T.R. Fehrenbach (1963:37), in his widely read book on the Korean War, prognosticated: “By themselves, the two halves [of Korea] might possibly build a viable economy by the year 2000, certainly not sooner.”

This chapter reviews and synthesizes three major strands of recent research, alongside discipline-specific research design, from scholars of Language Issues in Comparative and International Education. The first strand is mixed methods research on the policy and practice of L1-based multilingual education programs, and their contribution to raising educational quality and addressing equity and inclusiveness worldwide. The second strand is qualitative, community-based research of educational programs aimed toward revitalization of minoritized, indigenous, and/or endangered languages. The third strand is empirical and theoretical research that seeks to document, contest, and reconceptualize the dynamics among dominant and non-dominant languages within and between international contexts. The authors explore points of synergy between studies, examine publication in the field from a meta-perspective, and suggest encouraging directions of future research, while highlighting the value of non-dominant languages as resources for education and life.