The world engaged in online sport watching during COVID-19. Fortunately, in Taiwan, the pandemic was stably controlled in 2020, allowing for the continuation of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL); this attracted international attention and encouraged relevant discussions on social media in Taiwan. In the present study, through text mining, we analyzed user content (e.g., the concepts of sports service quality and social identity) on the Professional Technology Temple (PTT) baseball board—the largest online bulletin board system in Taiwan. A predictive model was constructed to assess PTT users’ COVID-19-related comments in 2020. A total of 422 articles and 21,167 comments were retrieved. PTT users interacted more frequently during the closed-door period, particularly during the beginning of the CPBL in April. Effective pandemic prevention, which garnered global attention to the league, generated a sense of national identity among the users, which was strengthened with the development of peripheral products, such as English broadcasting and live broadcasting on Twitch. We used machine learning to develop a chatbot for predicting the attributes of users’ comments; this chatbot may improve CPBL teams’ understanding of public opinion trends. Our findings may help stakeholders develop tailored programs for online spectators of sports during pandemic situations.

The current study proposes a multidimensional student athlete well-being framework (SAWBF). The authors used 12 items to capture SAWBF comprised of four well-being dimensions (i.e., physical, hedonic, psychological, and social well-being). To empirically assess the reliability and validity of the framework, data from elite collegiate student athletes in Japan (N = 546) were procured. The results indicated sufficient convergent and discriminant validities of SAWBF. The authors also assessed predictive validity correlations of the framework by focusing on the oft-supported well-being outcome–organizational citizenship behavior, which were also found to be associated with SAWBF. The findings indicated the usefulness of SAWBF; and coaches and staff members can utilize the framework to multi-dimensionally understand well-being status of their student athletes, potentially boosting adaptive behaviors.

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to examine how pre-scandal associations and scandal types interactively influence consumer judgment and negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM).

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing from cognitive dissonance theory and associative memory network model, the online experiments (Amazon Mechanical Turk; Nexperiment 1 = 146 and Nexperiment 2 = 189) were conducted to examine the effects of positive pre-scandal associations (performance vs pro-social) and scandal types (performance-related vs -unrelated) on consumer blame and eWOM toward scandalized athletes. Data were analyzed by employing t-test (experiment 1), Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) and PROCESS Model 8 (experiment 2) to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The findings highlight that positive pre-scandal association demonstrated both protecting and backfiring effects depending on the types of scandals. Specifically, when performance-related scandals emerged, consumers made more negative blame judgment of athletes with salient performance association, relative to pro-social association. Inversely, when performance-unrelated scandals occurred, athletes with salient pro-social association were more likely to be blamed. Regarding eWOM, consumers generate more negative eWOM when athletes with pre-performance associations are involved with performance-related scandals. This pattern of the result was not observed when athletes' pro-social association and performance-unrelated scandals were prominent.

Originality/value

The current work adds consumers' negative eWOM toward scandalized athletes to the literature as a predictor of how athletes' pre-scandal association with consumers and scandal types are related. The findings indicate that consumers feel greater dissonance and generate more negative eWOM when athletes' pre-scandal associations and scandal types are closely related.

The study investigated how social environmental factors (i.e., supportive behaviors of coaches and parents) are associated with thriving in sport amongst a youth population, influencing important outcomes of sport participation (i.e., intention to continue sport and subjective well-being in sport). Two-wave data was collected within a three-month time span to help determine the relationship of social environmental factors with intention to continue and subjective well-being. One hundred fifty-nine Japanese youth sport participants (M age = 15.81) completed the questionnaires twice. Autonomy supportiveness of coaches and parents was positively related to thriving three months later. In contrast, only the relationship between autonomy support from coaches and thriving was mediated by the change in basic psychological need satisfaction. Moreover, autonomy support from coaches was related to intention to continue sport and subjective well-being in sport through the changes in basic psychological needs satisfaction and thriving individually and in sequence. The results indicate the importance of both the parent and coach in the role of nurturing the young athletes, while the influence was more robust for coaches. The findings indicate a need for stakeholders to focus on educating and promoting their role in creating supportive environments aimed at increasing retention and well-being.

In the current investigation, we assess the effect of COVID-19 on intention-based spectator demand for professional sports in Japan captured by eight, monthly repeated cross-sectional national surveys from May to December 2020 (n = 20,121). We regress spectator demand on individual (e.g., gender), prefecture-wave (e.g., COVID-19 infection status), and prefecture-level factors (i.e., with or without quality professional teams). The results of multilevel logistic regression demonstrate that individual (i.e., male, younger, full-time employment, and with children status) and prefecture-level team factors (i.e., with teams) were associated with intention-based spectator demand. Nevertheless, COVID-19-related factors were found to be unrelated to spectator demand. The findings imply that sports fans are likely to return to the stadium once behavioral restrictions are lifted. The current research provided further evidence that individual factors and team quality serve as influential antecedents of spectator demand in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic.

How can sport community involvement influence life satisfaction during a pandemic? Self-expansion theory posits that individuals seek to gain resources such as positive interpersonal relationships for growth and achievement. By considering psychological capital (PsyCap) as a dispositional resource intervening between sport community involvement and life satisfaction, we examined an empirical model to test the chain of effects. Based on the stress process model, distress and generational group (Generation Z vs. others) were tested as moderators. Participants (N = 233) responded to the scale item questionnaire for model assessment. Supporting the hypothesized relationships, the model was supported with a significant moderated-moderated mediation. The mediation effect of PsyCap was stronger when distress level was lower and such interaction effect was amplified for Generation Z (Gen Z). Whereas the global sport communities and Gen Z were found to be more particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, our findings suggest that there are psychological pathways for fans to maintain their resilience. It is foremost imperative to lower the stress level of sport fans for their community involvement to positively affect life satisfaction. Gen Z were more stressed during the pandemic but individuals who managed to cope with stress were able to leverage community involvement to boost positive psychological resources. Acknowledgment of these effects brings implications for better management strategies and provides avenues for new research.

People’s lives have drastically changed since the outbreak of COVID-19. One concern during the pandemic has been the level of inactivity among people. Compared to various generations (e.g., baby boomers, generation alpha), Generation Z (Gen Z) traditionally spends much less time in outdoor spaces. Due to the pandemic, their inactiveness is assumed to be even more severe. Hiking, an outdoor activity, has become a possible remedy for young people to exercise in a safer sport environment compared to traditional facility-based activities. Although various studies have supported the link between motivations and hiking intention, the relationship may be altered based on psychological influences unique to the pandemic situations—perceived risk and coping appraisals. The current study was conducted to investigate the relationship between Gen Z’s motivations and hiking intention and moderating roles of perceived risk and coping appraisals in a pandemic environment. Data were collected from Gen Z between 18 and 24 in China (N = 407). The validity and reliability of all the constructs were assessed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), average variance extracted (AVE), and composite reliability. For testing hypotheses, PROCESS Macro 4.0 was used. The findings proposed that the appraisals of the pandemic situation (i.e., perceived risk and coping ability) moderated the relationship between two of the motivations—intellectual and destination motivations—and hiking intention. As a result, organizers of outdoor sports programs can implement viable strategies and take valid measurements to minimize the fear and worries among people in the time of the crisis.

Research has shown that participation in sport tourism can enhance wellbeing. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between wellbeing generated through participation in active sport tourism and overall life satisfaction. Three different types of active sport tourism (i.e., golf, snowboarding, and long-distance running) were compared to explore whether the type of experience impacts the relationship between active sport tourism wellbeing and life satisfaction. Broaden-and-build theory was used as a theoretical foundation. Data were collected via an online self-administered questionnaire. Respondents were recruited via a Qualtrics panel (N = 418). Analysis of variance indicated that snowboarders rated the positive emotions acquired from active sport tourism significantly lower than golfers and runners. Furthermore, hierarchical multiple regression showed a significantly stronger relationship between positive emotions and life satisfaction for golfers and runners compared to snowboarders. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.

Basic psychological needs (BPN) are a construct that helps clarify the psychological mechanism to reach desirable outcomes for youth athletes. When BPN are undermined, people should be less likely to thrive. As mental toughness (MT) can reduce the negative effects of stressors, MT may buffer the negative effects of maladaptive motivation. This study investigated the mediating role of thriving on the relationships between BPN thwarting and important outcomes for youth athletes’ positive functioning. It also examined the buffering effects of MT. One hundred eighty-eight Canadian youth athletes (<italic>M</italic>_age = 15.51) answered an online survey. The results demonstrated that thriving was a significant mediator, and the indirect relationships were moderated by MT. The indirect associations were nonsignificant for youth with high MT. The findings demonstrated that MT might decrease the negative impacts of BPN thwarting on thriving and important outcomes for young athletes.

Previous research in evolutionary psychology has highlighted the potential role of facial structures in explaining human behavior. The facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) was found to be associated with testosterone-driven behavioral tendencies like achievement drive, aggression, and sporting success. The current study aimed to replicate such relationships using real-world data (i.e., professional basketball players; <italic>N</italic> = 482). Achievement drive, aggression, and sporting success were operationalized as field-goal attempts (FGA), the number of fouls committed (Foul), and player performance rating (EFF), respectively. The results indicated that fWHR was significantly associated with FGA and EFF, controlling for minutes of play and body-mass-index. The same results were obtained for separate analyses focusing on outsider players. However, analyses of inside players demonstrated that fWHR was associated only with EFF. The current research further provides empirical evidence supporting the effects of fWHR on achievement drive and sporting successes, although the effect sizes are notably small.

Recently, gamified wearable fitness trackers have received greater attention and usage among sport consumers. Although a moderate amount of aerobic physical activity can significantly reduce the risk of many serious illnesses, physical inactivity issues are still prominent. Although wearable fitness trackers have the potential to contribute to physical activity engagement and sustainable health outcomes, there are dwindling engagement and discontinuance issues. Thus, examining its gamification elements and role in physical activity becomes critical. This study examined the gamification elements in wearable fitness trackers and their role in physical activity and sports engagement. A comprehensive literature review yielded 26 articles that empirically measured a variety of gamification features and the effect of the device on physical activity and sports engagement. The study suggests three key gamification themes: goal-based, social-based, and rewards-based gamification that can be a point of interest for future scholars and practitioners. Based on the review, we propose a conceptual framework that embraces motivational affordances and engagement in physical activity and sports.

<title>Abstract</title>The current study was conducted to examine the interactive effects of basic psychological needs satisfaction (BPNS), hedonic and eudaimonic motives on intrinsic regulation. To assess the causal relationship, two-wave time-lagged data collection was employed. A total of 159 youth athletes in Japan participated in online surveys twice (three-month time lag between two data points). The results indicated that the effect of BPNS on intrinsic regulation was moderated by hedonic and eudaimonic motives. Interestingly, BPNS negatively affected intrinsic regulation among youth athletes with low hedonic motives. This negative impact was further augmented when the level of eudaimonic motives was higher. Conversely, BPNS positively influenced intrinsic regulation among youth athletes with high hedonic motives. This positive impact of BPNS was more prominent when eudaimonic motives were lower. Overall, the findings suggest that when intrinsic regulation is the central concern, youth athletes should focus more on seeking enjoyment while putting self-development aside to maximize the positive impact of BPNS.

Objetivo do estudo: Apesar da existência de oportunidades de desenvolvimento de marcas dos atletas, em esportes menos populares os atletas encontram dificuldades neste tema. Portanto, o presente estudo teve como objetivo contribuir com a literatura existente sobre a marca do atleta, fornecendo uma compreensão melhor e holística da marca do atleta em esportes menos populares.Metodologia: Empregamos a abordagem triádica que envolveu três partes interessadas: Atleta, fãs e mídia, para explorar fatores importantes nas estratégias de marca do atleta em esportes menos populares..Originalidade/Relevância: Há menos foco no esporte menos popular e na marca de seus stakeholders. Com o crescente interesse dos fãs por esportes menos populares e seus atletas estão ganhando mais atenção do que nunca. Assim, o estudo optou por discutir um fenômeno ignorado no contexto da marca do atleta.Principais resultados: Os resultados identificaram quatro temas principais e oito subtemas associados com base nas entrevistas e na análise de conteúdo da mídia. Esses principais e subtemas incluem (1) desempenho (sucesso esportivo, nível de competição), (2) pessoal / privado (características fora do esporte, gerenciamento de imagem), (3) negócios / marketing (promoção de atleta, produtos mercadológicos) e (4) fator contextual (natureza esportiva, proximidade).Contribuições teóricas/metodológicas: o estudo atual contribuiu na literatura existente sobre a marca do atleta por meio do foco em um atleta importante de um esporte menos popular.

The purpose of the current study, drawing on attribution theory, was to investigate consumers’ attribution process and its impact on their responses to a scandalized athlete and endorsement. The results of the experiment indicate that the distinctiveness of an athlete scandal prompts external attribution while having a negative impact on internal attribution. Additionally, the consistency of an athlete scandal triggers internal attribution. Moreover, the results show that internal (external) attribution has direct negative (positive) impact on attitude toward the scandalized athlete. Lastly, the results show that consumers’ attribution type indirectly determines the consumer responses toward the troubled athlete and endorsement perception. Findings of the current study provide empirical evidence to explain what informational cues consumers utilize when making causal inferences and how such causal inferences subsequently affect the consumer responses. Th e current study also provides marketing managers with useful implications to make informed decisions in the athlete transgression context.

© The Author(s) 2019. It is important for brands to appropriately respond when their athlete endorsers are involved in a scandal. The present study examines how consumer evaluations of endorsed brands are influenced by a brand’s response to an endorser scandal. A 2 (brand response strategy type: maintenance vs. termination) × 2 (endorser scandal type: competence-relevant vs. competence-irrelevant) between-subjects experiment is conducted. Specifically, the authors focus on the perceived appropriateness of the response strategy and consumer attitudes toward an endorsed brand. Subjects were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk (N = 111). Consumers perceive that terminating an endorsement contract with a scandalized endorser is more appropriate than maintaining the relationship. This is particularly true when celebrity endorsers are involved in competence-relevant scandals. A further analysis provided support for the idea that perceived “appropriateness” mediates the relationship between competence-relevant scandal and consumer attitude toward an endorsed brand. A termination strategy was considered appropriate when scandalized endorsers engaged in competence-relevant scandals, which eventually lead to more favorable consumer evaluations toward an endorsed brand.

© 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: By testing a moderated mediation model, the purpose of this paper is to examine the mediating role of credit card self-efficacy in the relationship between credit card literacy and financial well-being. The authors further examine if credit card number moderates this effect. Design/methodology/approach: Data for the study were collected from 427 college students. The PROCESS macros in IBM SPSS Statistics 23 was used to assess the hypothesized relationships. Findings: Credit card literacy positively influences financial well-being through self-efficacy. However, this effect is stronger when college students own fewer credit cards. Practical implications: Banks and credit card issuers, policymakers and colleges and universities should place a greater emphasis on credit card literacy programs that enhance students’ general understanding of credit card terms and conditions and confidence in their ability to effectively use and manage their credit cards. Originality/value: To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship between credit card literacy, self-efficacy and financial well-being.

Understanding active sport tourists’ profiles and nurturing their destination loyalty are important considerations in the tourism market. Loyal tourists are valuable because they tend to revisit a focal destination and elicit positive word-of-mouth. Focusing on a snow-based active sport tourism context, this study was conducted to examine (1) the usefulness of experience-use history (EUH) as a segmentation tool and (2) the relationship between perceived value factors (i.e. quality, emotional response, monetary price, behavioral price, and destination reputation) and destination loyalty in each EUH group. Data were collected from the Niseko ski resort in Japan (N = 328). Based on the EUH variables (i.e. length and frequency of snow-based sport participation), participants were categorized into four segments (i.e. novice, short-active, long-inactive, and expert). The results showed significant differences among EUH groups in terms of their socio-demographics (e.g. gender, age, and income). A series of regression analyses also showed that each segment’s destination loyalty was uniquely enhanced by perceived value factors. Specifically, perceived quality was a significant antecedent of destination loyalty for sport tourists in the novice group. For those in the short-active, long-inactive, and expert groups, perceived emotional response significantly predicted destination loyalty. Perceived reputation of the destination was also important to enhance destination loyalty for the short-active group whereas perceived monetary price was positively associated with the long-inactive group’s destination loyalty. Marketing managers in snow-based sport tourism destinations can utilize the findings to increase the loyalty of active sport tourists, which will improve their competitiveness in the marketplace.

The current study was conducted to examine the relationship among leisure engagement, affective (i.e. attraction, centrality, resistance to change) and cognitive (i.e. equipment, knowledge) leisure involvement, leisure satisfaction, and subjective happiness. From a sample of 493 American scuba divers, we found that (1) the oft-supported leisure engagement-happiness relationship was rejected, and (2) subjective happiness was directly or indirectly associated with affective and cognitive leisure involvement factors. Specifically, leisure engagement did not show any significant relationship with subjective happiness. Rather, subjective happiness was associated with several affective and cognitive leisure involvement factors. Attraction was associated with subjective happiness through leisure satisfaction, while the relationship between subjective happiness and centrality was negative. Equipment was positively and indirectly associated with subjective happiness whereas knowledge was directly linked to subjective happiness. These demonstrated that affective and cognitive involvement rather than leisure engagement are strongly associated with subjective happiness. Detailed theoretical interpretation and useful information for policy makers who develop leisure programmes aimed at enhancing public happiness will be provided.

© 2017, © Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: This study examines the use of high-expertise sources such as doctors to sell dietary supplements and the use of skeptical statements toward approved drugs in the act of selling dietary supplements. Design/methodology/approach: The research questions are addressed by means of a scenario experiment that manipulated two independent variables: expertise (high- vs low-expertise) and skepticism toward prescription drugs (present vs absent). Findings: Surprisingly, skeptical statements from a low-expertise source toward a prescription drug made while selling dietary supplements was found to have an insignificant effect on selling effectiveness (willingness to recommend and perceived product effectiveness). However, when a high-expertise source (doctor) did the same, selling effectiveness was reduced. Research limitations/implications: The paper identifies a boundary condition for competitive selling claims of dietary supplements. Doctors are likely to get away with claims regarding the efficacy of dietary supplements until they criticize a more credible prescription drug in favor of supplements. Practical implications: Claims made by a low-expertise sources and high-expertise sources in the act of selling dietary supplements must be carefully considered. Conventional wisdom tactics may be ineffective. Originality/value: This paper uniquely demonstrates the role of competitive skepticism at different levels of expertise. The findings of this study suggest that managers, in especially the multi-level marketing industry, should reconsider some of their selling tactics.

The purpose of this study was to examine consumers' comparative judgment of athlete endorsers in back-to-back advertisement settings. Drawing on the inclusion/exclusion model (Schwarz & Bless, 2007), the authors argue that (a) a recently observed athlete endorser impacts consumer judgment of subsequently presented endorsers, and (b) the valence of the impact depends on brand category membership of the consecutively presented endorsers. A 2 (representative endorser activation: present vs. absent) x 2 (brand category membership: membership vs. nonmembership) between-subjects design was administered across three experiments. Results demonstrated that the presence of a representative endorser increased a subsequently presented endorser's perceived expertise when that subsequent endorser represented the same brand category. Results also demonstrated that the presence of a representative endorser decreased a subsequently presented endorser's perceived expertise when that subsequent endorser did not represent the same brand category. Overall, these findings support both assimilation and contrast effects. The authors argue how this outcome can assist advertising managers to strategically position appropriate endorsers in marketing platforms.

Research question: The mass media widely broadcasts scandals. However, previous literature lacks examinations of consumer reactions to athlete scandals. Given the detrimental impact, it is important to understand how athletes and brand managers can optimally respond when scandals occur. The purpose of this study is to develop the fundamental understanding of consumer reactions and the effective response strategies in athlete reputational crisis (ARC) settings.Research methods: A three factorial (performance relatednessxintentionalityxinvolvement) experiment was conducted. One hundred ninety-three undergraduate students from a large university located in the southeastern United States participated in the experiment, with analysis based on 180 useful responses.Results and findings: The results indicate that high and low involvement spectators differ in their evaluations of scandalized athletes. The attitude of highly involved consumers is significantly more negative when ARCs are performance related and intentional. Low involvement consumers' attitude displayed a similar pattern, but only when they perceived ARCs as unintentional. Lastly, the results indicate consumers prefer rebuild response strategies (e.g. apology) in all ARC situations. Base strategies (e.g. explaining ARC situations) and sport-specific strategies (e.g. winning to make up) can be used to supplement in performance-related ARC situations.Implications: This study contributes to the fundamental knowledge regarding the potential impact of ARCs. Athlete brand managers can estimate the extent of impact based on ARC characteristics (i.e. performance relatedness and intentionality) and consumer characteristics (i.e. involvement). Furthermore, effective response strategies can be developed by examining the interplay between ARC and consumer characteristics.

&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Although there have been numerous reports on decision-making process models attempting to explain various consumer behaviors, no study applying the decision-making process to sports training camps had been undertaken thus far. The purpose of this study was to clarify the decision-making process and to identify the decision-makers in high school and university sports teams. Aiming toward this objective, a semi-structured interview method was adopted. The respondents were from 12 sports teams that visited four cities in Niigata Prefecture. These teams were further broken down into eight university teams, one university club, and three high school teams. As a result, the decision-makers of the sports training camp were divided into two categories : the coach/advisers and the student leader/student in charge of the camp. The decision-making process was carried out by two groups: the groups asking travel agencies for proposals and the groups not asking for the same. Moreover, it was clarified that there were two factors influencing the decision-making process in the sports training camp. The first was the process of arranging and changing reservations in the sports training camp, and the second was the associations needed to be formed in order to reserve accommodations toward securing available sports facilities for the sports teams. Though the common prerequisite for attending the sports training camp was found to be circumstances that were amenable to training, certain differences between the groups were also revealed, and it was clarified that factors such as enthusiasm on the part of the sales person of travel agencies and the flexibility exhibited by the local organizer regarding the sports teams influenced the re-visit behavior. Contemplating these results and exploring the decision-making process carried out in the sports training camp, the decision-making process DAAR [comprising Desire, Association, Action, and Re-visit] was developed in this study.

This study investigated sport excursionists&#039; and sport tourists&#039; revisit models by using the concept of perceived value. Petrick&#039;s (2002a) SERV-PERVAL model was employed in order to measure both sport excursionists and tourists&#039; value perceptions. This scale contains five factors, including emotional response, behavioral price, monetary price, quality, and reputation. The findings of this study show that the direct effect of perceived quality on intention to revisit was positive and significant only for sport excursionists. For sport tourists, the global construct of perceived value has the strongest effect on intention to revisit in the expected positive direction. Especially, reputation is the most significant factor that loads primarily on the second-order dimension of perceived value. When tourism managers consider attracting visitors for their revisits, it is important to provide quality experiences specifically for sport excursionists. On the other hand, emphasizing overall perceived value and obtaining splendid destination reputation is important for sport tourists.