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Large-scale data has become pervasive and is used in different formats, for different purposes, and in different sectors. However, the adoption and utilization of big data is both complex and context sensitive. This study aims to empirically inform our understanding of the driving and constraining factors that are unique to professional team sports in the adoption and utilization of big data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with practitioners in professional sports teams, who work directly with big data, from the four major leagues in North America. The findings outline five drivers and six constraints that impact the adoption and utilization of big data. The five capabilities are strategic, informational, transactional, transformational, and infrastructural capabilities, and the six constraining factors are top-management support, talent management, organizational learning culture, data integrity, data security, and window dressing. Conceptually, the work extends the Technology-Organization-Environment framework specific to professional sport. Practical implications as well as suggestions for future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Global Sport Management is the property of the Global Alliance of Marketing & Management Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper extends what is known about place brand to a specific context and a particular type of tourism. Mountain-based adventure tourism and the country of Argentina's place brand are empirically assessed, building on the literature regarding Product Country Image and Tourist Destination Image using an existing integrated approach to these two areas. Argentina was selected as the location for the research due to its geography (including Mount Aconcagua, the highest point in the world outside of the Himalaya), its people, and its position as both the #1 tourist destination and the 2nd largest economy in South America. It is a place with a wealth of cultural attractions and adventure opportunities. This research builds upon previous literature to examine how adventure tourists observe place image constructs versus the views of other tourists, with the goal of improving our understanding of how place images influence the travel decisions of adventure tourists. Surveys were conducted with tourists in the Aconcagua region (n = 263) to test three hypotheses related to whether there are differential place image views and effects for adventure tourists. The hypotheses were supported, empirically validating that adventure tourists are a distinct segment for destinations similar to Argentina and that tourism marketers in these kinds of environments should focus on adventure opportunities as well as the place image dimensions that play a role in adventure tourist travel decisions, which are people character, people competence, country character, and country evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Global Sport Management is the property of the Global Alliance of Marketing & Management Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Over the past decade, the independent sales contractor (ISC) has emerged as both an important distribution channel and a management challenge. This study makes two contributions to this evolving field. First, it explores the interrelations of the psychological contract with sales performance, voluntary turnover and organisational advocacy of ISCs, which have hitherto been largely unexplored. Second, it examines differences between high- and low-performing sales contractors on these linkages, due to findings in the literature that a small number of sales contractors often achieve a majority of sales. Based on survey data as well as 7 years of contractor-level data related to sales performance and voluntary turnover (n = 189), results indicate that psychological contract fulfilment and perceived dependency are important determinants of subsequent sales performance, voluntary turnover and organisational advocacy, with significant differences reported between high- and low-performing ISCs. A notable finding pertinent for sales managers responsible for managing ISCs is that high-performing sales contractors are motivated by psychological contract fulfilment and a low perception of dependency, while low-performing sales contractors are more likely to act as advocates for the firm due to perceived dependency, but may concurrently engage in organisational advocacy as a means to leave the firm. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research question: The purpose of this study is to examine the Olympic and Paralympic bid exploration process adopted by Calgary, Canada ('Calgary Model') to explore whether it provides a template on how future communities could leverage bid exploration processes to generate social capital though increased network connectivity and community ownership. In doing so, we examine the four research questions: Research Question 1: How did the Calgary Model embed community values as central to all decision-making processes? Research Question 2: How did the Calgary Model engage diverse stakeholders, particularly community interest groups, in the strategic activities? Research Question 3: How did the Calgary Model empower communities to become agents of change? Research Question 4: How did the Calgary Model provide sustained open communication towards mutual learning? Research methods: Guided by social capital theory, the researchers conducted 19 in-depth, one-on-one interviews with a sample of individuals engaged in the Calgary bid exploration process. Results and findings: The results identified ten composite themes with an overall conclusion that the process Calgary used did not sufficiently generate social capital through maximizing network connectivity and community ownership. Implications: Resulting from our data analysis we developed a conceptual social capital assessment tool and five principles to support event organizers in designing processes that help to maximize the generation of community social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social Media (SM) is an established channel by which organisations can create and seek to co-create value with consumers and other stakeholders. However, the role of SM in building relationships (i.e. relationship marketing) is uncertain. Thus, this research aims to investigate the use of SM as a relationship marketing tool. The study adopted a qualitative research approach drawing from multi-domain data sources (i.e. SM platform domain, organisation domain, and consumer domain). Three different but interrelated studies were conducted. The findings from the three studies are integrated to construct a multi-dimensional understanding of the place and use of social media in relationship marketing. Results inform that SM is providing new directions to relationship marketing, support it as an effective channel in realising relationship marketing goals. Theoretically, the work has extended Grönroos's relationship marketing process model through the lens of social media. Practically, results suggest that managers should implement activities to further foster the value of social media that facilitates brand humanisation, enhances product experience, empowers audiences to be informed consumers, and provides customer services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research question: How, and to what extent, do different scandal types influence sport consumption behaviors – measured as intended media viewership – across different consumer profiles? Research methods: A Best–Worst Scaling choice experiment is run on data gathered from consumers who are fans of the Australian Football League and latent class modelling is used to identify consumer profiles. Results and findings: The findings suggest that different scandal types lead to different viewing intention effects on consumers, sexual assault, illicit substance use, doping and organized match fixing are likely to produce the most negative outcomes of the 13 scandal types examined. Five distinct consumer profiles emerge from the results in terms of their relative reactions to a scandal. Implications: Conceptually, the study indicates that consumers respond to different types of scandals and the responses vary by consumer profile. The findings demonstrate that sports managers need to consider a contingency-based approach when managing scandal based on the heterogeneity this study observed across both scandal types and consumer profiles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of rising screen time, only a third of Canadian children are achieving adequate amounts of active play, an important source of physical activity. ParticipACTION, a national not-for-profit organization, created the "Make Room for Play" campaign targeting parents with television advertisements depicting how screen time takes away from active play. The advertisements featured children engaging in active play (e.g., jump rope) while a black screen progressively sequesters the room for them to play. This study's purpose was to evaluate the campaign using the hierarchy of effects model, a framework for conceptualizing the impact of mass media campaigns. It was hypothesized that recall would relate to intermediate (e.g., cognitions, self-efficacy) and distal (e.g., parental support) factors. Twenty-six percent of the general population and caregiver samples surveyed (N = 1576) recalled (unaided) the advertisement and 45.9% recalled when prompted. Parental support was significantly higher in those recalling the campaign, p = .009. Twenty-four percent of parents reporting unaided recall (versus 14.0% of those not) tried to engage in active play with their children and 21.2% (versus 12.0%) tried to create opportunities for children to engage in play. Strengths and limitations of mass media approaches targeting active play and screen time are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social marketing organizations are embracing sponsorship as part of their external communications strategy. Like commercial sponsorships, these relationships may terminate early. We develop a case study of drink driving transgressions by professional footballers that underpinned the termination of their team's sponsorship with a road safety organization. The ensuing model links corporate credibility, reputational interdependence, and exchange theory to sponsorship. Accordingly, we assert these social marketing sponsorships are susceptible to player behaviors that contradict the key messages of the social marketing organization. Through an explicit analogy development and mapping process, we show this process is analogous to at least one form of ambush marketing. The validity of the model and ambush marketing analogy is confirmed by an international sample of practitioners and academics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the turn of the century, independent sales contractors have emerged as an important and growing sales and distribution channel. This study, guided by theories of attitude-behavior relation, constructs and tests a conceptual independent sales contractors (ISC) relationship quality scale. The findings support the proposition that relationship quality is a composite of attitudes and behavioral intentions. The work provides theoretical and practical implications, as well as suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars suggest that the dynamic nature of marketing has put both the marketing profession and marketing education at a crossroads. This study is an analysis of marketing programs by conceptual knowledge and metaskills. In a content analysis of course descriptions for 523 undergraduate marketing courses in Canada from 40 universities, the researchers identify several important trends for marketing educators to consider. This includes classifying the current structure and content of these programs by knowledge area and metaskills, which can offer marketing educators additional insight into these programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of large-scale, 'mass' community-based sport, and physical activity (PA) events on population PA has yet to be established. The enhancement of organizational capacity to support health promotion initiatives is one mechanism through which such events may be helpful. Sports Day in Canada (SDIC) is an annual, nation-wide event celebrating the role of sport within communities and promoting sport participation. Beginning in 2010, thousands of Canadian sport and PA organizations have created SDIC events each year. The objective of this study was to examine the types of organizations who participate in SDIC and to determine if and how these organizations benefit from hosting an event. Online surveys of event organizers (2010 to 2013 SDIC) were conducted. Descriptive analyses identified organization and event characteristics, and one-way ANOVAs across time assessed event organizers' perceptions related to their overall satisfaction, benefits obtained, and challenges faced while participating in SDIC. Findings showed that organizations were mainly from the provinces of Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec, worked with children and youth, and registered an event that was a tournament or school based. There was a significant increase in overall satisfaction [F(3, 996) = 27.26, p <.001] and benefits obtained [F(3, 1000) = 18.36, p <.001] across all four years of SDIC. One main benefit reported by organizations was an increased awareness and interest among community members in sport program(s) offered by their organization. Mass events like SDIC may help enhance organizational capacity to deliver health promotion initiatives including sport and PA programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sports Day in Canada (SDIC) is an annual event celebrating the role of sport within communities and promoting sport participation across Canada. SDIC ends a week of thousands of local sporting events and activities with a day-long national television broadcast. The objectives of this study were to evaluate whether awareness of SDIC has increased over time among Canadians (2010–2013), identify correlates of awareness, and assess changes in individuals' intentions to engage in sport. Online surveys were administered (2010: N = 863; 2011: N = 674; 2012: N = 861; 2013: N = 1447) to assess demographics, levels of physical activity and sport participation, awareness of SDIC, and intentions to participate in sport and physical activity as a result of SDIC. Analyses were conducted using independent t-tests, one-way ANOVAs, and a series of binary logistic regressions. Awareness of SDIC increased significantly from 26.9% in 2010 to 41.2% in 2013. Current sport participation (OR 1.21; 95% CI [1.11, 1.32]; OR 1.32; 95% CI [1.19, 1.47]; OR 1.26; 95% CI [1.16, 1.37]; OR 1.30; 95% CI [1.22, 1.38]) was the only significant correlate of awareness in years 2010–2013, respectively. Among people aware of SDIC, intentions to participate in sport as a result of SDIC have significantly increased over time, F(3, 1662) = 8.88, p <.001. Special events such as SDIC appear to have a role to play as part of a broader strategy to encourage sport participation among Canadians. A challenge for such events remains in reaching inactive people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 20th century, the scholarly study of human relationships both grew dramatically and simultaneously fragmented into various disciplines and subdisciplines. Although diversity of thought is generally considered helpful for the evolution of scientific fields, the value accrued from interdisciplinary discourse depends on the ability of scholars to integrate multiple perspectives and synthesize foundational works in a systematic manner. The goal of this study is to synthesize foundational theories from social and behavioral sciences that have contributed to an understanding of relationship marketing. In seeking to provide a holistic understanding of the field, we incorporate contributions from the disciplines of marketing, management, psychology, and sociology. In building on our analysis, we synthesize our findings into a conceptual model that examines the systematic dimensions of relationship marketing. The article concludes by identifying key themes for contributors to theJournal of Relationship Marketingto consider going forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Donor loyalty is linked to revenue generation in nonprofit organizations. This study utilized a consumer-based marketing approach to donors and their contributions via examining loyalty to nonprofit organizations. Through a detailed literature review that identified five specific hypotheses, tested using a secondary analysis of a large survey, and the design and implementation of a second (online) survey, this article empirically assesses donor loyalty and provides findings that develop the literature, support practice, and identify areas of future research. The results demonstrate the linkages between donor loyalty and revenue, and provide a deeper understanding of the relationship of demographic factors, preference for consistency, materialism, and maximization to donor loyalty. Notably, the results clearly illustrate that habitual switchers donate substantially less than loyal donors. A series of areas for future research are identified and a number of recommendations are provided to practitioners vis-à-vis understanding their donors and enhancing their revenues through donations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Olympic Games are well established as a global event with vast marketing benefit. Two major benefits from the Olympics derive from sponsorship and tourism. In terms of sponsorship, The Olympic Partner (TOP) sponsorship programme is widely recognized as one of the most successful, profitable and effective sponsorship arrangements, if not marketing relationships in general. The purpose of this research is to explore these special TOP sponsor–International Olympic Committee relationships, as a case study, to explore the ‘sponsor–mega-event’ relationship as an example of a business-to-business (B2B) tourism marketing relationship. Indeed, a variety of perspectives on key attributes of the relationship are explored, including the nature of the relationship, key elements of the sponsorship (e.g. evaluation) and the specific location (e.g. the impact of the location of the host city/country of the Olympic Games). As exploratory research into a new area, the paper reviews relevant literature and reports on an expert interview with a TOP sponsor to support conceptual and empirical development of the concept. Results of the interview are assessed in to the context of existing literature and summarized in a proposed B2B marketing relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Competitive balance (CB) is arguably the strongest determinant of league profitability in professional sport. The long-standing perspective of CB is encompassed in the uncertainty of outcomes hypothesis (UOH), which notes that consumers/fans are most attracted to a contest if the outcome is uncertain. However, a recent view suggests that CB should be conceptualized in terms of the number of teams that have reasonable hope of longer-term success (i.e., making the playoffs). This study measures both constructs using a random mass-market survey, and addresses the research question: What factors influence one's orientation towards game uncertainty (UOH) versus hope (and vice versa)? Using decision tree analysis, we found that the more involved the sport consumer (fan), the stronger their Hope orientation towards CB. The paper concludes by suggesting different promotional campaigns depending upon the intended target audience (hope or UOH oriented) and highlighting the need for broader based research in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has become common practice for governments and municipalities around the world to bid for the right to host a major sporting event. Prior to embarking on the bidding process, politicians attempt to determine whether such an event will be of value to their municipality; and often focus on the estimated economic consequences of hosting such an event. Frequently, studies are commissioned to predict the event's economic value. However, these studies often miscalculate the potential impact of sport event visitors as consumers. We argue that enhanced profiling of these visitors will enable a more accurate assessment of economic impact. The current research surveys 1,196 spectators of the 2002 Commonwealth Games to demonstrate four important aspects of visitor profiles related to economic impact: (i) visitor typology, (ii) sport tourist behaviors, (iii) consumption patterns determined by interest, and (iv) consumption patterns determined by distance traveled. Overall, the work makes three important contributions to the literature by: (i) empirically supporting that different sports attract different market demographics, (ii) underlining the need for segmentation in economic impact studies, and (iii) identifying the need to develop metrics of economic impact analysis that consider segmentation effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doping in sport poses a clear threat to the significant social and economic roles that sport plays in the world. To combat this threat, sport organizations and governments from around the world founded the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to eradicate doping from sport. This article reports on research that documents and assesses approaches to anti-doping behavior utilized since early in the twentieth century including those used by WADA to achieve its goal of eradicating doping in sport. In particular, it assesses the extent to which social marketing is used in its strategy. Results show that sanctions and education are the major approaches employed to combat doping and that social marketing has not been used. Findings suggest that social marketing strategies, as a complement to WADA's current legal and education approaches, have a future role; demonstrating that, in a broader context, social marketing could enhance educational and legal approaches to behavior change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]