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PurposeThe purpose of this research is to develop a more precise evaluation of sport sponsorship efficiency in participant-based sport, by investigating the specific aspects of participants' attitude and behavior toward sponsors. In more detail, this research develops a comprehensive sponsorship model in the participant sport context, integrating the following constructs: sport involvement, sincerity, social media use, beliefs about sponsorship, satisfaction with event, sponsor's image, awareness of sponsors, attitude toward sponsors, purchase and word of mouth intentions.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative method was utilized and 1,056 questionnaires were effectively collected and analyzed via SPSS and AMOS. Using structural equation modeling, this research tested a conceptual framework analyzing the role of different factors for sponsorship efficiency in a participant sport context.FindingsThe present research proposes a model of 10 variables which altogether permits a complete comprehension of how to expand the linkages among antecedents and outcomes of sport sponsorship in participant-based sports. The proposed factors assume a critical role in upgrading sponsorship effectiveness, which is reflected through a continuum of responses that regularly begins with sponsorship awareness and, at last, leads to increments in participants' purchase and word of mouth intentions regarding sponsors' products.Research limitations/implicationsVarious implications for future studies as well as strategies to boost the advantages for sponsoring firms in participant-based sports, can be drawn from the suggested model.Originality/valueUp to the present, there is a scarcity of research exploring the effectiveness of sponsorship in participant-based sports. The majority of sponsorship studies measure the impact of sponsorship on spectators, neglecting the role of participants as potential vehicles in the sport sponsorship setting. This study is the first to exploring the role of sport participants in sport sponsorship literature, provides a comprehensive framework, which can guide future studies and enhance sponsorship efficiency in a participant sport context.

PurposeThe aim of the present study is to examine the impact of human resource (HR) practices (human resource empowerment, organizational culture and transformational leadership) on innovation activities as well as the effect of innovation activities on perceived financial performance within sport services firms.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed relationships were examined using empirical data from 172 managers of Greek sport services firms. Seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) analysis was used to investigate the role of human resource management (HRM) practices on innovation activities and whether innovation activities affected the perceived financial performance.FindingsThe results of the study indicated that HRM practices, such as human resource empowerment, organizational culture and transformational leadership, significantly impact innovation activities and subsequently innovation activities have a significant and positive effect on perceived financial performance as measured by satisfaction levels in relation to specific key performance indicators (KPIs) such as profit, ROI, sales volume and market share.Practical implicationsThis study presents useful theoretical and managerial implications that can be used by sport service firms to assess the effects of HRM practices on innovation activities and perceived financial performance.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature on several merits. Firstly, the authors jointly estimate the impact of HRM practices on innovation and its concurrent effect on perceived financial performance, which is not methodologically considered before. Secondly, the authors incorporate a more thorough measure of perceived financial performance including four dimensions of performance, and finally the authors analyze a larger sample of sport services firms relative to previous studies, leading into more concrete conclusion on the research hypotheses.

PurposeThe scope of this study was to underline the specific aspects of positive consumer attitude and behavior related to sports sponsorship. In more detail, the purpose of this study was to establish a comprehensive sponsorship framework integrating Beliefs about sponsorship, Sponsor's Image, Fans' Attachment with the team, Team's Performance, Fans' Sport Involvement, Sponsors' Sincerity, Awareness of Sponsors, Attitude toward Sponsors, Purchase intentions and Actual Purchases.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative method was utilized and a sum of 2,752 questionnaires were effectively assembled and analyzed by means of SPSS and AMOS. The results of a structural equation model provide an exceptional conceptual framework that underlines the significance of comprehending the role of important factors in sponsorship efficiency.FindingsThis paper provides the context for a discussion. It shows that various antecedents have a significant effect on real – instead of just intentions – purchase behavior regarding sponsors' products and services.Research limitations/implicationsVarious implications for future researches as well as strategies to boost the advantages for both sport clubs and sponsoring firms can be drawn from the suggested model.Originality/valueUp to present, only a handful of empirical studies have looked at the effect of sponsorship on the consumer. The majority of sponsorship studies measure the impact of the sponsorship effort on the recall and recognition of sponsors, with empirical results being inconclusive, with some studies showing high levels of recall and recognition while others show only marginal impact on recall and recognition. The present research provides a comprehensive framework, which can guide future studies by isolating the effect of sponsorship on actual purchase behavior, instead of just estimating individuals' purchase intentions.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to provide up-to-date evidence on the net effect of COVID-19 pandemic on international arrivals and occupancy rates in Greece. Analysis and forecasting point out the demand for 2020, and thus yielding more concrete evidence on the pure effect of the pandemic on the tourism industry.Design/methodology/approachMonthly observations from January 2000 to December 2020 were extracted from the Tourist Enterprises Association (SETE) for Athens, Thessaloniki, Kalamata, Rhodes, Mytilene, Santorini, Zante, Kefalonia and Crete. To model and forecast the volatility and the time trend effect of tourist arrivals individually, the study applies the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) (p,d,q) and the error, trend, seasonality (ETS) model.FindingsEmpirical results suggested that Athens, Thessaloniki and Crete were three destinations with the worst losses in international tourist arrivals. Specifically, Athens was expecting to have (without the existence of COVID-19) more than 330,000 tourist arrivals in December 2020 while instead only 73,000 international tourists visited Athens that period. Similarly, Thessaloniki and the island of Crete lost more than 150,000 international visitors during December 2020.Originality/valueThe author’s study adds to a growing number of studies regarding the impact of COVID-19 by incorporating monthly international arrival data and occupancy rate data for the whole 2020 reflecting differences in transportation or vacation choices. Also, the authors operationalized multiple time-series forecasting models (ETS and ARIMA) for reaching more concrete forecasts and estimates on the effect of COVID-19 on the Greek tourism sector.

Despite the significant increment in sport sponsorship and the affirmation of its strategically vital nature, extant research has confined its focus to narrow strategic goals, which organizations plan to accomplish from their sponsorship actions. Consequently, truly little attention has been paid to sponsorship’s viability as a vehicle for wider strategic aims and contexts. However, efficiently resourced sponsorships can generate a lasting competitive advantage in the “market” for sponsorships, which naturally bestows a competitive advantage and higher performance in product markets. The aim of this research is to develop and validate the Strategic Sport Sponsorship Scale (SSSES) and, towards this, a sum of 3,434 questionnaires were gathered and examined by means of SPSS and AMOS. The reliability and validity of the developed dimensions of sponsorship efficacy were substantiated by the practical examination of a theoretical model identifying the structural correlation between the proposed variables.

The rapid increase in sport sponsorship expenditure has been accompanied by a significant growth of research studies evaluating sponsorship efficiency in various sport contexts. Nevertheless, the majority of research studies have concentrated on the comprehension of the variables driving to behaviors. A more precise evaluation of sport sponsorship efficiency is of necessity, taking into attitudinal as well as behavioral constructs. This study focused on the exploration of the attitudinal and behavioral constructs in the context of sport sponsorship. More precisely, the aim of this research is to offer some elucidations of the effect of fans’ involvement with sport, the degree of their attachment with their favorite team, their beliefs about sponsorship and the anticipated sincerity of the sponsors on the awareness of and attitude toward real sponsoring firms, as well as its subsequent influence on future purchase intentions concerning sponsoring firms’ merchandise. Data from 2,752 fans were successfully gathered and analyzed utilizing structural equation modeling analysis. The results of a structural equation model provide an exceptional conceptual framework that underlines the significance of comprehending the role of important factors in sponsorship efficiency. The findings highlight the influential role of the examined factors in guiding sport clubs’ supporters to form favorable attitudes and purchase sponsors’ goods and services — an outcome of considerable significance for both the practitioners and academics in the field. Various implications for future research studies as well as strategies to boost the advantages for both the sport clubs and sponsoring firms can be drawn from the suggested model.

Two of the most unpredictable uncertainty indices could explain the business and stock price performance of TATA Consultancy Services (TCS) before and after the COVID‐19 pandemic. This pandemic affects business performance and predictability from uncertainty indices. With the second spread of the pandemic, IT industries have been prepared for the high networking bandwidth. Moreover, the bivariate VAR(1)‐GARCH(1,1) model is weaker during the COVID‐19 period. IT outsourcing after the worldwide outbreak of the disease is one of the most thriving enterprises globally. The coronavirus crisis is expected to have an impact on the IT outsourcing industry. Most of the uncertainty indices of these days are built up from news outlets explored in the case study of TCS. Quantitative examination strategies have been utilized to explore the impact of doubt indices in TCS and the residuals if the organization's emergency persists.

PurposeThe present study is an initial attempt to assess the impact of motivators and constraints on individual's intention for sport media consumption. The advancement of sport media consumption has been underlined by the academic literature during the past few years. In fact, one of the most conspicuous concerns that experts in the sport industry face nowadays is the fans' preference to stay home and watch sport events. The objective of this research is to determine the impact of motivations and constraints for individuals' sport media consumption intentions.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative method was used for the purpose of this study, and a sum of 1,704 fulfilled questionnaires were obtained and analyzed by means of SPSS and AMOSFindingsAccording to the results, internal and external motivators such as attachment to team, achievement, social, drama, role model and promotion observed to have a considerable impact on participants' consumption intention. Moreover, results pointed out a significant impact of structural and intrapersonal constraints on consumption intention.Originality/valueThe aim of the present research was to analyze the link between the constraints of spectator purposes and actual media consumption. In addition, there is an examination of generation-based factors among the spectators within the scope of possible contrasting aspects, a variable which has not been examined in any previous studies until now.

Purpose Several theories have been developed trying to explain the corporate decisions on cash holdings. Stakeholder theory is one of the arguments that urge firms with strong stakeholder relationships to hold more cash. The purpose of this paper is to shed further light on this issue by examining the impact of cash holdings on the financial performance and viability of Greek Small-Medium Enterprises before and after the Greek sovereign debt crisis. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected a large sample from Small-Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and a comparable sample from large firms operating in Greece during the period 2003–2016. Panel regression analysis was performed before and after the Greek debt crisis. Findings Results indicated that cash holdings contribute positively to the profitability and viability of firms validating the precautionary theory of cash holdings in Greece. Before the crisis, SMEs and large firms both benefited significantly by cash holdings but after the crisis that positive impact of cash is more evident and significant for SMEs. Practical implications These findings corroborate the hypotheses that during a period of limited lending (and severe financial turmoil); cash holdings (and effective cash management) could be a vital tool for sustaining SMEs’ viability and financial performance. This study offers useful managerial implications and contributes to the ongoing debate about the impact of cash holdings on corporate performance. Originality/value This is the first study in the Greek business setting trying to examine the impact of cash holdings on financial performance within stakeholder-oriented firms during a period of financial turmoil.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate issues relevant to service quality and propose a conceptual model addressing the convictions held by consumers in relation to the service quality of sport services as regards spectators and their influence on sport consumption. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative method was used for the purpose of this study and 1,643 questionnaires were gathered and analyzed. The current research intended to employ an integrated service quality model within the scope of sport spectating. The model included five fundamental factors and they were examined in association with the behavioral intentions that spectators have. By combining all these factors and aspects, it was attempted to shape consumers’ general perception regarding quality in service. The model of the research considers quality in service to be a hierarchical construct comprising many dimensions and it is observed that service quality can be classified into five factors, all of which can be defined by a variety of corresponding sub-factors. Findings The outcomes showed that four of the suggested factors regarding quality (i.e. game quality, augmented service quality, interaction quality and outcome quality) had an important as well as favorable influence on sport consumption. Research limitations/implications The empirical evidence for this research is derived from one specific professional sport event (European Basketball League) and spectators who took part were from Greece. Future research could use a wider sample of sport events and the participation of spectators from various countries is necessary before such findings are generalized. Originality/value The present research provides a contemporary analysis of factors influencing sport spectators anticipated quality and their influence on sport consumption.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore relations among constraints and motivation for running events commitment along with relations among motivation and future commitment intentions.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative approach was utilized for the aim of the present study and 1,944 questionnaires were gathered. The self-determination theory and the categorization among intrinsic and extrinsic motivators as proposed by Alexandriset al.(2002) were utilized and the suggested research tools were selected for the purposes of the study.FindingsIntrapersonal constraints found to influence motivation factors while all three motivation factors had a significant effect on continuous participation intentions.Research limitations/implicationsThe experimental data for the present research came from participants in a given running race. As mentioned in the discussion, the distinctive characteristics of running may have affected the examined relations in a way which might not be straightforwardly pertinent to different sports. Additional analysis in various activities is essential for the generalization of the findings.Originality/valueThis paper provides the context for a discussion. It shows that motivation factors (amotivation, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation) have a significant influence on individuals’ intention to participate in sport and exercise, as well as on their ability to negotiate associated constraints. The large sample is a major element of the originality of this study because adds to the validity of the results.

The scope of this chapter is to examine the impact of CER related performance on firms’ systematic risk, by controlling for potential endogeneity between CER and systematic risk and by distinguishing sample firms between common law and code law countries, evidenced as significant factors for the inconsistency of empirical results by previous studies. Empirical results indicated that CER performance provides a negative and significant impact on firm systematic risk (beta) verifying existing evidence on the literature that CER investments reduce the firm’s systematic risk, so leading us to accept the risk reduction hypothesis. In addition, firms with more stakeholder oriented CER activities are associated with more risk aversion and ethical behavior, especially towards its employees and the environment, thus perceived as having less uncertainty and risk, so investors require a smaller risk premium to invest in such corporations. Moreover, after separating sample firms based on their country’s legal origin we found that CER performing firms in common law countries are associated with higher systematic risk.

The aim of this chapter is to examine the impact of CER related performance on firm capital structure decisions, by distinguishing between short-term debt, long term debt and common equity capital and taking into consideration potential endogeneity between the examined factors and their bidirectional association, evidenced by previous studies on the field. Empirical analysis suggested that CER performance is negatively impacting long term debt but positively on short term debt and shareholders’ equity indicating a differential impact of CER on capital structure decisions. Practically, we can argue the CER performing firms rely more on their own shareholders’ equity and short term debt to finance their activities, and less on long term debt.

The scope of this chapter is to shed further light on the impact of CER performance and its components on the EM behavior by utilizing a multi-country research setting and incorporating various sub-categories of environmental performance and earnings management metrics including accrual earnings manipulation, real activities manipulation and income smoothing, thus providing more thorough evidence in the existing literature regarding the impact of CER on the quality of accounting numbers. The empirical results verified evidence and arguments in the literature that CER performance improves the quality of published accounting information by mitigating earnings management behavior via accruals and real activities manipulation. This argument is corroborated after performing several sensitivity tests relating to the estimation of discretionary accruals, the functional form of the models and other robustness tests.

The scope of this chapter is to examine the financial, size and governance determinants of CER activities of 7313 listed corporations originating from 24 EU countries over the period 2003–2018. Empirical analysis suggested that profitability, leverage, size and growth opportunities impact positively on the CER and its components, while CEO duality had a negative impact on CER performance. Moreover, the level of CER performance (devotion and engagement) is associated with the existence of a CSR committee within the firm which provides strategic direction and focus on corporate activities. Finally, the separation of the sample firms between code law and common law firms indicated that the aforementioned associations are more significant for code law firms suggesting that countries’ legal system has an impact on corporate decisions regarding CER.

The principal scope of the study was to investigate the Greek four-star hotels’ Web sites persuasiveness. In more detail, this research classifies four-star hotels in Greece in clusters in accordance with their Web sites’ persuasiveness, utilizing latent class segmentation. Six factors of Web site persuasiveness (informativeness, usability, credibility, inspiration, involvement, and reciprocity) were examined in a sample consisted of 404 four-star hotels’ Web sites. The outcomes gathered permit to portray critical contrasts on persuasiveness level demonstrated by the sites. The outcomes of the class cluster analysis proposed that the two-cluster arrangement was the most consistent. The present study gives proof of current Web pages persuasiveness and correspondence and guidance for its advancement in a particular hotel industry.

The present chapter includes a brief theoretical background on CER performance and activities and the main regulatory interventions that have been made from international and European institutions over the last two decades. These interventions and the increased public awareness on the issue of environmental responsibility created a wave of socially and environmentally responsible investments. It is even more comprehensible today than ever before that environmental responsibility does not lead to a waste of scarce corporate resources but on the contrary it can create value for both shareholders and stakeholders, leading to a win-win situation for all related parties. Moreover, the chapter discusses the implications of CER for research in corporate accounting and finance and presents the main research questions that will be addressed in the following chapters of the book.

The scope of this chapter is to examine the impact of R&D investments (capitalized R&D) on the CER-CFP association as argued by previous studies on the field, while taking into consideration potential endogeneity between the examined factors. We respond to the call for more research on the topic by covering a large multi-country sample of developed economies, and of listed and unlisted European firms over a long period of time and also by considering the bidirectional association between CER and CFP while controlling for R&D capitalization instead of R&D expenses utilized in previous studies. Empirical analysis suggested that more profitable firms are associated with more CER related performance. However, the R&D and its interaction with ROE yield insignificant coefficients in both model estimations leading us to accept the substitution hypothesis. This result corroborates arguments in the literature that less innovative firms resort to increased CER activities in order to gain market differentiation (or competitive advantages) and enhance their financial performance.

This paper studies the firm-specific determinants of capital structure during the period of debt crisis utilizing panel data of 120 Greek hotel firms during the period of 2003–2016. A random effect panel regression analysis was performed on firm-specific determinants of capital structure before (2003–2010) and after (2011–2016) the Greek sovereign debt crisis. This study tests the efficiency of trade-off theory and pecking order theory, finding that asset tangibility is directly and positively related to total leverage and long-term leverage especially during the debt crisis period, while non-debt tax shields and tax payments are negatively and significantly impacting total leverage for both sub-periods. Finally, growth opportunities seem to have a differential impact on both total and long-term leverage between the pre- and post-crisis periods. Specifically, firms with high growth opportunities were associated with lower long-term and total leverage after the crisis suggesting a reduction of growth firms’ debt exposure during that period. This is the first study in the literature considering a vast sample of non-listed hotel firms and utilizing a sample period before the Greek sovereign debt crisis; thus, we are able to extract more efficient inferences regarding the impact of firm-specific determinants on the capital structure of hotel corporations.

The scope of this chapter is to examine the impact of CER related activities on their financial performance taking into consideration potential endogeneity between the examined factors and their bidirectional association, evidenced by previous studies on the field. We respond to the call for more research on the topic by covering a large multi-country sample of listed and unlisted European firms over a long period of time and also by considering the bidirectional association between CER and CFP. Empirical analysis suggested that CER generates competitive resources leading to competitive advantages and enhanced financial performance. Also, the specification of our empirical design verifies the bidirectional association between CER and CFP.

The scope of the current chapter is to provide a contemporary literature review on corporate environmental responsibility (CER) by offering a comprehensive theoretical framework and a timeline on its development within the corporate world. Also, the chapter will present a brief discussion on the motivation for firms to adopt CER activities via environmental management tools (EMTs). The final section of the chapter is devoted on discussing the main empirical findings on the literature regarding the association of CER with accounting and financial issues relating to financial performance, innovation, capital structure decisions, firm risk, cash holdings, payout policies and the quality of published accounting information (value relevance, earnings management, and accounting conservatism).

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the level of pre-competitive anxiety experienced by N=348 Greek basketball referees. In order to classify the stress factors Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) used. The aim was to examine Cognitive state anxiety, Somatic state anxiety, and Self-confidence, which require them to exercise self-control for optimal performance before and after the games. Results indicated that cognitive and somatic anxiety after the event was higher. On the other hand, self-confident decreased. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that referees' competitive anxiety might affect their fear of mistakes before a stressful game.

The scope of this chapter is to examine the impact of CER related performance on firm dividend and cash holding decisions, by taking into consideration potential endogeneity between the examined factors, evidenced by previous literature on that issue. Empirical analysis suggested that CER performance is positively and significantly impacting on cash holdings, supporting evidence provided on the literature that CER performance lead firms to hold more cash, suggesting that managers of high CER performing firms focus more on maximizing stakeholder value leading to enhanced cash holdings to achieve such goals. Furthermore, we found firms with higher emission and resource use scores are significantly associated with higher cash holdings. Additionally, all environmental performance scores (except for the emission score) proved to have a positive and significant impact on dividends payments. Practically, 1 percentage point increase in CER performance score is associated with 0.2 per cent of dividend to asset ratio, ceteris paribus.

The goal of this chapter is to examine the main regulatory interventions made by the EU officials over the course of the previous decades which shaped the current framework of corporate environmental responsibility (CER). We analyzed how from the Paris 1972 convention, where environmental protection was first raised, the issue evolved into specific principles set by the European community in terms of environmental protection. Later on, EU officials moved into more concrete regulations on environmental responsibility. These regulations were targeting key issues such as climate changes, water management, air pollution, resource allocation, chemical reduction and even sustainable production and consumption. The results of these efforts was that European corporations have steadily abided to these regulations and the overall shift of behavior into a more responsible and liable corporate activity is evidence in the majority of EU countries. Surely there are observed differences between various economic sectors (with some of them leading while others lagging behind) nevertheless the overall trend is promising and seems that EU firms are starting to invest significant resources on CER.

In recent years, business companies are challenged with various difficulties in connection to human resources (HR), for example, adapting to one’s sentiments, managing debates, developing collaboration, affecting leadership, addressing motives, interpersonal susceptibility, dealing with capabilities and also individual emotional intelligence (EI) or inward characteristics (e.g. moral qualities). Expanding on and reaching out earlier and ongoing work, the scope of this research is to experimentally look at the connection between the components of EI and ethics in contemporary organizations and their resulting impact on employees’ motives and performance. A quantitative method was utilized, and an entirety of 386 questionnaires was collected from three diverse high-tech new businesses based in Greece and analyzed with SPSS programing. For triangulation reasons, auxiliary information from the organizations’ sites were gathered and a meeting with each organization’s executive of the HR division was held. The outcomes propose that ethical values add to motives and thus employee motives add to employee performance. Helpful administrative ramifications resulted from this research.

This chapter analyzes the prediction power of the economic policy uncertainty (EPU) index on the yearly countries ranking from UEFA (Union des associations europeennes de football). We used the Bayesian Graphical Structural Vector Autoregressive model as well as the Ordinary Least Squares; we investigate that the EPU index has a predictive power on UEFA countries ranking. Fundamentally, the effect is positive and significant at both lower and higher quantiles of UEFA ranking and the EPU. In the light of these findings, this chapter concludes that economic and political uncertainty factors of each country can serve as a hedging tool against world football ranking.

The aim of this research is to examine sport sponsorship’s effectiveness over the internet. A conceptual framework for sponsorship evaluation over the internet was proposed, incorporating crucial factors such as supporters’ beliefs about sponsorship, their satisfaction form the sport event as well as their degree of sport involvement, the usage of website and social media, awareness of and attitude toward real sponsoring firms and their actual and future purchase intentions concerning sponsors’ goods and services. A quantitative method was used for the purpose of the current research and a total of 3434 questionnaires were successfully completed and analyzed. The empirical results indicated that sponsorship awareness impacts positively and significantly in both actual and intended purchase behavior of the respondents, suggesting that sponsorship awareness is the initial stage of a continuum of fans’ responses that can lead to their purchase intentions and actual purchase. Evidence on this study contributes to the ongoing debate about sponsorship effectiveness and its implication on customer behavior and provides significant implications for managers wishing to improve their future revenues by investing in sponsorship deals, since sponsorship awareness is an important feature that managers must control in order to affect their customers purchasing decisions.

All-inclusive hotels have been evolved as an attractive holiday choice for several travelers due to their ability to provide a relaxed holiday with predetermined costs and full amenities. Previous studies on that specific feature of hospitality firms have examined the motivations of travelers behind that choice, yet there is scarce evidence regarding the satisfaction of all-inclusive visitors and whether income and family size are significant determinants of their satisfaction. The study utilizes a large survey of “all-inclusive” visitors summing up to 1600 questionnaires for the exploration of the factors determining tourists’ satisfaction. This research adjoins the existent bibliography by exploring some additional determinants not examined by previous studies such as the size of the family and the income level of the travelers. Empirical evidence indicated that the factors of convenience and economy of resources were impacting customer satisfaction positively along with previous positive experience of visitors. Nevertheless, empirical evidence seem to differentiate when the impact of income and family size is taken into consideration. Specifically, the previous all-inclusive experience, convenience and economy of resources seem to be highly significant only for families with children while the same factors were insignificant for families without children. Finally, the same factors were highly and positively significant for low income visitors and start to become insignificant when examining the medium and high income groups. These evidence provide useful policy implications for hotel managers which offer all-inclusive packages, in order to improve their services and target adjust their tactic strategically based on customer characteristics.

The scope of this study is to examine the impact of board gender diversity on corporate cash-holding decisions within the European sport and leisure sector. A sample of 125 unique firms was selected for the period from 2008 to 2019, and analysis was performed using panel fixed-effects regressions. Empirical evidence documented that the higher the number of women serving on the board of directors, the higher the level of cash the firm holds. This result is attributed to the critical mass theory of governance, suggesting that boards having at least two women directors are associated with higher cash holdings compared to firms with one or no women directors. Additionally, gender diversity leads to increased cash holdings for firms with lower governance quality, suggesting that women on boards perform a monitoring role within those firms with the most severe agency problems. The results remain robust after several sensitivity tests controlling for potential endogeneity among the variables and the model’s functional form.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to acquire improved comprehension of the motivational factors and the various constraints associated with individuals’ participation in mass running events.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative method was used for the purpose of this research, and 1.357 questionnaires were completed. This study proposed two broad hypotheses: intrapersonal constraints influence motivation factors (amotivation, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation); and motivation factors influence the intention to continuous participation.FindingsBoth broad hypotheses were supported by the evidence while the lack of knowledge, interest, confidence and feelings of tiresomeness were found to contribute more to explaining motivation. All three motivational factors had a significant influence on intention.Research limitations/implicationsThe empirical evidence for this study came from runners only. The special attributes of running may have influenced the explored relationships in a way that may not be directly applicable to other activities. Further research in various activities is necessary before such findings are generalized.Originality/valueThe aim of this paper is to provide empirical evidence of the relationships between the motivational factors and the various constraints associated with individuals’ participation in mass sporting and physical activity events. This research focused on developing a model to explain relationships among constraints, motivators and participation, and empirically test the proposed model within the marathon running participants context.

The aim of the present research is to explore the issue of earnings predictability of a sample of hospitality firms before and after the burst of financial crisis in the Greek economy in 2011. Earnings predictability is considered as a prominent feature of accounting quality and has several implications for investors. For this reason we utilized a sample of organizations registered on the Greek chamber of commerce during the fiscal years 2004–2007 (pre-crisis period) and 2011–2013 (post-crisis period). Those firms were operating on the hospitality and food services sectors, leading to 343 observations for analysis. Regression analysis pointed out that the cash flow component of earnings is a more significant determinant of future earnings relative to accruals. Also the persistence of the cash flow component of earnings has decreased after the burst of the crisis and this is attributed to the lower levels of earnings predictability during that period. Our study adds to the existing literature on earnings predictability and persistence of the hospitality industry, suggesting fruitful policy indications.

The objective of this study is to investigate the growing importance of societal marketing, by identifying the key variables in the sport sponsorship relationship, and more specifically to examine the impact of sponsor image on one major behavioral outcome, fans' purchase intention. Furthermore, the role of sport activity involvement and team attachment was investigated, in enhancing sponsor's image between football fans. The findings supported that Sponsor Image has a significant effect on the purchase intention (R2 = 0,813, p < 0.001) regardless of the product fit. Sponsor image was weakly linked with sport involvement and team achievement.

Online digital technologies have proved to be an important aspect of branding as well as international sport sponsorship since they have the capacity to interact with customers on a global scale through an abundance of digital platforms. The assimilation of online digital technologies has altered the way sports are created, promoted, delivered and consumed. The purpose of this study was to delve more deeply into the main factors of favorable buyer behavior connected to the sponsorship of sports in the online digital framework. In more detail, the effect of four antecedents variables (i.e. fans' degree of involvement with sport, their degree of attachment with their favorite club, their beliefs about sponsorship in general as well as the frequency of their visits to sport club's online social networks and website pages) on the two main intermediate variables (i.e. fans' awareness of and attitude towards sponsors) and their subsequent impact on fans' purchase intentions regarding sponsors' goods and services. A quantitative approach was used for the purposes of the current research and 3.434 questionnaires were collected by fans who attend sport online with the use of digital/portable devices, which were successfully analyzed by SPSS and AMOS. In accordance with the outcomes, determinants such as sports club attachment, sports involvement and beliefs about sponsorship were discovered to greatly affect supporters ‘awareness of as well as their attitude towards sponsoring companies. In addition, outcomes revealed that supporters’ buying aim was significantly influenced with regard to their attitude towards sponsoring companies as well as their awareness of sponsoring companies.

The aim of the present research is to suggest a theoretical framework of sport marketing research with a focal point on sport participation in semi-marathon events. There are clear benefits of an active lifestyle and people are increasingly engaged in recreational sports activity and participation in recreational sports events. In this study the motivation for such participation is explored drawing on empirical evidence from a semi-marathon running event. Elements were obtained from a semi-marathon and a quantitative questionnaire was utilised for the data collection. The total number of questionnaires successfully gathered was 268, which were then analysed using SPSS. Results indicate that intention for recurring participation is positively related to perceived benefits in mental and physical health, attachment with running, socialising opportunities, attractiveness of the respective running event and the destination's elements of the semi-marathon event. Significant differences in the motivation between male and female runners were also identified.

The primary objective article was to investigate the websites’ persuasiveness of the luxury hotels in Greece and its implications for their financial performance. As a result, a content analysis was applied primarily as a quantitative research method, with website characteristics classified into distinct categories and then described using statistics; 335 websites of luxury hotels were reviewed and data were analyzed by means of STATA 12. Persuasiveness measured using six dimensions, namely: informativeness, usability, credibility, inspiration, involvement and reciprocity. The research divulged a comparatively low degree of the hotels overall persuasiveness, specifically in involvement dimension. Furthermore, current research attempted to pinpoint the relation among the hotels’ website overall persuasiveness and its impact on their financial performance. The findings could offer the hotel managers useful insights into enhancing their website’s persuasiveness and accordingly their financial performance.

The purpose of this research is to study expectations regarding ageing (ERA) among individuals who participate in running events as well as to explore personality and demographic features as potential variables that influence ERA values. A quantitative questionnaire was selected as the predominant means of collecting the data and 196 successfully completed questionnaires were analyzed by means of the SPSS. Results indicate a positive correlation between ERA values and Change Seeker Index in our sample. Moreover gender and frequency of exercise found to have no significant effect on ERA score. Finally, ERA was examined among three generational cohorts and differences were noticed to physical subscale.

The purpose of this research is to study expectations regarding ageing (ERA) among individuals who participate in running events as well as to explore personality and demographic features as potential variables that influence ERA values. A quantitative questionnaire was selected as the predominant means of collecting the data and 196 successfully completed questionnaires were analyzed by means of the SPSS. Results indicate a positive correlation between ERA values and Change Seeker Index in our sample. Moreover gender and frequency of exercise found to have no significant effect on ERA score. Finally, ERA was examined among three generational cohorts and differences were noticed to physical subscale.

Purpose: The object of this research is to investigate work motivating factors in the public sector in Greece, as well as to study demographic attributes, placing emphasis on age and gender as determinants of employee motives. Design/methodology/approach: To answer our research questions, a questionnaire was distributed at the beginning of 2015 to a public - sector organization in central Greece. A total of 318 anonymous survey responses were collected and analysed with SPSS. Findings: In the public organization under survey, the leading employee motives are an increase in salaries, opportunities for hierarchical advancement in the organization, as well as the development of personal skills. Moreover, motivational differences are noted among Baby Boomers, Generation X and Generation Y. Research limitations/implications: As the present study has been conducted on a single public organization, awareness should be raised as far as the generalizability of the results providing useful insights for further exploration. Originality/value: Limited research has been conducted in the Greek public sector comparing motives among generations.

The aim of this study is to present a theoretical framework of sport entrepreneurship research and to bridge the gap between sport participation and entrepreneurship. More specifically, the aim of this research is to investigate the factors influencing participation in high performance sport events. Furthermore, the present research explores the impact of gender on motivation of athletes as well as the impact of the various type of events. A quantitative method was used and questionnaires were gathered from three different races. A total of 616 questionnaires was achieved, which were then analysed using SPSS. Regression analysis showed that the intention to participate in future events is explained by the proposed variables; physical and mental health, attachment to the event, and sportscape factors. Moreover, the type of the event was found to have a moderating role.

The goal of this study was to examine the predictability and persistence of earnings of the European football clubs and whether the new Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Financial Fair Play (FFP) licensing regulation has forced clubs to produce a more predictable earnings stream. We utilized a sample of 109 European top-tier clubs over the period 2008–2016, summing up to 844 firm-year observations. Empirical evidence indicated that the cash flow component of earnings is more relevant in predicting one-year ahead earnings than accruals. This positive impact of cash flows for predicting earnings is more significant after the FFP regulation since earnings predictability has increased during that period. Moreover, the abovementioned finding is more significant for the smaller league clubs rather than the Big-5 league clubs. This finding is attributed to the fact that smaller league clubs are more in need of UEFA prize money relative to Big-5 league clubs, thus they are more incentivized to produce a more predictable earnings stream.