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Subjective vitality is an important, yet understudied, indicator of eudaimonic well-being. People experience subjective vitality when they engage in need-satisfying activities. We investigate two sport consumption activities (stadium attendance and sport television viewing), team identification, and subjective vitality to understand how sport consumption mediates the impact of team identification on subjective vitality. Throughout a season, data were collected from local residents (n = 618) living within the franchise area of a Japanese professional baseball team. Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping mediation analysis showed that team identification exerted both a direct and an indirect effect via attendance frequency on subjective vitality. The proposed model and the findings offer new theoretical insights into the roles of subjective vitality, team identification, and stadium attendance in spectator sport. Consequently, sport teams can leverage these insights to intensify consumer experiences when people attend games, positively contributing to their well-being.

Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is a multivariate statistical technique that helps examine complex relationships among a number of variables. Although its use has increased over decades, PLS-SEM remains underutilized in leisure research. The purpose of this methodological paper is to offer a primer on PLS-SEM for leisure researchers and to present a critical review of PLS-SEM’s strengths and limitations, while identifying potential applications of PLS-SEM across different sub-fields and theories in leisure research. Specifically, as to strengths, we discuss PLS-SEM’s sample size requirements, accommodation of formative and reflective measures, ability to model many variables and relationships, and statistical prediction capacity. In terms of its limitations, we review criticisms regarding PLS-SEM’s biased estimates as well as the lack of measurement error estimation and model fit assessment tools. Lastly, we provide recommendations for leisure researchers who wish to use PLS-SEM and journal editors and reviewers who assess PLS-SEM articles.

Using service dominant logic as the theoretical framework, this study examines the associations between consumer engagement, two dimensions of value co-creation (co-production and value-in-use), an...

Although the relationship between leisure and subjective well-being has been widely studied in the leisure literature, the role of an individual’s personality in this relationship has rarely been e...

Despite the increasing importance of customer knowledge management (CKM) as a strategic resource for sport service organizations, little sport management research has examined the link between CKM and consumers’ intention to use sport services. Using the psychological continuum model as the theoretical framework, this study examines whether CKM predicts consumers’ intention to use sport services. Participants (N = 686) were recruited from nonprofit sports clubs in Urmia, Iran. Structural equation modeling results revealed positive relationships between CKM, psychological involvement, perceived value, commitment, and intention to use. Furthermore, both CKM and psychological involvement had positive indirect effects on intention to use through perceived value and commitment. Findings from this study highlight the importance of psychological involvement and perceived value in promoting intention to use sport services at nonprofit sports clubs and CKM’s role as a key antecedent.

The Psychological Continuum Model (PCM) represents a theoretical framework in sport management to understand why and how consumer attitudes form and change. Prior researchers developed an algorithmic staging procedure using psychological involvement to operationalize the PCM framework within sport and recreational contexts. Although this staging procedure is pragmatically sound, it rests upon a procedure that, while intuitively sensible, lacks scientific rigor. The current research offers an alternative approach to PCM segmentation using Bayesian Latent Profile Analysis (Bayesian LPA). Comparing three analyses (the conventional PCM segmentation algorithm, K-means clustering, and Bayesian LPA), results demonstrated that Bayesian LPA provides a promising and alternative statistical approach that outperforms the conventional PCM staging algorithm in two ways: (a) it has the ability to classify individuals into the corresponding PCM segments with more distinct boundaries; and (b) it is equipped with stronger statistical power to predict conceptually related distal outcomes with larger effect size.

Research question: The salience of creating shared value (CSV) in innovating the process of social change has been acknowledged; however, we know little about CSV from views of employees who create shared value. This study examined how employees of a sport organization perceive their organization’s CSV, and assessed the connections between employee CSV perception, vision integration, work engagement, and job performance. Research methods: A new scale of employee CSV perception was validated using data from 207 employees within a sport organization in China. Structural equation modeling was performed, with a separate sample of 181 employees, to test the hypothesized relationships. The data were obtained through web-based questionnaires. Results and findings: Employee CSV perception – formed as a second-order factor including sport, social, and economic values – was positively associated with vision integration. Subsequently, vision integration had a positive relationship with in-role behavior (i.e. a measure of job performance), and this relationship was mediated by work engagement. Implications: This study advances a theoretical understanding of CSV from the employees’ perspective. Findings suggest that a sport organization can use CSV to increase employees’ adoption of its vision, work engagement, and in-role behavior through team-building activities that facilitate employees’ understanding of the vision.

To cultivate the potential of sport spectatorship to enhance social well-being, a greater\ud understanding of underlying psychological processes is essential. Using the social identity\ud approach as a theoretical framework, we investigate how identification with a sport team\ud interacts with subjective and objective measures of on-field team performance to affect social\ud well-being. Data from 790 U.S. middle-aged and older adults were analysed through a path\ud model combining mediation and moderation. The results indicate that the relationship between\ud team identification and social life satisfaction—a measure of social well-being—is fully\ud mediated by subjective perceptions of a favourite team’s on-field performance. In addition, this\ud mediating effect increases as objective on-field performance decreases. These findings reveal\ud that team identification drives spectators to subjectively judge their favourite team’s\ud performance, which serves as a coping strategy to enhance their social well-being when the team\ud is performing poorly. Our evidence implies that sport organisations with middling to poor\ud performance records may leverage social and community events to promote consumer social\ud well-being.

© 2019, © 2019 National Recreation and Park Association. Although research has documented the health benefits of physical activity and use of park and recreational facilities, the relationships of these factors to healthcare costs remain unexplored at the population level. Building upon a social-ecological model, we analyzed county-level data to examine the extent to which physical activity rate and access to parks and recreational facilities were related to the healthcare costs for older adults (i.e., those 65 years and above) in U.S. counties. The results revealed that older adults’ physical activity rate in a county was negatively associated with the county’s healthcare costs of these adults. Also, access to parks and recreational facilities was negatively associated with older adults’ healthcare costs through the physical activity rate. These findings indicate that access to parks and recreational facilities correlates with increased physical activity levels among older adults, which might reduce their healthcare costs in communities.

Limited research has examined psychological involvement change using a longitudinal design. This study explored stability and change in the three facets of psychological involvement—pleasure, centrality, and sign—that occurred over a 2-year period and examined key behavioral correlates of the observed change. Data were collected three times through online surveys from participants (N = 482) of an annual 10-mile running event in the United States. Latent growth modeling analyses revealed that, on average, the levels of pleasure, centrality, and sign in running slightly decreased over time. Growth mixture modeling analyses offer evidence that different patterns of change exist within each facet of psychological involvement. The findings further indicate that changes in the number of events participated in each year are the most important behavioral correlates of psychological involvement change. The results provide sport managers with implications for promoting long-term engagement with the activity through...

The COVID-19 pandemic is having an unprecedented impact on the leisure industry. Mandatory directives such as social distancing and stay-at-home/shelter-in-place orders reduce disease transmission ...

The performance of sport organizations has been traditionally examined from the perspective of attaining strategic and operational goals (e.g., profitability, sporting performance). However, contemporary examples point to a need to expand sport organizations’ goals through consideration of their contributions to well-being outcomes. The current special issue addresses this need by advancing the theoretical and empirical understanding of transformative sport service research (TSSR), which seeks to understand how personal and collective well-being can be improved through a range of services offered in the sport industry. This introduction article clarifies the scope of TSSR scholarship and then provides a synthesis of findings and implications from the eight articles included in the special issue. The overview concludes with a call for collective efforts to establish a focused body of knowledge that leads sport organizations to integrate the goal of optimizing consumer and employee well-being into the core of their operations.

© 2017 Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand The sport participation rate has been shown to decrease with age in many countries. In Japan, however, the elderly sport participation rate has increased over the last decade and is the highest among all Japanese. This study investigated whether the cohort effect generated by the shared experience of hosting the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games during their youth can explain the increased sport participation of elderly Japanese. Data from the Japanese National Sport-Life Survey over 20 years were analyzed through regression analysis. The results show that, after controlling for demographics and other determinants of sport participation, individuals who experienced the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games participated in sport more frequently than other generations.

Accumulating evidence suggests that physically active leisure represents an important correlate of life satisfaction; however, the role that personality has on leisure involvement and life satisfac...

• We examined the effects of a running event on participants’ life satisfaction.• A sample of 742 participants was recruited from a 10 mile distance-run in the U.S.• Participation in the event was ...

Introduction Research has documented the health benefits of physical activity among older adults, but the relationship between physical activity and healthcare costs remains unexplored at the population level. Using data from 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, this study investigates the extent to which physical activity prevalence is associated with healthcare costs among older adults. Methods Twelve-year state-level data (2003–2014) were obtained from 5 secondary sources (n=611). Healthcare costs were captured by Medicare Parts A and B spending. Fixed-effect models were estimated in 2019 to assess the relationship between the state-level physical activity prevalence and Medicare costs. The potential lagged associations were captured by lagged variables of physical activity prevalence (i.e., t−1, t−2, and t−3). Results Physical activity prevalence was not associated with Medicare costs occurring in the concurrent and subsequent year (p>0.05); however, the 2-year lagged variable (p=0.03) and the 3-year lagged variable (p=0.01) for physical activity prevalence were negatively associated with Medicare costs, indicating a time-lagged relationship. It was estimated that a 10 percentage point increase in physical activity prevalence in each state is associated with reduced Medicare Parts A and B costs of 0.4% after 2 years and 1.0% after 3 years. Conclusions Results revealed a time lag effect highlighted by a delayed inverse relationship between state-level physical activity prevalence and healthcare costs among older adults. This evidence offers governments and communities new insights to guide policymaking on long-term public investment in physical activity intervention programs.

Objective:\ud We investigate how (a) attendance at sport games and (b) identification with a sport team as fans (i.e., supporters of the team) influence older adults’ perceptions of emotional support, belonging and subjective well-being (SWB). \ud Methods:\ud An experimental pilot study was conducted with 50 older adults, followed by a main survey study administered to 534 older adults from various communities across the United States. \ud Results:\ud Pilot study results indicated that game attendance and team identification had a positive and significant influence on\ud older adults’ perceptions of emotional support from fellow team fans. These results were replicated in the main study, which also showed that older adults’ perceived emotional support from fellow fans was positively associated with their sense of belonging which predicted their SWB. \ud Discussion:\ud The findings provide insights into how older adults may be engaged in meaningful forms of social life to help them maintain and enhance mental health.

Given the rising popularity of mass-participant sport, such as walking and running events, research has started to address whether these types of events could promote life satisfaction for participants. Nevertheless, the theoretical link between event participation and life satisfaction has not been fully elaborated. Using bottom-up theory of life satisfaction, this study examined the role of event satisfaction and the three facets of leisure involvement – attraction, centrality and self-expression – in people’s life domain satisfaction and life satisfaction. Participants (N = 236) were recruited from a walking event held in western Japan. The results of the study revealed that event satisfaction had positive, indirect effects on life satisfaction through satisfaction with family life and personal achievement. Attraction in walking also had positive, indirect effects on life satisfaction through satisfaction with family life, personal achievement and social life. In contrast, centrality and self-e...

The current study examines whether a distance running event has the capacity to promote participants’ life satisfaction. The construct of psychological involvement was used to investigate the impact of attitude change through event preparation and subsequent activity. Data were collected four times through online surveys from running event participants (N = 211) over a five-month period. Latent growth modeling analyses revealed that participants’ life satisfaction peaked immediately after the event before receding, indicating that event participation exerted a positive impact on participants’ evaluations toward their lives. A positive significant association was also found between change in pleasure in running and change in life satisfaction. Findings from this study provide empirical support that a distance running event can serve as an environmental determinant that enhances participants’ life satisfaction by providing positive experiences through event participation and forming psychological involvement in physical activity.

Elite and professional sport events have been recognized as potential mechanisms to enhance well-being. This multicountry study investigates how engagement in such events, behaviorally through live spectating and psychologically through team identification, is associated with life satisfaction. Data from Australia (N = 268) revealed a positive association between live spectating and life satisfaction through a two-wave design measuring live spectating and life satisfaction in separate surveys. Data from the United States (N = 564) confirmed the live spectating–life satisfaction relationship found in Study 1. Additionally, Study 2 revealed individuals with higher levels of team identification perceived greater emotional support from other fans, and this perception, in turn, predicted life satisfaction. Our findings provide sport managers with implications for positioning appeals in support of sport programs and designing events that facilitate engagement to promote life satisfaction in the community.

Drawing upon bottom-up theory of life satisfaction, this study develops and tests a model that links physically active leisure to people's quality of life. Results from a sample of 827 running event participants revealed that satisfaction with event participation and psychological involvement in running were significant predictors of participants’ life domain satisfaction and overall life satisfaction, both of which are common subjective indicators of quality of life. Conversely, behavioral involvement in running was a non-significant predictor of life domain satisfaction and overall life satisfaction. These findings suggest that physically active leisure may enhance participants’ quality of life by providing positive experiences through event participation and contributing to psychological involvement in physical activity.

Using the five-year data of a US running event (N = 9380), this study examined key determinants of tourists' expenditure in a mass participant sport event. Economic constraint, travel-related, socio-demographic, and sport-related facets were integrated into the expenditure model while considering changes in tourism prices. The proposed four-facet model provides a broader framework for event organisers and destination marketers in evaluating what factors determine participants' spending behaviours while at the destination, thereby maximising the potential economic benefits of hosting a participant sport event.

Background:Although previous studies supported the health benefits of physical activity, these studies were limited to individual-level research designs. Building upon a social-ecological model, we examined the relationship between physical activity and community health—the health status of a defined group of people—while accounting for the potential endogeneity of physical activity to health.Methods:We obtained U.S. county-level data from the 2012 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey and the 2014 County Health Ranking Database. We first conducted an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis to examine the relationship between the rate of physical activity and community health measured by the average perceived health score for each county. We then conducted a 2-stage least squares (2SLS) regression analysis to investigate this relationship after accounting for potential endogeneity.Results:Results from the OLS analysis indicated that the rate of physical activity was positively associated with community health. Results from the 2SLS analysis confirmed that the physical activity rate remained positively associated with community health.Conclusions:In line with the social-ecological model, our findings provide the first evidence for the health benefits of county-level physical activity. Our results support extant research that has shown relationships between physical activity and individual-level, health-related outcomes.