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Volume 38 (2024): Issue 6 (Nov 2024)
Erratum. Interview With Rui (Blanca) Qi, Content Creator, Internet Celebrity, and Chinese Football Journalist in Europe
International Journal of Sport Communication
Director Selection: Drivers for the Adoption and Design of Nomination Committees by New Zealand National Sport Organizations
Tracy Molloy, Geoff Dickson, and Lesley Ferkins
Nomination committees (NCs) are a critical, yet under-researched, part of the good governance equation. This study contributes to baseline knowledge of NC adoption and design. Underpinned by critical realism, four national sports organization case studies explain the “why” and “how” of NC adoption through a multitheoretical lens. Change strategies are identified using Hampel et al.’s mechanisms (symbolic, relational, and material) approach to institutional (creation) work outcomes. Archer’s morphogenetic cycle helps to demonstrate the interplay between structure, culture, and agency in achieving the change with the study, providing a timely reminder of the power of morphostasis (inertia). The results are important for future NC design to better inform national sport organization NCs’ structures and processes (including case-appropriate balance between community and corporate logics in national sport organization governance re-configurations) and aid future evaluations of NC effectiveness. A critical realism multitheoretical and multicase approach is modeled for future sport management studies.
The Geopolitical Economy of Sport: Power, Politics, Money, and the State
Jung Woo Lee
Research Handbook on Gender and Diversity in Sport Management
Annemarie Farrell
Sport, Sponsorship and Public Health
Jason W. Lee
The Thematic Evolution of Sports Journalism’s Narrative of Mental Illness: A Little Less Conversation
Michael J. Mignano
Interview With Rui (Blanca) Qi, Content Creator, Internet Celebrity, and Chinese Football Journalist in Europe
Zesheng Yang
Exploring Branding Strategies and Barriers of Female Collegiate Athletic Coaches
Hailey Harris and Natasha Brison
Branding has been conceptualized, contextualized, and operationalized in various ways. However, little research has been conducted exploring coaches and their personal branding. Although researchers have investigated the content that collegiate male coaches post on social media, there is a dearth of research investigating female collegiate coaches and the strategies they utilize when constructing their brand online. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the branding strategies used by female collegiate coaches when constructing and presenting their online brand. The authors collected data via a qualitative methodology, utilizing semistructured interviews with female head and assistant coaches in college athletics. Results indicate that the coaches were strategic in their approach to social media, while also encountering obstacles when deciding how to communicate aspects of their brand. Theoretical implications stem from findings that are consistent with decision-making processes outlined by behavioral decision theory, and practical implications are centered on strategic branding suggestions for coaches.
Symbolic Interactionism and the Metamorphosis of Sports Brands: Indian Premier League’s Journey From Niche to Mass Cool
Amit Anand Tiwari and Venkatesha Murthy
This study delves into the evolution of the Indian Premier League, the world’s second-largest sports league, charting its transition from a niche to a mass cool brand. Through the lens of symbolic interactionism, it scrutinizes 13 years of the Indian Premier League’s promotional videos with 18 in-depth interviews of cultural intermediaries. The research spotlights the nuanced process of brand coolness within the Indian Premier League, demonstrating how the league’s brand identity undergoes a deliberate reconstruction, blending both traditional and modern sociocultural elements. A pivotal “boost cool” phase is identified, signaling a strategic shift to expand the brand’s appeal to a wider audience. This research contributes significantly to brand coolness literature by conceptualizing a brand coolness life cycle, charting a path from uncool, through niche and boost cool, to mass cool, and eventually to uncool or reinvention, highlighting “boost cool” as a critical transitional stage.