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Letter From the Editor
Joshua R. Pate
(Un)Doing Gender Inequalities in Sport Organizations
Annelies Knoppers, Corina van Doodewaard, and Ramón Spaaij
Gender can be seen not only as a binary category but also as a performance or doing that is shaped by, and shapes organizational processes and structures that are deeply embedded in (sport) organizations in multiple and complex ways. The purpose of this paper is to explore strategies for addressing the undoing of gender in sport organizations with the use of an overarching or meta-approach. Strategies that aim to undo gender require a recognition of the complexity of regimes of inequality and the need to use incremental steps in the form of small wins while acknowledging change is not linear. The complexity and multiplicity of the gendering of sport organizations should, therefore, be considered a wicked problem. The naming of heterotopias can provide directions or goals for small wins and for addressing the wicked problem of the doing of gender in sport organizations.
Mentioned, Quoted, and Promoted: How Sports Journalists Constructed a Narrative of Athletes’ Value in the “Name, Image, and Likeness” Era
Shannon Scovel
Using theories of framing and agenda setting, this study explores how journalists covered women athletes during the first week of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s new “name, image, and likeness” (NIL) policy. Athlete representation during this first week was critical, as it established precedent for which athletes, according to media members, held value and were worthy of publicity. The findings from this study show that journalists focused their reporting of NIL on U.S. male athletes, although women athletes such as Olivia Dunne, Haley Cavinder, and Hanna Cavinder were also frequently mentioned in relation to their large social media following, lifestyle, or appearance. Overall, reporters generally promoted a male-dominated NIL agenda, one that undervalued women athletes and minimized their potential role as sporting celebrities in the college sports space.
Team Identity and Environmentalism: The Case of Forest Green Rovers
Elizabeth B. Delia, Brian P. McCullough, and Keegan Dalal
Despite consumer concern over climate change, research on environmental issues and sport fandom has focused more on organizational outcomes than on fans themselves. Recognizing fandom can be representative of social movements, and social identity and collective action are utilized in an intrinsic case study of Forest Green Rovers football club supporters (who also identify with environmentalism) to understand the extent to which the club represents a social movement, and whether Forest Green Rovers’ sustainability efforts encourage pro-environment actions. Through interview research, we found supporters’ team and environmental identities cooperate synergistically. Forest Green Rovers is not just representative of environmentalism but has become a politicized identity itself—a means to act for change on environmental issues. We discuss implications concerning identity synergy, team identity as a politicized identity, perceptions of success, collective action, and cognitive alternatives to the status quo. We conclude by noting the unavoidable inseparability of environmental issues and sport consumption.
Erratum. Sport Management Research Productivity and Impact for Ranking Considerations
Sport Management Education Journal
Playing in Front of the Bench: Courtside Selection and Its Impact on Team Performance
Finn Spilker and Christian Deutscher
This paper analyzes the strategic decision of basket choice in the National Basketball Association. Before games start, the away team chooses whether to play on offense in front of their bench in the first or second half. Based on eight regular seasons and 9,308 games, we identify the standard strategy for away teams to play on offense at their own benches in the first half. Results indicate that both home and away teams score more points when they play on offense in front of their bench. More importantly, there is a strategic advantage for the away team to play with the offense in front of the bench in the second half, deviating from the standard strategy in the league. Finally, we demonstrate that the choice of the basket for the away team can partially offset the home advantage under normal spectator conditions and entirely nullify it in ghost games.
Women and Men Professors as Role Models and Their Effect on Academics’ Career Decisions
Lara Lesch, Katrin Scharfenkamp, and Pamela Wicker
This study investigated the perception of role model attributes of women and men sport professors, how these attributes influence the choice of academic role models, and how such role models affect career objectives. The study draws on social cognitive (career) theory. Data were collected with a quantitative online survey (N = 792) targeted at major students (under- and postgraduate [n = 515], doctoral [n = 122]), and faculty members (postdoc researchers [n = 43] and professors [n = 112]), in sport management/economics/sociology or a general sports-science program in different countries. Data were analyzed by mean comparisons and regression analyses. The results suggest that women perceive women professors as more competent and as better teachers. Women perceive more similarity with women professors, and the intention to imitate the role model seems to influence both women and men in their role model choice. Women’s interest in an academic career is positively impacted by women and men role models, while men’s career objectives are only influenced by men professors. Implications of the study are that the applied theoretical framework is appropriate for investigating both women’s and men’s role models and career objectives. Furthermore, the study helps academic policymakers and sport faculty members to understand the importance of professors as role models.
Erratum. A Typology of Circular Sport Business Models: Enabling Sustainable Value Co-Creation in the Sport Industry
Journal of Sport Management
A Typology of Circular Sport Business Models: Enabling Sustainable Value Co-Creation in the Sport Industry
Anna Gerke, Julia Fehrer, Maureen Benson-Rea, and Brian P. McCullough
There is a continuing interest in the relationship between sport and nature. As a new field, sport ecology explores the impact sport has on the natural environment and how sport organizations and individuals can promote sustainability. However, a critical element is still missing in the sport ecology discourse—the link between organizations’ sustainability efforts and their value co-creation processes. The circular economy can provide this link by decoupling the value co-creation of sport business models from their environmental impact and resource depletion. Based on an extensive literature review, this study provides a new theoretically derived typology of circular sport business models, including comprehensive reasoning about sustainable value co-creation processes in the sport industry. It explains how sport managers of all three sectors—for-profit, public, and nonprofit—can transition toward more sustainable and circular business practices and offer integrative guidelines for future research.