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This study adopted an organizational culture perspective to examine the values and beliefs within fitness club operations and determine their influence on employees’ job satisfaction and intention to leave an organization. Consideration was also given to subcultures based on geographical location, organizational type, and job function to examine the ways in which organizations and employees may differ. Data were collected at three urban cities in Canada during a major fitness conference and tradeshow. The results from 438 employees confirmed the multidimensionality of the seven-factor instrument, in addition to illustrating the influence on job satisfaction and intention to leave. Further, the results revealed several dimensions were perceieved differently with respect to subculture. Findings connote the transient nature of jobs in the fitness industry which remains an immediate concern for managers in this field.

Through the lens of the theory of reasoned action and the framework of attraction, retention, transition, and nurturing of athletes, this study examined how athletes’ experiences at the Commonwealth Youth Games contributed to satisfaction with the event, while encouraging transition into higher levels of competition. A total of 244 athletes from 23 different countries who completed a survey helped identify the environment-related aspects that created positive and negative experiences. The participants noted that learning from various social and cultural experiences influenced their event satisfaction and their future intention to remain in high-performance sport. Aspects of the event service environment, including poor accommodation and nutrition, were found to negatively impact performance. This paper contributes to the role of pre-elite events as athletic development agents that aid in talent transition. The results have implications for event organizers and high-performance managers regarding the influence of athletes’ experiences on performances and intention to transition.

Competing at major sport events represents a significant experience for elite athletes. Research has determined that event services can affect athlete satisfaction, yet little is known about any influence on athlete performances. This study adapted the lens of transformative service research to examine, through survey research, the athletes’ perceptions of the impact that the service environment of the Commonwealth Games 2018 on the Gold Coast in Australia had on their satisfaction and subsequent performance. The results from 430 athlete surveys showed the significant relationships between service environment factors and athlete satisfaction and the indirect effects of the service environment on performance, through satisfaction. Thus, satisfaction acts as a mediator between the service environment and athlete performance. The effects of the service environment on athlete satisfaction and performance highlight the areas for future development across the athletes’ experience, from accommodations to social activities, that managers and event planners can enhance.

Basic psychological needs (BPN) are a construct that helps clarify the psychological mechanism to reach desirable outcomes for youth athletes. When BPN are undermined, people should be less likely to thrive. As mental toughness (MT) can reduce the negative effects of stressors, MT may buffer the negative effects of maladaptive motivation. This study investigated the mediating role of thriving on the relationships between BPN thwarting and important outcomes for youth athletes’ positive functioning. It also examined the buffering effects of MT. One hundred eighty-eight Canadian youth athletes (M _age = 15.51) answered an online survey. The results demonstrated that thriving was a significant mediator, and the indirect relationships were moderated by MT. The indirect associations were nonsignificant for youth with high MT. The findings demonstrated that MT might decrease the negative impacts of BPN thwarting on thriving and important outcomes for young athletes.

In this case study, students are exposed to the issue of stakeholder management through the lens of the National Football League (NFL), using a contemporary example of ambush marketing and player endorsement deals as the primary context. The case depicts nonfictitious events that involve players and their disdain for league policies regarding donning brands and products that violate exclusivity agreements the league has with other companies. After identifying the origins of the circumstances, the case profiles the three principal stakeholder groups involved (i.e., the players, the ambushed sponsor, and the focal organization) through their respective leaders (i.e., DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL players association, Bob Maresca, president of Bose Corporation, and Roger Goodell, Commissioner of the NFL). Using fictitious commentary, the case culminates with the three actors utilizing the services of a sports consultancy firm as they work together to determine the best course of action. Learning objectives include understanding collegiality in a professional setting, and mitigating conflicting sponsorship strategies.

Adopting an integrative literature review approach, this study synthesized sport relationship marketing (SRM) articles to gain insight into how relationship marketing in sport-related studies is presently understood, interpreted, and utilized. Informed by two decades of SRM literature, we synthesized our findings into a conceptual model that presents the systematic dimensions of SRM. This model transforms the theoretical contributions of the field’s scholars into actionable insights for both scholars and practitioners’ use. The work concludes by identifying specific future research to test and refine the proposed SRM model.