A test of basic psychological needs theory in young soccer players: Time-lagged design at the individual and team levels

Within the framework of basic psychological needs theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) with a time-lagged design was used to test a mediation model examining the relationship between perceptions of coaches’ interpersonal styles (autonomy supportive and controlling), athletes’ basic psychological needs (satisfaction and thwarting), and indicators of well-being (subjective vitality) and ill-being (burnout), estimating separately between and within effects. The participants were 597 Spanish male soccer players aged between 11 and 14 years (M = 12.57, SD = 0.54) from 40 teams who completed a questionnaire package at two time points in a competitive season. Results revealed that at the individual level, athletes’ perceptions of autonomy support positively predicted athletes’ need satisfaction (autonomy, competence, and relatedness), whereas athletes’ perceptions of controlling style positively predicted athletes’ need thwarting (autonomy, competence, and relatedness). In turn, all three athletes’ need satisfaction dimensions predicted athletes’ subjective vitality and burnout (positively and negatively, respectively), whereas competence thwarting negatively predicted subjective vitality and competence and relatedness positively predicted burnout. At the team level, team perceptions of autonomy supportive style positively predicted team autonomy and relatedness satisfaction. Mediation effects only appeared at the individual level.

Relationship between sport commitment and sport consumer behavior

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between sport commitment and three types of sport consumer behaviors: participation frequency, sporting goods and media consumption. A survey was conducted among sport participants of both individual and team sports, fitness and outdoor activities (n= 900). The survey included questions related to demographic information, measures of sport commitment and sport consumption behavior. The results analyzed trough structural equation modeling showed that the sport commitment influences positively the participation frequency, sporting goods consumption and media consumption. Implications of these results are discussed and suggestions for future research on sport consumers are provided.

Corporate social responsibility and sport event sponsorship

Demonstrating socially responsible behaviour has become increasingly important for corporations. Using the Psychological Continuum Model (PCM) as its theoretical framework, this paper examines the meditational role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on the relationship between sport participation motivation, event attachment and purchase intent of a sport event’s sponsors’ products. A questionnaire was distributed to a sample of sport event participants (N=689) to measure sport participation motivation (recreation and charity), attachment to the event, CSR, and purchase intent of sponsors’ products. Results reveal that CSR fully mediates the link between purchase intent and sport participation motivation and partially mediates the influence of attachment on purchase intent. The authors propose that corporations strategically align with sport events in which participants are attached to allow for CSR and the meaning elicited by the event to work jointly.

Investigating motivation, attitudinal loyalty and attendance behaviour with fans of Australian football

The present study examined how individual difference factors contribute to attitudes and behaviour of spectators attending an Australian Football League game. The results revealed that four factors: Team Interest, Vicarious Achievement, Excitement and Player Interest were successful in predicting level of loyalty, while five factors: Vicarious Achievement, Player Interest, Entertainment Value, Drama and Socialization predicted game day attendance. This study illustrates the applicability of the Sport Interest Inventory developed in North America to understand motivational factors of Australian sports fans.

Abstimmen oder Schwimmen? Plebiszitarer Sport und synchronisierte Wahlen. [Sink or swim: Plebiscitary sport and synchronised voting.][In German]

This chapter starts from the observation that new sporting attributes are growing up unnoticed in popular entertainment and ‘reality’ TV. They celebrate not individual heroics but spectator-oriented teamwork which must look effortless and stylish. Instead of objective measurements – ‘faster, higher, stronger’ – winners are picked by voting and consumer choice. Sport and media are converging and integrating. As they do so, what counts as sport, why it is valued, and what it symbolises for contemporary culture, are all changing. I take these changes to be emblematic of something emergent in the culture at large as the modernist paradigm shifts towards a new consumerist paradigm. This is symbolised in new sports, of which the paradigm example is synchronised swimming. The chapter traces these changes via the career and legacy of the Australian swimming and fashion pioneer Annette Kellerman.

DesignWorld : a tool for team collaboration in high band virtual environments

Current software tools for documenting and developing models of buildings focus on supporting a single user who is a specialist in the specific software used within their own discipline. Extensions to these tools for use by teams maintain the single discipline view and focus on version and file management. There is a perceived need in industry to have tools that specifically support collaboration among individuals from multiple disciplines with both a graphical representation of the design and a persistent data model. This project involves the development of a prototype of such a software tool. We have identified multi-user 3D virtual worlds as an appropriate software base for the development of a collaborative design tool. These worlds are inherently multi-user and therefore directly support collaboration through a sense of awareness of others in the virtual world, their location within the world, and provide various channels for direct and indirect communication. Such software platforms also provide a 3D building and modelling environment that can be adapted to the needs of the building and construction industry. DesignWorld is a prototype system for collaborative design developed by augmenting the Second Life (SL) commercial software platform1 with a collection web-based tools for communication and design. Agents manage communication between the 3D virtual world and the web-based tools. In addition, agents maintain a persistent external model of designs in the 3D world which can be augmented with data such as relationships, disciplines and versions not usually associated with 3D virtual worlds but required in design scenarios.

Final report : enabling team collaboration with pervasive and mobile computing

This is the final report of research project 2002-057-C: Enabling Team Collaboration with Pervasive and Mobile Computing. The research project was carried out by the Australian Cooperative Research Centre for Construction Innovation and has two streams that consider the use of pervasive computing technologies in two different contexts. The first context was the on-site deployment of mobile computing devices, where as the second context was the use and development of intelligent rooms based on sensed environments and new human-computer interfaces (HCI) for collaboration in the design office. The two streams present a model of team collaboration that relies on continues communication to people and information to reduce information leakage. This report consists of five sections: (1) Introduction; (2) Research Project Background; (3) Project Implementation; (4) Case Studies and Outcomes; and (5) Conclusion and Recommendation. Introduction in Section 1 presents a brief description of the research project including general research objectives and structure. Section 2 introduces the background of the research and detailed information regarding project participants, objectives and significance, and also research methodology. Review of all research activities such as literature review and case studies are summarised in Project Implementation in Section 3. Following this, in Section 4 the report then focuses on analysing the case studies and presents their outcomes. Conclusion and recommendation of the research project are summarised in Section 5. Other information to support the content of the report such as research project schedule is provided in Appendices. The purpose of the final project report is to provide industry partners with detailed information on the project activities and methodology such as the implementation of pervasive computing technologies in the real contexts. The report summarises the outcomes of the case studies and provides necessary recommendation to industry partners of using new technologies to support better project collaboration.

Report : enabling team collaboration with pervasive and mobile computing : cost benefit analysis methodology

Construction is an information intensive industry in which the accuracy and timeliness of information is paramount. It observed that the main communication issue in construction is to provide a method to exchange data between the site operation, the site office and the head office. The information needs under consideration are time critical to assist in maintaining or improving the efficiency at the jobsite. Without appropriate computing support this may increase the difficulty of problem solving. Many researchers focus their research on the usage of mobile computing devices in the construction industry and they believe that mobile computers have the potential to solve some construction problems that leads to reduce overall productivity. However, to date very limited observation has been conducted in terms of the deployment of mobile computers for construction workers on-site. By providing field workers with accurate, reliable and timely information at the location where it is needed, it will support the effectiveness and efficiency at the job site. Bringing a new technology into construction industry is not only need a better understanding of the application, but also need a proper preparation of the allocation of the resources such as people, and investment. With this in mind, an accurate analysis is needed to provide clearly idea of the overall costs and benefits of the new technology. A cost benefit analysis is a method of evaluating the relative merits of a proposed investment project in order to achieve efficient allocation of resources. It is a way of identifying, portraying and assessing the factors which need to be considered in making rational economic choices. In principle, a cost benefit analysis is a rigorous, quantitative and data-intensive procedure, which requires identification all potential effects, categorisation of these effects as costs and benefits, quantitative estimation of the extent of each cost and benefit associated with an action, translation of these into a common metric such as dollars, discounting of future costs and benefits into the terms of a given year, and summary of all cost and benefit to see which is greater. Even though many cost benefit analysis methodologies are available for a general assessment, there is no specific methodology can be applied for analysing the cost and benefit of the application of mobile computing devices in the construction site. Hence, the proposed methodology in this document is predominantly adapted from Baker et al. (2000), Department of Finance (1995), and Office of Investment Management (2005). The methodology is divided into four main stages and then detailed into ten steps. The methodology is provided for the CRC CI 2002-057-C Project: Enabling Team Collaboration with Pervasive and Mobile Computing and can be seen in detail in Section 3.

Report : enabling team collaboration with pervasive and mobile computing : a review of existing mobile computing technologies

The application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in construction industry has been recognised widely by some practitioners and researchers for the last several years. During the 1990s the international construction industry started using with the increasing confidence information and communication technology. The use of e-mail became usual and web-sites were established for marketing purposes. Intranets and extranets were also established to facilitate communication within companies and throughout their branches. One of the important applications of the ICT in construction industry was the use of mobile computing devices to achieve better communication and data transmission between construction sites and offices.