Olympic Games produce tangible and intangible effects that have been extensively researched; however, little is known on the importance of Olympic success to the population. The purpose of this study was to investigate the value of Olympic success using the contingent valuation method (CVM). The empirical evaluation is undertaken with data from a nationwide population survey in Germany (n=2006). Residents were asked to state their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for Germany being ranked first in the medal table and for a German winning a gold medal in track and field at the 2012 London Olympics. Average WTP amounts to €6.13 and €5.21, respectively. The regression results show that consumption capital and intangible factors were significant determinants of WTP. The findings can be integrated into cost-benefit analyses that are carried out for major sport events and can help justifying the use of taxpayer money to finance major sport events and elite sport development.

Research question: This study examines the effect of board gender diversity and a critical mass of women on the board on organizational problems of non-profit sport clubs. It relies on theories from social categorization and information/decision-making perspectives and on critical mass theory. Research methods: Four waves of data from a German sport club panel (2009–2015; n = 6504) are used which allow analyzing causal effects with lagged variables. Gender diversity was measured with the share of women on the board, the Blau index, and the number of women on the board. The perceived severity of human resource, financial, facility, and development problems represent the dependent variables. Results and findings: The results of regression analyses show that board gender diversity significantly reduces human resource and financial problems. Human resource problems are even smallest in clubs with an overbalanced board (≥60% women), while facility problems are perceived as bigger in such clubs. The results provided evidence for critical masses of one or at least three women for reducing human resource problems and of at least four women for perceiving bigger facility problems. Development problems are not impacted by board gender diversity or critical masses. Implications: The findings for human resource and financial problems support the information/decision-making perspective, suggesting that board gender diversity benefits the organization because of diversity in resource access, human and social capital, and improved quality of decision-making. Thus, increasing gender diversity of the board can be a way to reduce problems in these areas.

A unique selling proposition is vital for a destination in order to differentiate it from its competitors and to satisfy visitors' needs. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to test whether an adapted destination competitiveness model is empirically applicable for the demand side of a destination, and to discern what elements of destination competitiveness have an impact on the sport tourists' perceived satisfaction with their destination experience. A questionnaire survey of 1050 winter sport tourists was conducted in three municipalities in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in February 2011. The study confirms the applicability of the adapted model to research on demand side destination competitiveness. The results suggested that, from the tourist's perspective, infrastructure, accessibility, hospitality, mix of activities available within the destination, and the image of the destination are important factors for perceived satisfaction. Moreover, tourists were looking to spend their holidays at a place they consider to be safe. The adapted destination competitiveness model revealed that the tourists' perceived satisfaction was particularly influenced by supporting factors and qualifying and amplifying determinants.

Research question: This study contributes to the organizational performance literature by conceptualizing differences in performance between nonprofit and for-profit organizations using property rights theory and suggesting comparative measures for multiple performance dimensions. It advances the following research question: Are there significant differences in organizational performance between nonprofit and for-profit sport organizations? Research methods: Data from a nationwide online survey of nonprofit (n = 1640) and for-profit sport organizations (n = 732) in German equestrian sport are used for the empirical analysis. The challenge was to find adequate measures for the comparison of the two types of legal forms. Altogether, 22 regression models for performance measures across four dimensions (financial, product, customer, strategic) are estimated with the legal form (nonprofit vs. for-profit) and some controls as independent variables. Results and findings: The results show that for-profit organizations outperform nonprofit organizations in terms of overall financial performance, while nonprofits excel with regard to price structure. For-profits attach more importance to program quality, employee qualifications, and strategies. No significant differences can be observed in the product dimension. However, for-profits tend to focus on customer groups that have typically been targeted by nonprofits. Since the models also control for organizational size and resources, the results indicate that differences are not always attributable to the legal form. Implications: The findings imply that for-profits do not outperform nonprofits in all performance dimensions. Nonprofits should consider that for-profits have invaded some of their typical domains and should be more flexible when market demand changes, while for-profits should reconsider their price structure.

Due to the demographic situation in nowadays societies, physical activity, and sport expenditure have to be analysed from a demographic as well as socio-economical perspective. This means that determinants such as age, gender, nationality/ethnicity, income, time, educational level, profession, and social status have to be taken into account. However, when comparing the various studies, the different methods of analysis and different operationalisation of variables have to be considered. This is in particular vital investigating age. Whilst cross-sectional studies point out that physical activity generally decreases with increasing age, longitudinal analyses come to different results. Previous studies indicate that pertaining to gender more men take part in sports than women. However, considering period and cohort effects, recent longitudinal studies showed that women participate more in sport than in the past. Besides, it was found out that men generally tend to spend more money on sports than women do. A further finding is that the educational level influences physical activity positively. Research revealed that income had a positive impact on both, physical activity and sport expenditure.

Non-profit associations are usually democratically organized, and this feature plays a legitimizing role for the public support to associations. This article examines which characteristics at country level, organizational level and individual level can explain variations with regard to member engagement in the association democracy in sports clubs in Europe. The statistical analyses use data on 12,755 members from 642 sports clubs in ten European countries. The findings show that the majority of the members in sports clubs participate in the association democracy, but the level and form of engagement varies considerably. At the country level, no link between the democratic strength and quality of the countries on the one hand and member engagement on the other could be identified. Instead, characteristics at the organizational and individual level were found to be relevant. More concretely, (1) the size of the sports club, (2) the socioeconomic background of the members (gender, age and education), and (3) the way in which the members are involved in and affiliated to the club (engaged in voluntary work, participating in social activities, etc.) were found to be significantly correlated with the engagement of members in the association democracy.