Artificial intelligence (AI) has recently been introduced as a new way of analyzing and predicting sport consumer behavior. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationships among the perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, the importance of exercise, attitudes towards use, and the behavioral intention to use AI services based on the technology adoption model. The authors recruited 408 participants who participated in an experiment designed to provide a deeper understanding of AI fitness services. After screening, the collected data were screened through assumption tests, and we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to analyze research hypotheses. The results indicated that three types of consumer evaluations (i.e., perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and importance of exercise) positively influence their attitudes toward AI fitness services. In addition, the positive attitudes regarding AI services positively influenced the intention to use AI services. The results of this research contribute to our knowledge of the consumers’ attitudes and behaviors toward AI services in the sport industry based on the technology acceptance model. Furthermore, this study provided the empirical evidence critically needed to increase our understanding of AI in the sport industry and offered new insights into how sport facility managers can predict their consumers’ intention to use AI services.

The quality of a student-athlete’s experience can be a product of the services provided by their sponsoring sport organization. In an attempt to improve the student-athlete experience, this study was positioned to examine how collegiate sport services could use academic psychological capital (PsyCap) and student-athlete engagement to promote school satisfaction and psychological well-being. A total of 248 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I student-athletes participated in this study. Results indicated that academic classification moderated academic PsyCap’s influence on engagement. In addition, the academic PsyCap of the student-athletes positively influenced school satisfaction and psychological well-being, but student-athlete engagement fully mediated the relationship between academic PsyCap and psychological well-being. This empirical evidence provides new knowledge on the relationships among student-athletes’ motivational cognitive constructs, educational engagement, school satisfaction, and psychological well-being in the context of highly competitive collegiate sports. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, including incorporating the results with services provided to student-athletes.

Purpose: In an attempt to promote sport employees’ well-being, the purpose of this paper is to examine the more traditional constructs of psychological capital (i.e. hope, efficacy, resiliency and optimism) and to feature the inclusion of authenticity, an often overlooked construct, among sport employees. Design/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper is designed to create an expanded sport employee psychological capital construct, labeled A-HERO, and a subsequent theoretical model to improve their well-being. Findings: In detailing a conceptual model of A-HERO for well-being, the model includes and explains the relationships among sport employee antecedents (i.e. sport employee identification, pride and passion), an organizational contextual variable (person–organization fit), and an important employee and organizational outcome (i.e. employee well-being) in contemporary sport organizations. Research limitations/implications: A-HERO offers a necessary first step for future theoretical research and empirical applications to improve sport employees’ well-being. Originality/value: By elucidating the role of authenticity at work with traditional psychological capital constructs in the current sport industry, this paper stimulates sport business and management scholars to validate empirically the A-HERO construct and examine proposed relationships for an improved prediction of sport employees’ well-being.

Research Question: The purpose of this study was to explore and develop pathways to sport employee creativity. Currently, the literature is devoid of content regarding sport employee creativity, which is concerning given the benefits of creativity for employees and organizations. We utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods to evaluate how authentic leadership, emotional intelligence, and job engagement cultivate creativity. Research Methods: A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was used to examine sport employee creativity. Within this design, we first conducted a quantitative analysis using structural equation modeling (N = 308). Then we applied a qualitative analysis by way of semi-structured interviews (N = 12) to develop inferences about the findings from the quantitative strand. All participants worked in the United States of America. Results and Findings: The results indicated that authentic leadership diminished sport employees’ creative behaviors, but emotional intelligence independently predicted both job engagement and creative behaviors. Job engagement was also found to partially mediate the relationship between emotional intelligence and creative behaviors. The qualitative strand provided rationale for the results including the value of emotional intelligence for sport employees and how constant personnel changes, perceived fakeness, and bureaucracies and micromanagement detracted from authentic leadership’s positive influences. Implications: Creativity was found to be a valued concept in sport organizations, and the inferences gained from the study can support creativity’s development. Also, sport organizations might consider altering their organizational structure if they desire to promote creativity in their workplaces.

The purpose of this study was to explore sports fans’ hashtags usage for information sharing over social media on the basis of the theory of interpersonal behavior. We collected data from 323 social media users who have employed hashtags to exchange sports-related information during the past 12 months. The structural equation modeling confirmed affect, perceived usefulness, perceived reciprocity, and social factors as motivators of the intention to share information. Other motivators, including habit and facilitating conditions, function as predictors of actual hashtags posting among sport fans. In deriving empirical evidence and novel insights into the role of hashtags, this research elevated our understanding of information circulation among sport fans over social media and serves as a foundation for inquiries into hashtag adoption in sport domains.

Purpose: Due to the increased growth of Internet users, the examination of compelling online shopping behavior has emerged as a vital topic in developing positive consumer behaviors. However, there is a dearth of studies into how consumers of sport merchandise in the online setting spend their time and what types of factors contribute toward their positive shopping experience. To fill this gap, the purpose of this current study is to investigate the impact and complexity of sport commerce websites by providing the precondition of flow (e.g. convenience, content, aesthetics, interactivity and customization), as well as the consequences of flow (e.g. website satisfaction and shopping well-being).Design/methodology/approach: This study examines relationships among perceived website quality, flow, web satisfaction, and shopping well-being by using structural equation modeling. This current study is based on online sport fans who have recent online shopping experiences of licensed sport products (n = 331).Findings: Results of this present study show that flow plays a mediating role between perceived website quality and web satisfaction, which in turn is positively associated with consumers' shopping well-being.Originality/value: This current study supports a mediating role of flow state in sport consumer perceptions of website quality and satisfaction; it expands existing knowledge through determining the factors that facilitate flow state and website satisfaction in online shopping. This empirical finding offers important implications regarding the function of flow as an essential factor via the optimization of website services and sport consumers' attitudes.