Purpose: This study aims to detect the dimensions of the in-store customer shopping experience from the sports retailer perspective and to investigate how the role of sports equipment stores is changing.Design/methodology/approach: This exploratory study performs semi-structured interviews with retail managers of sports equipment stores.Findings: This research reveals the importance of the dimensions of immersive design, sensorial ambient elements, social relationships, trialability and real experience sharing in designing a memorable in-store shopping experience in sports stores, and it highlights that the store's role in the sports context is transitioning from sales space to an interactive, immersive, engaging and convivial place. It proposes a model to design the in-store customer shopping experience effectively.Practical implications: Sports equipment managers can make their physical stores as experiential as possible by investing in expert, passionate personnel and technology in order to create a real in-store experience of the product and the sports practice.Originality/value: While sports equipment retailers acknowledge the importance of providing customers with a memorable shopping experience by creating an evocative environment and placing multiple touchpoints in stores, management scholars have paid limited attention to sports stores. This study explores the ways in which sports retail managers can design their stores effectively in experiential terms.

Internships can foster educational alliances between industry (business environment) and academic institutions, which can facilitate both flexibility and accelerated innovation. The purpose of this research is to search for the factors that determine HRT through the implementation of the internship program among the students at the Democritus University of Thrace and reveal the correlation between the factors. Also, this paper investigated the impact of the COVID-19 Eras on human resource training (HRT) factors and, finally, investigated the correlation between the two variables “Recruitment in the specialization” and “COVID Eras”. The sample of the research consisted of 1398 students at the DUTh who implemented internships during the academic years from 2015–2016 to 2021–2022. A questionnaire with 60 variables was created for data collection. A random sampling method was applied to collect the sample. From the results of the survey, ten factors were extracted for human resource training that explained 75.512% of the total variance, and for each one, Cronbach’s Alpha reliability was tested, which was high. In detail, the factors revealed were Learning Outcomes, Efficacy, Emotional Commitment, Satisfaction, Participation, Empowerment, Role Ambiguity, Role Conflict, Supervisor, and Collaboration. From the results of the study, it was evident that HR training is a multidimensional concept and is a necessary condition for the competitiveness of the firms. Training can help to improve the flexibility of the firm, but also to motivate the staff by implementing multidisciplinary training programs. Overall, internship programs are beneficial for students to develop a wide range of skills, as the hands-on experience obtained enhances and supplements the theoretical learning from educational institutions.

Total quality management (TQM) refers to a way of management wherein senior management is committed to guiding employees in continuous improvement in all processes, services and products, with the ultimate goal of satisfying customer requirements and expectations. The purpose of the present study was to examine the impact of leadership, organization culture (OC), customer-oriented strategy (COS) and human resource empowerment (HRE) on innovation, as well as the effect of innovation on TQM for sustainable development in Greek luxury resorts with sport and recreation facilities and services. A quantitative 5-point Likert scale method was utilized for the purpose of this study, and an online questionnaire survey was adopted for the data collection. To evaluate the resilience of our model, we conducted structural equation modeling using SPSS and AMOS software. Varimax rotation with Kaiser normalization was utilized to enhance the robustness of the analysis. A total of 895 questionnaires were successfully gathered from 454 luxury resorts. This study validated that leadership, OC, COS and HRE positively impact the luxury resorts’ innovation and thus support that innovation had a significant impact on TQM, which in turn leads to their sustainability and effectiveness and is supported by the resource-based view (RBV). Furthermore, this study is the first within the Greek hotel industry that jointly estimates the influence of leadership, OC, COS and HRE on innovation and its concurrent effect on TQM for sustainable development, which has not been methodologically considered before and provides useful policy implications for managers within the hotel industry.

Environmental degradation and climate change are of paramount concern and require urgent action. Physical education holds an important role in addressing environmental issues and contributing to environmental sustainability. The present study assesses the effectiveness of an intervention program to cultivate environmental awareness in fifth-grade children through physical activities and games in physical education. The participants were 74 children (39 girls and 35 boys) divided into two groups, the experimental and control group. Participants completed a scale assessing their knowledge of environmental issues, which had been shown by previous research to be valid and reliable for this population. The experimental procedure of the study included three stages: completing the questionnaire before the implementation of the intervention and at the end, as well as a retention measurement after four months. The results indicated that the students of the experimental group maintained a significantly higher level of knowledge of fundamental environmental concepts at the end of the program compared to their counterparts in the control group (p < 0.05). In addition, children of the experimental group seemed to retain their knowledge as a result of the intervention program (p > 0.05). The findings suggest that interventions using physical education can serve as a meaningful strategy for promoting environmental care and sustainability and turn young tourists into tomorrow’s responsible consumers and travelers who respect and protect nature. Finally, such a process could potentially aim to increase environmental awareness as a learning experience through the provision of physical activity and recreation.