Jordan R. Bass

Of Victims and Markets: The Neoliberal University and the Spectacle of Civic Branding

This article addresses the market logics on display at Penn State University in response to the Jerry Sandusky scandal, especially with respect to the idea of civic branding and community formation. The intersecting vectors of the corporate university, neoliberalism, and physical culture are highlighted to explain such a response. Responses to the scandal are also addressed in light of similar discourses of victimology present in the larger Wall Street financial sector.

Identities in the Sport Workplace: Development of an Instrument to Measure Sport Employee Identification

Abstract Social identity theory (SIT) has proven to be a popular topic of discourse in academia. Scholars in the field of sport management have predominantly focused on team identification and how sport fans align with their favorite teams. However, recent developments have explored how sport employees identify with their sport organizations. To date, the maturation of theory involving sport employee identification (SEI) has only reached the conceptual stage. This study is intended to fill the void in the literature by creating a psychometric instrument to specifically measure SEI. The results indicate that SEI is a composite of two distinct but related factors, named sport affinity and collective enhancement. The instrument was subjected to and passed various reliability and validity tests. The appropriateness of using team identification variables to measure sport employees’ social identities is also discussed. Lastly, theoretical and practical implications for the use of the instrument are provided.

“It’s just something engrained in them”: examining organizational citizenship behaviors within part-time campus recreation center employees

ABSTRACT Sport scholars have sparsely examined the contributions of part-time employees in the workforce. This study contributes to the gap in the literature by exploring a recreation center’s part-time student staff participation in organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). These behaviors can simply be described as “going above and beyond job requirements” and have been suggested to increase organizational effectiveness [Podsakoff, P. M., & MacKenzie, S. B. (1997). Impact of organizational citizenship behavior on organizational performance: A review and suggestion for future research. Human Performance, 10(2), 133–151]. Furthermore, the authors sought to understand how these OCBs contributed to organizational effectiveness. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews of student employees. The findings from this study showed that multiple OCBs were apparent at this recreation center, and the students felt that these behaviors positively impacted the organization’s effectiveness. This case study extends the lines of research on part-time employees and OCBs in sport.

“When There Was No Money in It, There Were No Men in It”: Examining Gender Differences in the Evaluation of High Performance Coaches

In this Insights paper, we examine the continued decrease in the numbers of female coaches of high-profile sports teams. The decline in number of female coaches of high-profile teams is alarming, especially considering the increase in athletic participation among women. Because of this, it is important to examine possible explanations for this issue as a starting point for action and reform. We first detail several relevant examples of recent hires and firings of high-profile coaches in different countries around the world. Then, we briefly examine the relevant literature on gender representation of those working in sport. Using recent women’s basketball coaching changes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a case in point, we aim to demonstrate that the trend of decreasing numbers of female coaches continues. We believe the specific setting of college coaches represents the moral global issue of gender inequity in regards to high-performance coaching settings. Specifically, we argue ...

Brand management in top-tier college athletics: examining and explaining mark-usage policies

Purpose – The practice of an interscholastic athletic department reproducing the logo of a collegiate team for its own use is becoming increasingly visible. In response to this growth, many collegiate licensing departments have begun actively enforcing zero-tolerance policies that prohibit third parties from using their respective colleges’ trademarks. Conversely, other institutions have exercised discretion by allowing high school programs to use their athletic departments’ logos only after receiving assurances from the high school that it will adhere to strict usage guidelines. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a thorough discussion on the concept of brand dilution and its application to sport. More specifically the study gives an account of the strategies employed by trademark specialists to protect (and in some cases, enhance) the equity of their brands. To identify these strategies, a qualitative questionnaire was employed, which was completed by...

Introduction to intercollegiate athletics

Introduction to Intercollegiate Athletics, edited by Eddie Comeaux, is a 28-chapter textbook, ‘intended for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students, though scholars, teachers, practitioners...