Corrigendum: Dealing with great challenges via rigorous and relevant empirical sport management research

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fspor.2023.1180710.].

"It Goes Hand in Hand with Us Trying to Get More Kids to Play" Stakeholder Experiences in a Sport and Active Recreation Voucher Program

Vouchers that reduce the cost of sport and active recreation participation have been shown to increase children's and adolescent's physical activity levels. Yet, the influence of government-led voucher programs on the capacity of sport and active recreation organisations is unclear. This qualitative study explored the experiences of stakeholders in the sport and recreation sector that were engaged in implementing the New South Wales (NSW) Government's Active Kids voucher program in Australia. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 sport and active recreation providers. Interview transcriptions were analysed by a multidisciplinary team using the Framework method. Overall, participants reported that the Active Kids voucher program was an acceptable intervention to address the cost barrier to participation for children and adolescents. Three main steps influenced the capacity of organisations to deliver their sport and recreation programs and the voucher program: (1) Implementation priming-alignment of the intervention aims with stakeholder priorities and early information sharing, (2) Administrative ease-enhanced technology use and establishment of simple procedures, and (3) Innovation impacts-enablement of staff and volunteers to address barriers to participation for their participants. Future voucher programs should include strategies to enhance the capacity of sport and active recreation organisations to meet program guidelines and increase innovation.

Competencies That Japanese Collegiate Sports Coaches Require for Dual-Career Support for Student Athletes

The purpose of this study was to clarify coaches' competencies (COM) regarding dual-career (DC) support for student athletes in Japan. The questionnaire survey was conducted at 31 universities with an online survey URL that was distributed to 300 collegiate athletic coaches. In total, there were 152 respondents (female, 19; male, 133; mean age, 43.15 ± 12.07 years; coaching experience, 12.83 ± 9.72 years). The online survey adopted a Japanese-translated version of the Dual-Career Competency Questionnaire (DCCQ), which has been translated into nine languages and is widely used in European counties. The scale consists of six factors and 33 items, each rated on a five-point scale of importance (IM) and possession (PO). The Japanese version of the DCCQ was validated through a confirmatory factor analysis, and the internal consistency of the items was confirmed by calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. In addition, we examined differences between the IM and PO for DC support by t-tests and by calculating effect sizes. The validity and reliability of the Japanese version of the DCCQ were confirmed based on the goodness-of-fit index and Cronbach's alpha coefficients, respectively. Our examination of the differences between IM and PO in DC support revealed that coaches perceived the importance of DC support but did not possess the necessary COM to offer DC support. That finding was similar to those of previous European studies. In particular, the Japanese coaches who participated in our online survey recognized the importance of COM in terms of "collaboration with various stakeholders and departments" for DC support but did not feel as though they held sufficient COM in that regard. In other words, the improvement of DC support requires the development of a coaching program that fosters COM to work with various stakeholders. This key insight provides a direction and specific focus for programs to improve coaches' DC support for student athletes.

Predicting Fitness Centre Dropout

The phenomenon of dropout is often found among customers of sports services. In this study we intend to evaluate the performance of machine learning algorithms in predicting dropout using available data about their historic use of facilities. The data relating to a sample of 5209 members was taken from a Portuguese fitness centre and included the variables registration data, payments and frequency, age, sex, non-attendance days, amount billed, average weekly visits, total number of visits, visits hired per week, number of registration renewals, number of members referrals, total monthly registrations, and total member enrolment time, which may be indicative of members' commitment. Whilst the Gradient Boosting Classifier had the best performance in predicting dropout (sensitivity = 0.986), the Random Forest Classifier was the best at predicting non-dropout (specificity = 0.790); the overall performance of the Gradient Boosting Classifier was superior to the Random Forest Classifier (accuracy 0.955 against 0.920). The most relevant variables predicting dropout were "non-attendance days", "total length of stay", and "total amount billed". The use of decision trees provides information that can be readily acted upon to identify member profiles of those at risk of dropout, giving also guidelines for measures and policies to reduce it.

Portrait of Boredom Among Athletes and Its Implications in Sports Management: A Multi-Method Approach

There is a common misconception that elite athletes enjoy their sports activities so much that they cannot feel bored. However, this research reveals that boredom is a prevalent emotion among professional, amateur, and college athletes that impacts their performance, brand preferences, and overconsumption behaviors. This investigation relies on a multi-method approach. Qualitative data were collected through interviewing athletes (n = 123), and the critical incident technique was used to record factual boredom incidents. Quantitative data were collected through a survey and analyzed using hierarchical regression models. The purpose of the survey was to evaluate athletes’ proneness to boredom and then present a typical sports consumption scenario in which athletes’ brand preferences and overconsumption behaviors were captured. Overall findings from this research indicate that episodes of boredom are common among athletes when they engage in repetitive tasks (34.8%); negative mood is anticipated (16.9%); teammates show a lack of interest and seriousness (15.7%); they must endure periods of waiting (13.5%); there is a lack of competitiveness and goal-setting (10.1%); there is a lack of participation in activities (4.5%); there is a lack of empathy with teammates and coaches (3.3%); and there are infrastructure issues (1.1%). Furthermore, this study presents evidence that boredom negatively impacts athletes’ performance (β = −0.41). Then, in a specific sports consumption scenario that uses sports drinks, this study finds that a more boredom-prone athlete has a higher chance of purchasing different brands of the same product (β = 0.37) and engaging in overconsumption behaviors (β = 0.44). The relationships among boredom, performance, variety seeking, and impulse buying are congruent with previous research on boredom. This research discusses several sports management implications and presents recommendations from coaches on how to cope with athletes’ boredom.