CCPS Professors’ Articles Published in Sport Management Journal

Two professors in The Lesley H. and William L. Collins College of Professional Studies (CCPS) recently published articles in Sport Management Review, one of the top sport management/business journals in the world (not including sport medicine), and a top-50 journal in business and international research.

In their article, “Community Marathon Event Participation and Quality of Life,” Seunghyun “Brian” Park, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Division of Administration and Economics, and his cowriters, Kwangsoo Park, Ph.D.; Chihyung "Michael" Ok, Ph.D.; and Hyelin "Lina" Kim, Ph.D. examine how participation in a regional marathon contributes to a person’s quality of life.

Dr. Park’s article explains how participating in a recurring local sport event such as a marathon contributes to community attachment, and has an overall positive effect on the person’s quality of life. The study employed a web-based survey; researchers collected 486 responses and tested a serial multiple mediation model with event support and community attachment.

Another CCPS professor, David P. Hedlund, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Division of Sport Management, co-authored an article, “Determinants of Support and Participation in a Major Sport Event Referendum” with Mel Johnston, Ph. D.; Michael Naylor, Ph. D. Geoff Dickson, Ph. D.; and Timothy Kellison, Ph.D., that focuses on the factors that impacted New Zealand citizens’ referenda support and participation intentions in a vote on whether or not to allow their country to submit a bid to host the Commonwealth Games. 

Dr. Hedlund noted that “Many geographical areas hold votes on referenda in which citizens are asked about whether or not the local government and citizens should bid on and attempt to host large sporting events. Prior research has shown that numerous factors potentially impact referendum support and participation in voting on referenda, such as political interest, habitual voting, political ideology, political efficacy, satisfaction with democracy, civic duty, political cynicism, psychological involvement in sport, and perceptions of the status of the event. Over the years, little research has been published on this topic, and with large sporting events held in cities and countries around the world, which also require substantial local investments of resources, it’s important to take an interdisciplinary focus to these types of questions.”

Click here for a podcast of an interview with the lead author, Mel Johnston, Ph.D., lecturer and researcher, Auckland University of Technology.