Purpose – As an exploratory study, the purpose of this paper is to examine the underlying motivations for attending soccer games. Design/methodology/approach – Attendees at two soccer games in Athens, Greece were surveyed about their frequency of attendance at soccer games and their attitudes toward soccer. In total, 252 people from five randomly selected sections of the stadiums participated in the survey. Findings – The results indicate that there are three major motivations – emotional excitement, socialization, and soccer atmospherics – and two identity salience factors – ardent soccer fans and rational soccer fans – for attending soccer games. The most important factor for attendance is being an ardent soccer fan closely followed by the emotional excitement factor. Among the demographic factors considered, only gender significantly affects soccer game attendance. Originality/value – In contrast to previous studies that are somewhat descriptive, this research explicitly introduces factors related to social identity theory and attempts to predict soccer game attendance on the basis of a scale of factors that focus on the major motivations for attendance of soccer games, identity salience reasons, and demographic factors. The inclusion of social identity theory as a factor in the attendance of soccer games is a major contribution of this study. Contrary to most of the earlier studies, this study showed that the socialization factor is not related to attendance at soccer games.
COVID-19 has greatly impacted all aspects of our everyday lives. A global pandemic of this magnitude, even as we now emerge from strict measures such as lockdowns and await the potential for a ‘new tomorrow’ with the arrival of vaccines, will certainly have long-lasting consequences. We will have to adapt and learn to live in a different way. Accordingly, teaching and learning have also been greatly impacted. Changes to academic curricula have had tremendous cross-cultural effects on higher education students. This study will investigate, by way of focus groups comprised of students studying at Greek universities during the pandemic, the cross-cultural effects that this ‘global experience’ has had on higher education, and particularly on students in Greek universities. The data collection tools are interviews and observations gathered from focus groups.
Pandemic-the global spread of an initially local disease like COVID-19-bluntly forces us to stop. How do we respond in higher education to such stopping? Whether at the government level, for our universities, or in our classrooms, no existing playbook prescribes the pathway for dealing with a global pandemic of this magnitude, even now as we emerge from total lockdown to the potential for a new tomorrow. What we have done at this juncture is to capture anecdotal responses within and across countries that may highlight trends for later consideration. Unlike a globalised response that would adopt one approach internationally, our study considers adaptations for local differences in a glocalised set of responses in an attempt to identify new paradigms that reconceptualise not only
The current pandemic of the novel coronavirus or COVID-19 has created an environment of diverse challenges facing humanity, including 'Stay at Home' global strategies, isolation, social distancing, school and border closures, and widespread travel bans. The risk of this biological threat, its multiple unknown health aspects, social and economic impacts, and the inability of humanity to control it at present makes it difficult to predict how this situation will evolve. Unfortunately, such a global crisis gives rise to the manipulation of people by opportunistic groups through the falsification of information and news reporting. Loosely moderated social media platforms have largely contributed to an explosion of news referred to as 'fake'. Global occurrences like the current COVID-19 pandemic reinforce the importance of developing critical thinking skills in undergraduate students as a fact-finding strategy to address the rising popularity of misinformation and disinformation found on social media sites. Consequently, this paper aims to highlight the importance of building a capacity to recognise fake news while seeking out reliable and valid information sources. Strategies to address fake news by international and local organisations will be explored using examples from Greece and Australia, as both of these countries demonstrated strong government leadership in the swift containment of the virus. Greece was quick to impose lockdowns that were respected and dutifully exercised by the Greek people. Similarly, Australia also imposed strict lockdowns strategies in the initial stages of their first reported COVID-19 cases and were also dutifully enacted by Australian citizens. Greece and Australia have been proactive in addressing disinformation and misinformation through comprehensive data analytics and fact-checking strategies, which are reported on through official platforms.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.