The purpose of this study was to examine the structural relationships among organizational culture, empowerment, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) of professional sports organizations in South Korea. In particular, this study emphasized the mediating effect of empowerment on the relationship between organizational culture and OCB. Research participants were 606 employees affiliated with 42 professional sports teams. The validity and reliability of the involved measures were examined through conducting confirmatory factor, Cronbach’s alpha, and correlation analyses. A structural equation modeling analysis with maximum likelihood estimation was conducted to test the relationships among the research variables. The findings revealed that all of the sub-factors of organizational culture (i.e., clan culture, adhocracy culture, and market culture), with the exception of hierarchy culture, were positively influential of perceived empowerment, which was in turn positively influential of OCB. The path coefficients were statistically significant. The findings further revealed that perceived empowerment partially or fully mediated relationships between the sub-factors of organizational culture and OCB. Unlike previous studies, our study focused on studying organizational culture at a specific managerial level, an underdeveloped area of research in sport management. In particular, the findings of this study contribute to sport management practices by uncovering the mediating function of empowerment on the relationship between organizational culture and OCB, indicating the importance of empowering employees when managing professional sports organizations.

While hosting mega sporting events brings various benefits to the host regions from the increased number of tourists, one of the main factors that deters tourists is the various types of risks associated with international travels. The sport tourism literature has highlighted terrorism risk and political instability as major concerns that impact travel intentions. This study examined and compared the influence of tourists’ risk perceptions on travel intentions across mega sporting event host destinations with different levels (i.e. apparent risks, less imminent risks, and unidentified risks) of such risks. Data were collected from 571 potential tourists via an online survey software and analyzed using a structural equation modeling technique. The results indicated that perceived terrorism risk significantly influenced the tourists’ travel intentions. Tourists’ terrorism risk perceptions toward South Korea (apparent risks) most significantly impacted their travel intentions, followed by general destinations outside of the United States (unidentified risks), while political instability was not significantly related to travel intentions. These findings offer practical implications for mega sporting event organizers.

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We investigated the level of Chinese soccer fans' satisfaction with the development of professional soccer in China on the basis of their attention to, and involvement with, the Chinese Football Association Super League (CSL) and its teams. Research participants (N = 926) were spectators at CSL games who responded to a questionnaire. Results revealed that the attention consumers paid to, and their involvement with, the CSL were negatively related to their satisfaction with the league's operation and marketing. These findings contradict existing theories and beliefs that positive consumer cognition leads to positive consumer affect, indicating the presence of serious issues associated with the CSL administration. The failings of the CSL are discussed.