scholarly journals Professional sportsmen attitude towards religion (based on the materials of the sociological survey)

Author(s):  
E. E. Gres

This article discusses the influence of religion on the personality and activities of an athlete. The first part of the article presents the author’s approaches to the study of religiosity, a questionnaire developed by the author with the participation of sports experts and coaches of national teams, adjusted in accordance with the specifics of the sociological selection — professional athletes of Russia, and the typology of religious and non-religious individuals (1 type — religious with dominant religious orientation, type 2 — hesitant-A with unstable religious orientation, tending to religiosity, type 3 — hesitant-B with unstable religion orientation, although tending to the irreligious, type 4 — undecided, 5 type — non-religious), established on the basis of fixed criteria, which are mainly signs of consciousness, behavior, involvement in religious attitudes. The second part contains the results of a series of concrete sociological studies conducted in 2015–2017, among 89 professional athletes with qualifications not lower than the candidate for master of sports of Russia, representatives of various sports clubs and teams in Moscow, to identify the relationship between the individual level of religiosity and the results of sports activities. The article confirms, based on the collected data, the hypothesis formulated by the author that religious faith contributes to the achievement of a high result in sports activities, providing a compensatory and mobilization effect on the individual. In addition, personal qualities are determined that are shaped by the practice of religious athletes in sports, as well as the statistically recorded view that bodily development contributes to spiritual growth. Demonstrating a high level of religiosity, representatives of different sports have their own specific characteristics, rituals, omens, rites of verbal and non-verbal characters. Not every athlete connects traditional religious practice with sports activities, even being deeply religious. Personal god, direct appeal to him in an improvised form in moments of special need (competition, as an example), personal signs — these are the characteristic features of this social category.

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 915-952
Author(s):  
Petra Kipfelsberger ◽  
Heike Bruch ◽  
Dennis Herhausen

This article investigates how and when a firm’s level of customer contact influences the collective organizational energy. For this purpose, we bridge the literature on collective human energy at work with the job impact framework and organizational sensemaking processes and argue that a firm’s level of customer contact is positively linked to the collective organizational energy because a high level of customer contact might make the experience of prosocial impact across the firm more likely. However, as prior research at the individual level has indicated that customers could also deplete employees’ energy, we introduce transformational leadership climate as a novel contingency factor for this linkage at the organizational level. We propose that a medium to high transformational leadership climate is necessary to derive positive meaning from customer contact, whereas firms with a low transformational leadership climate do not get energized by customer contact. We tested the proposed moderated mediation model with multilevel modeling and a multisource data set comprising 9,094 employees and 75 key informants in 75 firms. The results support our hypotheses and offer important theoretical contributions for research on collective human energy in organizations and its interplay with customers.


2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seidali Kurtmollaiev

Despite its immense popularity, the dynamic capabilities framework faces fierce criticism because of the ambiguous and contradictory interpretations of dynamic capabilities. Especially challenging are the aspects related to the nature of dynamic capabilities and the issue of agency. In an attempt to avoid circular and overlapping definitions, I explicate dynamic capabilities as the regular actions of creating, extending, and modifying an organizational resource base. This implies that the individual’s intention to change the status quo in the organization and the individual’s high level of influence in the organization are necessary and sufficient conditions for dynamic capabilities. This approach overcomes challenges associated with current interpretations of dynamic capabilities, necessarily focusing on the actions and interactions of individuals in organizations. Following the micro-foundations movement, I present a multilevel approach for studying the individual-level causes and the firm-level effects of dynamic capabilities.


2014 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Stefanek ◽  
Dagmar Strohmeier ◽  
Rens van de Schoot

This study was an investigation of individual and contextual predictors for same-cultural friendship preferences among non-immigrant ( N = 125), Turkish ( N = 196) and former Yugoslavian ( N = 256) immigrant youths ( M age = 14.39 years) in 36 multicultural classes. At the individual level age, gender, cultural group, number of friends, and acculturation variables, such as immigrant status, cultural pride and racist victimization were investigated. At the class level, predictors drawn from contact theory such as cultural diversity and multicultural education were analyzed. Multilevel analyses have revealed that being a former Yugoslavian first and second generation immigrant, being a Turkish first generation immigrant, having fewer friends, a high level of cultural pride and a high level of cultural diversity in classes are related to more same-cultural friendship preferences. The present findings highlight the importance of acculturation-related and contextual factors for same-cultural friendship preferences.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Celine Louche ◽  
Suzanne Young ◽  
Martin Fougère

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce the topic and review the contributions of the special issue papers on cross-sector dialogue for sustainability. The paper also presents avenues for further research. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a review of the current literature on cross-sector partnership and dialogue. It explores the current issues in cross-sector partnerships through a discussion of the papers accepted for the special issue, their focus, findings and key contributions. Findings It highlights three main key research themes and learnings from the special issue papers: a high level of “hybridity” of collaboration forms, which involve important tensions; a need to understand partnership in its context and the importance of the individual level in cross-sector collaboration. Practical implications The authors call for attention to be paid to two forms of myopia: a tendency to view partnerships primarily from a resource-based view (without much attempt to measure societal impact) and a reluctance to be explicitly critical (despite empirical evidence of some suboptimal aspects of partnerships). Social implications The authors call for researchers to move away from a resource-based approach to one that is situated in exploring the value derived from partnerships in the broader societal context. The authors suggest some avenues for further research to move the discussion beyond the partnership imperative. Originality/value The paper outlines the need to critically revisit the very essence of what real partnership means and whether dialogue is really taking place.


2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Kang Lee ◽  
Chun-Tuan Chang ◽  
Zhao-Hong Cheng ◽  
You Lin

Recent research has suggested that materialism influences consumers’ usage of technological communication devices, especially smartphones. The current study contributes to this evolving research stream by examining more closely the dynamics of mechanisms that might potentially cause smartphone addiction. We propose self-efficacy and social anxiety as two underlying mechanisms and further test whether their mediating effects are consistent across people with differing levels of power distance belief (PDB). We also examine the moderating role of PDB at the cultural level (Study 1: China vs. the United States) and at the individual level (Study 2: Taiwan). The empirical data are analyzed using the parallel multiple mediator model proposed by Hayes. The results confirm that these two mediators explain the relationship between materialism and smartphone addiction. The mediating effects are stronger for people with a high level of PDB than for their counterparts with low PDB. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 89-102
Author(s):  
Paolo Campana ◽  
Andrea Giovannetti

Abstract Purpose We explore how we can best predict violent attacks with injury using a limited set of information on (a) previous violence, (b) previous knife and weapon carrying, and (c) violence-related behaviour of known associates, without analysing any demographic characteristics. Data Our initial data set consists of 63,022 individuals involved in 375,599 events that police recorded in Merseyside (UK) from 1 January 2015 to 18 October 2018. Methods We split our data into two periods: T1 (initial 2 years) and T2 (the remaining period). We predict “violence with injury” at time T2 as defined by Merseyside Police using the following individual-level predictors at time T1: violence with injury; involvement in a knife incident and involvement in a weapon incident. Furthermore, we relied on social network analysis to reconstruct the network of associates at time T1 (co-offending network) for those individuals who have committed violence at T2, and built three additional network-based predictors (associates’ violence; associates’ knife incident; associates’ weapon incident). Finally, we tackled the issue of predicting violence (a) through a series of robust logistic regression models using a bootstrapping method and (b) through a specificity/sensitivity analysis. Findings We found that 7720 individuals committed violence with injury at T2. Of those, 2004 were also present at T1 (27.7%) and co-offended with a total of 7202 individuals. Regression models suggest that previous violence at time T1 is the strongest predictor of future violence (with an increase in odds never smaller than 123%), knife incidents and weapon incidents at the individual level have some predictive power (but only when no information on previous violence is considered), and the behaviour of one’s associates matters. Prior association with a violent individual and prior association with a knife-flagged individual were the two strongest network predictors, with a slightly stronger effect for knife flags. The best performing regressors are (a) individual past violence (36% of future violence cases correctly identified); (b) associates’ past violence (25%); and (c) associates’ knife involvement (14%). All regressors are characterised by a very high level of specificity in predicting who will not commit violence (80% or more). Conclusions Network-based indicators add to the explanation of future violence, especially prior association with a knife-flagged individual and association with a violent individual. Information about the knife involvement of associates appears to be more informative than a subject’s own prior knife involvement.


2021 ◽  
pp. 123-138
Author(s):  
K. N. Makshanchikov

The article presents a classification of approaches to the analysis of sports activities at the individual level. Economists are interested in studying sports because of the growing importance of the sport industry in the economy. In this regard, it becomes an urgent task to identify motivations that encourage people to engage in sports. The main purpose of the paper is to discuss the differences in approaches to the study of sports activity of individuals depending on the dominant motives. The author considers the main motives for sports, such as professional activities, leisure, and investments in human capital. The article systematizes approaches to the analysis of people’s sports activities and offers a classification of approaches. The article discusses the relationship between motives and the problem of empirical assessment of individuals’ decision-making about sports from an economist’s point of view.


2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Syring ◽  
Teresa Tillmann ◽  
Nicole Sacher ◽  
Sabine Weiß ◽  
Ewald Kiel

The present study is aimed at identifying demands and tasks that are considered important by experts in the field of interculturalism for the successful development of schools. Although different theoretical models about intercultural school development, incorporating various conditions and dimensions, have already been suggested, gaps in research on the specific content of various administrative levels of school as an educational institution can still be identified. In order to fill those gaps, we conducted group discussions with small groups of experts in the field of interculturalism. Experts were matched into three groups so that each represents a high level of diversity regarding their particular expertise. Results from the discussions were investigated by applying content analysis. Based on the revealed findings, five fields of action can be established that are essential for the process of intercultural school development. The revealed areas covered a variety of factors, ranging from individual reflection to developmental processes of a school as an organization. In the present study, those facets are interpreted as conditions under which successful intercultural school development processes can be established. While most content areas can be mapped to the existing theoretical models, they add further information with regard to the content of the theoretical dimensions. This is particularly the case at the individual level. Resulting practical implications are explained and further discussed on the basis of inevitable future research.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (8) ◽  
pp. 1108-1118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armand Mensen ◽  
William Marshall ◽  
Shuntaro Sasai ◽  
Giulio Tononi

While viewing a video clip, we experience a wide variety of contents, from low-level features of the images to high-level ideas such as the storyline. Each change in our experience must be supported by some corresponding change in neurophysiological activity. Differentiation analysis, which quantifies the differences in brain activity by measuring the distances between observed brain states, was applied here to continuous high-density electroencephalographic data recorded while participants watched short video clips. These clips were manipulated in various ways to change the degree of meaningfulness of their contents. We found that neurophysiological differentiation mirrored that of phenomenal differentiation, being higher for meaningful clips and lower for phase-scrambled versions or random noise. The distinction between meaningful and meaningless clips was present even at the individual level, and moreover, differentiation values correlated with individual subjective reports of meaningfulness. Spatial and spectral breakdowns of the overall effect showed frontal and posterior ROIs and highlighted specific roles for different spectral bands. Comparing the results with a multivariate decoding approach reveals that the two methods are capturing different aspects of brain activity and highlights a crucial theoretical distinction between the level and pattern of activity. In future applications, differentiation analysis may be used to evaluate the subjective meaningfulness of stimuli when behavioral responses may be inadequate, as with disorders of consciousness.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-219
Author(s):  
Jee Young Seong ◽  
Doo-Seung Hong

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interactive effect of collective personality fit and its diversity on relationship conflict in a team context. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from 1,265 employees and their leaders in 110 work teams in a Korean manufacturing company. Findings The results show that the two-way interaction between collective personality fit and its dispersion affects relationship conflict in teams. The effect of collective fit on relationship conflict was found to be weaker when the dispersion of collective fit is low than when it is high. This study reports that a high level of collective fit dispersion may help resolve relationship conflict in certain conditions, such as when the level of collective fit is high. Practical implications This paper implies that the diverse perception of fit does not always hamper intragroup consonance, and relationship conflict can be reduced as long as the overall level of collective fit is high. The diverse or heterogeneous personalities of team members contribute unique attributes of each member to the success of the team because some members of a heterogeneous team may play the role of filling the gap left by others. Originality/value This study argues that collective fit is a new construct, not a simple aggregation of individual fit traits, and the pattern of relationships at the individual level is not replicated at the group level, either conceptually or empirically.


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