Bo (Norman) Li | Miami University (original) (raw)

Papers by Bo (Norman) Li

International Journal of Sport Communication, 2020

This commentary analyzes how misinformation related to a coronavirus case of a star soccer player... more This commentary analyzes how misinformation related to a coronavirus case of a star soccer player (i.e., Wu Lei) was spread widely on Chinese digital media and accepted by sports fans as the truth. The paper first examines the mechanisms by exploring how misinformation emerged and was disseminated. Then, the paper explores how social media and the fast-growing self-media in China exacerbate tendencies toward misinformation during the news production process, which poses a new threat to legacy media and journalists' profession. The paper concludes by discussing new challenges faced by Chinese sports journalists in the new digital era after COVID-19.

Journal of interactive advertising , 2021

Communication & Sport, 2021

The bullet-screen function is an augmented comment feature that has been adopted by the majority ... more The bullet-screen function is an augmented comment feature that has been adopted by the majority of Over-the-Top (OTT) services to foster users' interaction and watching experience. This feature empowers sports customers to post and view numerous, short, and fast-moving comments that overlap over the screen while watching live stream sports events in real time. This research aims to investigate how sports fans embrace the bullet-screen feature while watching live stream sports. Through a combination of thematic analyzing bullet-screen comments from a National Basketball Association Finals game, and semistructured interviews among bullet-screen users (N = 15), the results indicate that sport fans' bullet-screen messages could be classified into five categories: critical commentary, socialization, supportive interactions, random messages, and trash talk. Four motives for sports fans to engage with bullet-screen posting were identified: entertainment, gathering information, interaction, and finding belonging. The study also showed that the inappropriateness of comments and too much overlay on the screen could prevent sports fans from utilizing the service. Theoretical and practical implications have also been discussed.

International Journal of Sport Communication, 2021

This study examined differences in the Seven Network's primetime coverage of the 2018 PyeongChang... more This study examined differences in the Seven Network's primetime coverage of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games on all of its channels. Over 102 hr of total coverage was analyzed for clock time, name mentions, and the descriptions of athletes by announcers divided by gender. Results found that male athletes received the bulk of the clock time; 13 of the top 20 most-mentioned athletes were men. There were also gender differences in the word for word descriptors of success, failure, physicality, and personality. From a theoretical perspective, results found the framing of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games to favor male Olympians. The top three sports that were broadcast featuring women were ice hockey, freestyle skiing, and snowboarding, which differs from other studies in this line of scholarship, so differences in the sports covered in the Australian context provides a unique context to study the Winter Olympics. Theoretical and practical implications are provided.

The physicial educator, 2022

Due to the popularity of sport, the need to have sport management programs that properly train pr... more Due to the popularity of sport, the need to have sport management programs that properly train practitioners is justified. However, with 505 sport management bachelor's programs worldwide housed in various academic units, there is little consistency within the field of study. This study strives to explore the field of sport management and to better understand sport management faculty members' perceptions of the discipline. Grounded in Foucault's theory of discourse, this study had a total of 154 sport management faculty members worldwide participate. The data revealed a lack of consistency within the field regarding faculty members' perceptions of sport management. This study offers a vital first step in an empirical examination of a critical phenomenon in the sport management academy. According to the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM), there are 430 sport management programs housed in universities across the United States. Of these, 359 are undergraduate programs and 71 are graduate programs (master's, doctoral, or both; NASSM, 2018). Worldwide there are 505 sport management

Sport Marketing Quarterly, 2022

His research interests include social media marketing; particularity examining the motivation of ... more His research interests include social media marketing; particularity examining the motivation of sports fans, athletes, sport organizations' social media engagement. Olan Scott, PhD, is an assistant professor in sport management at Brock University. His research into sport media particularly focuses on the mainstream media and fan engagement in social media. Stirling Sharpe is a PhD candidate in sport & exercise science at the University of Canberra. His research investigates the impact of Federal Government policy on match offi cial business units within sport organizations. Sarah Stokowski, PhD, is an associate professor of athletic leadership in the Department of Educational and Organizational Leadership Development at Clemson University. Her research interests focus on athlete development with an emphasis on the personal development literacies. Qian Zhong is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Journalism & Communication at Jinan University. Her research interests focus on personal branding and Intangible cultural heritage communication. She is the corresponding author of the manuscript.

International Journal of Sport Communication, 2022

International sport has always been associated with nationalism. The purpose of the study was to ... more International sport has always been associated with nationalism. The purpose of the study was to explore how Chinese media and the general public perceived the doping scandal of their national sports hero, Sun Yang. Through analyzing 11 Chinese media outlets' coverage on Chinese social media Weibo, the results revealed that Chinese media covered Sun and his team's reaction and perspectives on this issue more when compared with other news. The general public's perceptions toward this scandal tended to be favorable toward Sun, with 55.5% of selected Weibo comments defending Sun after his 8-year ban for doping was handed down. The analysis of these social media comments posted by sports fans showed that the general public's perceptions might have been impacted by their nationalism, international relations, and media coverage. In addition, the study revealed the Chinese public's perceptions toward current antidoping regulations.

Communication & Sport

This study explored how nationalism unfolded within the Australian broadcast of the 2018 Commonwe... more This study explored how nationalism unfolded within the Australian broadcast of the 2018 Commonwealth Games that were held on the Gold Coast, Australia. Applying social-categorization theory, over 31 hours of the total coverage was content analyzed for name mentions, description of success or failure, and personality and physicality of the athletes. Results of this study underscore large differences in the amount of commentary that was provided to Australians and non-Australians during the broadcasts, with Australians being mentioned more than non-Australian athletes. As Australia performed well at the Commonwealth Games, Australians featured highly on both the top most-mentioned athletes list and the overall percentage of name mentions also favored Australians. The Seven Network emphasized Australian athletes to its viewers, as Australian viewers would share many of the group characteristics with athletes who were featured on television. This study contributes to the literature by uncovering how in-group members were portrayed in the Australian sports context while also providing insight into how consumers' media consumption could potentially affect how the network broadcasts the Commonwealth Games from a nationally partisan perspective.

International Journal of Sport Marketing and Sponsorship, 2022

Purpose-Built upon the balance theory and schema theory, this study examined the impact of sponso... more Purpose-Built upon the balance theory and schema theory, this study examined the impact of sponsors' intangible attributes, including consumer-based brand equity (CBBE) and brand-event image fit (BEIF), on consumer responses to emerging local events (ELEs), as well as major boundary conditions of this mechanism. Design/methodology/approach-Theoretical hypotheses were tested using multivariate analysis of covariance and structural equation modeling with the data from two experiments: the experiment in the pilot study was used to calibrate sponsor stimuli, and the experiment in the main study was designed to assess consumer responses to different sponsor-event combinations. Findings-Results of this experimental study illustrated the dominant role of CBBE in influencing individuals' perceived event value and intention to participate in the context of ELEs and revealed the noticeable but limited moderating effects of BEIF and sport identification. Originality/value-This study highlighted the importance of sponsorship in the marketing communications of ELEs and suggested prioritizing the overall attributes of sponsors in the sponsor-selection. This study also called for more research attention directed toward the intangible benefits that sporting events could receive from sponsorship deals. Keywords Sponsorship, Emerging local events, Competitive advantage Paper type Research paper Market demand for sport in the past decade has not only boosted the prosperity of wellestablished events, but has also stimulated the emergence of local sporting events. Participation in running events, including 5 Ks, 10 Ks, half marathons, marathons and ultramarathons, has more than doubled in the past 5 years, growing from 21,150 in 2015 to 49,671 in 2019 (RunSignup, 2021). A significant proportion of these newly launched events feature local influence in the area where they operate, for example, Super Sunday 5K and Peachtree Junior (road race) in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Those events shared similar features with other non-mega sporting events, such as high level of accessibility, strong community sense and positive economic contribution to local communities (Mackellar, 2015; Misener, 2015) but are characterized in its emerging appearance on the market. In this

Journal of Interactive advertising, 2021

International Journal of Sport Marketing and Sponsorship, 2021

Purpose-This research explores ambush marketing on social media during the 2018 Commonwealth Game... more Purpose-This research explores ambush marketing on social media during the 2018 Commonwealth Games held in Australia. Two social media platforms-Twitter and Instagramserved as the dataset to uncover how official sponsors of the Canadian and Australian Commonwealth Games teams were ambushed. Design/methodology/approach-Employing a content analysis of all official team sponsors and their competitors, the study's findings offer an original and multinational look into social media ambushing. Findings-Results indicated that promoting Games' links was the most common social media post type used by official event sponsors, followed by sharing results of their endorsed athletes and behind-the-scenes information. Research limitations/implications-In an effort to provide connection to the event, posts by ambushers focused on promoting athletes endorsed by their brand. All ambushers were more likely to use Twitter to promote their endorsed athletes. Instagram, however, was not fully embraced in their ambush marketing. Originality/value-Discussion and implications of the results provide sport marketers with information on how to leverage one's link with a major sporting event.

Journal of Amateur Sports, 2019

The first preparatory institution was founded in 1635 to prepare elite men for public service, a ... more The first preparatory institution was founded in 1635 to prepare elite men for public service, a role in the church, or admission to Harvard (Boyer, 1983). Nearly 400 years later, the objective of such institutions is no longer Harvard, but often an avenue for potential student-athletes (PSAs) to participate in intercollegiate sport (Thamel, 2007). The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) does not define nor regulate postgraduate preparatory institutions (NCAA, 2018); however, Curran (2014) describes a preparatory institution (prep schools) as a postgraduate institute that provides PSAs another year at a secondary institution prior to making the transition to college. Utilizing semi-structured interviews as well as focus groups, and framed by Mincer’s (1958) Model of Basic Human Capital, the purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of those attending (PSAs) or associated with (e.g., coaches, teachers, parents, administrators) one specific postsecondary preparatory institution (Academy X).

Media, Culture, & Society , 2019

The growth of over-the-top (OTT) Internet and mobile video streaming services is a major developm... more The growth of over-the-top (OTT) Internet and mobile video streaming services is a major development in the distribution, transmission and consumption of global media sport. Heavily capitalised services such as Tencent Video, DAZN and Amazon Prime Video are intervening in coverage rights markets and changing how live sport is experienced and shared across television, computer, game console, tablet and smartphone screens. This article identifies and analyses six defining characteristics of OTT live sport streaming, and outlines three services (Tencent Video, DAZN and Amazon Prime Video) that operate across Asia, the United Kingdom, Europe, the Americas and Australasia. Its argument is that, first, live sport streaming is a key means by which television content and practices are escaping the boundaries of broadcast media, while also continuing to perpetuate the logics of television coverage and viewing practices. Second, drawing on Amanda D. Lotz's conceptualisation of portals, it is proposed that these services are establishing new norms concerning how media sport is accessed and curated and, as such, their arrival signals a historic shift in the global marketplace for sport coverage rights and the media systems through which live content circulates.

Communication & Sport, 2019

The professional role and responsibilities for sports journalists have evolved to now include usi... more The professional role and responsibilities for sports journalists have evolved to now include using social media. In this study, we explore how male and female print sports journalists use Twitter to communicate with their followers about sports. Relying on previous research showing disparities in sports coverage and gender as well as assertive and affiliative language theory, we employ a content analysis of tweets from 57 sports journalists (N ¼ 4,897). We find that male and female sports journalists tweet at statistically the same rate, but male sports journalists are more likely to tweet about sports than female sports journalists, less likely to tweet about women sports and athletes, and more likely to use assertive language in their tweets. Findings are discussed with suggestions for future research.

International Journal of Sport Finance, 2019

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of star power on game attendance. The essentia... more The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of star power on game attendance. The essential aspect of demand for sport events is fan interest, which can be shown through match attendance, watching contests, buying team-related products, and following a team on media. To conduct this study, all attendance data from the 2015, 2016, and 2017 seasons of the Chinese Super League were used to understand which factors impacted spectator attendance. Results of this study found that high profile teams, traditional rivalries or derbies, and famous foreign players can positively impact attendance at both home and away games, while members of the Chinese National Team had a negative impact on attendance. These results will give team owners a better understanding of Chinese soccer fans' interests, ultimately leading to maximizing profit generation in ticket and merchandise sales. Implications for both sport managers and scholars are discussed.

Social media platforms provide a space where sport fans can interact directly with sport organiz... more Social media platforms provide a space where sport fans can interact directly with sport organizations; however, researchers have not empirically examined users' motivation and usage. Guided by uses and gratifications theory, the authors explored whether social media users' motivations differed when following a sport organization on two similar microblogging services: Twitter and Weibo. Data gathered from an online survey of users who followed the Los Angeles Lakers on both Twitter (n = 299) and Weibo (n = 796) were analyzed using the Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes model. Findings showed that Weibo users had higher motives for obtaining information, entertainment, technical knowledge, passing time, and escaping from their life than Twitter users, while Twitter followers had higher motivations to express team support than their Weibo counterparts. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analysis suggested that Weibo users had high motives in information gathering and expressing team support, and they also tended to be more interactive. Twitter users were more interested in interacting with a sport organization if their motives for obtaining entertainment information and technical information were met. Results of this study will assist sport organizations to learn to understand users' motives for following a sports team in both China and America and then develop more effective strategies to engage these users in these two main markets.

Throughout sports coverage, mass media has been blamed for masculine hegemony, which often includ... more Throughout sports coverage, mass media has been blamed for masculine hegemony, which often includes a lack of exposure regarding female sports and over emphasizing " femininity. " The emergence of social media provides athletes the opportunities to portray themselves, increase their brand equity, and directly interact with other sport media consumers. Informed by self-presentation theory, this case study is an attempt to investigate whether gender difference exists between female and male student-athletes in term of the way they portray themselves on Twitter. The profiles, background pictures, bibliographies and the content of tweets from 100 NCAA Division I student-athletes' Twitter accounts were selected to study. The results indicated that there were significant gender differences with regard to different types of profiles pictures used and types of information included in their biographies. The results also revealed that male student-athletes were more likely to demonstrate their athletic features on Twitter whereas female student-athletes were more likely to present themselves as " feminine. "

Currently, there are 16 universities granting doctoral degrees in recreation or leisure in the Un... more Currently, there are 16 universities granting doctoral degrees in recreation or leisure in the United States. These universities offer differing degrees amongst differing colleges and with different names; each university requires a specific number of total credit hours, research/statistic credit hours, and a " core " set of classes to complete for graduation. This study explores the various programs. Mixed methodology is used to derive meaning from the data; central tendencies for credits and qualitative coding to produce salient themes among the core classes. Threshold Capability Integrated Theoretical Framework was applied to make greater sense of curriculum development in a recreation setting. Finally, a geographic analysis of degree programs was conducted to add richness to the study.

Given the availability and usage of Twitter, professional sport organizations attempt to embrace ... more Given the availability and usage of Twitter, professional sport
organizations attempt to embrace this emerging medium to engage
with sports fans around the world. While many sports fans use Twitter
globally, Chinese sports fans primarily embrace localized social media
platforms, such as Weibo, to follow their favourite teams because
many international mainstream social media services are banned in
China. This study aimed to investigate the similarities and differences
between Chinese National Basketball Association (NBA) fans and
Western NBA fans in terms of their social media usage and points of
attachment to a team with a global presence. The results revealed that
Chinese digital NBA fans expressed higher dependence on using social
media in their daily life compared to Western counterparts. In terms
of sports fans’ points of attachment, Chinese NBA fans had higher
associations with basketball, NBA players, and the NBA than Western
counterparts, while Western fans perceived a higher attachment to
the team.

Internet addiction among adolescents has become a major social problem. Thus, more effective Inte... more Internet addiction among adolescents has become a major social problem. Thus, more effective Internet addiction treatment programs through sports are required. This study tried to identify the relationship among sports participation, self-control, and Internet addiction among Korean adolescents. In total, 345 students (aged 15e18 years) from two middle schools and two high schools in South Korea were analyzed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). SEM indicated a significant effect of sports participation on Internet addiction mediated by self-control. The results suggest the effectiveness of and need for sport and physical activity in Internet addiction treatment programs and for other addictions as well. Moreover, sports participation has a wider variety of psychological and physical benefits unlike intervention strategies or pharmacological treatments. Thus, the adoption of sports needs to be broadened from physical development to treating diverse psychological problems among adolescents.