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Addressing Athlete Social Media Distractions During Events: Examining Effective and Ineffective Approaches

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Based on the understanding that social media can distract athletes and impact performance during major sport events, this research sought to understand how sport organizations help athletes address social media distractions. Underpinned by social cognitive theory, the research adopted a phenomenological qualitative research design to two studies. Study One analyzed sport organizations' social media policies while Study Two used interviews with 15 current Olympians to uncover the effectiveness of their approaches. Three themes emerged including best practices education, insufficient social media policies and frameworks, and personalized support. The research identified proactive and reactive measures used to manage social media distractions. The findings contribute to social cognitive theory by revealing athletes' openness to learning new ways to manage social media use during events and draw from the experiences of peers. The findings can inform event management practice through real-time support of athletes on event grounds as well as through active promotion of healthy social media use in and around an event.

Keywords: SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY; SPORT EVENTS

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia 2: Director of the Institute for Sport Business, Loughborough University, London, UK

Publication date: 17 August 2023

This article was made available online on 09 June 2023 as a Fast Track article with title: "ADDRESSING ATHLETE SOCIAL MEDIA DISTRACTIONS DURING EVENTS: EXAMINING EFFECTIVE AND INEFFECTIVE APPROACHES".

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  • Event Management, an International Journal, intends to meet the research and analytic needs of a rapidly growing profession focused on events. This field has developed in size and impact globally to become a major business with numerous dedicated facilities, and a large-scale generator of tourism. The field encompasses meetings, conventions, festivals, expositions, sport and other special events. Event management is also of considerable importance to government agencies and not-for-profit organizations in a pursuit of a variety of goals, including fund-raising, the fostering of causes, and community development.
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