Search Results (12)

The analysis of perceived impacts of sporting events and sport tourism is a growing research field. The Sierra Morena Rally, held in Córdoba, Spain, and included for the first time in the European Rally Championship (ERC) in 2025, provides an opportunity to examine residents’ perceptions of both positive and negative effects. This study aims to identify profiles of perception and support towards the event. The theoretical framework integrates the Triple Bottom Line (TBL), Social Exchange Theory (SET), and Social Representations Theory (SRT). Based on 479 valid surveys collected during the rally, an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) identified five factors of perceived impact: positive economic–social, positive environmental, negative economic, negative social, and negative environmental. A non-hierarchical k-means cluster analysis revealed four distinct groups: Critics, who emphasize negative impacts; Enthusiasts, focused on economic–social benefits; Pragmatic Supporters, showing balanced but conditional support; and Supporters Environmentally Concerned, combining favorable views with ecological awareness. The results confirm the heterogeneity of residents’ perceptions and align with previous findings in the literature of motorsport events. Overall, the study contributes to understanding the social sustainability of rally events and highlights the importance of incorporating perceptual diversity into their management. Full article

Sport events generate economic, social, and environmental impacts that shape residents’ perceptions and levels of support. In the context of sustainable urban development, understanding how residents evaluate these impacts provides valuable knowledge about community responses to tourism and event-led growth. Drawing on the Triple Bottom Line (TBL), Social Exchange Theory (SET), and Social Representations Theory (SRT), this study examines residents’ evaluations of the Rally Sierra Morena (RSM), a large-scale international motorsport event recently incorporated into the European Rally Championship (ERC). Data were collected shortly before the event using a self-administered questionnaire (n = 1529). An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) identified a multidimensional structure of perception, and a non-hierarchical k-means cluster analysis identified three clusters: Skeptics, who perceived stronger negative than positive impacts in economic and environmental dimensions; Pragmatists, who emphasized positive economic benefits while acknowledging environmental costs; and Enthusiasts, who consistently rated positive impacts higher across all dimensions and expressed the strongest support for the event. By integrating perceptual and sustainability-based approaches, this study connects residents’ evaluations of a motorsport event with broader discussions on urban resilience and sustainable community development. Full article

Social representations theory (SRT) refers to an approach within social psychology focusing on systems of beliefs, concepts, and values that establish social order and allow for individuals and groups to identify and understand themselves vis-à-vis others. It involves the ascription of meaning to phenomena so that the unfamiliar is made familiar, and new concepts are integrated into existing worldviews in an ongoing process of constructing and interpreting social realities. This approach has not yet been applied to any biblical texts, and this article will explore how such an application would prove fruitful for understanding the processes of identification and community formation in early Christian groups, with a specific focus on Ephesians. This study will focus on how the concepts of reconciled differences (Eph 2.11–22) and of the “new self” (Eph 4.17–32) are communicated to the readers. Analyzing these concepts through SRT will elucidate how the author advocates for certain beliefs, concepts, and values as part of the community members’ process of aligning themselves with their newly created self. Reading Ephesians through SRT can better elucidate how the text reflects its enigmatic community, which was being formed and reformed through identification, division, and re-identification in the tumultuous second half of the first century. Full article

Motorsports have become a tourism resource for certain territories. Knowledge about the perception of impact and the support residents provide for their celebration contributes to ensuring their long-term success. The academic literature has so far focused on large-scale events, leaving a gap in knowledge regarding small-scale events. This study addresses the case of the Sierra Morena Rally in Córdoba, Spain. It is based on the principles of Social Exchange Theory (SET) and Social Representation Theory (SRT) to explore a gender bias in the perception of impact and support for the event. Using a sample of 753 residents, an Exploratory Factor Analysis is conducted, and Mann–Whitney U and Hedges’ G statistics are applied. The results confirm the existence of a gender bias in perception, which is discussed in the context of previous case studies. Full article

Many adolescent females are active online, finding creative ways to express themselves through evolving social media technologies. Social virtual worlds (SVWs), distinguished by extensive avatar customization features, provide them with unique opportunities to craft virtual identities and explore diverse facets of self-presentation. This study investigates adolescent females’ construction of avatars in Zepeto, a South Korea-based global SVW platform. Employing social representation theory (SRT) as a theoretical framework, this study conducted in-depth interviews with adolescent female Zepeto users to uncover their perceptions of and motivations behind avatar creation in SVWs, as well as to explore how the interplay of virtual and real worlds presents them with various opportunities and challenges. While the prospects of SVWs remain uncertain, examining how these young users interpret and experience SVWs contributes to identifying potential strategies to enhance the sustainability of these platforms. Full article

The Nigerian Middle Belt is the epicentre of violent conflicts between Fulani herders and sedentary farmers over land and agricultural resources called eco-violence; existing research has not adequately addressed the persistence of these conflicts. Using Social Representations Theory (SRT), this paper examines empirical case studies conducted in April 2018 and May 2022 in Benue State, Nigeria, to determine why these conflicts persist. The paper argues that contending parties anchor, objectify, and socially represent past contestations in pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial Nigeria in present-day realities and events in the Middle Belt, leading to the re-experience of collective memories and their consequences on people’s violent collective behaviour. Consequently, people resort to violence to redress present grievances viewed through the prism of past events. To promote sustainable peace when tackling deeply-rooted conflicts, it is essential to comprehend the historical context and the significance of collective memory while employing a comprehensive strategy for conflict resolution. Implementing the Cognitive Reappraisal Technique to address issues related to collective memories is critical to this approach. Full article

(1) Objective: Social representations theory (SRT) is a body of theory within social psychology concerned with how individuals, groups, and communities collectively make sense of socially relevant or problematic issues, ideas, and practices. SRT has been increasingly sued in the area of health and disability. The current study examined the social representations of “tinnitus” and “health” among individuals with tinnitus who are seeking online psychological interventions. (2) Materials/Method: The data were gathered using a free association task about their “tinnitus” and “health” from 399 individuals with tinnitus. The data were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative analyses methods. (3) Results: The responses resulted in 39 and 30 categories respectively, for “tinnitus” and “health”. The most commonly occurring categories for tinnitus included: descriptions of tinnitus (18%), annoying (13.5%), persistent (8%), and distracting (5%). The most commonly occurring categories for health included: content (12%), conditions (8%), active (7%), take control (6%), and overweight (5%). The responses to tinnitus had predominantly negative connotations (i.e., 76.9%) whereas a larger proportion of responses toward their health was related to positive connotations (i.e., 46.4%). These frequently occurring items were also dominant in similarities analysis. Prototypical analysis of tinnitus responses identified categories horrible and bothersome to be key items in the central zone. The categories in central zone of health responses included: content, active, healthy, grateful, and overweight. (4) Conclusions: Individuals with tinnitus have very negative view of their tinnitus impacting their psychological status. Tinnitus management should focus on reducing the negative associations toward their tinnitus and strengthen the positive aspects related to their general health. Full article

Organising the 2020 European Football Championship was fraught with the uncertainties of the pandemic period. Budapest hosted its four allocated matches during the postponed event without stadium capacity restrictions. Drawing on both social exchange theory (SET) and social representation theory (SRT), the study aimed to investigate how the level of fear of COVID-19 before the start of Euro 2020 influenced the perception of the tournament among residents of Budapest. Data were collected by telephone interview during the five days preceding the event based on a representative sample of Budapest residents (n = 1003, adult population aged 18 years and over), accounting for gender, age and place of residence. Cluster analysis identified three groups of residents based on fear of coronavirus: concerned, neutral and unconcerned. Although our study only investigated the opinions of residents in one host city, the relevance of the research appears compelling in that it highlights the crucial role of COVID-19 in influencing responses to the expected impact of Euro 2020. Examining the views of local residents and understanding the factors that influence their opinions play a key role in more successful and sustainable delivery of sporting events. Full article

Social media (SM) functions such as hashtags and photo uploading can enrich and expedite user interactions, but can also facilitate the online spread of antisocial norms. Mask aversion is one such antisocial norm shared on SM in the current COVID-19 pandemic circumstances. This study utilized the social representation theory (SRT) to explore how mask aversion is visually represented in the Instagram photos tagged with #NoMask. It examined the overall content of the photos, the characteristics of the faces portrayed in the photos, and the presented words in the photos. Additionally, the study grouped the photos through k-means clustering and compared the resulting clusters in terms of content, characteristics of the faces, presented words, pixel-level characteristics, and the public’s responses to the photos. The results indicate that people, especially human faces, were visually represented the most in the Instagram photos tagged with #NoMask. Two clusters were generated by k-means clustering—Text-centered and people-centered. The visual representations of the two clusters differed in terms of content characteristics and pixel-level attributes. The texts presented in the photos manifested a unique way of delivering key messages. The photos of the people-centered cluster received more positive comments than the text-centered one; however, the two clusters were not significantly different in eliciting engagement. This study can contribute to expanding the scope of SRT to visual representations and hashtag movements. Full article

This research investigates the nature by which first- and second-generation Irish young adults of (1) African descent, (2) Asian descent, and (3) Eastern European descent explore their cultural identity(ies) through communicating and interpreting social representations relating to their ethnic and national cultures. Using Social Representation Theory (SRT) and, more widely, Proculturation Theory as the theoretical underpinning, we examine how grown children of migrants construct their cultural identity(ies) by exploring external social representations. We conducted three separate in-depth focus groups for each continental group in virtual rooms on Zoom, lasting between 60 and 90 mins. A thematic analysis was pursued to understand how the participants discussed the representation of their cultural groups both in social and media-driven situations. The results indicated the overarching themes of Anchoring Irishness and Latent Media Representation, whereby participants communicated and dialogically explored their subjective interpretations of the social representations of their cultural groups which, in turn, may have informed their cultural identity(ies). Highlighting the dynamic nature of the cultural reality of Ireland and how it impacts generations after the initial migration period, this research highlights and exemplifies the importance of external social representations that serve to construct the multiple cultural identities of first- and second-generation migrants. Full article

The aim of the research here presented is to describe and compare the social representations of entomophagy co-constructed and circulating among different groups of consumers. Social representations theory (SRT) allows us to understand a social reality that the individual builds based on his own experience in everyday life symbolic exchanges, whose primary function is to adapt concepts and abstract ideas using objectification and anchoring processes. We carried out this research within the structural approach methodological framework. We explored the structure (central core and peripheral schemes) and the content (information, opinions, attitudes, and beliefs) of the social representations of entomophagy by using mixed methodological strategies (hierarchized evocations, validated scales, check-list, projective tool, open-ended questions). Data were processed employing different R packages. The main results show an essential role played by generative processes (objectification and anchoring) as well as cognitive polyphasia and thémata in the co-construction of the social representations of entomophagy. Data could help in understanding the sensory characteristics of “insects as food” that should be used or avoided, for example, in communication aimed to promote entomophagy. Full article

This study aims to assess the willingness of the new generation of farmers in China to return to their hometowns for the purpose of contributing to rural tourism. Based on the hierarchy of effects models (HOE) and the social representation theory (SRT), this study utilized an analysis model of perceived rural tourism impacts (P), sense of place (SoP), and willingness to participate (WTP) by the new generation of farmers, where sense of place was deconstructed into the two independent dimensions of place identification (PI) and place attachment (PA). A total of 263 valid questionnaire surveys were collected in Yanling County, a demonstration county for leisure agriculture and rural tourism in China. The structural equation modeling (SEM) technique was used to analyze the data. The results show that the perceived impacts of rural tourism on the new generation of farmers had a significant positive impact on their willingness to participate in the development of rural tourism. It was also found that sense of place played a mediating role in the perceived impacts of rural tourism and willingness to participate. Additionally, perceived impacts of rural tourism had a significant positive effect on place identity, where place identity played a mediating role between perceived impacts of rural tourism and place attachment. Place identity had a significant positive effect on place attachment, and place attachment played a mediating role between place identity and willingness to participate. The practical implications of these findings for future research and rural tourism development are also discussed. Full article