IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/spomar/v23y2020i4p704-718.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“I’m a completely different person now”: Extraordinary experiences and personal transformations in sport

Author

Listed:
  • Rundio, Amy
  • Dixon, Marlene A.
  • Heere, Bob

Abstract

Many sport programs aim to positively impact participants’ lives, but there is little understanding of how sport leads to those changes. The purpose of this study was to examine an extraordinary experience and the participants’ interpretations of that experience as well as their feelings of personal transformation through the experience. In doing so, the authors developed an understanding of how sport can be used to create meaningful life changes at the individual level. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 past participants of a long distance cycling ride that raised money and awareness for cancer research. Data analysis included three rounds of coding. Participants reported that the unusualness and sense of newness of the ride, the high levels of emotional intensity experienced, and the deep interpersonal connections developed led to a sense of empowerment and new meaning and purpose in life. Results indicate that extraordinary experiences contribute to lasting personal transformations, beyond intended behavior changes, within sport and out of sport. The characteristics of extraordinary experiences that contribute to personal transformation are discussed, as are suggestions for sport managers to leverage extraordinary experiences to create positive personal transformations.

Suggested Citation

  • Rundio, Amy & Dixon, Marlene A. & Heere, Bob, 2020. "“I’m a completely different person now”: Extraordinary experiences and personal transformations in sport," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 704-718.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:spomar:v:23:y:2020:i:4:p:704-718
    DOI: 10.1016/j.smr.2019.09.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1441352319300348
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.smr.2019.09.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Arnould, Eric J & Price, Linda L, 1993. "River Magic: Extraordinary Experience and the Extended Service Encounter," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(1), pages 24-45, June.
    2. Adam Cohen & Jon Welty Peachey, 2015. "The making of a social entrepreneur: From participant to cause champion within a sport-for-development context," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 111-125, January.
    3. Inoue, Yuhei & Heffernan, Caroline & Yamaguchi, Taku & Filo, Kevin, 2018. "Social and charitable impacts of a charity-affiliated sport event: A mixed methods study," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 202-218.
    4. Matthew Katz & Bob Heere, 2015. "Empowerment within brand communities: Overcoming the Achilles’ Heel of scale-free networks," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 370-383, July.
    5. Katz, Matthew & Heere, Bob, 2015. "Empowerment within brand communities: Overcoming the Achilles’ Heel of scale-free networks," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 370-383.
    6. Kozinets, Robert V, 2002. "Can Consumers Escape the Market? Emancipatory Illuminations from Burning Man," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 29(1), pages 20-38, June.
    7. Celsi, Richard L & Rose, Randall L & Leigh, Thomas W, 1993. "An Exploration of High-Risk Leisure Consumption through Skydiving," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 20(1), pages 1-23, June.
    8. Yuhei Inoue & Caroline Heffernan & Taku Yamaguchi & Kevin Filo, 2018. "Social and charitable impacts of a charity-affiliated sport event: A mixed methods study," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(2), pages 202-218, April.
    9. Jon Welty Peachey & John Borland & Jami Lobpries & Adam Cohen, 2015. "Managing impact: Leveraging sacred spaces and community celebration to maximize social capital at a sport-for-development event," Sport Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(1), pages 86-98, January.
    10. Welty Peachey, Jon & Borland, John & Lobpries, Jami & Cohen, Adam, 2015. "Managing impact: Leveraging sacred spaces and community celebration to maximize social capital at a sport-for-development event," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 86-98.
    11. Cohen, Adam & Peachey, Jon Welty, 2015. "The making of a social entrepreneur: From participant to cause champion within a sport-for-development context," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 111-125.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. van Wee, Bert & Mokhtarian, Patricia, 2023. "Escape theory: Explaining a negative motivation to travel," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hoekman, Michael J. & Schulenkorf, Nico & Welty Peachey, Jon, 2019. "Re-engaging local youth for sustainable sport-for-development," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(5), pages 613-625.
    2. Schulenkorf, Nico, 2017. "Managing sport-for-development: Reflections and outlook," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 243-251.
    3. Söderlund, Magnus & Sagfossen, Sofie, 2017. "The consumer experience: The impact of supplier effort and consumer effort on customer satisfaction," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 219-229.
    4. repec:oup:jconrs:v:49:y:2023:i:5:p:904-925. is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Jahn, Steffen & Cornwell, T. Bettina & Drengner, Jan & Gaus, Hansjoerg, 2018. "Temporary communitas and willingness to return to events," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 329-338.
    6. Husemann, Katharina C. & Eckhardt, Giana M. & Grohs, Reinhard & Saceanu, Raluca E., 2016. "The dynamic interplay between structure, anastructure and antistructure in extraordinary experiences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3361-3370.
    7. Skandalis, Alexandros & Byrom, John & Banister, Emma, 2019. "Experiential marketing and the changing nature of extraordinary experiences in post-postmodern consumer culture," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 43-50.
    8. Bernard Cova, 2021. "The new frontier of consumer experiences: escape through pain," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 11(1), pages 60-69, June.
    9. Lez Trujillo Torres & Benét DeBerry-Spence, 2019. "Consumer valorization strategies in traumatic extraordinary experiences," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 516-531, May.
    10. Aleksandrina Atanasova, 2021. "Re-examining utopia in contemporary consumption: conceptualization and implications for marketing," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 11(1), pages 23-39, June.
    11. Goulding, Christina & Saren, Michael, 2016. "Transformation, transcendence, and temporality in theatrical consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 216-223.
    12. Ulusoy, Emre, 2016. "Subcultural escapades via music consumption: Identity transformations and extraordinary experiences in Dionysian music subcultures," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 244-254.
    13. Ulusoy, Ebru, 2016. "Experiential responsible consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 284-297.
    14. Massimiliano M. Pellegrini & Riccardo Rialti & Giacomo Marzi & Andrea Caputo, 2020. "Sport entrepreneurship: A synthesis of existing literature and future perspectives," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 795-826, September.
    15. Earl, Peter E., 2012. "Experiential analysis of automotive consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(7), pages 1067-1072.
    16. Svensson, Per G. & Hambrick, Marion E., 2019. "Exploring how external stakeholders shape social innovation in sport for development and peace," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 540-552.
    17. Wu, Shaofeng & Li, Yanning & Wood, Emma H. & Senaux, Benoît & Dai, Guangquan, 2020. "Liminality and festivals—Insights from the East," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    18. Svensson, Per G. & Andersson, Fredrik O. & Mahoney, Tara Q. & Ha, Jae-Pil, 2020. "Antecedents and outcomes of social innovation: A global study of sport for development and peace organizations," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 657-670.
    19. Ranfagni, Silvia & Runfola, Andrea, 2018. "Connecting passion: Distinctive features from emerging entrepreneurial profiles," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 403-411.
    20. Frevel, Nicolas & Beiderbeck, Daniel & Schmidt, Sascha L., 2022. "The impact of technology on sports – A prospective study," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 182(C).
    21. Juan Antonio Sánchez-Sáez & Francisco Segado Segado & Ferran Calabuig-Moreno & Ana Mª Gallardo Guerrero, 2020. "Measuring Residents’ Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility at Small- and Medium-Sized Sports Events," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-17, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:spomar:v:23:y:2020:i:4:p:704-718. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/716936/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.