Green Consumer Behavior of Sports Enthusiasts on TikTok-An Analysis of the Moderating Effect of Green Concern.

The short-form video platform TikTok has become highly popular. This study explores how professional sports teams can effectively leverage short-form videos to promote green values such as environmental conservation and sustainable development, thereby capturing user attention and enhancing user engagement. This study primarily aimed to investigate the effects of a green brand image on green word of mouth (WOM), customer stickiness, and consumer purchase intention, with further examination regarding the moderating effect of green concerns on these relationships. Few studies have explored the presence of professional sports teams on TikTok, particularly in the context of green issues. Accordingly, this study adopts a novel method to develop specific and actionable recommendations for professional sports teams who have a presence on social media. Additionally, via the application of the Stimulus-Organism-Response theory, this study explains how the green brand image presented by professional sports teams on TikTok influences the interactive relationships among green WOM, customer stickiness, and consumer purchase intention. This study recruited 600 individuals who were either fans of the Taipei Fubon Braves, which is a team in Taiwan's professional basketball league P.LEAGUE+, or fans of other teams. After a confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. The results indicate positive correlations in all tested paths. The green concern of the Taipei Fubon Braves' fans moderated the relationship between green WOM and purchase intention; however, this moderating effect was not identified among the non-Taipei Fubon Braves fans. These findings introduce innovative concepts to the field of marketing, contributing substantially to both practical applications and academic research.

Effects of Online Video Sport Spectatorship on the Subjective Well-Being of College Students: The Moderating Effect of Sport Involvement.

Individuals' engagement in sports and sport-related entertainment is reported to improve their subjective well-being (SWB). We investigated whether online video sport spectatorship (OVSS) enhances the SWB of college students and whether sport involvement moderates the correlation between OVSS and SWB. For this, a pretest-posttest experimental design with a 3-week-long intervention (OVSS) was adopted. Two groups, intervention and control, were formed. The findings revealed that OVSS improved SWB (p = 0.017). Furthermore, sport involvement moderated the correlation between OVSS and SWB (p = 0.024). Specifically, participants with high levels of sport involvement in the intervention group exhibited better SWB (M = 5.51) than did the corresponding controls (M = 4.69). By contrast, among participants with low levels of sport involvement, only the intervention group showed improved SWB; however, it remained unchanged in the control group. The present study enriches the relevant literature and provides empirical evidence for the psychological benefits conferred by OVSS. Our findings may serve as a reference for designing interventions aimed at improving individuals' overall quality of life.

Antecedents and Outcomes of Social Capital: Evidence from a Professional Baseball Franchise.

PURPOSE: The empirical paper aimed to develop a theoretical model of social capital in professional spectating sports by investigating the antecedents and outcomes related to social capital from the spectator's viewpoint. PARTICIPANT AND METHOD: Brothers Elephants, a professional baseball franchise in the Chinese Professional Baseball League, provided the research setting. The study's participants consisted of 422 spectators of a Brothers Elephants game at its home field, Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Field. Around half of the participants were male; 46.4% of them aged between 30 and 39 years old. Data analysis was conducted through structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Results revealed that social interactions positively correlated with social capital, prosocial behavior, and spectator intention to re-attend the sporting event. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) also positively predicted intention to re-attend the sporting event, social capital, and prosocial behavior. Social capital significantly correlated with prosocial behavior and subjective well-being, and prosocial behavior significantly correlated with subjective well-being and intention to re-attend the sporting event. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that social capital can be developed through social interactions and perceived CSR in the context of professional spectator sporting events, with such social capital increasing, in turn, prosocial behavior, subjective well-being, and intention to re-attend the sporting event. From perspective of practical implication, professional sports franchise can develop more campaigns that boost sports spectators' perceived social interactions and CSR, which can increase their social capital, prosocial behavior, subjective well-being, and their intention to re-attend the sporting event.

Persuasion effect of corporate social responsibility initiatives in professional sport franchise: Moderating effect analysis.

This study used the elaboration likelihood model as a theoretical basis to explore the effects of various persuasion strategies on consumer perception and attitude regarding the corporate image of sports organizations that engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. The moderating effects of involvement, sports team identification, and sports fan curiosity were also examined. The multiple-study approach was employed to increase the external validity of the research. Two studies with cross-sectional between-subject pre-post experimental design were conducted with a total of 390 participants. The research setting was the Fubon Guardians baseball team of the Chinese Professional Baseball League in Study I and the Taiwan Beer Basketball Team of the Super Basketball League in Study II. Communication through the central and peripheral routes improved consumers' CSR perception. Furthermore, under low involvement, weak sports team identification, and low sports fan curiosity conditions, communication through the central route and peripheral route improved the participants' CSR perception. However, under high involvement, strong sports team identification, and high sports fan curiosity conditions, the different communication methods had nonsignificantly different effects. The findings of this study provide both academic contributions and practical implications.

Seipin negatively regulates sphingolipid production at the ER-LD contact site.

Seipin is known for its critical role in controlling lipid droplet (LD) assembly at the LD-forming subdomain of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Here, we identified a new function of seipin as a negative regulator for sphingolipid production. We show that yeast cells lacking seipin displayed altered sensitivity to sphingolipid inhibitors, accumulated sphingoid precursors and intermediates, and increased serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT) and fatty acid (FA) elongase activities. Seipin associated with SPT and FA elongase, and the interaction was reduced by inhibitors for sphingolipid synthesis in a concentration-dependent manner. We further show that the interactions of seipin with SPT and FA elongase occurred at ER-LD contacts and were likely regulated differentially. Further evidence indicated that LD biogenesis was intact when SPT activity was blocked, whereas excess sphingoid intermediates may affect LD morphology. Expression of human seipin rescued the altered sphingolipids in yeast seipin mutants, suggesting that the negative regulation of sphingolipid synthesis by seipin is likely an evolutionarily conserved process.

Differential immune responses of the green neon shrimp (Neocaridina denticulate) to dipropyl phthalate.

This study set out to understand the sublethal effect of xenobiotic phthalate esters (PAEs) on the relationship between the susceptibility of shrimp to bacterial infection and the immune response of the shrimp. Neocaridina denticulate were exposed to different concentrations of the PAE dipropyl phthalate (DPrP), and mortality and six immune parameters were measured on days 1, 3, 5, and 10 after exposure. On days 1 and 3 after exposure, shrimp exposed to 0, 1, 5, 10, and 50 mg/L of DPrP and challenged with Aeromonas veronii experienced 14% and 16%, 16% and 16%, 18% and 18%, 34% and 24%, and 38% and 26% mortality, respectively. On day 1, five immune parameters (acid phosphatase, AcP; ß-glucuronidase, ß-Glu; phenoloxidase, PO; superoxide dismutase, SOD; and haemocyanin mRNA) were significantly altered in the all of the groups treated with DPrP compared to the untreated shrimp and were elevated in the 10 mg/L- and 50 mg/L-treated groups. Beta-Glu activity and haemocyanin mRNA levels were significantly increased in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggest that the increased susceptibility of N. denticulate exposed to DPrP is short-term and may be related to the increased expression of DPrP-induced immune mediators.

Expression levels of haem oxygenase-1 in the omental adipose tissue and peripheral blood mononuclear cells of women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Haem oxygenase (HO)-1, an enzyme that degrades haem, plays a key role in the regulation of the inflammatory response and insulin resistance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of HO-1 in the regulation of insulin resistance and glucose tolerance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). METHODS: Omental adipose tissue and human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from seven women with PCOS and five healthy controls, matched for BMI and age, were analysed using western blotting and the real-time PCR. RESULTS: Women with PCOS were found to have significantly higher fasting and 2-h insulin levels, a significantly higher homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance index and a lower fasting glucose-to-insulin ratio (G(0)/I(0)) than the controls. The level of HO-1 protein in omental fat (P = 0.002), and the expression of HO-1 mRNA in omental fat and PBMCs from the women with PCOS were significantly lower (P = 0.002 and 0.05, respectively) than those of the controls. The expression of adiponectin mRNA in omental fat was also significantly lower (P = 0.02) in the women with PCOS than in the controls. However, there were no significant differences in the expression of tumour necrosis factor-α or interleukin-6 between the two groups. The level of HO-1 protein showed a significant positive correlation with the expression of HO-1 mRNA (r(2) = 0.786, P = 0.037) and adiponectin mRNA (r(2) = 0.7276, P <0.05). Serum insulin and glucose levels and BMI showed a significant negative correlation with the level of HO-1 (P< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the HO-1-adiponectin axis may be associated with the regulation of insulin resistance and glucose intolerance in women with PCOS.

The effect of two CpG oligodeoxynucleotides with different sequences on haemocytic immune responses of giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii.

A previous study has demonstrated that the intrahaemocytic phenoloxidase (PO) activity of the prawn Macrobrachium rosenbergii was enhanced by CpG oligodeoxynucleotide (ODN) 2006, but not by os-ODN13. The study described herein determined the binding characteristics of the two ODNs to haemocytes. Treating haemocytes with FAM-ODN or FAM-ODN plus different concentrations of the same ODN revealed that both ODNs specifically bound to haemocytes. Results from haemocytes treated with FAM-ODN2006 plus ROX-os-ODN13 in a competitive assay indicated that about 91% of haemocytes were simultaneously bound by the two ODNs and that the remaining haemocytes were only bound by ODN2006; moreover, ODN2006 binding to haemocytes was stronger than that of os-ODN13. To clarify the interactive effect of the two ODNs on haemocytic function, mRNA levels of haemocytic genes from single or double ODN-injected prawns were determined by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The expression of either the prophenoloxidase (proPO) or peroxinectin (pon) genes was elevated by ODN2006 but reduced by os-ODN13; furthermore, ODN2006-increased proPO expression was abated following treatment with os-ODN13. In comparison with ODN-injected prawns alone, the NF-kappaB inhibitor PDTC reduced the proPO mRNA levels induced by ODN2006, but it elevated proPO expression inhibited by os-ODN13. These results support the notion that os-ODN13 may be able to neutralise or negate the enhancing effect of ODN2006 on proPO expression via the NF-kappaB signalling pathway as well as an unknown signalling pathway.