The present thesis extends the goal striving literature by exploring personal and primed autonomous and controlled goal motivation in relation to goal-related outcomes (e.g. persistence, attainment, inter-goal relations), the responses to goal failure, and well- and ill-being. Aligned with the Self-Concordance (SC) Model (Sheldon & Elliot, 1999), the central hypothesis was that autonomous motives would be associated with more adaptive goal pursuit and higher well-being. We investigated this hypothesis within a sporting context. In Chapter 2, we used ecologically valid video primes to manipulate goal motives. Extending the previous literature, we demonstrated that primed autonomous motives were associated with higher objectively assessed persistence towards an increasingly difficult goal than primed controlled motives. Chapter 3 showed that primed goal motives did not moderate the responses to goal failure. However we presented recommendations for how future research can investigate how individuals react to goal failure. Within Chapter 4, we blended the SC model with the Hierarchical Model of Motivation (Vallerand, 1997) to explain how coach behaviour can facilitate adaptive goal striving and well-being in team-sport athletes. Finally, Chapter 5 used a person-centred approach to examine autonomous and controlled goal motives when pursuing goals in multiple domains. The results suggested that higher autonomous motives are important for adaptive facilitation between goals. The research presented within this thesis represents important conceptual advancements of the goal striving literature. Furthermore, we present important practical implications for those engaging in goal pursuit in sport. Overall, we demonstrate the importance of individuals striving for goals which are underpinning by autonomous goal motives.

The aim of this thesis was to investigate the effects of positive and negative imagery content and ability on cognitive, affective, and behavioral outcomes. After reviewing the literature in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 examined whether negative image interpretation was influenced by imagery content and skill level. This chapter also investigated the effect of imagery content and skill level on performance, anxiety, and confidence in a golf putting task. Following a similar study design to Chapter 2, Chapter 3 investigated imagery’s effectiveness for regulating psychological and cardiovascular responses to competition stress. This chapter also examined whether mastery imagery ability was associated with psychological and cardiovascular outcomes. Following an experimental investigation of mastery and affect imagery ability, Chapter 4 explored these types of imagery ability as mediators between confidence and appraisals and responses to stress. This chapter also explored negative imagery ability’s role in these models through a negatively worded version of the Sport Imagery Ability Questionnaire. Overall, this thesis makes novel contributions to imagery literature by adding new relationships to the revised applied model of deliberate imagery use, testing a new measure of negative imagery ability, and highlighting mastery imagery ability’s role for protecting against debilitative imagery and regulating stress outcomes.

This thesis investigates examining the effects of certain types of interdependence on motor performance in competition. In the first experiment, participants undertook a ball carrying and running task under varying levels of between-team resource interdependent condition in the individual competition. The number of balls that carried to the container decreased when between-team resource interdependence exists. In the second experiment, participants completed a basketball shooting and rebounding task under varying levels of between-team resource interdependent condition in a two-on-two team competition. Results indicated that the number of baskets made, the number of baskets attempted and the shooting accuracy was higher in resource independent competition. In the third experiment, participants undertook the same basketball shooting and rebounding task as the second experiment under varying levels of between-team resource interdependent condition and within-team reward interdependent condition. Results indicated effort-based performance was greater under resource independent condition and its interaction with low reward interdependent condition. In the final experiment, participants undertook a handgrip task in a four-on-four team competition. Compared to the no reward condition, performance was better under both high reward interdependent condition and low reward interdependent condition. Mediation analyses revealed that positive emotions, self-reported effort and pressure mediated the change of performance.

At present, there is no clear consensus as to whether protein feeding harnesses any ergogenic benefit for endurance athletes. In this thesis demonstrate no effect of protein on endurance performance. Furthermore, data presented herein indicates that protein co-ingestion does not enhance recovery 24 hours after exercise. Consequently, there is currently no basis on which to recommend protein feeding for endurance performance and recovery. Nutrient strategies implemented after exercise can markedly alter the acute response of muscle protein synthesis and, potentially, long-term phenotypic adaptation. Protein nutrition has traditionally been considered in the context of resistance exercise. Endurance exercise followed by protein ingestion increases the synthesis of mixed muscle protein via increased mRNA translation. Herein, we demonstrate that protein feeding after endurance exercise elevates the synthetic rate of contractile proteins and specific mRNA signalling intermediates. Insulin resistance that precedes Type II diabetes is characterized by blunted sensitivity of the pancreas to glucose and impaired glucose uptake in skeletal muscle. Lifestyle interventions including nutrient and exercise have the potential to improve glycemic control. The final experimental chapter in this thesis provides mechanistic evidence to support the benefits of resistance exercise for lowering post-prandial glucose concentrations. Interestingly, protein ingestion did not augment the glucose-lowering effects of prior resistance exercise.

This thesis explores contemporary health club use, and the meaning of such for those that live and/or work in the city. Focusing on the 'premier' health club sector this study considers the factors that encourage people to become part of the contemporary premier club culture. More specifically, this thesis is concerned with defining the characteristics of the premier club environment and to consider who they attract and why? What are the reasons behind the decision to join a premier club, does it reflect a personal desire to improve ones health and fitness or is it a culmination of social pressures and rational thought? Why is it that premier clubs are located within thriving cities and are they a prominent feature amongst the social network of the city? These questions emerged at a time when 4 million people in the UK held health club membership and premier clubs were receiving increasing media attention. Whilst this rise in popularity of health clubs only equates to 8% of the population holding club membership, it suggests that for a select number of people, health club use is a significant feature of everyday life (Mintell, 2003). Simultaneously, sociology is increasingly concerned with most aspects of health and illness, the state of the body and the impact of it on everyday practices. However, health club use remains a significantly underdeveloped area of sociological inquiry. This qualitative study has focused on the premier club environment, defined within this thesis as 'a club which expands on the common health club model of gym, aerobics studio and pool and offers a better standard of these basic facilities, a wider range of activities and extension services such as spa treatments, dry cleaning and booking services', The research was conducted in four premier clubs in two major UK cities. The empirical findings suggest that premier club use is socially and culturally located. There is a 'social value of health' which infiltrates all channels in society, a value which is particularly strong within the social network of the city. The research has shown that whilst premier club use is obviously, to an extent, a personal quest for bodily improvement, it is motivated by two factors. The first being the 'need' to improve health and fitness as a consequence of working in a high-pressured city workplace and the second, a desire to present a certain 'image of fitness', which again is shaped by the value of health that exists in the city workplace. In conclusion it was found that within the context of the city, body work and the development of a 'workstyle' is a motivating factor behind the decision to join a premier club. Premier club is an integral feature in the process of individualisation as social agents are engaging in a reflexive project of the self, whereby shaping their body and creating an overall image, or a positive workstyle, is of the essence.

Rugby union was one of a number of versions of football to emerge from the mob games of pre-industrial England. It was adapted in the 19th Century into a pastime taken up by Gentlemen. During this period amateurism was the dominant hegemony, however conflict within the Rugby Football Union (RFU) over the concept of professionalism led to a schism with the working class clubs in the north of England forming their own professional version of the sport in 1895. Over the next one hundred years, the RFU utilised its power and authority to maintain amateurism as the central concept of rugby union. For much of this period amateurism was regarded as the superior approach to sports participation. It was, however, a definition of amateurism that was based on a 19th Century ideal. Changes took place in society, which changed the way sport was played. Sport became more serious and society began to demand only success from their teams. Rugby union was also influenced by the different cultures of the dominant playing powers of the Southern Hemisphere. As the 20`x' Century progressed, an emergent hegemony developed within sport, which emphasised qualities of performance that may be termed `professional'. In the last quarter of the 20th Century amateurism was a residual hegemony within sport and most major sports had become both commercially oriented and professional. In its desire to maintain and promote rugby, the RFU had become dependent on commercialism and had also permitted cups and leagues to become part of the sport. Finally, rather than lose total control of the sport the IRB agreed to allow professionalism. The five years since 1995 have seen a continued struggle for the control of the sport in England and have led some to fear for its survival at lower levels.

Sport has been the subject of an increasing amount of academic work in recent years but few texts cover women in any great depth. The history of their participation in the twentieth century, the obstacles they faced, and the support they received, needs to be studied in detail. This thesis addresses these questions, and contributes to the small but growing body of literature that places sporting women at the centre of research. It is a unique piece of work, which is solely concerned with the social history of women's athletics in England, from the establishment of the sport in 1921 until 1960. It is a common perception that few women were active in physical sports in the early twentieth century. However, this research 'has shown that that is an incorrect view. While there were not so many women involved as men, women's athletics was a thriving sport and one that was quickly established. It will be also be argued that there was greater male support than has previously been accepted. Nevertheless, opposition remained a powerful influence, and evidence of this will be presented throughout this thesis. The research has centred on the minutes of the Women's Amateur Athletic Association. Area association records were studied, as were some from individual athletic clubs and various committees that the WAAA was represented on. These are all resources that have not been previously analysed in detail, or indeed in some cases at all. Oral interviews provided information about club life, competition, and why certain individuals became involved in the sport. The resources have enabled an in-depth study of both the domestic side of the sport and English women's participation at international level.

This thesis challenges the conventional assumptions that leisure and travel are associated with experience of freedom and escape. It argues that leisure behaviour has been shaped by programmes of moral regulation. The thesis argues that these programmes are deeply rooted. For comparative purposes, moral regulation in the middle ages and the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are discussed. However, the main historical focus is on moral regulation in bourgeois society. It is argued that bourgeois culture sought to divide modern society into segments of experience: Private life was divided from public life, work from leisure, the female role from the male role, the bourgeois class from the working class, and so forth. The underlying aim behind these divisions was self realization. Through the `rational' bourgeois ordering of things it was hoped that the individual would maximize his or her capacities. Leisure and travel were part of the programme of self making. So far from being `free activities' they were self conscious activities geared to the aim of self realization. This thesis argues that there was a contradiction between the ambition of bourgeois culture which was to create a permanent rational order of things, and the action of modernity, which operated to neutralize or overturn bourgeois divisions. This contradiction is explored in the second chapter where the leisure of bourgeois women is discussed. The chapter attacks the feminist orthodoxy in the sociology of leisure which maintains that women's influence in leisure and travel is negligible. It examines the experience of bourgeois women in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It submits that modernity operated not merely to subordinate women but also to activate them. Examples of the influence of women in shaping the aesthetics of metropolitan culture are discussed to illustrate the point. The thesis maintains that modernity is still the essential context for understanding leisure and travel experience. Chapter three attempts to compare modernity and postmodernity. In chapters four and five examples of leisure and travel forms in the last twenty five years are discussed in order to test the fashionable postmodern proposition that we have now moved into a condition of postmodernity. The thesis closes with an attempt to drawn the main themes of the thesis together. It reassesses the contradiction between the ambition of bourgeois society and the action of modernity. It concludes that the debate on modernity and postmodernity does not suggest the emergence of a new social condition. Rather its main effect has been to help us to understand the action of modernity more clearly.

Hospitality and tourism environments are widely regarded as complex and dynamic in nature. This combined with the need for commercial organisations to improve performance places considerable emphasis on the need for approaches to understanding market and organisation dynamics. This research proposes an approach to analysing and understanding the dimensions of markets and the interface with organisations to allow optimum performance. It uses the commercial short holiday break (CSHB) market in Scotland as a contextual base, and reflects an industrial economics approach which encompasses identification of market structure, competitive strategies and company performance, to explore activity in the area and propose approaches to analysing dynamic and complex markets. Commercial short holiday breaks (CSHB) are widely recognised as a growth market for hotels. What is often not documented is that such growth is at the expense of other market sectors, fuelling mature market conditions and requiring increasingly sophisticated marketing strategies to gain and sustain market share and thus improve performance. To date, little has been published on how hotel companies compete in CSHB markets or what performance differences result as a consequence of different strategies and market conditions. Therefore through an extensive literature review (of the limited data available) and the construction of a database of hotel groups containing the 30 largest hotel groups operating in Scotland, an indication of the market structure was formed. To confirm initial findings and provide more detailed data on strategies adopted in the market, structured telephone interviews were conducted with key suppliers. The interviews revealed strategic groups with two main categories of strategy : predator strategies for gaining market share and secondly defender strategies for protecting market share. To establish how strategy affects corporate performance, further interviews were conducted at the corporate level and then in recognition of the multi-site nature of hotel operations, interviews were also conducted at unit level for six key short break providing companies. The findings indicate that there are bilateral "associations" between the market structure, the strategy adopted and the resulting performance. Having constructed a model based upon the findings, it appears to be the case that results hold true between both the corporate (industry) relationships and the unit (market) level relationships, making the model a significant contribution to knowledge.

Despite football being deeply entrenched in Scottish culture it is under-researched from a business perspective. This research develops a conceptual framework that views professional football clubs from a number of different perspectives. It draws on strategic management literature since this views the firm as the intersection between internal competence, customer perception and competition within an industry. A review of previous sports business research highlighted five main themes that were used to create a structure for the analysis: on-field performance, attendance, finance, the playing squad and the manager. These themes were used as frames to view the firms within the industry from a number of different perspectives. Each frame allows a different aspect of the firm to be considered singly in turn and then collectively to develop a deeper understanding of the existing frames in use within the industry. The research is based on a pragmatic philosophy that allows mixed methods to be combined to provide both an objective and subjective view of the industry. The subjective view was drawn from five interviews with senior figures within Scottish professional football. These participants were from a number of different roles and organisations within the industry to provide a balance of experiences. The views were triangulated with a descriptive analysis of secondary data from a number of industry sources to establish patterns within and between these frames. A peer group of six clubs was selected as they competed in the Scottish Premier League in each of the seasons within an eleven-year period (2000-2011). The peer group clubs selected were: Aberdeen, Dundee United, Heart of Midlothian (Hearts), Hibernian, Kilmarnock and Motherwell. By focussing on a small group of clubs with a similar on-field record a broad study across the five frames could be carried out in detail without the findings being influenced by the impact of relegation to a lower division or sustained participation in European football. Within each of the original five frames a number of sub-components were identified and linked to the framework; this expanded the content to reflect the findings of this project. There appeared to be little link between on-field performance and attendance although progress to the later stages of cup competitions allowed clubs to connect with fans who do not regularly attend. The relationship between a club's income and wage bill should be expanded to include interest repayments since this expenditure can be used to highlight future financial problems caused by increased debt levels. Although all of the interview participants spoke with pride of the players that had progressed from the club's youth academy to success at the highest level the peer group clubs only produced one player each season that played more than ten matches for the club. Almost half of the players signed from the youth academy left the club without playing for the 1st Team. The importance of the relationship between the manager and club chairman was highlighted, although the speed with which managers were appointed suggests that little consideration was given to this before offering a contract. Once appointed there appeared to be little clarity over the job description and areas of responsibility. Several of the interviewees brought experience from other businesses to football but admitted that short-term decision making and entrenched behaviour made change difficult. The conclusion of the research is that by taking a firm-wide view of the club, longer-term decisions can be taken within football. Player development and supporter relationships were both identified as long-term processes that are impacted by the current short-termism. With greater role clarity for managers and a mixture of short and long-term objectives those involved in the industry are more likely to have opportunities to learn from experience and performance, across the different frames, will improve as a result.