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Biography

Dr. Yong Jae Ko is a Professor in the Department of Sport Management at the University of Florida and coordinator of Sport Management Program. His primary research interest is sport consumers’ decision-making process, focused on their socio-psychological variables such as personality, needs/motivation, and attachment. This line of research has been extended to sport spectatorship/participation and donor behavior. In addition, as a sport marketing researcher, I explore consumer attitudes, perceptions (e.g., quality and value), and beliefs about sport organizations and brands in a variety of business segments, such as sponsorship, endorsement, branding, e-business, and nonprofit business sector. The overriding goals of his research include: (a) to develop an improved theoretical understanding of sport consumers’ decision-making processes through innovative and interdisciplinary research, and (b) to provide strategic directions and solutions for a variety of marketing issues in the sport industry.

Dr. Ko has published over 90 articles in peer-reviewed sport management journals (e.g., Sport Marketing Quarterly, Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, European Sport Management Quarterly, and International Journal of Sports Marketing and Sponsorship) and relevant premier journals related to these lines of research (e.g., Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Psychology & Marketing, and Managing Service Quality) and made over 180 presentations in these areas. His research team received numerous prestigious awards for innovative research (e.g., Best Paper Award from 2010 American Marketing Association conference, 2^nd place faculty paper award from 2013 Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication conference, and research fellow status at North American Society for Sport Management). He has done numerous consulting projects for a variety of national and international sports organizations (e.g., World Taekwondo Federation, Korea Golf Association, Anchor Publication, and ESPN The Magazine) and government projects (e.g., Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Korea Sport Promotion Foundation).

Research Interests

• Consumer behavior research focused on socio-psychological variables that influence sport consumption behavior
• Service marketing research focused on consumers’ quality and value perceptions toward a variety of sport services
• Sponsorship and sport branding

Courses

• HLP 6535 Research Methods
• SPM 5309 Sport Marketing
• SPM 6036 Research in Sport Management
• SPM 6905 Seminar in Strategic Sport Marketing