Faculty & Staff
Daniel Funk
Dr. Daniel Funk is a world leader in consumer behavior research for sport and related industry sectors. Using the Psychological Continuum Model, which identifies processes and stages that shape attitudes and behaviors among sport and recreation consumers, Dr. Funk researches the personal, psychological and environmental factors that explain sport involvement.
Dr. Funk joins the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management from Griffith University in Australia and also holds a joint appointment in the Fox School of Business. He has taught courses in sport marketing, sport promotions and communications, sport consumer behavior, and event marketing and sponsorship at Griffith University, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Louisville. He also currently serves as a professor at the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
With research expertise ranging from sport television media to sport motivations, Dr. Funk has participated in nearly 20 grant-funded studies. Currently, he is serving as a chief investigator on two Australian government research projects, with total funding of $1.16 million, to examine the impact of new professional sporting teams on community engagement and fan development, funded in part by the Australian Football League, and a second project on improving qualifications for Australian sports talent classification. His research offers marketing and management solutions to businesses, communities and governments that provide sport, tourism, event and recreation services or products.
Dr. Funk has written a refereed scholarly book, a sport marketing textbook, an industry book and has written or contributed to more than 60 articles published in a variety of journals, including Journal of Sport Management, Journal of Leisure Research, Tourism Management, European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Sport Management Review, Sport Marketing Quarterly and Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management.
Dr. Funk's articles have ranged from a case study of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the impact of the 2002 FIFA World Cup on football spectators in Japan, an examination of gender differences among sport spectators at NCAA basketball games, an exploration of participant motives at Lance Armstrong Foundation events, segmentation of running involvement among Miami Marathon participants, and travel decision-making for international participants of the Gold Coast Marathon and European Athletic Championships.
Dr. Funk earned his PhD and master's degree in sport management from Ohio State University and his bachelor's degree in communication from the University of Kansas. Prior to academia, he worked in industry developing and promoting recreational sport programs and special events in the United States.
