Low Team Identification Research Articles

They Saw a Game! Impact of Consumers’ Self-Serving Bias on Moral Disengagement and Subsequent Tolerant Responses Toward Athlete Scandals

Abstract: This research attempted to examine the tolerant responses of sport fans to scandalized athletes by drawing on fans’ self-serving bias and attribution theory. To this end, we conducted a quasi-experimental study ( n = 219). The results of SEM analysis indicate that fans with a high team identification reported a greater level of external attribution than those with low team identification, while fans with low team identification reported a greater level of internal attribution than those with high team identification. Also, external attribution had positive impacts on moral disengagement, while internal attribution had negative impacts. We found that sport fans become more forgiving by activating moral disengagement. The present study further extends the literature by investigating how the level of team identification can evoke differential consumer responses toward a wrongdoer and enabling practitioners to make informed decisions on whether they should keep ties with troubled athletes.

프로 스포츠구단 유튜브 품질, 팀동일시, 대리만족이 직접 관람의도에 미치는 영향

This study empirically examined the effects of the quality of YouTube operated by professional sports clubs on viewing attitude and viewing satisfaction, that lead to intentions of onsite watching. Among the quality of YouTube, shareability, accuracy, and vividness had a positive (+) effect on viewing attitude, while recency and vividness had a positive (+) effect on viewing satisfaction. Furthermore, viewing attitude and viewing satisfaction had a positive (+) effect on onsite watching intention. As a result of the moderating effect analysis, the effect of viewing attitude on viewing satisfaction was significantly larger in the group with high team identification compared to the group with low team identification. This study has not only theoretical implications that provide additional explanations on sports fans’ decision-makings, but also practical implications that suggest effective marketing strategies to attract more spectators to ballparks or stadiums.

The Role of Moral Disengagement in the Contagion of Pro-group Unethical Behavior

Pro-group unethical behavior is a kind of behavior that violates moral standards while benefitting the actor’s team. In this study, we enrich the understanding of its causes by investigating whether being exposed to coworkers’ pro-group unethical behavior induces employees to engage in the same unethical behavior. We theorize that employees’ moral disengagement explains the link between coworkers’ pro-group unethical behavior and employees’ pro-group unethical behavior, and that the effect is contingent on the employees’ level of team identification. We conducted three field studies to examine our research model. In Study 1, we obtained evidence supporting the indirect effect of coworkers’ pro-group unethical behavior on employees’ pro-group unethical behavior via moral disengagement. In Study 2, our results also showed the direct effect of coworkers’ pro-group unethical behavior on employees’ pro-group unethical behavior in addition to the indirect effect. In Study 3, our analyses suggested that the proposed indirect effect is contingent on team identification. Employees were more likely to learn pro-group unethical behavior from their coworkers through moral disengagement under high team identification rather than low team identification. These results were consistent with our expectation.

A self-categorization perspective on individual-teammates congruence in leader-member exchange quality and individual performance

ABSTRACT Drawing upon research into relative leader–member exchange (LMX) and social identity approaches to leadership, this study explores how congruence in the LMX quality of individuals and their teammates affects the team identification of those individuals. This, in turn, influences individuals’ job performance. Results of polynomial regressions on 575 dyads support the congruence hypothesis. Further, we find asymmetrical incongruence effects in which individuals have lower team identification and poorer job performance when their LMX is lower in quality than their teammates compared to the opposite situation. These findings emphasize the pivotal role played by leaders and teammates in promoting employee team identification at work.

Leader–follower narcissism and subgroup formation in teams: a conceptual model

PurposeDrawing on existing theory, a model is developed to illustrate how the interaction between leaders and followers similarity in narcissism and goal congruence may influence subgroup formation in teams, and how this interaction influences team identification and team performance.Design/methodology/approachThe proposed model draws on dominance complementary, similarity attraction, faultline formation and trait activation theories.FindingsLeader–follower similarity in narcissism and goal congruence may stimulate subgroup formation, possibly resulting in conformers, conspirators, outsiders and victims, especially when performance pressure on a team is high. Followers who are low in narcissism and share goals with a leader who is narcissistic are likely to become conformers. Followers who are high in narcissism and share goals with a narcissistic leader are likely to become confederates. Followers who do not share goals with a narcissistic leader will be treated by the leader and other members as outsiders if they are high in narcissism, and victimized if they are low in narcissism. In addition, the emergence of these subgroups leads to reduced team identification and lower team performance.Practical implicationsHigher level managers, coaches and human resource professions can assess and, if necessary, counteract low team identification and performance resulting from the narcissistic personality characteristics of leaders and followers.Originality/valueThe model addresses how and under what conditions narcissistic leaders and followers may influence subgroup formation and team outcomes.

Twitter-Based BIRGing: Big Data Analysis of English National Team Fans During the 2018 FIFA World Cup

Sports fans tend to associate themselves with a successful team (BIRGing), while disassociating themselves with unsuccessful teams (CORFing). This premise was applied to social media commentary within England’s matches against Croatia and Colombia during the 2018 Fédération Internationale de Football Association World Cup, uncovering that English fans tended to perform Basking in Reflected Glory (BIRG) when England was leading or victorious and tended to engage in Cutting Off Reflected Failure (CORF) when England was trailing or defeated. In Method 1, team identification, national identification with England, and sentiment were significantly higher when England was leading or victorious than when they were trailing or defeated. In Method 2, machine learning generated trending graphs to detect that English fans BIRGed when they scored against Colombia; they also BIRGed more frequently during the match with Croatia, peaking several times when they scored a goal, saved a goal, or took a free kick. However, even though CORFing (i.e., lower team identification, lower national identification, and lower sentiment) occurred when the opposing team scored, English fans still BIRGed when they were finally defeated by Croatia, likely a function of the stage the game took place (World Cup semifinal), indicating that England had nonetheless succeeded in the World Cup as a whole.

“No” Is Not “Low”: Improving the Assessment of Sport Team Identification

Abstract: Scholars have studied sport team identification for decades, advancing our understanding of the influence of a psychological connection to a sport team on attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. Despite the contribution of the study of team identification to the sport fan psychology and sport consumer behavior literatures, a critical issue is apparent. A review of the methods used by scholars to assess and study team identification uncovered a misinterpretation of participant responses to team identification scale items. In previous research, not-identified individuals have been examined as individuals with low team identification. We illustrate the problem with scales used to measure team identification, then propose one approach to resolving the problem with the most frequently used scale, the Sport Spectator Identification Scale. We report on the testing of a modified scale, the Sport Spectator Identification Scale–Revised (SSIS-R), to detect not-identified individuals. We conclude with suggestions moving forward the study of team identification in general.

Does Spectatorship Increase Happiness? The Energy Perspective

Based on self-determination theory, the current research examined the effect of team identification on spectators’ energy and happiness. Most importantly, this research attempted to identify a key underlying mechanism of why and when sport spectatorship enhances spectators’ happiness by adapting energy, a new concept to the sport management literature. The results indicate that spectators with high team identification reported a greater level of happiness than those with low team identification only when their team won the game. When the supported team lost the game, spectators with both high and low team identification experienced similar levels of happiness. Furthermore, this study proposed a moderated mediation effect of vitality to provide evidence for the anticipated underlying mechanism. The results of the moderated mediation test indicated that a feeling of vitality mediated the effect of team identification on happiness, but only in the winning game condition. In contrast, in the losing game condition, a feeling of vitality did not mediate the effect of team identification on happiness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Influence of team identification, game outcome, and game process on sport consumers’ happiness

The purpose of the study is to examine the relative effects of game process (i.e., boring versus exciting) and outcome (i.e., losing versus winning) on sport consumers’ happiness depending on their level of team identification. The authors investigated how sport consumers’ levels of happiness are different after recalling (Study 1) and imagining (Study 2) a game when the positivity of the game process and the outcome contradict each other. Results indicate that sport consumers with high team identification exhibited greater degrees of happiness after recalling and imagining a boring win game compared to an exciting loss game. Meanwhile, sport consumers with low team identification exhibited similar degrees of happiness between a boring win game and an exciting loss game.

The Effects of Boredom on Helping and Help-Seeking Behaviors among Team Members

Individuals experience task-focused boredom in the case of understimulation where they perceive their ability to exceed task demands and find the task meaningless, and self-focused boredom in the case of overstimulation where they perceive task demands to exceed their ability and feel fatigued. As social beings, individuals seek stimulation from their immediate social environment when they are bored because social interactions are engaging, and facilitate the instantaneous relief of boredom. To shed light on how employees deal with workplace boredom, I use the social support resource theory to develop a theoretical model explaining how task-focused boredom and self-focused boredom drive helping and help-seeking behaviors respectively in a team context. Specifically, task-focused boredom predicts the availability of cognitive resources positively and results in offering help to teammates, while self-focused boredom predicts the availability of cognitive resources negatively and leads to help-seeking from teammates, among individuals with high team identification but not among individuals with low team identification. My model provides a novel perspective for thinking about how task-focused boredom and self-focused boredom function as antecedents to impact interpersonal dynamics in the team context. This clarifies and paints a more complete picture of the role of boredom in the organizational context. I also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of my model.

The Effects of Fantasy Football Participation on Team Identification, Team Loyalty and NFL Fandom

An estimated 35 million people in North America participated in fantasy sport in 2011. This study examines how participation levels in fantasy football affect team identification, team loyalty, fandom of the National Football League ( NFL ), and consumer behavior. Survey results indicate higher fantasy participation levels leading to higher team identification, higher team loyalty, and higher fandom, where fandom of the NFL is higher than team identification. Other results show higher levels of fantasy participation led to more time spent watching NFL games as well as more time spent online researching and updating their fantasy football team. Additionally, 41% of fantasy football participants prefer a win by their fantasy team instead of their favorite team. A win preference of fantasy team resulted in lower team identification and team loyalty, which has major implications on ticket sales, team merchandise sales, and sponsorship sales.

A Social Context Model of Envy and Social Undermining

We integrate moral disengagement, social identification, and social norms theories to develop, test, and replicate a model that explains how and when envy is associated with social undermining. In Study 1, a two-wave study of hospital employees, results support the prediction that the mediated effect of envy on social undermining behavior through moral disengagement is stronger when employees have low social identification with coworkers. Study 2, a four-wave, multilevel study of student teams, shows that the indirect effect of envy on social undermining through moral disengagement is stronger in teams with low team identification and high team undermining norms.

Motives of United States and Japanese professional baseball consumers and level of team identification

Consumer motives and level of identification with professional baseball teams in the United States and Japan were measured and compared. Significant differences were found on nine of the ten motives measured. Entertainment and motives associated with the core product (game aesthetics, players' skills, and the drama of games) were rated the highest by consumers in the United States. Entertainment and the opportunity to enjoy games with family and friends were rated highest by Japanese consumers. A significant difference was found relative to team identification; the highest percentage of Japanese baseball consumers had low team identification, while the largest percentage of United States baseball consumers reported high levels of team identification. Sport organisations seeking to reach a global audience are advised to better understand the motives influencing consumption of a sport product across cultures, and the degree to which a consumer may identify with a particular product.