Moral Support and Performance

Fabrizio Colella, Patricio S. Dalton () and Giovanni Giusti ()
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Patricio S. Dalton: Department of Economics and CentER, Tilburg University, 5037 AB Tilburg, Netherlands
Giovanni Giusti: TecnoCampus, Parc TecnoCampus Mataró-Maresme, 08302 Mataró, Barcelona, Spain

Management Science, 2024, vol. 70, issue 7, 4614-4628

Abstract: This study presents unique empirical evidence on the importance of moral support for performance. We take advantage of an unusual change in Argentinean football legislation. In August 2013, as a matter of national security, the Argentinean government forced all teams in the first division to play their games with only home team supporters. Supporters of visiting teams were not allowed to be in stadiums during league games. We estimate the effect of this exogenous variation of supporters on team performance and find that visiting teams are on average about 20% more likely to lose without the presence of their supporters. As a counterfactual experiment, we run the analysis using contemporaneous cup games, where the visiting team supporters were allowed to attend, and find no effect of the ban on those games. Moreover, the ban does not seem to bias the decisions of referees, the lineups, or the market value of the teams, suggesting that the effect on team performance is due to the loss of moral support rather than other factors. Finally, we find that moral support is more relevant when there is equal power between the two teams, suggesting that moral support compensates the power of monetary resources. This paper provides a proof of concept of moral support as an important nonmonetary resource, even in settings with high monetary incentives.

Keywords: moral support; encouragement; behavioral changes; motivation; non-monetary incentives; competitive environments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:70:y:2024:i:7:p:4614-4628

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