Understanding the Relationship between Past Experience of a Sports Mega-Event and Current Spectatorship: The Mediating Role of Nostalgia

Jeongbeom Hahm, Tae-Ahn Kang and Hirotaka Matsuoka
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Jeongbeom Hahm: Waseda Institute for Sport Sciences, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Higashifushimi, Nishitokyo, Tokyo 202-0021, Japan
Tae-Ahn Kang: Graduate School of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Higashifushimi, Nishitokyo, Tokyo 202-0021, Japan
Hirotaka Matsuoka: Faculty of Sport Sciences, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Higashifushimi, Nishitokyo, Tokyo 202-0021, Japan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 6, 1-19

Abstract: Mass sport participation has received considerable attention in the recent sport management literature. However, little is known about sport spectatorship as an outcome of sports mega-events (SMEs). This is the first study to use cross-cultural analysis to examine the relationship between the 2002 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup Korea/Japan and current football spectatorship in the host countries. In the context of SMEs, this study uses the psychological construct of nostalgia as a mediator to identify the relationship with spectatorship. Data from 416 and 408 respondents from South Korea and Japan, respectively, were collected through online surveys and analysed cross-culturally using Hayes’ PROCESS macro model 4. We find that the nostalgia evoked by the 2002 World Cup has positively influenced the host nations’ current football spectatorship. While this SME has a strong impact on evoking nostalgia, the effect of nostalgia on spectator behaviour is significant, yet comparatively weak.

Keywords: sports mega-events; football spectatorship; nostalgia; cross-cultural analysis; mediating effect (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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