Understanding the consequences of victory amongst sport spectators: The mediating role of BIRGing

Prior work on the relationships between team identification and spectators' reactions to one's team victory has largely neglected the potential effects of mediating variables. In this research, we proposed that the process of Basking in Reflected Glory [BIRGing - the tendency to reduce the distance between oneself and one's team; Cialdini, R.B., Bordon, R.J., Thorne, A., Walker, M.R., Freeman, S., & Sloan, L.R.(1976). Basking in reflected glory: Three (football) field studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 366-375] would lead spectators to almost take ownership of victories and share its benefits, thereby impacting their sense of national belonging in a positive manner. To this end, participants (N=73) were asked to watch an edited video clip showing a victory of the French national rugby team playing against South Africa. As expected, results revealed that BIRGing mediated the relationship between team identification and one's sense of national belonging. In closing, a number of implications are discussed along with future research avenues pertaining to the sport spectatorship literature.