March sadness: Coping with fan identity threat

Highlights

•	There is a lack of inquiry into the process undertaken by fans to cope with identity threat.
•	Using autoethnography, I explore how I (as a fan) coped with a negative occurrence.
•	I find that I relied exclusively on emotion-focused coping following a negative event.
•	Through deep contextual inquiry, I find coping is a process, relying on multiple tactics.
•	I coped until a meaningful positive event occurred, restoring my identity to what it was pre-identity threat.

Abstract

While a majority of team identification studies have focused on the influence of psychological connection on organizational objectives, it is important to also examine the influence of team identification on fans in terms of their well-being. Considering the latter, there has been a relative lack of inquiry into how identified fans cope with identity threat, such as program scandal. In the current study, the author uses autoethnography, an interpretive ethnographic mode of inquiry, to examine her Syracuse University Men’s Basketball fandom and her reaction to sanctions imposed on the program in 2015. In doing so, the author finds that she relied on multiple emotion-focused coping strategies over a one-year period to deal with identity threat until a series of positive team-related events restored her identity. The author also finds that her role identities as fan and scholar frequently conflicted one another. Theoretical, methodological, and managerial implications of the current study are discussed.

Keywords:

• Autoethnography
• Coping
• Identity
• Identity threat
• Team identification