Power within the Olympic rings? Nationalism, Olympic media consumption, and comparative cases in Germany and the USA

ABSTRACT

A total of 1025 respondents from the USA and Germany were asked questions about Olympic media consumption, fan involvement, and nationalized feelings over four data collection points before, during, and after the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games. Nationalized qualities across four factors (patriotism, nationalism, smugness, and internationalism) varied little over time, with structural equation modeling indicating that these four qualities did have an effect on both fan involvement and the amount of Olympic media consumption. Models for the USA and Germany were also markedly different. Self-categorization theory is utilized as a lens for further understanding of the results.

KEYWORDS:

• Winter Olympics
• nationalism
• media consumption
• structural equation modeling

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributors

Kenon A. Brown (Ph.D., The University of Alabama, 2012) is an assistant professor of public relations at The University of Alabama. His research interests include athlete image management and repair, effects of mediated sports communication and minority recruitment in mass communication.

Andrew C. Billings (Ph.D., Indiana University, 1999) is the Ronald Reagan Chair of Broadcasting and Director of the Alabama Programme in Sport Communication at the University of Alabama. He is the author of 10 books and over 100 journal articles, mostly pertaining to the intersection of sport, media, and issues of identity.

Christiana Schallhorn is a Ph.D. student in communications at the Institute Human-Computer-Media of the University of Würzburg in Germany. Her research focuses on sports communication (e.g. effects of sporting mega-events, cultivation effects of media sports, stereotypes) and advertising (e.g. product placements).

Holger Schramm, Ph.D., is Professor of Communication at the Institute Human-Computer-Media of the University of Würzburg in Germany. He is specialized in the areas of media processes and effects (para-social interactions, mood and emotion, entertainment, presence), music and media, sports communication, and advertising/brand communication.

Natalie A. Devlin is an account analyst at Conversant, Inc. She received her Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Alabama in May 2014. Her research interests include public relations, social media, and a variety of topics within sports communication.

Notes

1. US participants – Time 1: 128, Time 2: 130, Time 3: 137, Time 4: 130; Germany participants – Time 1: 125, Time 2: 125, Time 3: 125, Time 4: 125

2. Reliabilities calculated across all four data collection points.