Does international sporting boycott act as a social identity threat? The effects on the national collective self-esteem of Pakistani cricket fans

Abstract

The present study theoretically advances the social identity threat construct, with the terrorist attacks of March 4, 2009, in the backdrop, by providing a compelling evidence on how international sporting isolation acts as a social identity threat due to emphatic consequences on spectator’s team identification and national collective self-esteem (CSE). Moreover, the study adheres to the rejection identification model, which accentuates profound identity by the socially devalued in-group members for preservation of self-esteem in instance of negative portrayal by an out-group. A total of 210 respondents were randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions. The results show that national team identification produced positive change in the CSE in threat condition making respondents assert significance to their group membership, self-concept, and private CSE. The two experimental conditions in this research delineate two diverse perspectives regarding identity level while adding useful contributions to the literature.