Creating shared values between national team identity and global event brand equity
Woong Kwon (Hoseo University), Hyun-Woo Lee (Georgia Southern University), and YuKyoum Kim (Seoul National University) 2015, 43(2), 177–192

New Zealand, the home of Social Behavior and Personality for over 40 years now, last month played host to the ICC World Cup of Cricket. Along with cohosts Australia, New Zealand saw fourteen national teams compete for the World Cup trophy – with 93,000 attending the final between New Zealand and Australia, and estimates that potentially one billion watched television broadcasts of that match. 

The same month as the tournament, SBP published research by Woong Kwon, Hyun-Woo Lee, and YuKyoum Kim, on the topic of national team identity and global event brand equity. One of their conclusions echoes the euphoria and hype that filled New Zealand as the national team raced to the finals: “direct effects of a successful team history were the most compelling in strengthening fan involvement and identification with the team” (p. 188).  One former New Zealand cricket captain wrote that this global event made New Zealanders “fall in love with cricket all over again.” * 

Kwon et al. elaborated on the relationships between local team identification, global marketing efforts, and creation of shared values, and showed how a successful global event could positively affect social bonds and create social psychological benefits. Their article will be useful for the organizers of future global sporting events, to create the kind of environment that is both economically profitable to the sport, and fosters unity and team identification in the local community – a feat that appears to have been pulled off beautifully in the sporting triumph that was the 2015 Cricket World Cup!  

Note: the Editor does admit some bias regarding the game of cricket!

 Alex Cheyne | Managing Editor

Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal    

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*http://bit.ly/1EK5ipK