International Journal of Sport Communication, 2012, 5, 176-192
© 2012 Human Kinetics, Inc.
Winning Isn’t Everything: The Effect
of Nationalism Bias on Enjoyment
of a Mediated Sporting Event
Lauren Reichart Smith
Auburn University, USA
Disposition theory research within mediated sporting events has traditionally
looked at the relationship between enjoyment and outcome. A gap currently exists
in the theory concerning the effect of the different elements of the mediated content.
The purpose of this study was to examine one such element of mediated content.
This study used a 2 × 2 × 2 between subjects and an experimental design to test
the effects of commentary from a United States broadcast on enjoyment. Within
the experiment, commentary and outcome were manipulated for two teams of different nationalities. Results showed commentary did have an effect on enjoyment;
however, commentary was a stronger predictor of enjoyment than was outcome. In
addition, it was found that nationality alone did not have an effect on enjoyment,
but commentary and nationality combined did have such an effect. Findings from
this study have implications for disposition theory and future research on factors
affecting enjoyment.
Keywords: Disposition Theory, Olympics, sports media, media effects
Sports have always been a source of entertainment, both for participants and
spectators. In ancient times, watching sporting events was limited to the participants
and those who were able to attend the games. When compared with the audiences
of mediated sporting events today, the early sport audience was limited to a small
amount of spectators (Bryant & Raney, 2000). Today, sporting events reach millions of people worldwide and have significant cultural and financial implications.
Research on the content of sporting events with respect to biases in gender,
race, and nationality has been well documented (see Billings & Angelini, 2007;
Billings, Angelini, & Duke, 2010; Billings & Eastman, 2003), but little empirical
research has tested the effects of such content biases. Disposition-based theories
have been used to examine why people enjoy different types of media content;
comedy, drama, tragedy, violence, and sports have all been examined through the
lens of disposition theories. Specifically, the disposition theory of sports spectatorship posits witnessing liked teams or players in victory produces the maximum
amount of enjoyment while watching a sporting event (e.g., Bryant & Raney, 2000;
The author is with the Dept. of Communication and Journalism, Auburn University, Auburn, AL.
176
Winning Isn’t Everything 177
Zillmann & Bryant, 1975). Current disposition research examines how affectations
toward players and teams are formed, but a research gap still exists with respect to
the individual factors within a mediated sporting event that impact enjoyment. One
element that may potentially influence the formation of affectations and influence
enjoyment is commentary. Past research on event commentary has only examined
the influence of home versus away commentators and dramatic language, and the
effect those variables had on enjoyment (Bryant, Comisky, & Zillmann, 1977;
Bryant & Raney, 2000; Rainville & McCormick, 1977).
Given the theoretical context, the following study is designed to extend the
disposition theory of sports spectatorship to identify whether a nationalistic bias,
shown through positive and negative commentary, influences how much enjoyment
is gained through watching a sporting contest. Examining disposition theory of
sports spectatorship through one event can potentially yield a greater understanding
of how a nationalistic bias in the commentary affects viewers’ enjoyment. This study
specifically examines the commentary heard during the 2008 Olympic women’s
gymnastics competition. Women’s gymnastics is one of the most prominent Olympic
sports, often aired in primetime, and typically receives more coverage than other
events (Davis & Tuggle, 2008).
Literature Review
Nationalism Bias in Sports
Studies which have examined a nationalism bias have been largely based in studies of sport coverage and comment valence. With regard to a nationalism bias in
sports, it has been found United States sportscasts tend to favor athletes from the
United States (e.g., Billings, Angelini, & Duke, 2010; Billings, Angelini, & Wu,
2011; Billings & Eastman, 2002). Biases have been found to exist in international
sporting broadcasts through the home nation receiving more coverage than other
nations, even if the home nation is not the most dominant or the most winning.
The Olympic Games have become a natural event in which to examine a
nationalistic bias in coverage. Numerous studies have found evidence of some
type of nationalistic bias, whether it be through coverage time or commentary. An
examination of the 1992 Winter Olympic games in Albertville, France made the
specific allegation political nationalism was brought into the broadcasting of the
Olympic Games, and commentary helped create national ‘friends’ and ‘enemies’
(Riggs, Eastman, & Golobic, 1993). Billings and Eastman (2003) found in their
analysis of the U.S. coverage of the 2000 Summer Olympics that the United States
received 51% of all broadcasts mentions during primetime broadcasts but won only
11% of the total medals at the games.
Commentary is another way of displaying a nationalistic bias, by speaking
positively and complimentarily of the athletes from the United States, and claiming athletes from other nations have success due to lack of luck or experience.
This finding is not limited to the United States broadcasts; Larson and Rivenburgh
(1991) found in their analysis of the 1988 Seoul Olympics that a home nation bias
existed in broadcasts of the games from the United States, Great Britain, and Australia. The conclusions for why this exists generally place the blame on the mass
media seeking to obtain the highest ratings—and therefore, the most advertising
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dollars—by simply giving the viewing public what they ask for, and maintaining
the nation-state construct as a collective consciousness (Billings, 2009; Billings &
Angelini, 2007; Billings & Tambosi, 2004).
Research over multiple Olympic Games, both summer and winter, yields
consistent findings with respect to a nationalism bias found in United States broadcasts; American athletes receive the most mentions, and the most complimentary
commentary (Billings & Angelini, 2007; Billings & Eastman, 2002; Billings &
Eastman, 2003; McDaniel & Chalip, 2002; Weiller, Higgs & Greenleaf, 2004).
American athletes perform well—and conversely, fail—due to their concentration,
commitment, and composure. Non-American athletes succeed due to experience,
but their failures were typically explained by lack of skill, strength, or athletic
ability (Billings & Angelini, 2007).
Overview of Disposition-Based Theories
Disposition-based theories of enjoyment explain why we like what we like. These
disposition-based theories of enjoyment can be used to predict why people will enjoy
certain types of media content (Raney, 2003). The earliest formations of disposition theories were produced by Zillmann & Cantor (1977), and were furthered by
Zillmann (1984, 1985). Zillmann (1980) advanced the following four predictions
of disposition theory:
1.Enjoyment is at the maximum when failure is witnessed for a character that
is disliked, and enjoyment is at its lowest point when the disliked character
achieves victory or escapes punishment
2. When positive characters win, enjoyment increases; when they face a negative
outcome, enjoyment decreases
3.Annoyance levels rise when people deemed positive fail and people that are
disliked succeed
4.Annoyance levels fall when liked persons experience something positive or
win, and rise when those liked characters experience defeat or are setback in
some way.
These four predictions occur jointly, and all four contribute to a total level of
enjoyment or annoyance. It is these four predictions which apply to disposition
theories across genres.
Disposition Theory of Sports Spectatorship
The concept of enjoyment must be considered when talking about sporting events;
people watch sporting events for a variety of reasons, one of which is they enjoy
them. Early studies on disposition theories defined enjoyment as an emotional
response to characters within a program, saying the amount of enjoyment is related
to the positive or negative outcomes for a character (Zillmann & Bryant, 1975).
Applying this concept to sports viewing, enjoyment could be conceived as the
emotional response to players on the field.
That particular branch of disposition theory applies the basic premise of disposition theory to sports content, with the basic premise being enjoyment of entertainment is largely a reflection of both viewers dispositions toward the characters and
Winning Isn’t Everything 179
the outcomes the characters experience (Zillmann, 1985, 1991, 2000; Zillmann &
Cantor, 1977). Enjoyment increases when good characters experience good outcomes and when bad characters experience negative outcomes. Zillmann, Bryant,
and Sapolsky (1989) offered the following propositions to explain the disposition
theory of sports spectatorship: enjoyment derived from witnessing the success
and victory of a liked party increases, and it decreases when watching a disliked
party succeed. In addition, the amount of enjoyment experienced from watching
the defeat of a liked party goes down and then increases when the negative party
is defeated. It can be assumed maximum enjoyment is achieved when an intensely
liked athlete or team defeats and intensely disliked entity. Minimal enjoyment
occurs when disliked athlete achieves victory over the revered athlete. When you
watch a game where you do not care about either team, enjoyment is moderate
(Zillmann & Paulus, 1993). Raney (2006) expounded on the disposition theory of
sports spectatorship, stating “The theory holds that fanship allegiance with a team
or player forms along a familiar continuum of affect from intense liking through
indifference to intense disliking” (p. 143).
Broadcast commentaries help to add drama in sporting contests, and the commentary can then lend itself to the feelings of enjoyment. Bryant, Comisky, and
Zillmann (1977) found sport commentators made use of dramatic statements and
highlighted conflict to increase enjoyment levels among fans. Cheska (1981) noted
elements of drama—the participants, the ritual, the plot, the production, the symbolism, and the social message are all choreographed into the sports spectacular.
Bryant and Raney (2000) said dramatizing sports context evidently helps bring
entertainment value into sports context by converting important plays of great
magnitude into high drama.
Past studies which have examined broadcast commentaries have primarily
examined how language is used and its effect on enjoyment. Wenner (1989) argued
examining the substance of commentary in mediated content may highlight factors
of cultural significance. Interpersonal drama is built in to commentary by making
derogatory statements about opponents (Bryant et al., 1977). In addition, positive
and negative commentary can be used to build reputations for players. In a study
that examined commentary and race, Rainville and McCormick (1977) concluded
commentary served to build positive and negative relationships about players of
certain races; positive commentary praised players and portrayed them in a positive
light, while negative commentary consisted of derogatory remarks and negative
comparisons. Whether it is dramatic statements or positive/negative commentary,
all studies concluded commentary does have an influence on enjoyment of a mediated sporting event.
The element of commentary has been found to help to add drama and excitement in to sporting events. Those commentaries can help bring about feelings of
enjoyment. Sport commentators employ dramatic statements and highlight conflict
to increase enjoyment levels (Bryant et al., 1977). Owens and Bryant (1998) examined how an announcer can have an effect on the fans of teams. They manipulated
the announcer of football games, using either the home team announcer or the
rival teams’ announcer, and found the home team enjoys the game more when the
home announcer is calling it.
Similar findings have been found to be true with regard to media today (Bryant
& Raney, 2000); they observed today’s media likes to highlight conflict as well to
create drama and increase enjoyment. Recent disposition literature in the sports
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realm has focused on elements that may influence enjoyment besides commentary,
such as violence (Raney & Kinnally, 2009) and suspense (Peterson & Raney, 2008).
Recent research on commentary and enjoyment has reached similar conclusions.
Both Raney and Depalma (2006) and Westerman and Tamborini (2010) found commentary had an influence on enjoyment in televised sports, even when combined
with the element of violence.
Research using disposition-based theories has shown viewers enjoy content
based on their affective dispositions toward characters. As previously discussed,
studies based on the disposition theory of sports spectatorship have shown people
enjoy sporting events more when it is ‘their’ team achieving victory. This study
attempts to expand the disposition theory of sports spectatorship by examining
how commentary can affect viewers’ enjoyment of a sporting event. The viewers
were exposed to a United States media broadcast of the 2008 women’s gymnastics
competition from the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, manipulated on different
levels. The main two variables examined were the commentary valence and the
nationality of the viewer. To date, disposition theory research examines one concept
at a time, and does not examine how multiple concepts may work in tandem to
affect enjoyment. The primary goal of this study is to examine how commentary
and viewer nationality function in relation to sports enjoyment. Therefore, to guide
this project the following research questions are advanced:
RQ1: How will commentary affect enjoyment?
RQ2: How will nationality affect enjoyment?
RQ3: Will commentary and nationality work together to affect enjoyment?
Because the 2008 Olympic Games had already occurred at the time of the
study, the following research question was proposed to determine if prior event
outcome knowledge had an effect on enjoyment:
RQ4: Does having prior knowledge of the event outcome affect enjoyment?
Disposition based research focuses on the outcome of an event, whether it
be a sporting event, a drama, or a comedy. The theory assumes that enjoyment
is derived ultimately from the outcome the characters face. The central tenets of
disposition theory state that maximum enjoyment is achieved when liked players achieve victory and minimum levels of enjoyment are achieved when liked
players suffer defeat. The following two hypotheses are proposed to examine
the effect that outcome has on enjoyment when the commentary varies across
conditions:
H1: Event outcome will have an effect on enjoyment for viewers from the
United States.
H2: Event outcome will have an effect on enjoyment for viewers from China.
Methodology
The design of the experiment is a 2 × 2 × 2 between subjects experimental design.
The factors that were manipulated were Olympic gymnastics commentary (commentary), viewer nationality (nationality), and event outcome (outcome). Commentary
Winning Isn’t Everything 181
was manipulated on two different levels: 1) positive United States commentary/
negative Chinese commentary and 2) negative United States commentary/positive
Chinese commentary. Nationality was manipulated on two levels (United States
citizen, Chinese citizen) and event outcome was manipulated on two levels (win,
loss). A more extensive explanation of the content of the videos is provided under
the stimulus heading. Following exposure to the video, the participants rated their
enjoyment of the stimulus material.
Sample
The participants were 150 undergraduate and graduate students from a university
in the Southeastern United States. The first group consisted of 75 United States
citizens; the second group consisted of 75 Chinese citizens currently living in the
United States. Due to incomplete or inaccurate responses, 46 participants’ answers
were removed from the sample. The final sample yielded 104 respondents. The
Chinese citizens were living in the United States to attend school, but designated
their home country as China.
Participants were recruited in two ways. First, a convenience sample was
selected from classes at all levels across the university. Secondly, a snowball sample
was used for participants who were sought from special interests groups based
out of the university, such as the Association for Chinese Students and Scholars.
Students from the special interest groups were asked to pass on information via
e-mail about the study to their friends. Students who agreed to participate opted
for extra credit in a class within the College of Communication, or were eligible to
enter into a drawing for one of two prizes of one hundred dollars. The experiment
consisted of two different nationality groups watching one of four treatments of the
women’s gymnastics competition from the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games.
Participants were systematically assigned to one of the four experimental groups.
Observed power for the sample was 1.00.
Procedure
For this study, the researcher told the participants they would be watching a highlight
video featuring different clips of the women’s gymnastics competition from the
2008 Beijing Olympics and they would complete a survey about their enjoyment
of the video. Participants were not given any sort of background information as
to the controversy which existed during the competition with regard to the Chinese team and their ages to not influence participants’ appraisal of the segments.
During the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Chinese women’s gymnastics team faced
accusations that gymnasts were not 16, which is the age the International Olympic
Committee requires female gymnasts to either be, or need to turn, in the year of
the Olympics. Documents were leaked that showed the Chinese gymnasts were as
young as age 12. Though the Chinese officials successfully disputed the accusations and provided appropriate documentation verifying the ages, the remainder
of the Games saw a cloud of suspicion consistently cast over the Chinese team.
However, the participants were given a brief questionnaire to fill out before they
began watching the video which asked if they watched the Beijing Olympics, what
sports they may have watched, and what their awareness is of the results for the
women’s gymnastics competitions.
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Participants read and signed the IRB-approved consent form, then viewed the
video (approximately 11 min). Following exposure to the video, the participants
completed a survey which tested their level of enjoyment.
Stimulus Material
The stimulus material was created using actual clips and commentary from the
women’s gymnastics competitions at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. All video
was from the NBC primetime broadcasts; all commentary came from the three
event commentators: Tim Daggett, Elfi Schlegel, and Al Trautwig. The researcher
selected clips of full routines from each event from the competitions and edited
them together to form a mock highlight reel. The researcher then selected actual
comments made by the commentators and edited them to match the corresponding
video, so the two elements worked in conjunction to appear as real routines and
commentary from the competition. Important to note is the clips and commentary
did all occur during NBC’s primetime broadcasts, so if participants did watch the
competition, they were not seeing competition elements that did not occur. The
audio that was manipulated also occurred during NBC’s primetime broadcasts,
so no artificial or fake commentary was edited in to the stimulus material. Medal
ceremonies used to show outcome were medal ceremonies that occurred during
NBC’s primetime broadcasts. The goal of the stimulus material was to mimic the
actual competition as closely as possible.
A total of four videos were used. All videos were equally split between United
States and Chinese gymnasts (i.e., 50% of the video featured clips and commentary
about the United States, and the remaining 50% featured clips and commentary
about the Chinese). One United States gymnast and one Chinese gymnast were
shown competing on all four events: vault, uneven parallel bars, balance beam, and
floor. The positive commentary shown with a particular gymnast was all positive;
only comments such as “She has a beautiful routine,” “She did that to perfection,”
and “She is the best in the world on this event” were used. The negative commentary
shown with a particular gymnast was negatively valenced; only comments such
as “She isn’t focused at all,” “She missed that combination and it hurt her overall
score,” and “She does not look good on this event tonight” were used. There were
no neutrally valenced comments (e.g., “She has a start value of 17,” “She just completed a full turn”). The end clip of all the stimulus videos showed one gymnast
receiving a gold medal during the official medal ceremony. For positive United
States outcome the clip was Nastia Liuken receiving her all-around gold medal; for
positive Chinese outcome the clip was He Kexin receiving her gold medal for the
uneven bars. The event for which the medals were presented was not announced in
the stimulus material; participants saw the gymnast receiving the medal, and then
the playing of the country’s national anthem. No individual clips were shown of
the other gymnasts receiving a silver or bronze medal, unless the shot was of the
three gymnasts who won medals and it could not be avoided.
Since previous research has shown games which have more suspense are
more enjoyable to viewers, the clips edited together highlighted the closeness of
the scores, and the slim margins of victory which occurred (Bryant, Rockwell, &
Owens, 1994; Gan, Tuggle, Mitrook, Coussement, & Zillmann, 1997). Though
the outcomes of the four different videos were different, the main elements of
Winning Isn’t Everything 183
the videos remained as similar as possible. For example, the two videos which
highlighted positive commentary about the United States team and negative commentary about the Chinese team showed the exact same clips; the difference was
in the commentary and whom the participants saw receiving the gold medal. The
same tactic was used with the two videos which highlighted negative commentary about the United States teams. This was done in an attempt to minimize the
potential production of different results that could come from watching different
video clips than another group.
Independent Measures
The first independent variable was commentary, which was manipulated on two
levels: positive and negative. All commentary used was actual commentary from
NBC’s primetime broadcasts.
The second independent variable was nationality, which was manipulated on
two levels: United States and China. To account for participants of different nationalities potentially influencing the responses of participants of the other nationality,
participants watched the video clips in an individually segmented cubicle. They
could not see what was on the screen of their neighbor.
The third independent variable was event outcome, which was manipulated
on two levels: United States victory and Chinese victory. Victory was shown by a
gymnast from either the United States or China receiving a gold medal, standing
on the podium, and having their country’s national anthem played.
Dependent Measure
The dependent measure in this experiment was enjoyment of the competition.
Enjoyment of the meet and enjoyment of commentary were measured using a
nine-item measure consisting of ten-point, Likert-type items adapted from prior
research (Raney & Depalma, 2006). Each item had different wording depending
on the question. For example, “How enjoyable was the commentating in the gymnastics clips you just saw?” had Likert-type items ranging from “Not enjoyable
at all” to “Extremely enjoyable,” while a question which asked “How much did
you like hearing the commentary?” ranged from “Not at all” to “Extremely.” An
enjoyment variable was created using the following items: “How much did you
enjoy the clip?”, “How much did you enjoy the commentary?”, “How good did the
clip make you feel?”, “How fair did you think the commentary was?”, and “How
good did the commentary make you feel?” Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was .83,
indicating a good level of reliability.
Control Measures
A participant’s level of nationalism (low, medium, high) was used a control
variable for this study, as a participants level of nationalism is not expected to
change after exposure to the stimulus materials. Nationalism was measured using
a twelve-item measure, consisting of four-point, Likert type items adapted from
prior research (McDaniel & Chalip, 2002; Phinney 1992). Responses ranged from
“Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree.” A nationalism scale was created using
184 Smith
the following items: “I have a clear sense of my nationality,” “I am happy with
my national group,” “I feel a strong sense of belonging to my national group,”
“I have a lot of pride in my national group,” and “I feel a strong sense of attachment to my national group.” Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was .88, indicating a
good level of reliability.
Results
Descriptives
The sample was equally split between respondent’s nationality, with 52 respondents
identifying themselves as United States citizens, and 52 identifying themselves as
Chinese citizens. Of the entire sample, 65% were reported as female, 35% reported
as male. With respect to age, 40% reported themselves to be 18 years old, 20%
reported themselves as 19, 16% reported themselves to be 20, 11% reported themselves to be 21, 11% reported themselves to be 22, and 1% reported themselves
as 23 years of age or older.
Questions about interest in sports in general, watching sports on television,
interest in the Olympic Games, interest in watching the Olympic Games, and if
participants watched the Olympic Games were also asked.
An ANOVA was run to determine if there were significant differences between
the two groups knowledge of the outcomes of the events. No significant relationships were found for knowledge of the team outcome [F(1,102) = 1.97, p = n.s.],
all-around outcome [F(1,102) = .172, p = n.s.], the vault competition [F(1,102) =
1.60, p = n.s.], the beam outcome [F(1,102) = 3.19, p = n.s.], or the floor outcome
[F(1,102) = 2.59, p = n.s.]. However, a significant difference was found for the
bar outcome [F(1,102) = 5.39, p < .05]. Because there were only two groups of
nationalities, no post hoc tests could be run.
Research Questions
Research questions one through three looked at the independent variables of commentary and nationality, and their effect on enjoyment. The variables of outcome
and commentary were dummy coded to take a categorical variable and put it
into a continuous model. The variables of nationality and enjoyment were both
scaled.
In the examination of United States citizens, a stepwise regression model was
run using commentary, scaled nationality, and outcome as independent variables
on the dependent variable of enjoyment. The results of the regression indicated
commentary had an impact on enjoyment. Commentary was a significant predictor of enjoyment [R2 = .911, F(1, 50) = 523.15, p < .01]. In addition, a victorious
outcome for the United States team was found to be a contributing factor in the
model [R2 = .934, F(1, 49) = 18.81, p < .01]. However, the correlation was negative,
meaning for the United States citizens the maximum enjoyment levels occurred
when the commentary about the United States was positive, but the Chinese were
the victors. Thus, for RQ1–3 for United States citizens, commentary has an impact
on enjoyment, but nationality and nationality in concert with commentary do not
have an impact on enjoyment.
Winning Isn’t Everything 185
In examining the Chinese citizen participants, positive commentary was again
found to be the most important factor for enjoyment [R2 = .658, F(1, 50) = 96.32, p
< .01]. Nationality was found to have no impact on enjoyment, and the interaction
between nationality and commentary was not found to have any significance. However, for the Chinese participants, outcome does have an impact on enjoyment levels
[R2 = .773 F(1, 49), p < .01]. When the commentary is positive about the Chinese
gymnasts, and the outcome is a Chinese gymnast victory, there is a .11 explained
variance. This situation results in the highest enjoyment levels for Chinese citizens.
t tests were run that separated outputs by nationality, using gender as an independent variable, and enjoyment and scaled nationality as dependent variables.
None of the t tests reported any significance between gender in enjoyment or
nationality by nation.
RQ4 asked if prior knowledge of the event outcome had an effect on enjoyment.
An independent samples t test revealed no significance between the group that
had knowledge of the team event outcome (M = 5.88, SD = 2.08) and the group
that did not have knowledge of the team outcome (M = 5.28, SD = 2.11); t (1.41)
= .622, p = n.s. This result suggests that prior knowledge did not have an impact
on enjoyment of the event. A full breakdown of the knowledge of event outcomes
is included in Table 1.
Hypotheses
H1 predicted the outcome of the United States gymnast would have an effect on
enjoyment for viewers from the United States. Using outcome as the independent
grouping variable and enjoyment as the dependent continuous variable, an ANOVA
was run to see if outcome had an impact on enjoyment. The ANOVA revealed no
significance in enjoyment levels with respect to outcome F(1, 51) = 1.24, p = n.s.
The results suggest outcome does not have a significant impact on enjoyment for
United States citizens, and the hypothesis is not supported.
H2 predicted the outcome for the Chinese gymnasts would have an effect on
enjoyment for viewers from China. An ANOVA was conducted to compare the
outcome and enjoyment levels. There was a significant difference found with respect
to outcome and enjoyment F(1, 51) = 6.47, p < .05. Specifically, the results suggest outcome has an effect on enjoyment for Chinese citizens, and the hypothesis
is supported.
Table 1 Knowledge of Specific Event Outcomes Before Watching
the Stimulus
Event
Team competition
All-around competition
Vault competition
Bars competition
Beam competition
Floor competition
Note. N = 104.
Knew outcome—U.S.
33%
31%
14%
10%
12%
17%
Knew outcome—China
46%
35%
23%
27%
25%
31%
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Discussion
Commentary, nationality, and outcome served as the independent measures in this
study, and were examined with respect to their impact on a participant’s enjoyment.
RQ1–3 were asked to understand how the two variables worked both separately
and together to influence enjoyment.
To examine the effect the variables had on enjoyment, the two nationalities
were examined using separate stepwise regressions. For the United States citizens,
RQ1–3 showed positive commentary had an impact on participant’s level of enjoyment while watching the clips. Nationality alone, and nationality analyzed together
with positive commentary were not shown to impact enjoyment levels. The model
summary showed a positive outcome for the United States gymnast was a contributing factor in the model, however, the correlation is a negative one, meaning that
for United States citizens, the most enjoyable clips were the treatment where they
viewed positive United States commentary, but the Chinese gymnast was the victor.
In the examination of Chinese citizens for RQ1–3, positive commentary about
the Chinese gymnasts was the most important factor for enjoyment. Though the
R2 in this model summary was not as high as the R2 for United States citizens, the
finding was still significant. For the Chinese citizens, outcome was shown to have
an impact. The most enjoyable scenario for the Chinese citizens was viewing the
treatment where both the commentary and outcome for the Chinese gymnasts
were positive.
For both nationalities, the regression model shows commentary has a bigger
impact on enjoyment than outcome. Though previous studies have examined commentary, conclusions were that commentary lends itself to enjoyment, but enjoyment
was ultimately dependent on outcome (Bryant et al., 1977; Bryant & Raney, 2000;
Rainville & McCormick, 1977). These previous studies only examined commentary
as contribution to enjoyment; a gap exists in that they did not directly assess commentary versus outcome. The findings of these three research questions contradict
the suppositions of disposition theory; if the theory were upheld, outcome would
have had a bigger impact than commentary.
In addition, the most enjoyable treatment condition for United States citizens
was when the Chinese gymnast was the victor, but the commentary about the United
States was positive. This finding directly contradicts the basic tenants of disposition
theory. In this instance, outcome had less of an impact on enjoyment than commentary. This finding is both interesting and surprising; the reasons why enjoyment
levels were the highest for this condition could be based on a number of different
factors. The regression models showed nationality was not a factor for either group
of participants suggesting the United States citizens in this treatment group were
not watching the clips through a nationally biased lens. Since the regression models
showed commentary to be the factor that had an influence on enjoyment, then the
highest levels of enjoyment should not be dependent on outcome. This finding
shows that for this group of participants outcome was not the driving force behind
their enjoyment. This treatment condition highlighted the talent, strength, grace,
and flawlessness of the United States gymnasts, while highlighting the mistakes,
bad form, and weaknesses of the Chinese gymnasts. The takeaway from this finding
may be that enjoyment is not based on the finished product of a program; people
don’t watch a two-hour broadcast and wait until the end to decide if they enjoyed
Winning Isn’t Everything 187
it or not. Enjoyment is decided throughout an event, and enjoyment may fluctuate
throughout an event. This finding presents interesting implications for disposition
theory and mediated events, which will be discussed later.
RQ4 was asked to determine if prior knowledge of the event outcomes had
an impact on enjoyment. There were no significant differences found between the
group that had prior knowledge of the event outcome and the group that did not.
Perhaps if the experiment had been run closer to the broadcast of the Olympics
the performances from and results of the competition might have been fresher in
the minds of participants.
The hypotheses sought to test the basic tenants of disposition theory. H1 focused
on the outcome and enjoyment for United States citizens, and no significance was
found. This finding contradicts the basic tenants of the theory; the theory states that
outcome should be the driving force behind enjoyment. As the regression shows
above, commentary is a more important factor.
H2 examined the factor of outcome on enjoyment for Chinese citizens, and
significance was found. For the Chinese citizens, outcome had more impact on
enjoyment than commentary; this upholds the main idea of disposition theory.
This finding may also be based on the broadcast used in the treatment conditions;
the Chinese citizens were watching a United States broadcast with United States
commentators. The question must be asked if these results would have been the
same if the Chinese participants watched a broadcast from China with Chinese
commentators. In addition, since it was a United States broadcast, the Chinese
citizens may have been less likely to pay attention to the commentary, and more
likely to focus only on the visual elements and outcome of the event.
Implications for Disposition Theories
The main tenets of disposition theory did not hold true across this particular research
experiment. Disposition theory primarily focuses on affectations and outcomes.
Commentary was found to have an influence on enjoyment of the overall clip for
both nationalities. Moreover, nationality was not found to have an influence on
enjoyment. Disposition theory focuses on the favored team and the outcome they
face as the benchmark for enjoyment; if the outcome is not favorable, then enjoyment should not be high. The results outlined in RQ1–3 and H1 with respect to
United States citizens are inconsistent with disposition literature. This inconsistency implies deeper analysis is needed into the portrayals of characters or teams,
as previous assumptions may not be true in all situations. The results in this study
are a departure from the idea that outcome is what drives enjoyment; instead, high
levels of enjoyment may be dependent on how the good characters are portrayed,
and not as dependent on the outcome they face.
Another element to the main idea of outcome driving enjoyment was mentioned above; enjoyment is not decided upon at the conclusion of an event. Whether
movie, television show, or international competition, viewers do not watch the
whole broadcast before deciding if they have enjoyed it. Especially during an event
like gymnastics, where a team or individual gymnast can go from excellence to a
bad performance in the span of one event rotation, enjoyment levels would not be
expected to remain either nonexistent or consistent throughout the event. A fall
on the balance beam could drop enjoyment levels, but the same gymnast coming
188 Smith
back and performing an excellent routine on floor could result in a higher enjoyment level than if the gymnast had two solid back-to-back performances. Sports
viewers enjoy underdog situations, and enjoy when a liked athlete can come back
from adversity. When examining factors that influence enjoyment, consideration
must be taken that those factors may be formed before the outcome even occurs,
making outcome a minimal consideration in enjoyment.
With respect to how affectations are formed and how they affect enjoyment,
this study also points to implications for disposition research. This study used
teams which were correlated to national identity, as nationalism literature provides
support that citizens naturally have positive affectations toward their own nation’s
team. Therefore, in using these teams it is assumed affectations are already formed.
However, since nationality alone did not play a role in the enjoyment of the clip, it
may be counterproductive to make assumptions with respect to disposition theory
based solely on affectation; rather, affectation may need to be combined with another
factor, such as commentary or portrayal, to have a significant effect on enjoyment.
Implications for Mediated Events
Mentions of past research and theories in the literature suggest the sporting arena
is a major site for the construction of identity—a national identity, or a specific
identity associated with gender—and the media is a powerful influence in creating
and portraying such identities. Billings and Tambosi (2004) stated “If such national
biases continually persist . . . then all sportscasts have the power to culturally
influence the perceptions of millions of viewers” (p. 163). The results of this study
suggest implications for broadcasters as well as for viewers.
If winning is not everything, then there are far reaching implications for broadcasts, from sporting events to national news broadcasts. Perhaps publics are not so
fascinated with the winning mentality; rather, they would rather see a positive media
portrayal. In other words, it may be fine if a United States team is not consistently
shown winning every event in the Olympics, so long as the commentators focus
on the positive attributes of the team or player. Highlighting an admirable work
ethic or what was done well in the competition may be more important than the
outcome. Perhaps the mentality of “They didn’t lose a gold medal, they won a silver
(or bronze) medal” has more credence than broadcasters are willing to give credit
to. For broadcasters, this may mean a reexamination of the content they choose to
put on the air, as well as a careful consideration of how they choose to comment
on it. Rather than stack prime-time Olympic broadcasts full of events in which the
United States is expected to dominate, broadcasters could choose to broadcast the
best and most dramatic athletic events, regardless of nationality. Highlighting an
athlete’s skill, training, and dedication to the sport throughout the commentary may
provide for a compelling and ratings-garnering broadcast.
This has dangerous implications as well. If this mentality is correct, then a
careful definition of nationalistic bias is needed. Whether it be coverage time or
commentary valence, the risk is run with still showing the public a biased view of
the country’s domination within the world sphere.
With respect to implications for viewers, as mentioned previously, research has
concluded witnessing liked teams or players achieving victory produces maximum
enjoyment while watching a sporting event. What is not considered is how a viewer
Winning Isn’t Everything 189
decides on which team/player to like. Little research has addressed how the actual
attitudes toward players are formed, and if that process ultimately has an effect on
enjoyment. Biased broadcasting may force viewers into forming positive affectations simply because that is the only message they are being shown. What this study
did not touch upon, but still has significant implications, is that viewers today have
more choices available to them on how and when to watch a broadcast. Streaming video and TiVo may allow the viewer to choose which specific broadcast they
watch, and they may be able to choose broadcasts that do not feature commentary,
or other variables that may add or detract from their enjoyment.
In addition, as noted above, viewers typically do not wait until the end of an
event to decide on their level of enjoyment. This means more consideration must
be taken as to how enjoyment levels may fluctuate during the viewing of an event.
Just as emotions can change over the course of a movie viewing, or the reading of
a book, it would make sense that enjoyment levels could rise and fall depending
on what is happening at a particular point in a mediated sporting event. Viewers
of the Olympic Games may be watching with the hopes of seeing a dramatic performance; a victory of a thousandth of a second in swimming, a complex series of
twisting and turning off a 10m platform in diving, a record-breaking sprint time,
or a gravity-defying routine on the men’s high bar. For a viewer, the thrill may
not be in the victory; the thrill may come in the chase, with the outcome being a
secondary consideration.
As with all studies, this study faces limitations. Two major limitations of the
study include the sampling and stimulus materials. The first and most prominent
limitation is that this study is based on the responses of Chinese nationals living
in the United States. This group of individuals may feel a different pressure to
respond in a certain manner based on their residence in the United States. Without
including Chinese nationals living in China in the study, it is impossible to know
if their responses were based on their nationality or their current country of residence. The second major limitation comes from the broadcast used. The stimulus
videos were created from the NBC network prime time broadcast of the women’s
gymnastics event. The broadcast was United States based, as were the commentators. The fact that all participants watched a United States broadcast with United
States commentators may have implications on the outcome of the experiment.
Additional limitations include the quality of the stimulus material used for the
experiments, the assumption of a positive affectation of the team representing the
participant’s nationality, and the sampling method used for the selection of participants; available subject pool and sampling methods do not allow the results to be
generalized to the population at large. The final limitation is concerned with the
commentary used. The commentary was either positive or negative. This is a very
black and white portrayal of a team; perhaps enjoyment levels would not have been
so low in the negative comment conditions if there had been neutral commentary
to provide a buffer.
The most promising direction of future research may come in the factors
beside the game outcome that may influence enjoyment. Sports are not watched in
a vacuum, yet when researchers test enjoyment of a sporting event, they show one
instance or one game to participants. Future research needs to take into account the
factors which surround the actual sporting event; the media coverage, the social
influence, and the level of fandom. Longitudinal studies of the time period leading
190 Smith
up to an event, the media consumed, and the social aspects need to be examined.
A final direction for this type of research includes monitoring enjoyment levels
throughout the viewing of an event to determine what factors cause enjoyment
levels to rise and fall as a fan watches a mediated sporting event.
Conclusions
The purpose of this study was to extend the disposition theory of sports spectatorship by identifying new factors which may influence enjoyment of a mediated
sporting event, as well as bridge an existing gap between nationalism literature,
disposition literature, and how the two may work in tandem to affect enjoyment.
Specifically, the study examined the influence of nationally biased commentary
on participants from the United States and China, and the resulting enjoyment
they felt after watching the clips of the competition. This study was able to show
the effects of a nationalistic bias on enjoyment, and provide evidence for the need
to expand the studies of disposition theory with respect to factors influencing
enjoyment.
The experiment found media portrayals may play a greater role in enjoyment
than outcome of the event. In addition, the experiment found affectation for a particular team alone does not play a role in enjoyment. In this instance, the affectation had
to be combined with the media portrayal to show a significant effect on enjoyment.
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