The Impact of a Life-Disrupting Threat on Team Identity

Abstract

ABSTRACT Team identity is periodically disrupted by identity threat, yet minimal research has addressed how life-disrupting threats impact team identity. In the current study, the authors employed a case study design to examine the effects of a life-disrupting threat (i.e., the start of the COVID-19 pandemic) on team identity. The authors, leveraging interviews and participant journaling, examined individuals who identify with at least one sport team, finding that team identity was mostly “inactive” as this life-disrupting threat set in. Further, although participants recognized the importance of their fandom in terms of social connectivity (i.e., relationships with fellow fans) and opportunity for escape, they emphasized that, overall, being a fan was unimportant during the early months of the pandemic. Collectively, these findings highlight the need to study team identity (and identity threat) from a more “macro” perspective – that is, considering fandom in conjunction with other salient factors in fans’ lives. HIGHLIGHTS A case study design was used to understand how a life-disrupting threat (i.e., the start of the COVID-19 pandemic) impacted team identity. During a period of life-disrupting threat, team identity was not salient, becoming an inactive frame of reference. Individuals recognized a simultaneous importance and unimportance of their fandom amid the life-disrupting threat. The research has implications concerning team identity from a macro perspective, or the extent to which fandom fits into the rest of life.