cheng rosner chao peng chen li kwong hong chiu 2011

International Journal of Intercultural Relations 35 (2011) 296306

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International Journal of Intercultural Relations

journa l homepage: www.e lsev ier .com/ locate / i j in t re l

One world, One dream? Intergroup consequences of the2008 Beijing Olympics

Shirley YXia Chena Department ob Guanghua Scc Department od Institute of Soe Department of Nanyang Bus

a r t i c l

Article history:Accepted 17 Ju

Keywords:OlympicsGlobalizationIdentityCulture and seCulture and co

1. Introdu

Major incouldpromalso invite iand worsenthe sloganamong peoemphasizedprinted the

Corresponfax: +852 3411

E-mail add1 Present a2 Present a

0147-1767/$ doi:10.1016/j..Y. Chenga,, Jennifer L. Rosnera, Melody Manchi Chaoa,1, Siqing Pengb,c,2, Yanmei Lid, Jessica Y.Y. Kwonge, Ying-yi Honga,f, Chi-yue Chiua,f

f Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820, United Stateshool of Management, Peking University, Beijing, Chinaf Psychology, Peking University, Beijing, Chinacial and Economic Behaviors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinaf Marketing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Chinainess School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

e i n f o

ly 2010

lfgnition

a b s t r a c t

Despite deliberate efforts to promote the ideal of One world, One dream, the 2008 Bei-jing Olympics appears to have exaggerated Mainland Chinese perception of Chinese andWestern cultural differences and increased low ingroup identiers ingroup favoring emo-tions and perceptions. In Study 1, we measured Beijing Chineses perceptions of Chineseand Western values before and after the Olympics. The results showed that, after theOlympics, encountering the Beijing Olympic icon increased perceived value differencesbetween Western and Chinese cultures. Study 2 showed that in Mainland China, individu-alswho identied stronglywithChinese culture favoredChinese (vs. American) commercialbrandsmore both at the beginning and toward the end of theOlympics.Moreover, althoughindividuals with low levels of Chinese cultural identication did not display signicantingroup favoritism at the beginning of the Olympics, they did so toward the end of theGames. Together, the results suggest that the Olympics had widened the cultural dividebetween China and the Western world.

2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

ction

ternational events such as the Olympic Games typically bring nations together. On the one hand, these eventsote global harmonyby creatingopportunities for transnational cooperation.On theotherhand, these events couldntergroup comparisons, which when fueled by intergroup competition could magnify the perceived differencestensions between countries (Gries, Crowson, & Sandel, 2010; Rosner, Li, Chao, & Hong, 2010). As epitomized in

One world, One dream, the ofcial agenda of the 2008 Beijing Olympics was to promote unity and harmonyple all over the world. Yet, the news coverage of the Olympics in both China and the United States consistentlycompetition between the two countries. For example, on the opening day of the Beijing Olympics, USA Todayheadline: Quest to become the worlds best pits East against West. The story opened with the prediction that

ding author. Present address: Department of Marketing, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China. Tel.: +852 3411 7526;5586.

resses: [email protected] (S.Y.Y. Cheng), [email protected] (C.-y. Chiu).ddress: Department of Management, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China.ddress: Institute of Arts and Humanities, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.

see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.ijintrel.2010.07.005

S.Y.Y. Cheng et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 35 (2011) 296306 297

A new East-West sports rivalry will take shape here during the next 2 weeks, with China probably emerging as a real threatto the USAs Summer Olympics dominance of the past 12 years. This message was circulated widely in the newsmedia andon the Internet before and during the Olympics (e.g., www.BBC Chinese.com, www.Zhidao.baidu.com).

How do major international events such as the Olympics shape peoples reactions to other countries and cultures?Aside fromto buildingrevealed thcultures.

1.1. Perceiv

As a resu(Alter & KwKeh, & Lawbetween thevidence thFor instancand are mobeen exposdifferencesexperimentculture (Ch

In the coof the eventhese perceOlympics shnese, encoucultures. Hoences, meretested this h2008 Olymwere subtlywho believChineses pafter the Ol

1.2. Ingrou

Exposurquences (Bintercultura2008). Howprotect thecultural inglobalizatio

AccordinCheng, Kimis the indivand are moideas, increperformancwhen peopqualities toin intergrougroups of boutgroup anhave promo

The sociintergrouping with poits practical relevance for international relations and businesses, the answer to this question contributespsychological theories of globalization (Liu & Hong, 2010). In this article, we report two studies that

e psychological processes through which major international events inuence peoples reactions to foreign

ed value differences between cultures

lt of globalization, symbols of ones own culture and other cultures often occupy the same space at the same timean, 2009). According to the dual culture activation theory of globalization (Chiu & Cheng, 2007; Chiu, Mallorie,, 2009), placing representations of two cultures in cognitive juxtaposition enhances the perception of differencese two cultures and invites attribution of essential qualities to both cultures. Consistent with this theory, there isat encountering two cultures at the same time and in the same space enhances awareness of cultural differences.e, the Chinese who live in urban cities (vs. rural towns) have greater exposure to culturally mixed environmentsre aware of the value differences between Chinese and Western cultures (Chen & Chiu, 2010). After havinged to multicultural experiences in a short-term study aboard program, students become more aware of cultural(Jackson, 2008). Finally, temporary exposure to symbols of Chinese and Western cultures simultaneously in anincreases Americans (Chineses) tendency to attribute individualist (collectivist) values to American (Chinese)

iu et al., 2009).ntext of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, due to frequent exposure to Chinese and Western cultures over the courset, Beijing Chinese should perceive increasingly larger difference between Chinese andWestern cultures. Becauseptual consequences are linked to peoples experiences with the Olympics, reminding Beijing Chinese of theould evoke this heightened perception of cultural differences (Rosner et al., 2010). Specically, for Beijing Chi-ntering the Olympic icon before the Games should have no effect on the perceptions of Chinese and Westernwever, following the Games, once Beijing Chinese have learned to associate the Olympics with cultural differ-ly seeing the Olympic icon should enlarge the perceived differences between Chinese andWestern cultures. Weypothesis in Study 1. Consistent with this prediction, Rosner et al. (2010) reported that several months after thepics, Beijing college students perceived greater differences between Chinese and Western cultures when theyreminded of the Olympics Games than when they were not, and this effect was more pronounced among those

ed more strongly in a xed world. Study 1 provided a more rigorous test of our hypothesis by comparing Beijingerceptions of value differences across cultures following an incidental exposure to the Olympics logo before andympics.

p favoring emotions and perceptions

e to intercultural contacts and global competition may have different intercultural and psychological conse-erry, 2008). For example, prolonged and cumulative intercultural experiences can lead to the evolution of anl, cosmopolitan identity, characterized by strong commitment to individuation and universalistic values (Kim,ever, globalization could also evoke fear of erosion of the local heritage culture, elicit defensive responses tointegrity and purity of the heritage culture, and foster exclusionary and xenophobic reactions toward foreignuence (Salzman, 2008). An important research question in the psychology of globalization is to explain whenn would produce defensive reactions.g to the dual culture activation theory of globalization (Chiu, 2007; Chiu & Cheng, 2007, in press; Chiu, Wan,, & Yang, in press), a critical factor that determines how people would respond to foreign cultural differenceiduals intercultural mindset. Research has shown that when people have an intercultural learning mindsettivated to learn from a foreign culture, multicultural experiences would lead to appreciation of foreign culturalase the motivation to synthesize seemingly incompatible ideas from different cultures, and improve creativee (Leung & Chiu, in press; Leung, Maddux, Galinsky, & Chiu, 2008; Maddux, Adam, & Galinsky, 2010). However,le adopt a competitivemindset, they perceive unbridgeable gaps between cultures and tend to attribute negativethe outgroup culture (Chiu, 2007). This idea has support froma classic eld experiment on the role of competitionp relations (Sherif, Harvey, White, Hood, & Sherif, 1961; Sherif & Sherif, 1953), which showed that when twooys in a summer camp were placed against each other in competitive games, they quickly developed strongtagonism. In the case of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the medias repeated emphasis on a U.S.China rivalry mayted ingroup favoring emotions and perceptions.al identity theory (Turner, Oakes, Haslam, & McGarty, 1994) also predicts that intergroup competition can affectemotions and perceptions. The theory posits that individuals seek positive distinctiveness for the self by identify-sitively evaluated ingroups. Moreover, once their social identity is activated, people seek positive distinctiveness

298 S.Y.Y. Cheng et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 35 (2011) 296306

by attributing negative qualities to the outgroup and positive qualities of the ingroup. This process allows the ingroup toappear as a coherent and distinct entity with clear boundaries, separate from and better than the outgroup.

Oneway to test the idea that frequent exposures to global competitionwould increase intercultural tension is to examinewhether such exposure would lead to ingroup favoritism even among those with relatively low levels of ingroup culturalidenticatioRosner et aasked theirfollowingm(e) China be(h) China atreceived thappeal to thgiven that and the WOlympics athe Chineseof China asintercultura

If amongOlympics, aexperienceamong thosof intergrouamong peo

In Studyreactions towith Mainlbrands. Accthe Olympiemotions asure to thestrong ingridenticatioof intercultualso exhibit

2. Study 1

The goacultural difffollowing thdifferences

2.1. Method

2.1.1. ParticThe pres

exposure) bmonths afteSD=0.92) ayears, SD=1did not conconducted bipants compThe remain

2.1.2. MeasThe part

harmony) aal., 2007) hassociationn. The Olympic Games provided an appropriate context for testing this idea. Shortly after the 2008 Olympics,l. (2010) surveyed American and Beijing Chinese respondents perceptions of the Olympics. The investigatorsrespondents to rate on a scale from 1 to 5 how strongly the Beijing Olympics logowas associatedwith each of theeanings: (a) Chinese national pride, (b) unfair news coverage, (c) One world, One dream, (d) globalizing China,comingWestern, (e) theWest becoming Chinese, (f) rise of China as a superpower, (g) Chinese competitiveness,tempting to appeal to theWest, and (i) Chinas attempting to imitateHollywood. AmongAmericans, the item thate highest rating was Chinese competitiveness, followed by Chinese national pride, and China attempting toeWest. Among the Chinese, Oneworld, One dream received the second highest rating, which is not surprisingOne world, One dream was the ofcial slogan of the Beijing Olympics. Despite this, China becoming Westernest becoming Chinese received the lowest ratings from the Chinese, indicating that the Chinese did not see thes a symbol of cultural accommodation or convergence. In fact, the items that received the highest ratings fromwere China attempting to appeal to the West, Chinese national pride, Chinese competitiveness and risea superpower. These results suggest that for both Americans and the Chinese, the Olympics is a symbol ofl competition (see Gries et al., 2010).theMainland Chinese, theOlympics is strongly associatedwith intercultural competition and national pride, thes a huge social event, can be considered an environmental prime. Thus, for the Mainland Chinese, the Olympicsshould activate international competitiveness and collective self-esteem, strengthening ingroup favoritism, evenewho have relatively low levels of Chinese cultural identication. Thus, we hypothesize that repeated activationp competitiveness through the Olympics experience would lead to ingroup favoring emotions and perceptionsple low levels of ingroup identication.2, we tested this hypothesis by examining how the 2008 Beijing Olympics have affected Mainland ChinesesChinese and American cultures. Shortly before and on the last few days of the Olympics, we conducted a surveyand Chinese on their emotional and perceptual responses toward iconic Chinese brands and iconic Americanording to the social identity theory, shortly before the Olympics (before the Chinese were frequently exposed tocs prime), participants with stronger Chinese cultural identication would experience stronger ingroup favoringnd have more pronounced ingroup favoring perceptions. Toward the end of the Olympics (after frequent expo-Olympics prime), participants with relatively strong Chinese cultural identication should continue to reportoup favoring emotions and perceptions. In contrast, participants with relatively low levels of Chinese culturaln should not display ingroup favoritism at the beginning of the Olympics. However, due to frequent activationral competitiveness and national pride during the Olympics, at the end of the Olympics, these individuals wouldsignicant ingroup favoring emotions and perceptions.

l of Study 1 was to test the idea that, for Beijing Chinese, the Olympic Games would become associated witherences as a result of extensive simultaneous exposure to Chinese andWestern cultures during the Games. Thus,e Olympics, being exposed to (vs. not being exposed to) the Olympic icon should evoke larger perceived valuebetween Chinese and Western cultures.

ipants and designent study adopted a 2 (Time: Before vs. After the Olympics)2 (Olympic salience: Icon exposure vs. No iconetween-subjects design. Datawere collected in July, 2008 (amonth before the Olympics) andNovember, 2008 (3r theOlympics). The July sample consistedof 94undergraduates fromBeijing (70women;meanage=20.90years,nd the November sample consisted of 125 participants from the same population (82 women; mean age=22.43.46). Therewere no gender differences in the demographic variables and the dependentmeasures. Therefore, wesider gender in the subsequent analysis. The participants completed a survey of social and economic behaviorsy the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. To manipulate the salience of the Olympics, we had half of the partic-lete a survey that had a small Beijing Olympic icon at the bottom right corner of each page of the questionnaire.ing participants (the control group) completed an identical survey without the Beijing Olympic icon.

uresicipants were presented with a list of ve Chinese values (obedience, modesty, collectivism, obligation, andnd ve Western values (assertiveness, uniqueness, individuality, autonomy, and freedom). Past studies (Fu etave shown that the Chinese (Western) values on the list can spontaneously activate Chinese (Western) culturals. The valueswere presented in a randomized order. For each value, the participants rated on a continuous analog


F

line scale (fthe extent tWesterncuCulture (Chvalueswithassociationculture (=

2.1.3. AnalyWe hyp

Western cuesis, we rthe four vaticipants wassociation

We furtOlympics thaction wou

Finally,(vs. before)we construmeasure insubjects ANdifference w

2.2. Results

As an ovculture, andhad no effeafter the Ga

A Valuemeasures rein Fig. 1, tht(219) =27.p< .001.

Furthermassociation

3 There wasp< .001, 2p = .ig. 1. Perceived associations of Chinese and Western values with Chinese and Western cultures before and after the Olympics.

rom the left end of a line =not at all characteristic to 16 cm from the left end of the line =highly characteristic) (a)owhich the valuewas characteristic of Chinese culture, and (b) the extent towhich the valuewas characteristic oflture.Weaggregated the ratingsacross respectivevalues foreachValueType (ChineseorWesternValues)Targetinese orWestern culture) combination to form 4 value perceptionmeasures: (a) perceived association of ChineseChinese culture (= .72), (b) perceived association of Chinese valueswithWestern culture (= .52), (c) perceivedof Western values with Chinese culture (= .59), and (d) perceived association of Western values with Western.70).

ses of dataothesize that the participants would perceive Chinese values to be more characteristic of Chinese culture thanlture, andWestern values to be more characteristic of Western culture than Chinese culture. To test our hypoth-st conducted a Value TypeTarget CultureTime mixed design analysis of variance (ANOVA) on the each oflue perception measures and predicted a signicant Value TypeTarget Culture interaction, such that the par-ould perceive stronger associations of Chinese values with Chinese culture than Western culture, and strongers of Western values with Western culture than Chinese culture.her hypothesize that the perceived differences in cultural values described above would be larger after thean before it. That is, in the ANOVA described in the previous paragraph, the Value TypeTarget Culture inter-ld be qualied by a signicant Value TypeTarget CultureTime interaction.we hypothesize that the participants would perceive Chinese and Western cultures to be more different afterthe Olympics, particularly when we made Olympics salient in the judgment context, To test this hypothesis,cted a measure of perceived cultural differences in terms of the 10 cultural values, with higher scores on thisdicating greater perceived differences between cultures. We performed a TimeOlympic Salience between-OVA on this perceived cultural difference measure and predicted a signicant interaction: Perceived culturalould be most pronounced in the Olympics salient contexts after the Olympics.

and discussionerview, the participants perceived Chinese values to be more characteristic of Chinese culture than WesternWestern values to bemore characteristic ofWestern culture thanChinese culture. As predicted,Olympic saliencect on the perceived cultural differences in either type of set of values before the Olympics. However, 3 monthsmes, Olympic salience increased the perceived cultural difference in values.TypeTarget CultureTimemixed design analysis of variance (ANOVA) performed on the four value perceptionvealed a signicant Value TypeTarget Culture interaction, F(1, 218) =791.50, p< .001, 2p = .781. As illustratede participants perceived Chinese values to be more characteristic of Chinese culture than Western culture,00, p< .001, andWestern values to bemore characteristic ofWestern culture than Chinese culture, t(219) =18.14,

ore, the predicted three-way interaction was signicant, F(1, 218) =8.25, p= .004, 2p = .036.3 The perceivedof Chinese values with Chinese culture [F(1, 218) =29.93, p< .001] and that of Western values withWestern cul-

also a signicant main effect of target culture, F(1, 218) =34.14, p< .001, 2p = .135, and a signicant main effect of time, F(1, 218) =24.04,099. These effects should be interpreted in the context of the higher-order interactions.


ture [F(1, 22in cultural vWestern cu

Next, tobetween its(= .75). Toa TimeOlwas signicafter the Olwas signicicon signiSD=2.09), Fperceived cIn short, coundergradu

3. Study 2

In the pon intercultstronger ingthe Olympiplay ingroufavoritism aMainland Cend of the Odue to frequOlympics, tingroup fav

In the pcommerciaprotect theassociation

For sevewe argue thidenticatioChina) andare unlikelyenjoyed a hChinese as& Chiu, 199cultural ideeffects shou

Second,result someFig. 2. Effects of Olympics salience on perceived cultural differences in values before and after the Olympics.

4) = 17.62, p< .001]were signicantly stronger after (vs. before) theGames, suggesting that perceived differencesalues had enlarged after the Olympics. The time difference in the perceived association of Chinese values withlture and that of Western values with Chinese culture was not signicant, F .24.form a measure of perceived cultural differences in values, for each value, we computed the absolute differenceassociation with Chinese and Western cultures, and took the average of the 10 absolute difference scoresexamine the effects of time and Olympic salience on the perceived difference in cultural values, we performedympic Salience between-subjects ANOVA on the perceived cultural difference measure. The main effect of timeant, F(1, 215) =11.05, p= .001, 2p = .049: The perceived difference in cultural values was more pronouncedympics (Mafter = 5.98, SD=2.15 vs. Mbefore = 5.05, SD=1.95). The predicted TimeOlympic Salience interactionant, F(1, 215) =4.27, p= .04, 2p = .019. As shown in Fig. 2, 3 months after the Olympics, seeing the Olympiccantly enlarged the perceived cultural differences in values (MOlympics Salient = 6.46, SD=2.11 vs. MControl = 5.50,(1, 123) =6.44, p= .01, 2p = .050. However, 1 month before the Olympics, seeing the Olympic icon did not affectultural differences in values (MOlympics Salient = 4.95, SD=1.94 vs. MControl = 5.15, SD=1.98), F(1, 92) =0.25, p= .62.nsistent with the prediction of the dual culture activation theory, following the Olympic, reminding Beijingates of the Olympics enlarged the perceived cultural differences in values.

resent study, we tested the effects of intercultural competitiveness priming through the Olympics experienceural relations in Mainland China. According to the social identity theory (Turner et al., 1994), individuals withroup cultural identication should display stronger ingroup favoritism. Accordingly, we hypothesize that beforecs began, the more the Mainland Chinese identied with Chinese culture, the more likely they would dis-p favoritism. That is, individuals who identied strongly with Chinese culture would show signicant ingroupnd those who did not identify with Chinese culture would not. The social identity theory also predicts that thehinese who strongly identied with Chinese culture would continue to display ingroup favoritism toward thelympic Games. In addition to these predictions derived directly from the social identity theory, we predict thatent activation of an intercultural competitiveness mindset through the Olympics experience, at the end of the

heMainland Chinese who had relatively low levels of Chinese cultural identication would also show signicantoritism.resent study, we measured ingroup favoritism through the participants reactions to Mainland and Americanl brands to obscure the connection of the measure with intergroup emotions and perceptions. Nonetheless, tovalidity of themeasure as one concerning intergroup emotions and perceptions, we chose brands that had strongs with China or the U.S. (see below).

ral reasons, we also included a sample of Hong Kong Chinese as a comparison group in the present study. First,at the predicted shifts in brand evaluations among the Mainland Chinese with low levels of Chinese culturaln during the Olympics was due to repeated activations of competitiveness between the ingroup (Mainlandthe outgroup (the U.S.) through the Olympics experience. If this is indeed the case, the Hong Kong Chineseto display such shifts. Although the sovereignty of Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, Hong Kong stilligh level of political autonomy. There is consistent evidence most Hong Kong Chinese do not perceive Mainlandan ingroup (Fu, Lee, Chiu, & Hong, 1999; Hong et al., 2006; Lam, Lau, Chiu, Hong, & Peng, 1999; Tong, Hong, Lee,9). If the predicted shifts in brand evaluations among the Mainland Chinese with relatively low levels of Chinesentication were indeed due to repeated priming of competition between the ingroup and the outgroup, suchld be considerably weaker among the Hong Kong Chinese who do not see Mainland China as an ingroup.it could be argued that the change in the evaluations of national and foreign brands during the Olympics was theincidental factors (e.g., change in the marketing strategies of some American and Mainland brands during the


Table 1Scale reliabilitiesaggregating across brands.

Scale items Scale reliabilitiesU.S. brands Chinese brands

Positive emotions

Olympics oexplanationreasons behHong Kong

Finally, rChinese (Hoand the Chithem. ThusAmerican bshould havesample in tMainlandC

3.1. Method

3.1.1. PartiWe surv

Day), and frJuly 2008, win a markewho complof HK$50 (acomplete anChina (195years, SD=1

3.1.2. Meas3.1.2.1. Resonline macommercianominationWe chose dseen as repMainland C

The resphappiness,2004). Eachstrongly thesample, weitems. TableHappiness, pleasure, admiration, and envyMainland sample .91 .92Hong Kong sample .89 .92

Negative emotionsDisgust, sympathy, anger, and fearMainland sample .92 .95Hong Kong sample .90 .89

Brand perceptionsTrustworthy, wise, superior quality, industry leader, friendly, cooperate with other brands, enthusiastic, respect

customers, socially responsible, popularMainland sample .97 .96Hong Kong sample .96 .97

Notes. For theMainland sample, thes of individual emotion items across brandswere >.74 for theMainland brandsand >.74 for the U.S. brands, and the s of individual evaluative attributes across brands were >.71 for theMainlandbrands and >.68 for the U.S. brands. For the Hong Kong sample, the s of individual emotion items across brandswere >.74 for the Mainland brands and >.56 for the U.S. brands, and the s of the individual evaluative attributeswere >.62 for the Mainland brands and >.64 for the U.S. brands.

r the performance of Chinas Olympic Team). Including a Hong Kong sample can help to address this alternative. Because the Hong Kong Chinese were also exposed tomany of these incidental factors, if these factors were theind the shifts in brand evaluations, we should observe similar patterns of results in both Mainland China and.esearchhas shown thatHongKongChinese have lower levels of Chinese cultural identication thandidMainlandng et al., 2006). In the present study, when asked to evaluate the relative importance of the Hong Kong identitynese identity, 70.3% of the Hong Kong participants replied that the Hong Kong identity was more important to, we predict that the Hong Kong Chinese would be less likely than the Mainland Chinese to favor Chinese versusrands. Nonetheless, among the Hong Kong Chinese, those who identied more strongly with Chinese culturemore favorable evaluations of Mainland Chinese brands than American brands. In short, including a Hong Kong

he current study helped to pin down the causal mechanism behind the predicted shifts in brand evaluations inhina, eliminate somealternativeexplanations, andcontextualize theeffects ofOlympicson intercultural relations.

cipantseyedMainland Chinese from August 4, 2008 (4 days before the start of the Olympics) to August 8, 2008 (Openingom August 21, 2008 (4 days before the closing day) to August 25, 2008 (1 day after the last day of the Games). Ine sent e-mails to students in several universities in Mainland China and Hong Kong to invite them to participateting survey. An incentive was offered to the participants for completing the survey. In Mainland China, thoseeted the survey were entered into a lottery for souvenirs. In Hong Kong, the incentive was a cash compensationbout US$6.50). Interested students sent e-mail replies to a research assistant, who assigned the participants toonline survey on a randomly selected survey day. The nal sample consisted of 401 participants fromMainlandwomen;mean age=23.55 years, SD=3.28), and 232 participants fromHong Kong (141women;mean age=20.75.59).

uresponses to iconic brands. To obscure our research objectives, we presented the survey to the participants as anrketing study and did not mention the Olympics in the survey. In the survey, the participants saw a list ofl brands that are symbols of Mainland China and the U.S. (see Appendix A). The brands were chosen based ons from local marketing experts, and the selected Mainland and U.S. brands were matched in product categories.ifferent brands for the Mainland and Hong Kong samples to ensure that the chosen brands were familiar andresentative of their respective cultures in Mainland China and Hong Kong. Because we used different brands inhina and Hong Kong, we analyzed the data from the two samples separately.ondents rated how strongly each brand evoked positive and negative intergroup emotions (positive emotion:pleasure, admiration, and envy; negative emotions: disgust, sympathy, anger, and fear; Fiske, Cuddy, & Glick,rating was made on a scale that ranged from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very strong). They also used the scale to rate howy felt about each brand on 10 evaluative attributes (see Table 1 for the items and reliability information). For eachformed ameasure of positive emotions, negative emotions, and brand perceptions by aggregating the respective1 shows that reliabilities of the emotion items and evaluative attributes across brands were acceptable.


3.1.2.2. Chinese cultural identication. After completing the marketing survey, participants lled out a 5-item measure ofChinese cultural identication (e.g., Chinese culture is very important tomy identity;Wan, Chiu, Peng, & Tam, 2007), usinga 5-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 3 =neutral, 5 = strongly agree; = .92 for theMainland sample and .91 for the Hong Kongsample).

3.2. Results and discussion

3.2.1. Cultural identicationAs expected, the mean level of Chinese cultural identication was signicantly higher in the Mainland sample (M=4.36,

SD=0.78) than in theHong Kong sample (M=3.52, SD=0.85), t(631) =12.32, p< .001. Themean level of cultural identicationat the beginning and the end of the Olympics did not differ, F(1, 399) =0.15, p= .70 for the Mainland sample, and F(1,230) =2.51, p= .11 for the Hong Kong sample.

3.2.2. Mainland sampleAs an overview, the Mainland participants displayed signicant ingroup favoritism in both brand emotions and brand

perceptions. Consistent with our hypothesis, at the beginning of the Games, ingroup favoritism was more pronouncedamong thosewith strongerChinese cultural identication.However, as theGamesprogressed, participantsdisplayed ingroupfavoritism irrespective of their level of Chinese cultural identication.

3.2.2.1. Brand emotions. We performed a 2 (Emotion Valence)2 (Brand Country)2 (Time: Beginning or End)CulturalIdentication (continuous predictor; mean-centered) General Linear Model (GLM) on the positive and negative brand emo-tions evoked fromMainland and American brands. Emotion valence and brand country were within-subjects predictors andtimewas a between-subjects predictor in this analysis. The four-way interaction,whichwas critical to testing our hypothesis,was signicant, F(1, 397) =4.78, p= .03, 2p = .012.

To understand the nature of this interaction, we subtracted the negative emotion measure from the positive emotionmeasure to form a measure of affect balance, with higher scores on this measure indicating more positive (vs. negative)emotions toward the brands. Next, we performed a Brand CountryCultural Identication GLMon affect balance separatelyfor the data collected at the beginning and toward the end of the Olympics. At the beginning of the Olympics, there was asignicant main effect of brand country, F(1, 200) =57.25, p< .001, 2p = .223. As illustrated in Fig. 3a, the participants had

Fig. 3. Cultural identication and affective responses to American andMainland brands at the beginning and toward the end of the Olympics: (a) Mainlandsample and (b) Hong Kong sample.


Fig. 4. Culturaand (b) Hong K

more positqualied bythe level ofand pronoudeviation bp= .001, 2p

Towardbut the Brahigh and loidentiers)before andidentiers d(predicted v

3.2.2.2. BratryTimewas signicCountryCbeginning othe participalso signic(at one stan200) =55.09mean), ingr

In comp2p = .283, bidentiers ddisplay ingrl identication and perceptions of American andMainland brands at the beginning and toward the end of the Olympics: (a)Mainland sampleong sample.

ive emotions toward Mainland (vs. American) brands, indicating ingroup favoritism. However, this effect was

the signicant Brand CountryCultural Identication interaction, F(1, 200) =12.39, p= .001, 2p = .058. Whencultural identication was high (at one standard deviation above the mean), ingroup favoritism was signicantnced, F(1, 200) =59.89, p< .001, 2p = .230. When the level of cultural identication was low (at one standardelow the mean), ingroup favoritism was still signicant, but the effect size was much smaller, F(1, 200) =13.08,= .061.the end of the Olympics, the main effect of brand culture was signicant, F(1, 197) =96.49, p= .001, 2p = .329,nd CountryCultural Identication interaction was not, F(1, 200) =0.03, p= .86. At the end of the Games, bothw identiers displayed ingroup favoring emotions (predicted value =0.47 for low identiers and 0.49 for high. Comparing the results across time, high identiers displayed the same amount of ingroup favoring emotionsafter the Olympic Games (predicted value =0.58 before the Games, and 0.49 after the Games). In contrast, the lowid not display ingroup favoring emotions before the Games (predicted value =0.24), but did so after the Gamesalue =0.47).

nd perceptions. We obtained the same result for brand perceptions. We performed a Brand Coun-Cultural Identication GLM to the perceptions of Mainland and American brands. The three-way interactionant, F(1, 397) =4.10, p< .05, 2p = .010. To understand the nature of this interaction, we performed separate Brandultural Identication GLMs on brand perceptions at the beginning and toward the end of the Olympics. At thef the Games, the main effect of brand country was signicant, F(1, 200) =41.17, p< .001, 2p = .171, such thatants perceived Mainland (vs. American) brands more favorably. The Brand CountryCultural Identication wasant, F(1, 200) =18.44, p< .001, 2p = .084. As shown in Fig. 4a, when the level of cultural identication was highdard deviation above the mean), ingroup favoritism in brand perceptions was signicant and pronounced, F(1,, p< .001, 2p = .216. When the level of cultural identication was low (at one standard deviation below theoup favoritism in brand perceptions was not signicant, F(1, 200) =3.58, p= .06, 2p = .018.arison, toward the end of the Games, the main effect of brand country was signicant, F(1, 197) =61.52, p< .001,ut the interaction of brand country and cultural identication was not, F(1, 197) =1.13, p< .29. In short, highisplayed ingroup favoring perceptions before and after the Olympic Games. In contrast, low identiers did notoup favoring perceptions before the game, but did so after the Games.


3.2.3. Hong Kong sampleAs anoverview,HongKongparticipantswith low levels of Chinese cultural identication favoredAmerican (vs.Mainland)

brands more, whereas those with relatively high levels of Chinese identication had equally positive emotional reactionstoward American and Chinese brands and more favorable perceptions of Mainland (vs. American) brands. This pattern ofresults wascompared tview Mainl

3.2.3.1. BraThe EmotioEmotion Vaindicates thmoderatedfrom the pocation GLMOlympics. TF(1, 75) =13identicatiobrands mor153) =4.05,themean),and toward

3.2.3.2. Braof AmericaCountryCmoderatedthe level ofAmerican (vwas high (cMainland b

4. General

Research2010;Matsof the Olymdream, theChinese andthe level ofbefore the Oafter the GWestern cuMainland ptoward theimmediatelexhibited cbolster low

We havestudy, aspabias cannotfavoring emChinas gooin the GamAmerican bMainland (vKong particculture andthe experiefavoring emfound both at the beginning and toward the end of the Olympics. This result is consistent with the fact thato their Mainland counterparts, Hong Kong participants identied less strongly with Chinese culture and did notand Chinese as an ingroup (Hong et al., 2006).

nd emotions. We performed the same four-way GLM on the brand emotions data from the Hong Kong sample.n ValenceBrand CountryTimeCultural Identication was not signicant, F(1, 228) =0.99, p= .32, but thelenceBrand CountryCultural Identication was signicant, F(1, 228) =18.89, p< .001, 2p = .077. This resultat both at the beginning and toward the end of the Olympics, the Hong Kong participants cultural identicationtheir emotions toward Mainland and American brands. Again, we subtracted the negative emotion measuresitive emotion measure to form a measure of affect balance, and performed a Brand CountryCultural Identi-separately for affect balance of the Mainland and American brands at the beginning and toward the end of thehe interaction of brand country and cultural identication was signicant both at the beginning of the Games,.61, p< .001, 2p = .154 and toward the end of them, F(1, 153) =6.20, p= .01, 2p = .039. When the level of culturaln was low (at one standard deviation below the mean), the participants reacted to American (vs. Mainland)e favorably, both at the beginning of the Games, F(1, 75) =15.00, p< .001, 2p = .167, and at the end of them, F(1,p= .046, 2p = .026. However, when the level of cultural identication was high (at one standard deviation abovefavoritism toward American brandswas not signicant both at the beginning of the Games, F(1, 75) =1.54, p= .22,the end, F(1, 153) =3.13, p= .08.

nd perceptions. Again, we performed a Brand CountryTimeCultural Identication GLM on the perceptionsn and Mainland brands. The three-way interaction was not signicant, F(1, 228) =0.43, p= .51, but the Brandultural Identication interaction was, F(1, 228) =13.99, p< .001, 2p = .058, indicating that cultural identicationevaluations of Mainland and American brands both at the beginning and toward the end of the Games. Whencultural identication was low (centered at one standard deviation below the mean), the participants evaluateds. Mainland) brandsmore favorably, F(1, 230) =8.70, p= .004, 2p = .036.When the level of cultural identicationentered at one standard deviation above the mean), the participants displayed signicant favoritism toward therands, F(1, 230) =4.89, p= .03, 2p = .021.

discussion

ers have used the Olympics as a natural context for testingmajor psychological theories of emotions (Gries et al.,umoto &Willingham, 2006). The present investigation focuses on the intergroup consequences of the experiencepics, and the results revealed an irony. Despite the deliberate effort to promote the ideal of One world, OneOlympic experience has, at least for those in Mainland China, widened the perceived cultural gap betweenWestern cultures and produced a uniform tendency to favor Mainland (vs. American) brands, irrespective of

ingroup identication. In Study1,we found that theOlympics icon, a symbol that had little intergroup signicancelympics, had acquired an associationwith cultural differences for Beijing Chinese participants. Indeed, 3monthsames, inadvertently encountering the Olympic icon enlarged the perceived differences between Chinese andltures. In Study 2, we did not mention the Olympics and presented the study as a marketing survey. Yet,articipants expressedmore positive emotions and hadmore positive perception towardMainland (vs. American)end of the Olympics, irrespective of how much they identied with Chinese culture. It should be noted thaty before the Olympics began, only Mainland participants with relatively high levels of ingroup identicationonsistent ingroup favoring emotions and perceptions. This result indicates that the Olympic experience couldidentiers ingroup favoring emotions and perceptions.taken several cautions to protect the validity of our conclusions. Although the present study is not a longitudinalrticipantswere randomlyassigned to complete the surveybeforeor toward theendof theOlympics, self-selectionexplain our results. Furthermore, the results from the Hong Kong sample indicate that the exhibition of ingroupotions and perceptions among low ingroup identiers in the Mainland sample was not the result of Teamd performance in the Olympics. Indeed, the Hong Kong participants also witnessed Team Chinas performancees. However, among them, those with relatively low Chinese cultural identication felt more positively towardrands than Mainland brands, and their Olympic experience did not bolster favorable emotions or perceptions ofs. American) brands. As in past studies (Fu et al., 1999;Hong et al., 2006; Lamet al., 1999),we found that theHongipants did not see Mainland Chinese as an ingroup they had relatively low levels of identication with Chineserelatively unfavorable emotions towardMainland (vs. American) brands. Taken together, the results suggest thatnce of the Olympics as an ingroupoutgroup contest is necessary for bolstering low ingroup identiers ingroupotions and perceptions.


Our results are largely consistent with the social identity theory (Turner et al., 1994). Among theMainland Chinese, thosewho strongly identify with Chinese culture consistently display ingroup favoritism. The Hong Kong Chinese have relativelylow levels of Chinese cultural identication and do not have a consistent preference for the Mainland versus Americanbrands. Furthermore, in Hong Kong, before and toward the end of the Olympics, those with higher levels of Chinese culturalidenticatio

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Appendix A

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References

Alter, A., & KwSocial Psyc

Berry, J. W. (20Chen, X., & Ch

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ingroup atChiu, C-y., Wa

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E. R. Smithn favored American (vs. Mainland) brands less.the consistent social identity effects on brand evaluations, the present research shows repeated priming of com-ween the ingroupand theoutgroup through theOlympics experience couldevoke ingroup favoritismevenamongwith low levels of ingroup cultural identication. Although this nding seemsnovel, it is consistentwith previousch nding intergroup competition can affect intercultural relations beyond and above social identication effectsphuthing, 1998; Hong et al., 2006; Kessler & Mummedey, 2001).

lts have several implications. First, theOlympicshavedrawnMainlandChineses attention todifferencesbetweenWestern cultures and stained these perceptions with an ingroup favoring taint. However, according to dual cul-

ion theory, whether such perceptions would improve or worsen Chinas attitudes toward global culture dependsominant intercultural mindset present in the situation (Chiu, 2007; Chiu & Cheng, 2007). When a competitivee mindset is activated, people are motivated to preserve the integrity of the local culture and even engage iny practices to limit the inuence of foreign cultures in their own country. However, when a learning mindset iseople may be motivated to learn from a dissimilar foreign culture. This possibility awaits detailed examinationsearch.y, it would also be interesting to examine the psychological implications of major international events thattercultural learning and collaboration. One example of such events is the Shanghai World Expo held in 2010.o dual activation theory, events such as these could motivate attempts to synthesize seemingly incompatibleifferent cultures and foster creative performance instead ofworsening intergroup attitudes (Leung et al., 2008).he present research has focused onMainland Chineses responses to theOlympic experience. TheUnited States isChinas major competitor in the Olympics. How Americans react to their collective memory of the 2008 Beijingerits future investigation.usion, major international events such as the Olympics have important implications for international relationsusiness. They also offer precious opportunities for testing psychological theories of globalization and intergroupeld settings. We hope that the present research would inspire similar studies in the future.

gements

arch reported in this article was funded by research grants awarded by the National Science Foundation (AwardS-0743119) and the Nanyang Technological University, and supported by a grant from National Natural Scienceof China (70972013) to Siqing Peng. The authors would like to thank Banbi Chan, Karen Cheng, Suki Cheng,in Li, Luluo Peng, and the IT support team at the Peking University for their invaluable help in data collection.made equal contributions to this research project.

. Commercial brands used in Study 2.

amples McDonalds, GE, Pepsi, IBM and Nikerands Quan Jude Peking Duck Restaurant, Haier Home Appliances, Wang Ji Herbal Drinks, Lenovo Computing, and LiNing Sportswearsamples Steven Spielberg movies, Disneyland, ABC, AT&T, Stanley Morgan, and Starbucksrands Zhang Yimou movies, Window of the World Theme Park, CCTV, China Mobile, Bank of China, and Meng Niu Dairy Products

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One world, One dream? Intergroup consequences of the 2008 Beijing OlympicsIntroductionPerceived value differences between culturesIngroup favoring emotions and perceptions

Study 1MethodParticipants and designMeasuresAnalyses of data

Results and discussion

Study 2MethodParticipantsMeasuresResponses to iconic brandsChinese cultural identification

Results and discussionCultural identificationMainland sampleBrand emotionsBrand perceptions

Hong Kong sampleBrand emotionsBrand perceptions

General discussionAcknowledgementsCommercial brands used in Study 2.References

cheng rosner chao peng chen li kwong hong chiu 2011

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