Nov. 6, 2025 | Tia King
Sport teams and other organizations can boost their supporters’ social well-being through digital platforms and other initiatives that promote a strong group identity and feelings of trust that all members have their collective best interests at heart, according to a study led by recreation, sport and tourism professor Yuhei Inoue that included sport fans in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Sport fans all know that rosy feeling of happiness when we hang out with others who support our favorite team. A new study conducted with sport consumers in the U.S. and the United Kingdom suggests that organizations that want to enhance their supporters’ health and well-being can achieve that by bolstering their social identification with the group.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign recreation, sport and tourism professors Yuhei Inoue and Mikihiro Sato say that social identification with organizations boosts our social well-being — our ability to form and sustain meaningful relationships — by giving us access to three important social and psychological resources: in-group trust, a sense of purpose and meaning, and perceived progroup norms — which are the beliefs that all group members are prioritizing our collective best interests.
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