The Effects of Vicarious Achievement and Team Identification on BIRGing and CORFing

We examined the influence of vicarious achievement and team identification on BIRGing and CORFing behavior. We tested three different models (direct effects, partially mediated, and fully mediated) across two different situations: BIRGing with the winning team and CORFing with the losing team. Data were collected from 246 students. The fully mediated model fit best in the BIRGing situation and the partially mediated model fit best in the CORFing situation. We found that vicarious achievement explained 12.7% to 16.9% of the variance in team identification across situations. Vicarious achievement explained approximately 17% of the variance in CORFing behavior, but none in BIRGing. Team identification explained 30% of the variance in CORFing behavior and 41% in BIRGing. It is critical for sport teams to develop a high level of identification in their spectators. High identification makes it less likely that people will CORF and more likely that people will BIRG.