Rallying around the unwaved flag: national identity and Sweden's controversial Covid strategy

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Sweden soon found itself alone and heavily criticised for its internationally deviant strategy. Why did this approach nevertheless receive widespread public support in Sweden? This article develops and tests a novel rally around the flag (RRTF) theory, which places national identity centre stage. In contrast to previous work, the article differentiates between national pride, national chauvinism, uncritical patriotism, national attachment, and ethnic nationhood conception–expecting only the first three of these to be related to supporting the Swedish Covid approach. Survey data from a politically representative sample of Swedes support the expectations. It is concluded that the popular support for the ‘Swedish experiment' is to be understood as an RRTF–although in this case the flag was ‘unwaved'. This suggests that even national identities that draw their pride from institutional rather than cultural superiority lend themselves to RRTF processes. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Hosting Olympic Games under a state of emergency: are people still proud of their country?

The purpose of this research is to identify the fluctuation of national pride during the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. Previous research has found that hosting mega sporting events increases national pride. However, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games were held under a situation different than that considered by conventional research. The Tokyo Olympic Games faced opposition from public opinion due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This research involved two surveys conducted before and after the Tokyo Olympic Games. The results showed that people's national pride increased. Furthermore, the impact of the Tokyo Olympic Games varied across individuals. Respondents who were anxious about COVID-19 experienced a smaller increase in national pride due to the event than those who were less anxious about COVID-19. This research concludes that hosting mega sporting events can increase national pride, but this effect is limited in the context of severe social issues. The limitations of this research and directions for future research are discussed.

Hosting Olympic Games under a state of emergency: are people still proud of their country?

The purpose of this research is to identify the fluctuation of national pride during the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. Previous research has found that hosting mega sporting events increases national pride. However, the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games were held under a situation different than that considered by conventional research. The Tokyo Olympic Games faced opposition from public opinion due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This research involved two surveys conducted before and after the Tokyo Olympic Games. The results showed that people's national pride increased. Furthermore, the impact of the Tokyo Olympic Games varied across individuals. Respondents who were anxious about COVID-19 experienced a smaller increase in national pride due to the event than those who were less anxious about COVID-19. This research concludes that hosting mega sporting events can increase national pride, but this effect is limited in the context of severe social issues. The limitations of this research and directions for future research are discussed.

Ethical decisions during COVID-19: level of moral disengagement and national pride as mediators

COVID-19 created a global crisis of unprecedented comprehensiveness affecting personal and professional lives of individuals worldwide. The pandemic and various governmental guidelines associated with it had numerous consequences for the workplace and the marketplace. In light of the global nature and multiplicity of the consequences of the pandemic, this study examines the impact of individual characteristics of respondents from three countries from various areas of the world: China, Israel, and the USA toward COVID-19 related business ethics decisions in three different spheres: human resources, marketing, and social responsibility. Data from 374 respondents in these three countries indicated that moral disengagement was negatively related to all of the ethical decisions presented, with national pride moderating the above. Possible implications of these findings and future research directions are presented.

Dualistic Determinants of COVID-19 Vaccination Intention among University Students in China: From Perceived Personal Benefits to External Reasons of Perceived Social Benefits, Collectivism, and National Pride.

Vaccination is one of the most effective ways of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. However, vaccine hesitancy is prevalent, and relatively few studies have explored how variables related to personal and external motives have affected the intention to vaccinate. The present study investigated the association between perceived personal benefits, variables reflecting external motives (i.e., perceived social benefits, collectivism, and national pride) and intention to receive COVID-19 vaccination among university students in China. The interaction between perceived personal benefits and the three factors reflecting external motives on intention to receive COVID-19 vaccination was also examined. A total of 6922 university students from five provinces of China completed a cross-sectional survey. Results showed that adjusting for significant background variables, perceived personal benefits, perceived social benefits, collectivism, and national pride were all significant factors of intention to receive COVID-19 vaccination. Results from interaction analyses also showed that the association between perceived personal benefits and COVID-19 vaccination intention was stronger among those with lower levels of national pride. Findings highlighted the important role of self-directed interest and external motives in promoting uptake of COVID-19 vaccination.

Pandemics and citizen perceptions about their country: Did COVID-19 increase national pride in South Korea?

Exogenous shocks such as pandemics have a profound influence on how citizens think about their country. We explore how the successful handling of COVID-19 shaped South Korean citizens' perception of their country. Empirically, we compare data from surveys conducted in August 2019 and April 2020. Using regression on matched samples, we find a significant increase in general national pride. More importantly, we find an increase in positive assessments of their country in domains directly related to the COVID-19 response (civic awareness and international leadership) but not in domains less directly related to the pandemic. We also find that while Koreans take pride in their collective response to the crisis, their disenchantment with the political class has grown. The implication is that citizens offer a remarkably nuanced understanding of how the COVID-19 response reflected the strengths of the Korean society, as opposed to the Korean political system.