Exploring The Factors Influencing The Effect Of The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games On The National Soft Power Of The Host Country

As a key component of a country’s comprehensive strength,soft power plays a pivotal role in the international competitive arena.In recent years,the number of major sport events held is gradually seen as an important indicator of a country’s soft power,and hosting major sport events is seen as an important strategy to enhance soft power.Countries such as Germany,Japan,South Korea and China had achieved the goals of enhancing national cohesion,promoting cultural dissemination,raising political influence and presenting national images through successfully hosting the Olympic Games.However,compared to the rich practical examples,theoretical studies on the relationship between the Olympic Games and national soft power are somewhat insufficient.How much effect do the Olympic Games have on the soft power of a country? What factors influence the impact of the Olympic Games on national soft power? These questions have not been adequately answered in existing studies.This study used the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games as a case and Chinese audiences as respondents to investigate the impact of the Olympics on national soft power and the possible influencing factors.It aimed to improve the theoretical research system of the Olympics and national soft power,and to provide suggestions for the governments of the host countries of the Olympics and the organizers of major sports events.This study introduces signaling theory and attribution theory,constructs a theoretical framework among four variables: perception of goodwill,Olympic involvement,demographic factors,and the effect of the Olympics on national soft power,and puts forward the corresponding research hypotheses.This study used a combination of questionnaire,interview,and mathematical and statistical methods.516 valid questionnaires were obtained,16 respondents were interviewed,and the proposed research hypotheses were tested using SPSS and AMOS software as statistical tools.This study had drawn the following conclusions:(1)The hosting of the Olympic Games could affect the national soft power of the host country from the perspective of non-host audiences.It might have brought positive improvement in the dimensions of national capacity,national image,and national culture,but the improvement benefits could have been weak.(2)Goodwill had positively affected the effect of the Olympic Games on national soft power.The higher the degree of goodwill,the more likely the audience was to actively interpret the signals conveyed by the Olympic Games and make a more positive evaluation of the soft power of the host country.(3)Olympic involvement could have affected the effect of the Olympic Games on national soft power.It might have had a negative impact on the dimensions of national image,government image,and national culture,and might not have had a significant impact on the dimension of national capacity.(4)Demographic factors had different effects on the effect of the Olympic Games on national soft power.Gender was different in the dimensions of national image and national culture,age was different in the dimension of national culture,and education level was different in the dimension of national image.This study proposed the following suggestions:(1)Event organizers should optimize risk prevention and response mechanisms to reduce the negative impact and potential risks of the Olympic Games,create Olympic derivative products and ritual activities that are highly compatible with national capabilities,national image,government image and national culture,and enhance the positive benefits of the Olympic Games to the host country’s national soft power.(2)Event organizers should consider the public welfare of the event to enhance the audience ’s positive attitude and altruistic attribution of the competition behavior.They should distinguish the target audience with the degree of goodwill and adopt different publicity means to improve the pertinence and effectiveness of the event publicity.(3)Event organizers should promote the construction of international sports communication ability,improve the self-adoption rate,the first rate and the landing rate of the domestic media in the coverage of the Olympic Games,and avoid the distortion and misreading of the Olympic Games signals caused by the monopoly and misleading of foreign media.