A longitudinal study of the impact of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on Japanese residents' support: The mediating role of social well-being

Mega sporting events can generate significant impacts on the host destinations. The Tokyo 2020 Olympics (“Tokyo 2020” hereafter) was a unique case as the pandemic minimized the impact of international tourism. In this situation, how could residents' perceived event impacts be associated with support intention for future event hosting? The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between event impact perceptions of Tokyo 2020, residents' social well-being, and their support toward future event hosting. Three-wave time-lagged data were gathered from residents in Japan (T1 = approximately one month prior to the event; T2 = immediately after the event; and T3 = four months after the event; N = 296). The results of the structural equation model showed that no event impact perceptions were directly associated with residents' support, measured four months after the event. However, positive economic and environmental impacts (T1) indirectly via residents' social well-being (T2) influenced their support for future event hosting (T3). The findings highlighted that the event impact perceptions and residents' support for event hosting can be mediated by temporarily activated social well-being. The findings are particularly important when people have difficulties finding connections to society (i.e., the pandemic in this study). A sense of social well-being is the key to enhancing residents’ support for future event hosting. • Event impact perceptions are not linked to future support after five months. • Economic & environmental impacts boost support via social well-being. • Temporarily activated social well-being anchored by Tokyo 2020 is a key for residents' support.