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Korean Journal of Policy Studies
Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul National University

Korean J. Policy Stud. 2012; 27(3):47-71

pISSN: 1225-5017, eISSN: 2765-2807

DOI: https://doi.org/10.52372/kjps27303

Article

Faster, Higher, “Softly” Stronger: The Impact of Soft Power on the Choice of Olympic Host Cities*

Kwang-Hoon Lee1, Jean-Loup Chappelet2
1Kwang-Hoon Lee is a PhD candidate at the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. His research interests include organization theory, public management, international sports administration, and social policies.
2Jean-Loup Chappelet, corresponding author, is a professor of public management at the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration, University of Lausanne, Switzerland. His research interests include strategic management, nonprofit management, and global sports governance. E-mail: jean-loup.chappelet@idheap.unil.ch.
*Corresponding Author : E-mail: jean-loup.chappelet@idheap.unil.ch.

© Copyright 2012 Graduate School of Public Administration, Seoul National University. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Aug 29, 2012; Revised: Oct 20, 2012; Revised: Nov 02, 2012; Accepted: Nov 09, 2012

Published Online: Dec 31, 2012

Abstract

This article statistically estimates the impact of different countries’ soft power on the results of Olympic Games bidding in the post-Cold War era. All bid results for the Olympic Summer and Winter Games between 1990 and 2011 are analyzed by panel regression methods. The empirical results reveal that sporting success, higher transparency, lower CO2 and particle emissions, and faster economic growth are likely to increase the probability of a bidding country winning an Olympic bid. These results have several implications regarding the impact of soft power on choice of Olympic host site. First, if a country has a high number of Olympic gold medalists, this could attract International Olympic Committee (IOC) members and influence their decisions. Second, a country’s ethical reputation is likely to persuade the IOC to choose it as the rightful host country. Third, the environmental record of a country may also be regarded as a desirable value by IOC members, who prefer a ‘Green Games’ ecological legacy.

Keywords: soft power; Olympic Games; bidding; sports diplomacy; panel regression analysis