Resident Co-creation: The case of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa

National sporting events rely on the involvement of the residents in the country for their success. Residents are expected to support the event, and event organisers develop strategies to facilitate this support, thus creating resident involvement. Cocreation in the case of such an event is regarded as the actions and involvement of residents in the success of the event. The purpose of the study was to investigate the involvement and actions of residents of South Africa prior to the commencement of the 2010 World Cup, which was held in South Africa during June and July 2010. The importance of the study can be found in the relative scarcity of the literature that investigates specifically the role of residents in co-creation as well as the uniqueness of the event in an African context. There are many benefits that accrue to a country when holding international sports events such as the FIFA 2010 World Cup. These include the economic and tourism benefits as well as infrastructural improvements that must take place as part of the preparation for the event. The event is also used to market the country to potential tourists, investors and their own residents. Residents are an integral part of the event as they provide the support to the event. The World Cup event marked an opportunity for South African residents to showcase their country to these participants / tourists and to get more involved in building the South African brand. The 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa was regarded as a significant international sporting event requiring residents’ co-creation activities as it was the first event of this magnitude that had been held on the African continent. A quantitative study was conducted in the three largest metropolitan centres of South Africa, namely Gauteng, Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Western Cape. The population comprised all residents in South Africa. A purposive sample was taken in the three centres in South Africa in accordance with census statistics. Data was collected through field workers, who approached respondents with the self-completion questionnaire and was collected in the month prior to the start of the event. A total of 1198 usable responses were received and analysed. The findings show that there is a spread of involvement and actions of residents, with certain demographic groups having a higher level of involvement (certain language groups, genders and nationalities) while action is likely to be affected by various demographic characteristics (gender and nationality). It is further necessary to investigate ways in which this involvement can manifest in associated actions and targeting of the event is also necessary.