02.07.2021

Doping, Trust in Fairness and the Demand for Sports

2.7.2021 – A new study by Felix Otto, Tim Pawlowski (both Institute of Sports Science), and Sonja Utz (Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien) explores for the first time the complex relation between doping, trust in fairness and the demand for sports.

In their study, Felix Otto, Tim Pawlowski (both Institute of Sports Science) and Sonja Utz (Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien) analyze the complex doping-demand relation by exploring for the first time the impact of doping incidents in track and field on spectators’ trust in fairness of the competition and their interest in the corresponding events. Overall, the results suggest that awareness about a major doping case negatively affects trust in the fair conduct and integrity of the participating athletes. However, in contrast to the popular claim, the researchers did not find any (negative) effect from trust in fairness on the demand for sports.

The research paper was recently accepted for publication in a special issue of the European Sport Management Quarterly on the societal impacts of elite sports.

Reference: Otto, F., Pawlowski, P., & Utz, S. (2021). Trust in fairness, doping, and the demand for sports: A study on international track and field events. European Sport Management Quarterly, https://doi.org/10.1080/16184742.2021.1942125