Project description

Crises are frequent in sport, be they doping or poor performance. How do such crises influence confidence in athletes and ultimately the demand for sporting events? Most professional athletes and teams now have profiles on social media such as Facebook or Instagram. Do these more direct interactions with athletes (comments, likes) lead to a stronger bond that can mitigate the negative effects of a crisis?

In collaboration with the Institute of Sports Science at the University of Tübingen, we investigated how such crises affect confidence in athletes and sports consumption. We placed special emphasis on the role of trust facilitators—athletes who were committed to fair competition and aimed to enhance trust in sports. Additionally, we explored the impact of social media. From the perspective of the IWM, the role of social media was particularly intriguing: Does regular reading of athletes’ contributions lead to the development of parasocial relationships and, consequently, more positive evaluations of the athletes? The sports scientists were primarily interested in the economic effects: Did a loss of trust result in reduced demand for tickets and merchandise? In a longitudinal study conducted before and after the sports events of summer 2018 (including the European Athletics Championships, Tour de France, and FIFA World Cup), we assessed sports consumption across traditional and social media platforms, as well as trust in specific groups of athletes.

Cooperations

Prof. Dr. Tim Pawlowski, Felix Otto, Institute of Sports Science, University of Tübingen