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Category: Project

Description: Fraud in sport is a form of deviant behavior of growing concern, due to its omnipresent nature and harmful consequences. This experimental study applied the lens of unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPOB) to study perceptions of fraud and relevant individual and contextual mitigating factors. Using manipulated vignettes we examined aversion against four types of sport-related fraud (corruption, asset misappropriation, match-fixing, identity fraud) in British and Belgian sport club members (N = 597). Participants read scenarios where fraud benefitted their respective club (Pro-Club Fraud) or was purely self-serving (Pro-Self Fraud). Measures of moral identity and perceived club-competitiveness were included as well. Our results revealed that participants were more lenient toward UPOB compared to pro-self fraud. Fraud aversion correlated positively with moral identity and negatively with perceived club-competitiveness. These relationships were consistent across conditions. In summary, our findings suggest that the perceived motive behind fraudulent behavior significantly influences its acceptability, independent of individual morality or club-related factors. This discrepancy in perception underscores the need for sport organizations to address UPOB’s potential to normalize fraud.