Explaining elite athletes’ corruption behaviours: a comparative analysis of doping and match fixing

Figures & data

Figure 1. Theory of planned behaviour applied to doping and match fixing (adapted from Ajzen 1991).

Table 1. Attitudes towards doping and match fixing (the first number between brackets represents the dopers who admitted after testing positive. The second number represents admissions from athletes who never tested positive).

Theme Sub Theme	Doping	Match Fixing	Example quotations
Career	14 (7/7)	5
Career advancement	6 (3/3)	4	‘I thought that with the help [of blood doping] I could reach the global top ten’ (Algo Kärp – doping)
Career prolongment	6 (4/2)	0	‘It [doping] seemed like the only way to continue to follow my dream at the highest level of the sport’ (Vande Velde – doping)
Obtain or renew contract	2 (0/2)	1	‘I wouldn’t have gotten a contract without doping’ (Stefan Denifl – doping)
Improve physicality/health	11 (8/3)	0
Improve physicality	9 (7/2)	0	‘My goal, to get big and strong’ (Stephan Bonnar – doping)
Improve health	2 (1/1)	0	‘I did this for health purposes. There’s no way I did this for any type of strength use’ (Mark McGwire – doping)
Injury recovery	4 (3/1)	0
Promote faster injury recovery	2 (1/1)	0	“I was dealing with a nagging injury and I turned to products. The products were a cream and a lozenge, which I was told could help expedite my rehabilitation’ (Ryan Braun – doping)
Overcome injury pain	2 (2/0)	0	‘I experienced some residual pain in my foot from a previous injury. I made the extremely poor choice to take some pain medications that I did not have a prescription for’ (James Irvin – doping)
Financial	3 (2/1)	10
Financial gains/rewards	2 (1/1)	4	‘Driven by greed’ and the ‘lure of easy money’ (Hansie Cronje – match fixing)
Make a living	1 (1/0)	0	“My first goal as a boxer was always to make a living’ (Larry Olubamiwo – doping)
Alleviate financial pressure	0	6	‘I was in a very vulnerable financial state’ (Lonwabo Tsotsobe – match fixing)

Table 2. Subjective norms towards doping and match fixing.

Theme Sub Theme	Doping	Match Fixing	Examples of selected quotations
Culture	13 (8/5)	4
Doping/match fixing culture in sport	12 (7/5)	4	‘Everyone does it [doping] in the sport’ (Mia St John – doping)
Societal culture	1 (1/0)	0	‘What is the difference between someone using these drugs [caffeine and alcohol] and an athlete using other drugs to improve themselves?’ (Larry Olubamiwo – doping)
Pressure from Others	8 (6/2)	7
Coaches	5 (4/1)	0	‘I made the decision under the influence of a longtime trusted coach’ (Kelli White – doping)
Teammates	2 (1/1)	4	‘He was the instigator in all of this, who introduced me to this world. I guess in some ways I was following my mentor’ (Lou Vincent – match fixing)
Medics	1 (1/0)	0	Hondo said he was talked into blood doping by Doctor Mark Schmidt [German physician and former Milram team doctor] in the fall of 2011 (Danilo Hondo Trial Evidence – doping)
Managers	0	1	Defense barrister Hartnett said Nicolas McKoy was a small fish in the syndicate, who simply followed orders (The Guardian). ‘The boss had lost a lot of money on games when we didn’t pull the mission off. He said this was like life and death’ (Nicolas McKoy – match fixing)
External pressure	0	2	‘I was put under external pressure’ (Wessel Nijman – match fixing)

Table 3. Perceived behavioural control (doping).

Theme Sub Theme	Doping	Match Fixing	Examples of selected quotations
Perceived control over, and chances of, detection	8 (5/3)	0
Time to remove drugs from system	4 (4/0)	0	‘I thought I would have plenty of time to get it out of my system’ (Tim Sylvia – doping)
Ability to mask doping	3 (1/2)	0	‘There’s many methods to get around it [returning a positive test]’ (Mia St John – doping)
Infrequent testing	1 (0/1)	0	‘There wasn’t much out-of-competition testing’ (Lance Armstrong – doping)

Ajzen, I., 1985. From intentions to actions: a theory of planned behavior. In: J. Kuhl and J. Beckman, eds. Action-control: from cognition to behavior. New York: Springer, 11–39.

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