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Improving and maintaining high ethical standards among athletes is a major challenge in sports, which requires sufficient knowledge on athletes’ moral intentions. This study advances our knowledge on athletes’ moral intentions by examining the personal and contextual determinants (factors) that influence moral intentions of badminton players. In a factorial survey study, a total of 171 participants were asked to respond to scenarios describing moral dilemmas in the context of badminton. This approach allows combining advantages from both classical experiments and survey methods, enabling the determination of the underlying principles of the judgments and intentions of respondents. Multilevel analysis indicated that intention to engage in the described behavior was impacted by both the act and the gender of the subject. This study complements previous research on athletes’ moral intentions by the advanced method of factorial survey, while supporting the development of more specific approaches in the promotion of ethical behavior in sports.

Match-fixing has already been studied in various sport disciplines. However, despite some well-known incidents in road cycling, match-fixing has barely been investigated in this unique sport discipline. Drawing on Ashforth and Anand’s theoretical model of normalization of corruption in organizations and on the perceptions of 15 active Belgian road cyclists, this study examines road cyclists’ attitudes towards collaboration and match-fixing in their sport. As the culture of agreements can be seen as part and parcel of road cycling itself, this study also examines whether agreements between cyclists are embedded, perpetuated, and thus normalized in road cycling. Using semi-structured interviews, this qualitative study indicates that road cyclists have a different understanding of match-fixing. By demonstrating that (a) cooperation between competitors happens routinely, (b) cyclists use self-serving explanations to justify these collaborations, and (c) newcomers are induced to engage in and accept collaborations with their competitors, we also indicate how normalized behaviors contribute to a grey zone that can be labelled as match-fixing. To enhance the future credibility of road cycling towards both fans and sponsors, additional clarifying and awareness-raising policy measures should be implemented.

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