Tried in the Court of Public Opinion

Brown, Kenon A.; Murphy, Breann; Maxwell, Lindsey Conlin

doi:10.1177/2167479517697426

Cited by 13 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(37 reference statements)

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“…Understanding how consumers react when an ARC occurs is an important step for minimizing damage and repairing the image of misbehaved athletes and their associated brands (K. A. Brown, Murphy, & Maxwell, 2017;Coombs & Holladay, 2002;Sanderson, 2008). The current study sheds light on the psychological mechanisms underlying consumer perceptions of ARC severity, endorser credibility, and associated brands.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 81%

How Does the Negative Impact of an Athlete’s Reputational Crisis Spill Over to Endorsed and Competing Brands? The Moderating Effects of Consumer Knowledge

Sato

Chang

et al. 2018

Communication & Sport

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Despite some of the recent examinations of an athlete’s reputational crisis (ARC), their negative spillover effects on endorsed and competing brands have been overlooked. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between perceived severity, athlete endorser credibility (i.e., incompetence, untrustworthiness), and attitudes towards endorsed and competing brands. To enhance theoretical understanding of the phenomenon, the moderating role of consumer knowledge was also tested. Participants were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk ( N = 339). A multigroup structural equation model was employed to test the hypothesized model. Results indicated that the severity of an ARC is associated with the perceived incompetence and untrustworthiness of focal athletes. Perceived incompetence is associated with negative evaluation of an endorsed brand. Furthermore, this impact is significantly stronger for consumers with greater knowledge of the athletes than those who are less knowledgeable. Interestingly, competitor brands received negative impact indirectly from the athlete endorsers’ incompetence. This spillover effect is also manifested differently depending on the level of consumer knowledge.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 81%

How Does the Negative Impact of an Athlete’s Reputational Crisis Spill Over to Endorsed and Competing Brands? The Moderating Effects of Consumer Knowledge

Sato

Chang

et al. 2018

Communication & Sport

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“…The focus of previous studies applying and testing IRT (e.g. Brown et al. , 2018; Brown, 2016; Brown et al.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The focus of previous studies applying and testing IRT (e.g. Brown et al, 2018;Brown, 2016;Brown et al, 2015b) centered on examining the impact of crisis response strategies on an athlete's image repair, especially within the realm of athlete transgressions.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of trust in sports organization crisis communication: the case of the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal

Lee

2022

IJSMS

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PurposeThe current study examines (1) the relationships among the crisis response, trust and negative behavioral intentions (i.e. avoidance and revenge), (2) the mediation role of trust in the crisis communication of sports organization and (3) the moderation effect of team identification between the crisis response and trust.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was used to collect data from 324 Major League Baseball (MLB) fans who met specific criteria (i.e. background information; knowing about the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal and how the team responded to it). Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were employed to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe findings showed that perceived adequacy of the crisis response positively influenced sports fans' perceived trust. This trust was negatively associated with revenge and avoidance intentions. The mediation effect of trust was also found in the relationship between the crisis response and both avoidance and revenge intentions. Regarding the interaction effect of team identification, however, the relationship between the crisis response and trust was not moderated by team identification levels.Originality/valueThe present study contributes to a comprehensive understanding of crisis communication in sports fans' perceptions and behavioral intentions. It illuminates a psychological process through which perceived adequacy of crisis response reduces negative behavioral intentions through trust.

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“…In the sport context, image repair research has explored communication in a range of sports, including competitive cycling (Hambrick et al, 2015), football (soccer) (Onwumechili&Bedeau, 2017), and baseball (Sanderson & Emmons, 2014), and in response to myriad image challenges in sport, including criminal transgressions (Brown et al, 2018) and scandals (Frederick, Pegoraro, & Smith, 2021). A few sport image repair studies have looked—as we do here—at image repair efforts after losses.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Playoff Losses, Mayoral Politics, Image Repair, and Inoculation: Open Letter Sport Communication

Compton

2022

Communication & Sport

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In May 2021, the Toronto Maple Leafs National Hockey League team lost a seventh and final playoff game—again. The day after their loss, Toronto Mayor John Tory took the unusual step of penning an open letter to Maple Leaf fans in response. His two-page letter was a unique mix of communication genres, including sport communication, political communication, and, with multiple references to COVID-19, health communication. It was also, as we argue here, a unique example of image repair rhetoric in general and sport image repair rhetoric in particular. In this rhetorical analysis, we build on a growing body of sport image repair in the form of open letters, revealing how the interaction of these contexts with Tory’s main focus on the team reveals how his open letter is at a crossroads of intersecting image repair efforts in politic, health, and sport. We draw three primary findings from our analysis, including the possibility that Tory’s letter functioned as an inoculation message, preparing fans to resist discouragement and a dampening of support.

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Tried in the Court of Public Opinion

Cited by 13 publications

References 37 publications

How Does the Negative Impact of an Athlete’s Reputational Crisis Spill Over to Endorsed and Competing Brands? The Moderating Effects of Consumer Knowledge

How Does the Negative Impact of an Athlete’s Reputational Crisis Spill Over to Endorsed and Competing Brands? The Moderating Effects of Consumer Knowledge

The role of trust in sports organization crisis communication: the case of the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal

Playoff Losses, Mayoral Politics, Image Repair, and Inoculation: Open Letter Sport Communication

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