Crisis Communication in Sport Celebrity Scandals: Effects of Openness, Directness, and Credibility of Response to Scandals on the Behavioral Intentions of MLB Fans

Abstract

Athletic scandals have become popular theme in sport and many studies have focused on examining the impact of sport celebrity scandals on sport fans, teams, and organizations. Nevertheless, there has been minimal research regarding effective media response strategies when sport celebrity scandals occur. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine how a sport celebrity's media response to athletic scandals affects credibility of the response to scandals and a sport fan's behavioral intentions to support.A sample unit of this study was a Major League Baseball (MLB) fan who visited a stadium to enjoy the game and a total of 308 (Male: 158 / Female: 150) individuals were randomly asked at baseball stadiums in Midwest area. To examine sport fans' perceptions about sport celebrity scandals, a self-administered survey was conducted. The data was analyzed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) test.Results of the study revealed openness to scandal response and directness of crisis communicator positively affected credibility of scandal response respectively, and credibility of the

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

“…players, the coach) rather than a single player. The negative influence of an athlete scandal, regardless of whether on- or off-field, on sports fans' behavioral intentions was revealed by Hwang (2017). However, except for those explained in crisis communication literature, limited theoretical models exist for analyzing how the sports organization's crisis response affects fans' negative behavioral intentions, particularly those focusing on avoidance and revenge intentions.…”