Misconduct in sports organisations: How can the willingness of top athletes to report doping be increased? (since 2025)

Project description

The current project is being carried out in close co-operation with partners from the world of sport. The focus is on the investigation of organisational misconduct in sports organisations. The focus is on the topic of doping, which has become a constant dark companion of modern sport. In addition to analysing attitudes and willingness to engage in doping, the development of evidence-based prevention measures to increase the willingness to report doping is also part of the research. Existing measures and channels will be analysed and new concepts developed during the course of the project. There will be a close exchange with the associations and centres of competitive sport in order to strive for clean sport, practical data collection and implementation of the findings.

Project goals

The project analyses the willingness to report doping, taking into account the respective sport-specific context.
It will evaluate which reporting channels are used to report doping and which characteristics and contexts influence these decisions.
New innovative practical prevention concepts in the context of doping are to be developed and implemented in practice.

In addition to an online survey of top athletes, a practical investigation of the field is necessary to gain knowledge. Based on this, a game concept will be developed as a training unit for further education events, which explores the willingness to engage in doping and reporting under consideration of a sporting setting in the form of a competition.

Heidelberg Research Group for Organization Studies – Prof. Dr. Markus Pohlmann. heiGOS.