Kicking discrimination: Exploring the impact of CSR initiatives regarding discrimination in soccer on fan attitudes

Purpose: In soccer anti-discrimination and anti-social behavior have been reoccurring themes in CSR, yet little research has been conducted to explore the impact of specific cause-related CSR activities in soccer. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there is a difference in the perception and impact of anti-racism, anti-homophobia, and anti-sexism CSR initiatives as well as identify to what extent CSR fit, strategic- and value-driven motive attributions and fan identity affect fans’ attitude towards soccer clubs. Method: An online survey was distributed to German soccer fans (n=378), who were randomly divided into four conditions (racism, sexism, homophobia, and littering). The study applied a between-subject design and the data was analyzed using SPSS. Results: The study suggests that fans are more receptive to initiatives concerning anti-racism as they are perceived to be more value-driven and to have a high CSR fit. Analyzing CSR fit and perceived attributions showed that both high fit and a high degree of value-driven attribution are positively related to reputation and therefore substantiated findings from previous research. Conclusion: This study clearly illustrates the need for more research that specifically focuses on the impact of taking a stance against social issues in CSR. This study contributes to existing literature on CSR in soccer and supports findings that engaging in CSR has a positive impact on team reputation. Furthermore, the findings show that soccer clubs need to focus on specifically counteracting homophobia and sexism in soccer.