Tried in the Court of Public Opinion

Abstract

This study expands the empirical study of Benoit’s image repair theory by serving two purposes using a sports context. First, this study will specifically examine criminal transgressions by comparing the effectiveness of image repair attempts by athletes facing domestic violence charges compared to other crimes. Second, this study will look at the effectiveness of using the mortification (apology) strategy in combination with other predominant strategies used by athletes in order to repair one’s image. Using a 3 × 8 factorial experiment involving 490 participants, results showed that athletes facing domestic violence charges are perceived more negatively regardless of their response to the transgression. In addition, results also showed that using mortification in combination with corrective action is the best response for athletes, regardless of the crime. Finally, using the mortification strategy in combination with other strategies is more effective to repair an athlete’s image, suggesting that it may be better to use combination strategies to respond to transgressions.