Trustworthiness and doping behavior from elite athlete's point of view

An athlete’s doping decision is strongly affected by his or her perceived trustworthiness in different actors in elite-sport. To identify the athlete’s appraisal of the trustworthiness in the context of doping, we... [ view full abstract ]

An athlete’s doping decision is strongly affected by his or her perceived trustworthiness in different actors in elite-sport. To identify the athlete’s appraisal of the trustworthiness in the context of doping, we conducted a partial-standardized survey among 45 professional German cyclists and 104 track and field athletes from the German national squad. The surveyed athletes consider the trustworthiness, especially the integrity and benevolence of their competitors as low. In addition, we identified a huge lag of integrity in the German track and field federation, which reduces the perceived trustworthiness. In combination with suspicious opponents this might lead to a higher prevalence of doping. Results of the randomized response questions concerning the athlete’s own and their competitors doping behavior support the image of a sparse trustworthy environment in elite-sport. To build up trustworthiness and prevent doping, the athletes recommend a number of measures, particularly greater investment in diagnostics, application of an Athlete Biological Passport (ABP), greater control frequency and the implementation of an anti-doping law.