Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of athlete’s performance level and their severity of transgression on individuals’ attitudes and willingness to forgive a transgressed athlete from a brand management perspective. Using an experimental study design, two sets of data were collected for Study 1 (n = 205) and Study 2 (n = 347) to test three hypotheses. The results of Study 1 showed that an athlete’s performance level had a main effect on participants’ attitudes (H1) and willingness to forgive (H2). In addition to confirming H1, the results of Study 2 confirmed that there was an interaction between an athlete’s performance level and severity of transgression on participants’ willingness to forgive (H3). The participants showed a higher level of willingness to forgive an athlete with an extraordinary performance level when it came to a minor transgression. The results suggest that high-performing athletes might be able to enjoy a less harsh response for a minor transgression but not for a major transgression. Overall, our work points to the foundation of a possible model that companies can employ in predicting consumer reactions after athlete transgressions in the context of an athlete’s endorsement.
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