Sport fans’ perspectives of public shaming of professional athletes on social media

Abstract

ABSTRACT Recent research has illustrated sport fans’ propensity to engage in public shaming practices directed at professional athletes via social media in response to athletes’ perceived norm violations. Public shaming – considered the act of expressing discontent for another’s behaviour – is demonstrated through fans’ expressed withdrawals of support, and detailed depictions of desired psychosocial, physical, and career-related consequences for the athletes. While this research reveals what these practices look like, little is known about what leads fans to engage in them. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the nature of the fan-athlete relationship online and the implications of this relationship for the public shaming of professional athletes on social media. Guided by a social constructivist perspective, we utilised a narrative methodology to conduct semi-structured interviews with five professional sport fans (three male, two female) who engaged regularly with professional athletes and teams on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Findings broadly revealed that fans cultivate a sense of identification and belonging through fandom that is enhanced by perceived relationships with professional athletes developed via social media. When these perceived relationships are challenged by professional athletes’ norm violations, fans’ sense of identification and belonging are threatened, which provokes public shaming on social media. These findings are interpreted through the existing literature related to fan identification, parasocial relationships, and belonging. Directions for future research are proposed.