Social pressure in football matches: an event study of ‘Remote Matches' in Japan

Sports matches during the COVID-19 pandemic have been held without spectators. Exploiting this unprecedented situation as a natural experiment, we examine the impacts of social pressure on the match outcomes in Japan's professional football league. As a result of the difference-in-difference estimation, we find that the number of fouls awarded to home team significantly decreases by about 1.05 in the matches with spectators, supporting the referee bias due to social pressure by the home-team's supporters. In addition, the results indicate that the absolute number of the home-team's supporters is more dominant in the source of referee bias than their share in the stadium.

Crowds and the Timing of Goals and Referee Decisions1

This paper investigates how crowds affect the timing of events during football matches. In theory, the presence of fans influences the urgency of the players on the field, and the magnitude of this effect grows during the match. Thus, crowds should lead to a faster increase during the match in goals scored, yellow cards, red cards, and penalty kicks. We test the hypothesis using a data set including pandemic ghost games and we find strong support for the hypothesis as it relates to goals, yellow cards, and penalty kicks but not as it relates to red cards. © The Author(s) 2023.

Team performance and the perception of being observed: Experimental evidence from top-level professional football

We exploit the natural experimental setting provided by the Covid-19 lockdown to analyse how performance is affected by a friendly audience. Specifically, we use data on all football matches in the top-level competitions across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom over the 2019/2020 season. We compare the difference between the number of points gained by teams playing at home and teams competing away before the Covid-19 outbreak, when supporters could attend any match, with the same difference after the lockdown, when all matches took place behind closed doors. We find that the performance of the home team is halved when stadiums are empty. Further analyses indicate that offensive (defensive) actions taken by the home team are drastically reduced (increased) once games are played behind closed doors. Referees are affected too, as they change their behaviour in games without spectators. Finally, the home advantage is entirely driven by teams that do not have international experience. Taken together, our findings corroborate the hypothesis that social pressure influences individual behaviour.

Social pressure in the stadiums: Do agents change behavior without crowd support?

Social pressure may have relevant consequences in many contexts but it is hard to evaluate it empirically. In this paper we exploit a natural experiment in soccer to provide clear evidence of its effects. We aim to study how social pressure from the crowd in a stadium affects both players and referees. While in normal matches crowd support may be correlated to a host of variables affecting the outcome of interest, we exploit the fact that after the health emergency for the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, soccer matches in top European Leagues have been allowed only behind closed doors, that is, without spectators in the stadiums. We use data of first and second division of five major European Leagues (Germany, Spain, England, Italy and Portugal) for the last 10 seasons and compare - using a differences-in-differences analysis - several outcomes (determined by players' performance and referees' decisions) of matches played with crowd support to the same outcomes when matches were played without crowd. We find considerable effects of the pressure from the crowd: while with the support of the crowd a considerable home advantage emerges in various measures of performance (points, goals, shots, etc.), this advantage is almost halved when matches are played behind closed doors. Similar effects are found for the behavior of referees: decisions of fouls, yellow cards, red cards and penalties that tend to favor home teams in normal matches, are much more balanced without the crowd pressing on referees. The evidence we provide strongly supports the idea that social pressure has intense effects on agents' behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The influence of social conformity on mask-wearing behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to vaccination, health authorities have strongly advocated the wearing of face masks as a crucial measure in combating the virus. Nevertheless, the recommendation or legal requirement to wear a face mask is no guarantee of adherence to the rules. A person's decision to wear a mask may also be based on their beliefs and is likely to be influenced by their observation of the mask-wearing behavior of other people. This study aims to explore the role of conformity on the wearing of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that there is little evidence on how the mask-wearing behavior of others and demographic factors affect people's decisions to wear face masks in public settings, we performed a large-scale observational study in the Czech Republic during a period of rapidly increasing COVID-19 related cases and deaths. We observed a total of 1753 customers and 472 employees in 67 highly frequented shopping venues. The data were collected by trained observers and analyzed using multilevel logistic regression modeling. The results indicate that the mask-wearing behavior of new customers was influenced by the proportion of other customers wearing masks and the behavior differed according to the demographics of age and sex. A notable finding was that the greater the presence of customers wearing masks in a store, the lower the propensity of new visitors to wear masks. Which may be evidence of problematic free-riding behavior. These findings therefore have policy implications and can aid the formulation of specific (communication) strategies to promote mask-wearing behavior.

The causal impacts of empty stadiums on women's sports activities: Evidence from European football leagues

This paper examines the effect of spectators on women's football games. COVID-19 and related restrictions provide a unique opportunity with an adequate sample size to test the effect of lockdown on sports activities. Studies have recently exploited this opportunity for men's football to better understand the potential causes of home advantage and, more specifically, assess the psychological consequences when matches are played without supporters. Despite the increased scientific interest, there was only one paper that focused on women's football. Therefore, we aim to contribute to this research field by considering matches from four major European women's football leagues. The findings suggest that for three of these leagues, lockdown has a statistically significant effect on the sanctioned yellow cards by either reducing the number of yellow cards sanctioned to the away teams or increasing the number of yellow cards sanctioned to the home teams. Nonetheless, lockdown does not affect any final match outcomes;therefore, it does not significantly affect the magnitude of home advantage for women's games. © 2023

The causal impacts of empty stadiums on women's sports activities: Evidence from European football leagues

This paper examines the effect of spectators on women's football games. COVID-19 and related restrictions provide a unique opportunity with an adequate sample size to test the effect of lockdown on sports activities. Studies have recently exploited this opportunity for men's football to better understand the potential causes of home advantage and, more specifically, assess the psychological consequences when matches are played without supporters. Despite the increased scientific interest, there was only one paper that focused on women's football. Therefore, we aim to contribute to this research field by considering matches from four major European women's football leagues. The findings suggest that for three of these leagues, lockdown has a statistically significant effect on the sanctioned yellow cards by either reducing the number of yellow cards sanctioned to the away teams or increasing the number of yellow cards sanctioned to the home teams. Nonetheless, lockdown does not affect any final match outcomes;therefore, it does not significantly affect the magnitude of home advantage for women's games.

Digital and physical factors influencing an individual's preventive behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan: A perspective based on the S-O-R model.

COVID-19 has caused considerable stress to individuals and communities. Daily press briefings on public health during the COVID-19 pandemic have increased individuals' feelings of social pressure. Abrupt changes to a person's immediate environment, such as the changes caused by COVID-19, can substantially affect their mental health and cognitive adjustment. On the basis of the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) framework, we examined the effects of digital and physical stimuli related to COVID-19 in Taiwan on individuals' psychological states and preventive behavior, including social distancing and personal hygiene. The data obtained from 498 valid survey questionnaires indicated that digital and physical factors including informativeness, social pressure, and severity exerted direct effects on cognitive assimilation and anxiety, which in turn affected individuals' preventive behavior. Moreover, cognitive assimilation and anxiety had significant mediating effects on the relationships of informativeness, social pressure, and severity with individuals' preventive behavior. The results of this study indicate how digital and physical stimulus factors affect cognitive assimilation and anxiety, which influence preventive behavior during a pandemic.

A complete season with attendance restrictions confirms the relevant contribution of spectators to home advantage and referee bias in association football.

Background: Due to the unfortunate pandemic situation, the phenomena of home advantage and referee bias in sports have recently received a particular research attention, especially in association football. In this regard, several studies were conducted on the last portion of the 2019-20 season: the majority of them suggests a reduction-but not the elimination-of the two phenomena, with some exceptions in which no reduction was found or, at the other extreme, the phenomena were not observed at all. Methods: The continuation of the pandemic made it possible to replicate the previous studies considering the complete 2020-21 season, thus with the important added value of having a fully balanced home/away schedule-and a higher number of matches-in the various leagues. In particular, the sample of the present study consisted of 3,898 matches from the first and second divisions of the UEFA top five ranked countries, that is, England, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France. For the home advantage, the following variables were examined: distribution of matches outcomes and home advantage for points (also for previous seasons from the 2014-15 one); ball possession; total shots; shots on goal; and corner kicks. Instead, for he referee bias, the following variables were examined: fouls; yellow cards; red cards; penalty kicks; and extra time. Chi-square tests were used to compare the distribution of matches outcomes, and t-tests to compare home vs. away data for the other variables in the 2020-21 season; Bayesian and equivalence analyses were also conducted. Results: The main results are as follows: (a) the distribution of matches outcomes in the 2020-21 season was significantly different from that of the last five complete seasons with spectators (Chi-square = 37.42, df = 2, p < 0.001), with fewer home victories and more away victories; the resulting values of the home advantage for points were 54.95% for the 2020-21 season, and 59.36% for the previous seasons; (b) for the other home advantage variables, a statistically significant overall advantage for the home team emerged; nevertheless, the strength of the differences between home and away teams was generally small (0.09 < Cohen's d < 0.17), and the corresponding means can be considered statistically equivalent for all variables but the total shots; (c) no statistically significant differences emerged between home and away teams for any of the referee bias variables. Discussion: These findings demonstrate that the absence of spectators significantly reduced the home advantage compared to previous seasons with spectators. A slight home advantage persisted in the 2020-21 season, probably due to other factors, namely, learning and travel, according to the model by Courneya & Carron (1992). Conversely, the referee bias was not observed, suggesting that it mainly derives from the pressure normally exerted by spectators.

Corporate social responsibility during the COVID-19 pandemic: a sequential mediation analysis

Purpose>This paper aims to examine the influence of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) on purchase intention in the short-term and corporate reputation in the long-term while taking into consideration of the mediating role of brand image and customer satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach>The research sample comprising 482 participants was selected at random. Hierarchical multiple regression and the PROCESS Macro for SPSS were used to test the proposed hypotheses.Findings>Perceived CSR was found to have significant direct and mediated effects of purchase intention and corporate reputation through brand image and customer satisfaction. The proposed causal chain is pivotal for understanding how CSR perceptions influence, as well as shape purchase intention and perceived reputation.Research limitations/implications>There are three major implications. First, it is important for consumers to be able to perceive CSR initiatives, to consider them as a strategic investment. Second, firms must develop strategies that promote CSR as being positive for society and the environment, as well as for the firm. Third, perceived CSR is an important predictor in the causal chain of relationships that promote brand image and customer satisfaction, which contributes to reputation and purchase intention. One of the major limitations of this study, although COVID-19 is an ongoing global pandemic in this study, is that cross-sectional data were collected within a single economy. Hence, a longitudinal study with samples from other economies in the region may be conducted to compare and generalize the findings.Social implications>At a time when corporate objectives are predominantly designed to satisfy stakeholder interests and to increase return on investment, there is mounting social pressure on shifting managerial mindsets to address issues such as poverty, health and well-being, education for all, social equality, unhealthy consumption, hedonic advertisements, global peace and environmental concerns. Marketing has been criticized for its narrow focus on fulfilling the social needs of a particular target market while ignoring society at large, and this study argues that, through responsible marketing, firms can improve their reputation and at the same time can promote sustainable living.Originality/value>Direct and mediated relationships that have previously been studied separately are considered together in a serially mediated unified model. This approach provides a better understanding of how perceived CSR can transform purchase intention and reputation.

FAMILY LIFE DURING THE PANDEMIC: DIFFICULTIES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Families’ daily lives have been significantly altered during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article proposes a literature review in order to observe how parents have adapted according to their individual marital, family, and social realities and resources. In an ideological context of “parental over-responsibility,” the pandemic has amplified social pressure and other demands on parents. Numerous studies have indicated that parents felt high levels of stress, anxiety, and exhaustion, in particular mothers who often had to bear the double burden during this difficult period: a professional life as well as managing family affairs. In such a context, parents were at risk of engaging in overprotective parenting that can undermine children’s autonomy and well-being, in particular among adolescents. Positive consequences were also identified among some parents, such as a better work-family balance and more balanced co-parenting. As such, some parents had difficulties with additional pressures during the pandemic, while others coped positively. Their ability to adapt could prove to be a valuable resource for future potential crises. © 2022 Boeck Universite. All rights reserved.

Research on the path choice behavior of donated materials under major epidemics

Purpose: In the face of major disasters, the Chinese people's willingness to donate has increased and the result is that the donation paths have increased. However, there are certain differences in the choice of donation paths for different types of individuals. It is crucial to pay more attention to the attitude and donation path selection of donors and propose strategies to promote individual donation behavior. The purpose of this study is to propose a conceptualized moderated mediation model for testing the linkage between individual attitude and donation path selection through the mediating effect of donors' behavioral intention and the moderating effect of behavioral difficulty perception or social pressure between donors' attitude and their donation path selection. Design/methodology/approach: Based on a questionnaire survey of 628 community workers during COVID-19 in China. Self-reported measures were used to obtain data on IA, BI, SP, BDP and DPS. Survey data were used to test the proposed model using hierarchical regression analysis. Mediation analyses with bootstrap via PROCESS were used to ascertain the proposed relationship. Findings: The results showed that individual attitude are positively related to donation path selection. Moreover, this study finds that behavioral intention serves as a mediator in the relationships between individual attitude and donation path selection. The social pressure and behavioral difficulty perception negatively moderate the relationship between individual attitude and behavioral intention. Research limitations/implications: There are still some shortcomings in this study: First, although the data collected at multiple points in this study are all individual data. Future research can add evaluations of relatives, friends or colleagues to individual scheduling of survey subjects to reduce homology errors. Second, although this study has verified the mediating role of the opposite sex, some of the mediating results show that there may be other variables that play a role in the relationship between individual attitudes and donation path selection. In the research on path selection, the integrated theoretical perspective has rich connotations but has not attracted enough attention from the academic community. This research is only based on this single theoretical perspective to construct, verify and explain the model, and there should be other integrated theories. The fit point can be used to analyze the influence mechanism of individual attitudes on the choice of donation path. Practical implications: First of all, we must deepen our understanding of the connotation and role of individuals' attitudes. In the event of a major epidemic, the following two types of measures will be taken to improve individuals' attitudes toward specific donation paths: First, the sponsors of each donation should do their best to donors and provide more information about donations, because the more information resources they have, the stronger the experience of the corresponding donation path, and the more they will choose the path. The sponsor of the second donation must show concern for major epidemics that are prone to occur and a desire to help people affected by disasters, so as to enhance the emotional identity of the donor, thereby increasing the probability of the donor choosing a specific donation path. Secondly, donation sponsors should be wary of the negative influence of social pressure on the donation path selection of individual donors. Donation sponsors can train individuals who are willing to donate, guide them in social relations, online public opinion and other pressure methods and improve the possibility of individuals choosing specific donation routes. Social implications: Deepen the understanding of the content and effectiveness of the behavioral difficulty perception that has a profound impact on the donor. The greater the tendency to make a path choice is often affected by the individual's perception of the difficulty of behavior. The perception of difficulty of a certain d nation path will cause the individual to retreat and inhibit the possibility of the individual choosing the path. Therefore, donation sponsors should take all measures to make their own donation channels simpler and more efficient, thereby reducing the individual's perception of the difficulty of donation behavior. Originality/value: Drawing on TPB theory, a theoretical framework is constructed that specifies the process through which individual attitude affects donation path selection to expand collective understandings of individual attitude in the donation context. Furthermore, the boundary conditions of the underlying process are investigated, which further enhances the contribution of this paper to the extant literature on individual attitude. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

The impact of differing audience sizes on referees and team performance from a North American perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic provides a natural experimental framework to comprehensively test the effect of crowds on both referees and players. We examine this from a North American perspective, using data from three major leagues: the National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL) and National Hockey League (NHL). In all three leagues in the 2020–2021 season, matches were played either in empty stadiums or before diverse audience sizes. We find that the lockdown affects NBA and NFL results, by lowering the prospects of winning and the expected scoring points of the home team, when games are played without an audience. Conversely, the lockdown does not substantially influence the outcomes of NHL games. We also examine the effect of audience size on game outcomes using historical observations from the past decade, when no lockdown measures were in force. Interestingly, a larger audience size increases the chance of winning and the expected scoring points of the visiting team for NFL games. No significant effect of the audience size on match outcomes is observed for NBA or NHL games. Regarding referee decisions, spectators do not significantly influence referee calls of NHL matches. As for NBA and NFL, the lockdown significantly increases the total number of referee calls but does not prompt more biased decisions towards either of the teams. Finally, a larger audience leads to referee calls more favourable to the visiting team for NFL games. These results extend the literature regarding crowd pressure on the behaviour of players and officials, with an indication that the specific sports activity has a pivotal role in the response to a cheering audience.

Eliminating supportive crowds reduces referee bias

We use a series of historical natural experiments in association football to test whether social pressure from a home stadium crowd affected behavior and outcomes. The standout effect of an empty stadium was that referees cautioned visiting players less often, by over a third of a yellow card per match or once for every 22 fouls committed. Stadium crowds caused referees to favor the home team in their decision-making. Empty stadiums appear to have reduced the overall home advantage in the final outcomes of football matches, but we cannot statistically reject no effect.

"I took it off most of the time 'cause I felt comfortable": unmasking, trusted others, and lessons learned from a coronavirus disease 2019 reinfection: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 reinfection prevalence is unknown. It is essential to understand reinfection symptoms and, importantly, the lived experience. CASE PRESENTATION: Case study design is the best method for understanding this contemporary pandemic and rare occurrence of reinfections. A 19-year-old White Non-Hispanic woman presented with presumed severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 reinfection 6 weeks after initially mild symptomatic infection and consistent repeat negative results. Real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction from saliva was used for detection. Twice-weekly saliva samples were collected (a) before initial infection, (b) resumed on day 10 after initial infection until reinfection was detected, and (c) resumed on day 10 post-reinfection. A 1.5-hour virtual interview was conducted, transcribed, and independently analyzed by two researchers. Four themes emerged: (1) perceived invincibility or inevitability and subsequent immunity increases risk of transmission via inconsistent preventive behaviors; (2) normalcy desires, trusted others, and implicit social pressures to not wear masks and distance increase one's coronavirus disease 2019 risk; (3) physical symptoms are more severe with reinfection compared with first infection; and (4) mental health sequelae (trauma and stigma) are more severe and enduring than physical health outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Unmasked social interactions contradicting public health recommendations were rationalized by social circle members with heavy reliance on feeling asymptomatic, lacking a positive test (testing negative or not testing), or attributing symptoms to allergies. Stigma of testing positive and consequences of not conforming to social group behaviors is overwhelming and creates pressure to take risks. This case study provides insights and lessons learned relevant for public health messaging and continued preventive behaviors.

Watching, being watched, and human interactions: evidence from trust games.

Face-to-face communication increases human trust, which is crucial for making important decisions with others. Due to technological breakthroughs and the COVID-19 pandemic, human interactions now predominantly occur online, leading to two situations: other peoples' faces cannot be seen, but yours can, and vice versa. However, the relationships among watching, being watched, and face-to-face interaction are unclear in existing papers. This paper separately measures the effects of both watching and being watched on human interactions using a trust game. I derive the optimal behaviors of senders and receivers in the trust game and empirically validate it through a controlled experiment. The results show that more than half of the participants perform the optimal behavior. They also indicate that both watching and being watched enhance human trust and reciprocity, while the synergy effect of face-to-face is not observed. Additionally, women reciprocate more when they are watched, and trust increases when participants are paired with the opposite gender and can watch their partner. This paper theoretically concludes that the former comes from women's social pressure that they should be reciprocators, and the latter from participants' beliefs that the opposite gender reciprocates more than the same gender does. These results propose a framework based on watching and being watched affecting human behaviors and emphasize the importance of face-to-face communication in online human interactions.

No Fans-No Pressure: Referees in Professional Football During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, European elite football (a.k.a. soccer) leagues played the remaining season 2019/20 without or strongly limited attendance of supporters (i.e., "ghost games"). From a sport psychological perspective this situation poses a unique opportunity to investigate the crowd's influence on referee decisions and the associated effect of "home advantage." A total of 1286 matches-played in the top leagues of Spain, England, Germany, Italy, Russia, Turkey, Austria and the Czech Republic-were analyzed for results, fouls, bookings and reasons for bookings and contrasted between respective matchdays of season 2018/19 (regular attendance) and season 2019/20 (ghost games). Following recent methodological developments in the research on the home advantage effect, four different statistical analyses-including Pollard's traditional method-were used for the assessment of the home advantage effect. There are two main findings. First, home teams were booked significantly more often with yellow cards for committing fouls in ghost games. Most importantly, this effect was independent of the course of the games. In contrast, bookings for other reasons (criticism and unfair sportsmanship) changed similarly for both home and away teams in ghost games. Second, the overall home performance and home advantage effect in the respective elite leagues-identified in the respective matches of the regular 2018/19 season-vanished in the ghost games of the 2019/20 season. We conclude that the lack of supporters in top European football during the COVID-19 pandemic led to decreased social pressure from the ranks on referees, which also had a potential impact on the home advantage. Referees assessed the play of home teams more objectively, leading to increased yellow cards awarded for fouls committed by the home teams. Since there were no significant changes in referee decisions against the away teams, we argue that our observations reflect a reduction of unconscious favoritism of referees for the home teams.

Who chokes on a penalty kick? Social environment and individual performance during Covid-19 times.

We use hand-collected data on penalty kicks in the top-level football competitions across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom over the 2019/2020 season to analyse how social environment affects the performance of individuals. We exploit the Covid-19 outbreak to induce a plausible source of variation in the supporters' attendance. We find that for home teams the probability of missing a penalty increases when matches are forced to be played behind closed doors, while visiting teams are less likely to choke on a penalty kick, with these effects being more pronounced when the level of attendance (measured before the pandemic) was high. Taken together, these findings indicate that not only a supportive audience, but also the size of the support plays a key role for success of skill tasks.

The sound of silence in association football: Home advantage and referee bias decrease in matches played without spectators.

The home advantage and unconscious referee bias are two well-documented phenomena in professional sports, especially in association football. Among the various factors determining them, the crowd noise is considered as one of the most relevant; yet, the majority of previous studies could not isolate its contribution. The possibility to study the effects of crowd noise - or, better, of its absence - in an ecological context was given by the matches played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether home advantage and referee bias still occur (and to what extent) during matches played in absence of spectators. In particular, the focus was on the first and second divisions of the top four countries in the UEFA ranking, for a total of 841 matches behind closed doors. The hypothesis was that, if these phenomena are largely due to the effect of crowd noise, the absence of spectators should reduce their occurrence. Various parameters for each of the two phenomena were considered, and the analyses revealed a reduction of home advantage and the absence of referee bias. The results bring further support to the claim that, among all the factors contributing to home advantage and referee bias, crowd noise has a relevant role. Thus, spectators can significantly contribute to determine the dynamics and the outcomes of professional football matches.