Paper title: A Multi Sport Experiment Examining the Influence of Economic Status on Sports Participation
Author: 
Cornel Nesseler - University of Stavanger
Carlos Gomez-Gonzalez - University of Lausanne
Petr Parshakov - HSE
Thadeu Gasparetto - WVU
Helmut Dietl - University of Zurich
 

Abstract:

Sports participation is declining in many societies. This decline does not only endanger the health of citizens; it also undermines social cohesion. We perform a large-scale field experiment to provide valuable insights into the dynamics of discrimination in amateur sports as a possible cause for this decline. By contacting more than 7,000 sports coaches for seven of the ten most popular sports in Germany (football, golf, handball, horse riding, shooting, table tennis, and tennis) our study shows that openness towards people with a foreign-sounding name is remarkably different across sports. We identify nationality as the most important factor. Skin color, religion and asking about club membership fees have no influence. Individuals with native-sounding names receive statistically significantly more positive responses compared to those with foreign-sounding names, with Syrian- and Turkish-sounding names facing the most discrimination. This pattern persists across various sports, with notable differences in the degree of discrimination between them. Interestingly, Ukrainian-sounding names receive relatively better responses. These results provide important implications for the sport’s governing bodies, the openness of the German society towards foreigners, and for future research in this field.

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