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Cheating and NASCAR: Who's at the wheel?
Abstract
This article embarks on a road trip to NASCAR, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, to take a close look at why cheating occurs within that organization. Two arguments drive the article, namely that NASCAR (1) may not be able to stop cheating particularly within the current context, and (2) might not want or be motivated to stop cheating. Obstacles complicating NASCAR's efforts to stop cheating include the long-standing culture of unethical behavior within stock car racing, and the inconsistent imposition of punishments by NASCAR which drivers and race teams perceive as favoritism and unfair treatment. Yellow flags that raise caution include pressure from unwavering fans, and the friction between innovation and maintaining parity among teams. Proposed solutions include changing the culture within the NASCAR community, as well as developing ethical role models, both of which require major action by NASCAR's top managers to signal the importance of ethical behavior. Other key stakeholders such as sponsors and fans must create incentives and rewards for ethical behavior, and consider reducing or ending support for drivers and teams that engage in unethical conduct. Our analysis and recommendations have broad applications because NASCAR is an archetype of a large organization attempting to reduce cheating and unethical behavior.
... The first section of this review below shares light on leadership behaviour and NCF in the business environment. Thirteen studies [15,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32] and two reports [33,34] reviewed showed the use of nepotism and favouritism by leaders in the business environment (see Appendix 1). Only five studies were found that mentioned the exact leadership behaviour and its association with nepotism and favouritism (refer to appendix 1). ...
... Eight studies [15,22,25,26,27,28,29,30] and two news report [33,34] with no specific mention of exact leadership behaviour within the business environment were reviewed. The primary conclusions from eight studies [15,20,22,25,26,28,29,30] and two news report [33,34] were not dissimilar from one another even though the leader's mode of engagement in NCF differed in various studies. ...
... Eight studies [15,22,25,26,27,28,29,30] and two news report [33,34] with no specific mention of exact leadership behaviour within the business environment were reviewed. The primary conclusions from eight studies [15,20,22,25,26,28,29,30] and two news report [33,34] were not dissimilar from one another even though the leader's mode of engagement in NCF differed in various studies. However, one of the studies held a contrary view as far as leadership behaviour and favouritism were concerned [27]. ...
This paper reviewed leadership in the context of nepotism, cronyism and favouritism (NCF) from different disciplines. Studies reviewed were those that have established an association between leadership and NCF behaviours, country differences in leadership and NCF behaviours and the extent of attention that has been granted to leadership in the context of NCF. The analysis was based on articles published by peer-review from 1980 to 2016. The analysis accessed data from EBSCO Discovery, Web of Science, Science direct, Scopus, E-journals and E-books and Google scholar. In total, 24 empirical studies, 12 theoretical studies and 3 news reports were reviewed. The analysis was guided by three research questions. 1) How do existing studies cover leadership behaviour in the context of NCF? 2) How is different leadership behaviour associated with NCF? 3) How are country differences – developed versus developing – associated with leadership behaviour in the context of NCF? It was found that only a few studies mentioned exact leadership behaviour in studies associating leadership and NCF behaviours. All studies reviewed in this paper acknowledged the association between leadership and NCF behaviours except one. There were no country differences as far as leadership and NCF behaviours were concerned. There were scant studies of leadership in the context of NCF behaviours in Africa and Latin America and it is recommended that more empirical cross-country studies on leadership and NCF behaviours should be undertaken to draw attention to these negative behaviours in the political environment, business environment and educational environment.
... There are several examples from various sports where cheating has occurred. In the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the competitive drive for innovation has led to a "cat-and-mouse culture" of numerous infringements, where teams attempt to find ways around the rules (Baucus et al., 2008). Formula 1 teams have attempted to manipulate the outcome of races (Zaksaite & Raduševičius, 2017). ...
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been several public confessions to cheating from elite-level players in the online version of the card game bridge. Whilst the deviance of cheating is a perennial issue in the world of elite sports, little is known about how bridge compares as a mindsport. A Foucauldian theoretical lens examines the case of a young world champion who publicly confessed to self-kibitzing. Kibitzing is a bridge term for spectating, whereas self-kibitzing is when a player logs onto another account to look at their partner’s and opponents’ hands when playing in digital bridge tournaments. The confession is an entry point into the analysis, followed by thematically unravelling over 1500 public responses from members of the bridge community. The findings illustrate how confessions are used as a form of penance for the deviance of self-kibitzing. The confessionary sociological lens paves the way for a rebirth in bridge.KeywordsDigital bridgeSelf-kibitzingConfessionFoucaultMindsport
... With this community, it is able to provide spirit for every community and football player. As well as providing community support to the favorite teams they support [8]- [11]. They dare to sacrifice in giving motivation to compete for the football team they love [12]. ...
... Merely placing a high value on extraordinary performance and focusing member attention exclusively on ends can create conditions that promote misconduct (Greve et al. 2010). For example, crew chiefs in NASCAR auto racing were instructed by their leaders to read the rule book for what was not expressly prohibited as much as for what was stated (Baucus et al. 2008). Unethical behavior at Enron arose in part due to the deployment of leadership mechanisms that included obsessive attention to profits and "rank and yank" performance reviews that reinforced a "win-at-all-costs" mentality (Sims and Brinkmann 2003). ...
Explanations of organizational misconduct frequently point to declining firm performance and/or the actions of unethical or suspect leaders. Evidence that high-performing firms act illegally or unethically is an enigma. The purpose of this paper is to address these issues by exploring organizational performance using aspirational rather than absolute measures (i.e., social and self-referenced performance vs ROE or ROI) and examining the effect that suspect leader succession has on the increased probability of organizational misconduct. Our analysis of 128 collegiate football programs competing between 1953 and 2016 reveals an increased likelihood of misconduct among organizations with strong as well as weak performance, most notably in comparison to competitive peer programs. Social- and self-referenced aspirations produced distinct relationships between relative performance and misconduct. The impact of leader succession was conditional. The data revealed an increased likelihood of infraction episodes with the appointment of suspect leaders. In some instances, however, a reduced likelihood of misconduct accompanied succession events involving untainted leaders.
... 3. With this type of money on the table, it is not surprising that cheating is also a major concern in NASCAR (see Baucus, et al. 2008) 4. Levitt, et al. (2011) find that professional chess players do backwards induct in "pure backward induction games" as opposed to centipede games. ...
This article uses data from NASCAR to examine strategic decision making with professional players and high stakes. The authors look at driver decisions to pit, enabling car performance to be improved at the cost of track position. Unlike other sports choices that have been used to test game-theoretic play, pitting decisions occur sequentially. Therefore, optimal decision making should result in the sub-game perfect equilibrium outcome. After estimating the likelihood of successfully passing another driver, the authors find some evidence that drivers make optimal decisions; however, driver behavior is also consistent with a simple heuristic of following the preceding car.
Since 2011, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) has forced drivers to pick one of three national series for which they would be eligible to compete for a season championship. Prior to this “Pick-A-Series” rule, many drivers in the premier Sprint Cup Series competed regularly in the Nationwide Series, which is a developmental division for less experienced drivers. I examined whether the removal of moonlighting Sprint Cup drivers from championship contention encouraged less aggressive driving among those who competed exclusively in the Nationwide Series. There was weak evidence that the Pick-A-Series rule reduced accident proneness among Nationwide drivers relative to Sprint Cup drivers.
The tendency to "bask in reflected glory" (BIRG) by publicly announcing one's associations with successful others was investigated in 3 field experiments with more than 300 university students. All 3 studies showed this effect to occur even though the person striving to bask in the glory of a successful source was not involved in the cause of the source's success. Exp I demonstrated the BIRG phenomenon by showing a greater tendency for university students to wear school-identifying apparel after their school's football team had been victorious than nonvictorious. Exps II and III replicated this effect by showing that students used the pronoun we more when describing victory than a nonvictory of their school's football team. A model was developed asserting that the BIRG response represents an attempt to enhance one's public image. Exps II and III indicated, in support of this assertion, that the tendency to proclaim a connection with a positive source was strongest when one's public image was threatened. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Many prescriptions offered in the literature for enhancing creativity and innovation in organizations raise ethical concerns,
yet creativity researchers rarely discuss ethics. We identify four categories of behavior proffered as a means for fostering
creativity that raise serious ethical issues: (1) breaking rules and standard operating procedures; (2) challenging authority
and avoiding tradition; (3) creating conflict, competition and stress; and (4) taking risks. We discuss each category, briefly
identifying research supporting these prescriptions for fostering creativity and then we delve into ethical issues associated
with engaging in the prescribed behavior. These four rubrics illustrate ethical issues that need to be incorporated into the
creativity and innovation literature. Recommendations for how organizations can respond to the ethical issues are offered
based on practices of exemplary organizations and theories of organizational ethics. A research agenda for empirically investigating
the ethical impact these four categories of behavior have on organizations concludes the article.
The tendency to "bask in reflected glory" (BIRG) by publicly announcing one's associations with successful others was investigated in 3 field experiments with more than 300 university students. All 3 studies showed this effect to occur even though the person striving to bask in the glory of a successful source was not involved in the cause of the source's success. Exp I demonstrated the BIRG phenomenon by showing a greater tendency for university students to wear school-identifying apparel after their school's football team had been victorious than nonvictorious. Exps II and III replicated this effect by showing that students used the pronoun we more when describing victory than a nonvictory of their school's football team. A model was developed asserting that the BIRG response represents an attempt to enhance one's public image. Exps II and III indicated, in support of this assertion, that the tendency to proclaim a connection with a positive source was strongest when one's public image was threatened. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
The importance of ethical behavior to an organization has never been more apparent, and in recent years researchers have generated a great deal of knowledge about the management of individual ethical behavior in organizations. We review this literature and attempt to provide a coherent portrait of the current state of the field. We discuss individual, group, and organizational influences and consider gaps in current knowledge and obstacles that limit our understanding. We conclude by offering directions for future research on behavioral ethics in organizations.
Posits that although behaving “ethically” should be important for its own sake, whether a firm behaves ethically or unethically may also have a significant influence on consumers’ purchase decisions. Examines the issue of unethical corporate behavior from the perspective of consumers. Addresses several questions. First, what are consumers’ expectations regarding the ethicality of corporate behavior? Second, is whether a firm acts ethically or unethically an important consumer concern, and if so, will information regarding a firm’s behavior influence their purchase decision? Demonstrates that consumers say they do care about a firm’s ethics and will adjust their purchase behaviors accordingly.
The Japanese Professional Soccer League (J. League) began in 1993 and was the first professional soccer league in Japan. After an initial period of strong interest, spectator support for the League has declined. The primary purpose of the current study was to develop a means for measuring selected motives influencing the behaviour of J. League spectators. The second purpose was to then use the measurement scale to examine the impact of these motives on spectator behaviour. Seven motives for J. League spectators were identified in the current study (drama, vicarious achievement, aesthetics, team attachment, player attachment, sport attachment, and community pride), based on prior attempts to measure the motives of sport consumers (e.g., Madrigal & Howard, 1995; Wann, 1995), and an understanding of Japanese culture and J. League spectators. Items were generated to measure each of the seven motives. Confirmatory factor analysis of the scale based on a survey of J. League attendees indicated that seven factors extracted 57% of the variance and were suitable for further analysis. Additional analysis indicated the relative importance of the motives in predicting variance in length of time as a fan and frequency of attendance. Sport attachment predicted the most variance in length of time as a fan, while team attachment was the strongest predictor of frequency of attendance. These results have implications for sport practitioners seeking to improve their marketing efforts and for sport researchers seeking to better understand the motives of sport consumers.
Ethics researchers advise managers of organizations to link rewards and punishments to ethical and unethical behavior, respectively. We build on prior research maintaining that organizations operate at Kohlbergs stages of moral reasoning, and explain how the over-reliance on rewards and punishments encourages employees to operate at Kohlbergs lowest stages of moral reasoning. We advocate designing organizations as ethical communities and relying on different assumptions about employees in order to foster ethical reasoning at higher levels. Characteristics associated with ethical communities are identified and AES Corporation and Semco S/A serve as examples of corporations exhibiting the design characteristics and assumptions of ethical organizations.
This paper reviews Kohlberg''s (1969) theory of cognitive moral development, highlighting moral reasoning research relevant to the business ethics domain. Implications for future business ethics research, higher education and training, and the management of ethical/unethical behavior are discussed.
This paper explores the consequences of cognitive dissonance, coupled with time-inconsistent preferences, in an intertemporal decision problem with two distinct goals: acting decisively on early information (vision) and adjusting flexibly to late information (flexibility). The decision maker considered here is capable of manipulating information to serve her self-interests, but a tradeoff between distorted beliefs and distorted actions constrains the extent of information manipulation. Building on this tradeoff, the present model provides a unified framework to account for the conformity bias (excessive reliance on precedents) and the confirmatory bias (excessive attachment to initial perceptions).
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