Referee Bias

By Thomas J. Dohmen, Jan Sauermann. Social Science Research Network, 2016

120 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper surveys the empirical literature on the behavior of referees in professional football and other sports. Referees are typically appointed by a principal to be impartial, especially when unbiased referee judgment is vital for the accomplishment of the principal’s objective. Answering whether referees make biased decisions and understanding the causes that lead referees to digress from their principal duty of impartiality is therefore fundamental from a theoretical point of view. At the same time, assessing the prevalence and origin of referee bias is germane to various domains of life. Referee bias is particularly relevant in sports, where partial decision-making can determine competition outcomes, which can have strong repercussions on athletes’ careers and supporters’ well-being.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Gender Studies, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9466518b9ec5f90f97937d6478d6d0d558298c96

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Economics and Econometrics

1. Dominik Schreyer
2. J. Reade
3. Carl Singleton
4. Alex Bryson

In Gender Studies

1. Dominik Schreyer
2. J. Reade
3. Carl Singleton
4. Alex Bryson

In Sociology and Political Science

1. Dominik Schreyer
2. J. Reade
3. Carl Singleton
4. Alex Bryson
5. B. Oc
6. Michael R. Bashshur

Citations in the corpus

• Causal effects of an absent crowd on performances and refereeing decisions during Covid-19 (2020, background): “There is already a well-developed literature investigating the effects of social pressure in sports on the decision making of participants and on contest outcomes (e.g., Dohmen and Sauermann, 2016; Garicano et al., 2005; Sutter and Kocher, 2004).”
• Eliminating Supportive Crowds Reduces Referee Bias (2021, result): “are why previous studies have suggested that referee bias toward the home team may account for at least some of the home advantage in football (e.g., Dohmen, 2008b; Dohmen and Sauermann, 2016), though it has proven impossible to completely rule out that the nature of play by teams could also explain”