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. 2022 Jul 13;17(7):e0270546.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270546. eCollection 2022.

Cultural similarity and impartiality on voting bias: The case of FIFA's World's Best Male Football Player Award

Michael R Johnson  1 , Ian P McCarthy  1   2
Affiliations

Cultural similarity and impartiality on voting bias: The case of FIFA's World's Best Male Football Player Award

Michael R Johnson et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Previous studies on voting bias in competitive awards have not fully considered the role of cultural similarity. Using data for the Best FIFA Men's Player Award, we evaluate the extent of voting bias in this Award using three cultural similarity factors (cultural distance, cultural clusters, and collectivism), six established in-group factors (nationality, club, league, geography, ethnicity, religion, and language) and the impartiality of the voter's country. Using statistical and econometric methods, we find that voter-player cultural similarity is positively associated with voting bias and find no evidence of impartiality when it comes to cultural or national ties. We also find that media voters are less biased than captain voters and coach voters, and that coaches are less biased than captains.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Research design and hypotheses.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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