Unchallenged deception in performance sports work

This article breaks new ground in the sociology of sports work through its novel exploration of unchallenged deception in performance sports coaching contexts. Qualitative Jisc online survey data from 29 sports workers (coaches, performance analysts, sports scientists, doctors, a sport psychologist, physiotherapist, and scout) was subject to iterative analysis. Findings address how participants detected diverse deception attempts by co-workers and why they concealed and did not challenge the lies that they heard. Our theoretical interpretation of these findings builds on Goffman and Hochschild to advance Shulman’s theorisation of unchallenged deception. We offer, through iterative analysis of participant accounts, the concept of strategic gullibility as a new heuristic for understanding how workers manage the implications of others’ lies while concealing having detected them. In doing so, the present study responds to calls to study unchallenged deception, contributes new insights to an evolving critical social (dramaturgical) analysis of sports work, and raises important questions for the preparation and continuing professional development of the sporting workforce.