A bibliometric and thematic review of trust in algorithmic sport business research on artificial intelligence, synthetic media and platformized sport from 2010 to 2025

As sport business becomes increasingly platformized, trust is no longer a background condition but a managerial resource shaped by algorithms, synthetic media, and datafied fan relationships. This bibliometric and thematic review mapped 1,206 Scopus-indexed documents published from 2010 to 2025 to examine how artificial intelligence, social media, branding, fan engagement, and digital integrity are reorganizing sport management. Using Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny and VOSviewer, the analysis identified rapid publication growth, a strong social media foundation, expanding AI-related themes, and an intellectual structure dispersed across sport management, communication, marketing, information systems, psychology, and media studies. Findings suggest that algorithmic sport is not merely a technological extension of sport business but an emerging trust-sensitive environment involving authenticity, athlete identity, consumer data, platform power, misinformation, and organizational legitimacy. Building on these patterns, the review develops an integrative framework of trust in algorithmic sport business that connects algorithmic conditions, stakeholder appraisals, trust, governance, and sport-business outcomes, while offering testable propositions for future empirical research.