The Cultural sources of deception in soccer: how collectivism affects the number of penalties in European soccer leagues

Abstract

Objectives. This article relies on data from 20,730 matches in 30 national soccer leagues in Europeto explore the determinants of penalties taken in elite soccer. Methods. We run OLS cross-sectionalregressions using aggregated data. Results. We find that the variation in the number of penaltiesgiven across European soccer leagues is largely explained by the individualism versus collectivismdimension. Conclusions. The more (less) collectivistic (individualistic) the culture of the country,the more likely soccer players are to fall intentionally in the penalty area to increase the chances ofa foul being called.