Purpose This study aims to examine the growing prevalence of unethical practices in contemporary sports, despite their celebrated role in fostering teamwork, discipline and fair play. It seeks to identify the most common unethical behaviours and explore their causes, consequences and potential remedies. Design/methodology/approach The research adopts a narrative literature review approach, drawing on scholarly works and high-profile cases to investigate unethical behaviours in sports. Findings The study reveals doping, match-fixing, cheating, discrimination, corruption and abuse as the most common unethical practices. It further identifies systemic and individual factors such as pressure to win, financial incentives, weak governance and cultural tolerance that contribute to these behaviours. The study also highlights the long-term consequences for athletes, institutions and public trust. Originality/value By proposing an integrated framework and practical strategies, including ethics education, robust monitoring, whistleblower protection and values-based leadership, this study offers actionable solutions to strengthen organisational enforcement in sports. These reforms can be assessed through measurable indicators such as enhanced public trust, improved athlete welfare and greater perceived organisational transparency, with direct implications for teaching, policymaking and governance. Furthermore, this study advances originality by introducing the integrated sports ethics enforcement framework, a conceptual model that systematically integrates deontological ethics with antecedent drivers of misconduct, specific unethical practices, organisational moderating mechanisms and measurable ethical outcomes.
Mbakilwa et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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