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This investigation examined how outcome influences the type of attributions that fans and rival fans generate in a computer-mediated medium, such as World Wide Web (WWW) message boards. One hundred and sixty-four attributions for a team's performance were randomly selected from the Sporting News' WWW message boards and were coded on the dimensions of locus, stability, and controllability. Contrary to past research that showed that fans tend to exhibit the "success/failure bias" when making attributions about their teams' performances (Mann, 1974; Wann & Dolan, 1994; Wann & Schrader, 2000), fans were more likely to generate external, stable, uncontrollable factors as causes of their teams' victories, while posting internal, unstable, and controllable attributions following their teams' defeats, fans of a losing team generated more internal and controllable attributions following their teams' losses in comparison to rival fans. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of the influence that self-presentational motives and social norms may have on the types of attributions one generates.
INTRODUCTION
Sporting events are ideal situations to examine attributions for positive and negative outcomes (McHugh, Duquin, & Frieze, 1978). Following athletic contests, sports reporters, participants, coaches, and fans attempt to identify explanations (or attributions) for an athlete's or a team's performance. These sport-related attributions have provided rich data for social scientists who examine how the type of attributions that people form are influenced by various situational variables (Grove, Hanrahan, & Mclnman, 1991; Lau & Russell, 1980; Wann & Dolan, 1994; Wann & Schrader, 2000).
The outcome of the sporting event is one situational variable that has received considerable interest from those who study sport-related attributions (Brancombe, N'gbala, Kobrynowicz, & Wann, 1997, Peterson, 1980; Wann & Dolan, 1994). Mann (1974) explored the role of outcome on the types of attributions that fans formed. He found that fans were more likely to make external attributions for an outcome following a loss in comparison to following a victory. Lau and Russell (1980) found that the tendency to exhibit a self-serving success/failure bias is a behavior not limited to sport fans. They examined the attributions made by coaches, players, and sportswriters by studying the content of newspaper accounts of football and baseball games. Players and coaches reported a higher proportion of internal attributions to...