Corporate Investment in Sport Sponsorship and its Evaluation

Corporate investment in sponsorship has increased dramatically in recent decades and growth rate in sponsorship has exceeded any other marketing communications tool. Although spending on sponsorship is expected to increase more in the future and sport dominates the pie of sponsorship revenue, the relationship between sponsorship and purchase intentions of consumers is still vague and needs elaborate research. Current study is an attempt to contribute understanding of sponsorship in sport context and aims to evaluate sport sponsorship effectiveness by investigating antecedents of attitudes towards sponsor and purchase intentions. A conceptual model was developed to examine the effects of factors such as perceived sincerity, perceived fit between the sponsor and sport team and team attachment on attitude towards sponsor and intentions to purchase sponsor’s products. The measurement model was tested using confirmatory factor analysis and hypothesized model was tested by using Structural equation modeling (SEM). The data were collected from spectators of a Turkish basketball game in the arena before the start of game. The results suggest that perceived fit and team attachment have positive influence on sincerity perceptions which in turn create positive attitudes toward sponsor and greater purchase intentions for products of sponsor. Findings of the study have important implications for sponsors and future research.