PurposeExisting research on sponsorship effects shows that the congruence (i.e. fit) between sponsor and sponsored cause is critical for a change in brand image. Congruence between sponsor and sponsored cause is seen as static in nature. From a dynamic perspective it is unclear why congruence should be seen as constant, and why it is critical for sponsorship effects. This paper aims to address this issue.Design/methodology/approachThis paper analyzes effects of sponsorship evaluative congruence on brand image over time using individual difference measures. Individual level data were obtained from two surveys before and after the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, including 268 respondents who participated in both surveys.FindingsFindings show significant positive effects of learning and remembering of a sponsorship stimulus on brand image over time. In contrast to existing literature, positive incongruence of brand image (i.e. sponsor) and event image (i.e. sponsored cause) in the pre‐analysis results in a significant increase of brand image over time. Moreover, a change in event image over time has a positive effect on the change in brand image.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research should replicate this study in different contexts, including event‐ and brand‐related contexts. Future studies should use a more detailed scale to measure brand (event) image, which would allow a more rigorous assessment of image transfer on an attribute level. A replication of the relationship between event image and brand image over time would be especially interesting in a setting, in which event image is negative or a negative Δ event image could be expected.Practical implicationsLinking explanatory variables such as (Δ) event image and Δ brand image over time is important for a reliable assessment of the positive (negative) consequences of sponsorship activities. A sponsorship that might have been positively incongruent in the beginning can turn out to be congruent over time. Hence, the current view that incongruent sponsorships are less promising might be misleading.Originality/valueIn experimental studies, congruence between sponsor and sponsored event is seen as static in nature. From a dynamic perspective, this viewpoint can be challenged. Both sponsor and event image are subject to change over time. Hence, this study determines the impact of event image change over time on brand image.

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the simultaneous effects of country of origin (COO) and corporate reputation on initial trust in a transition economy, and to compare these effects across two service industries. The model broadens COO research by incorporating initial trust as a key driver of success in the context of services internationalization. Design/methodology/approach -Poland is the transition economy studied. A total of 184 respondents evaluated different service combinations (high vs low reputation/home country vs foreign country) in two different service categories (high risk vs low risk). Relationships between constructs are tested, employing a between-subject experimental design. Findings -Both reputation and the risk level of service have a significant main effect on initial trust. Furthermore, results indicate a highly significant interaction effect: a positive COO effect leads to a higher level of initial trust only in the case of a risky service. Research limitations/implications -As with all laboratory studies, external validity is limited. Further research should focus on other instruments for gaining initial trust (e.g. warranties), especially in the case of a negative COO image. Practical implications -International marketers of services must carefully consider COO information as a means of building initial trust. Positive effects only apply in the case of high-risk services. Originality/value -A major contribution is the introduction of initial trust as an important mediator in COO-related international service marketing literature. As a second contribution, COO effects were compared across different service categories with respect to perceived risk. Furthermore, investigating COO effects in transition economies is of particular interest, as such markets are gaining attraction for international service providers.

Consumer's differentiated perception and appraisal of a product's country-of-origin (COO) exerts large influence on perception of the COO-image (COI) and on the perceived product quality.At peripheral information processing COO-Image (COI) provides a basis to ease requirements for information processing in form of heuristics.Most of internationalization literature examines the COO effect with respect to high-involvement products and in context of cognitive processing. However studies from Maheswaran and Chen (2006) point out, that besides cognitive influences, also specific emotions impact on COO-effects. Whereas the influence of negative emotions like anger, sadness or frustration on processing and judgments could be exposed, the issue of positive emotions' impact still stays open.Since the question should be answered, if emotions impact on COO-Effects, it is emphasized to focus on COO as an affective heuristic operating as a "halo" effect on attitudes towards a product. Because both marketing and evolutionary theories of emotion act on the assumption of satisfaction of human needs, latter is specified, describing emotions as complex chains of events with stabilizing feedback loops. Particularly, in the context of impulsive purchasing emotion plays a vital role. Impulsive buyers are more emotionalized, experiencing more enthusiasm, joy, and glee than nonbuyers. Thus "joy" leads to impulsive decision making behavior.Drawing on the extant literature, we develop our conceptual framework to analyze whether, and if so, how positive emotions (such as joy) affect the impact of COO on product evaluation. Based on an experimental study including 130 respondents, we test three hypotheses: whether the COO has an impact on product evaluation (H1), whether the positive emotion of joy has a stronger positive influence on product

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