The objective of this study is to develop an instrument to measure the social impact of sport. While there is a rich literature suggesting and measuring the ways in which sport contributes to society, no broad, encompassing scale has been developed. A measure of this type is useful if sport initiatives are to gain social, political and financial support, especially in the form of corporate sponsorship. The proposed “Social Impact of Sport Scale” includes the dimensions of social capital, collective identities, health literacy, well-being and human capital. In addition to development of a detailed 75 item composite scale stemming largely from past measurement, a shorter set of global measures is also examined. A convenience sample of university students is used in scale development as well as a partial test of the scale in context. Results find support for the detailed scale and for the short global measure instrument. In addition, the partial test of the scale in a context of sport experience relevant to students is reported. The value of the scale in use and areas of future research are discussed.

Price setting in the sponsorship of sport, charity, arts and entertainment is usually negotiated, and private, so we know little about what determines price. With a sample of publicly available sponsorship proposals, the relationship between sponsorship characteristics and price set by the property is examined. Media coverage and attendance levels are hypothesized to have a positive impact on property price, as are a host of on-site communications. Overall the most influential variable explaining the property’s asking price is media coverage. In contrast, on-site communications are not important in price setting. Interestingly, access to property offerings such as celebrities and venues has a significant positive impact on property price. While the empirical investigation is limited to the relationship between communication characteristics and asking price, the price negotiation process and property-based characteristics that lead to the final price are also discussed.

To enact corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, sport organizations often partner with organizations in different sectors, including public, private, and nonprofit. These partnerships provide teams and leagues with needed resources to effectively execute social initiatives. Little is known, however, about sport organizations’ partnership portfolios and the effectiveness of combining partnerships to improve cause outcomes. Using two experimental studies, we examine perceptions of partnership organizations in terms of warmth and competence, how these combined perceptions in a portfolio affect individuals’ willingness to donate to CSR initiatives, and whether portfolio perceptions can be improved by articulation. We find that perceptions of portfolio warmth and competence increased willingness to donate to sport organizations’ CSR initiatives through the serial mediation effects of cause fit and response efficacy in the structural equation model. Furthermore, we find that corporate competence articulation reduced the mediation effect of response efficacy in the structural relationship.

Higher stress and lower perception of health status were directly associated with intention to change behavior. Incorporating stress management and awareness of health perception into health promotion strategies could enhance wellness programs by aligning programs with motivating factors.

Collaborations between nonprofits and corporations aim to serve both social and commercial goals. This study posits that social sponsorships can increase donations to nonprofits and simultaneously benefit corporations by communicating signals of measured societal value. Studies 1 and 2 provide evidence that communication of measured societal value, endorsed by a credible source, can increase willingness to donate to nonprofits through individuals’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility. Study 3 generalizes these findings, simultaneously showing that communication of measured societal value can reduce perceptions of hypocrisy toward corporations. It also examines the underlying mechanism of these results by investigating the serial mediation effects of corporate social responsibility perception and functional fit in the causal relationships from measured societal value to both increased willingness to donate to nonprofits and reduced perceptions of corporate hypocrisy. Furthermore, the work demonstrates that these effects are due to communication of measurement, not the source of the communication.