How Does the Negative Impact of an Athlete’s Reputational Crisis Spill Over to Endorsed and Competing Brands? The Moderating Effects of Consumer Knowledge

Abstract

Despite some of the recent examinations of an athlete’s reputational crisis (ARC), their negative spillover effects on endorsed and competing brands have been overlooked. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between perceived severity, athlete endorser credibility (i.e., incompetence, untrustworthiness), and attitudes towards endorsed and competing brands. To enhance theoretical understanding of the phenomenon, the moderating role of consumer knowledge was also tested. Participants were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk ( N = 339). A multigroup structural equation model was employed to test the hypothesized model. Results indicated that the severity of an ARC is associated with the perceived incompetence and untrustworthiness of focal athletes. Perceived incompetence is associated with negative evaluation of an endorsed brand. Furthermore, this impact is significantly stronger for consumers with greater knowledge of the athletes than those who are less knowledgeable. Interestingly, competitor brands received negative impact indirectly from the athlete endorsers’ incompetence. This spillover effect is also manifested differently depending on the level of consumer knowledge.

When Should a Brand Cut Ties With a Scandalized Endorser?

“…This has been supported elsewhere (Brown, 2016; J. S. Lee & Kwak, 2016; Sato et al, 2019). The negative relationship between sport fans and scandalized endorsers results in an imbalance in the relationship.…”

“…Celebrity endorsers are often involved in misbehaviors that receive keen media attention (Rowe, 2017), and this potentially hurts endorsed brands (J. S. Lee, Kwak, & Moore, 2015; Sato, Ko, Chang, & Kay, 2019). The collective shareholder values of Tiger Woods’s endorsed brands decreased approximately US$5–US$12 billion when his sexual infidelity scandal was exposed to the public (Knittle & Stango, 2013).…”

How Do Moral Values and Crisis Response Strategies Influence Individuals’ Evaluations and Support of Sports Organizations Post-Crisis?

“…Recent literature shows that crisis response strategies could further influence organizational support a team may receive from the general public, which takes the testing of IRT beyond reputation perception (K. A. Brown, Anderson, & Dickhaus, 2016). Sports teams value the support they could receive from local communities and fans (Koerber & Zabara, 2017).…”

Athlete branding in less popular sport: a triadic approach

“…Well-branded athletes have the potential to attract endorsement offers from companies and can leverage post-athletic career through symbolic value (Rein, Kotler, & Shields, 2006). Athletes who successfully developed their brands can also be protected from unexpected performance slumps and reputation-harming incidents (Rein et al 2006;Sato, Ko, Chang, & Kay, 2019). Stakeholders can also receive potential benefits as star athletes can be a significant factor of consumer behavior towards sport teams (Hodge & Walker, 2015;Kerr & Gladden, 2008).…”