How to Improve Sports Fans’ Attitudes Toward the Sponsor Through Brand Management? A PLS and QCA Approach

Abstract

The aim of the article is to explain attitudes towards the sponsors of a sporting event from brand management, especially considering the perceptions of congruence with the sponsor, quality, value, and two less common variables of innovation and popularity. The analysis has been carried out using two methodological approaches: a Partial Least Squares (PLS) model and a Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). PLS results indicate that congruence, innovation and popularity significantly predict attitudes towards the sponsor, explaining up to 61% of it. On the other hand, QCA analysis shows nine interactions capable of producing the expected result, where congruence, quality innovation and popularity have shown a relevant role. This study has implications at a theoretical and practical level, contributing to understanding consumer behaviour in the context of sporting events and providing marketing managers with valuable information to help improve the performance of their sponsorships.

Uncovering Differences: A Study on Loyalty in Esports Mobile Apps by Gender

“…These elements constitute fundamental pillars, and their importance has been validated in the model proposed by Aaker (1992). This model, previously applied and analysed in conventional sports (Alonso-Dos Santos et al, 2023;Singh et al, 2023), is now expanded to include esports.…”

“…The perception of quality emerges as a fundamental factor when considering the effectiveness of a service (García-Fernández et al, 2018), highlighting the need to meticulously address user expectations, while avoiding the generation of unfounded promises that may lead to dissatisfaction (Alonso-Dos Santos et al, 2023). In this context, perceived quality is understood as consumers' perception of the quality of a given product or service (Shin, 2017).…”