The negative spillover effect in sports sponsorship

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine a possible negative spillover effect in sports sponsorship to answer whether the sponsored team’s poor performance will have a negative effect on audiences’ trust in its sponsor’s brand. The authors further analysed whether the audience’s attitude towards the team plays a mediating role and whether the audience’s personality type (active vs passive) plays a moderating role in this negative spillover effect. Design/methodology/approach Three experimental studies were conducted with 380 Chinese undergraduates and MBA student participants over two years. The authors designed the experiment as a computer-mediated intervention in which good, poor and neutral performance groups were compared. After the respondents were exposed to the intervention, we asked them to answer questions using a computer terminal. We analysed the data from the three experiments through analysis of variance (ANOVA), regression analysis and a bootstrap. Findings The audiences who were exposed to a team’s poor performance condition reported less trust in the sponsor’s brand relative to those exposed to a good performance condition, and the brand trust was even lower than for those who were exposed to a control condition (no performance information). Further, the audience’s negative attitude towards the sports team mediated the negative effect of the team’s poor performance on its sponsor’s brand trust. The negative effect was more obvious for individuals with Type A personalities (active) than for those with Type B personalities (passive). Originality/value The prior literature has neglected a possible negative effect of a sports team’s performance on its sponsor’s brand trust. In particular, questions of whether, how and when this negative effect occurs are critical for sponsors, teams, and audiences. Since sports team sponsorship is burgeoning in China, the negative implications are unclear in this new context. Thus, the revelation that the negative spillover effects of a team’s poor performance on audiences’ trust in the sponsor’s brand provides two original contributions. First, the negative effect reveals value for multiple sponsorship stakeholders. Second, the Chinese context in this study adds value for future research and practice regarding both Chinese-foreign and domestic Chinese decisions.

Fostering trust and overcoming psychological resistance towards cryptocurrencies and cryptoassets

“…Trust has been found to play a significant role in shaping attitudes towards sport team sponsors (Alonso Dos Santos et al, 2016), but sponsors may prefer partnerships with sport events due to the potential negative impact of poor team performance on consumer trust in the sponsor's brand (Yuan et al, 2019). Studies by Zhang et al (2019) and Lee et al (2014) have shown how trust can be transferred from the event to the host destination, and that stronger identification with the event or organiser positively influences the perception of fit (Deitz et al, 2012; Koo & Lee, 2019; Sirgy et al, 2008), potentially presenting challenges for sport events with negative public images (Kulczycki & Koenigstorfer, 2016).…”

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Sports Sponsorship from Banking and Financial Services, Case Study: Badminton

“…According to (Jensen, 2012), the better sports results and the higher athlete's ranking result in the more exposure an athlete should expect to earn for the sponsors. Previous studies also conveyed that the poor performance of a sports team negatively affects the audiences' brand trust towards the sponsor (Yuan et al, 2019). On top of that, the perceived losing team will lower customers' purchase intention of a sponsor's product (Ngan et al, 2011).…”

Gestão de patrocínio em organizações esportivas: proposta de modelo para equipes de voleibol feminino

“…Tal fato pode ser comprovado pela pesquisa realizada porSmith (2004) na qual o autor apresenta que existe uma relação direta entre performance desportiva e sucesso no patrocínio.Segundo o autor, quando uma equipe tem uma baixa performance, os torcedores tendem a associar essa performance ao patrocinador. No contexto chinês,Yuan et al, (2019) apresentam um estudo no qual uma empresa chinesa patrocina uma equipe de futebol local, porém, essa equipe tem uma baixa performance, o que resulta em associações negativas perante esse patrocinador, como "perdedor" e "fraqueza", atributos que nenhuma empresa gostaria de possuir (YUAN ET AL., 2019). Na mesma linha,Pope et al, (2009) demonstraram em seu estudo um efeito negativo do desempenho esportivo nas avaliações das marcas patrocinadoras.SegundoYuan et al, (2019), essa baixa performance pode afetar a confiança que o consumidor tem na marca patrocinadora, e essa confiança resulta em uma mudança de comportamento desse consumidor perante essa marca.…”

“…No contexto chinês,Yuan et al, (2019) apresentam um estudo no qual uma empresa chinesa patrocina uma equipe de futebol local, porém, essa equipe tem uma baixa performance, o que resulta em associações negativas perante esse patrocinador, como "perdedor" e "fraqueza", atributos que nenhuma empresa gostaria de possuir (YUAN ET AL., 2019). Na mesma linha,Pope et al, (2009) demonstraram em seu estudo um efeito negativo do desempenho esportivo nas avaliações das marcas patrocinadoras.SegundoYuan et al, (2019), essa baixa performance pode afetar a confiança que o consumidor tem na marca patrocinadora, e essa confiança resulta em uma mudança de comportamento desse consumidor perante essa marca. Fazendo um paralelo ao modelo apresentado por no capítulo 4.6, quando a equipe tem uma baixa performance desportiva, os resultados básicos e de engajamentos podem ser afetados negativamente.…”