FiT Publishing

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)-linked sport sponsorships attract attention from sport marketing professionals and scholars alike. Th e purpose of this research was to examine how the effectiveness of a CSR-linked sponsorship varies depending upon the sponsor’s commitment to the CSR program. Th e results of our experiment showed that a CSR-linked sponsorship could hurt consumers’ fi t perception if the sponsor shows only minimum commitment to the cause. We also found that a CSR-linked sponsorship is more effective than a standard sponsorship in inducing consumers’ positive attitudes...Read more

The aim is to advance the understanding of how brand-property congruence and articulation strategy influence the perception of jersey sponsorships and how consumer-level factors such as team identification affect sponsorship outcomes. Different types of fi t and sponsor categories were tested to determine the most effective type of fi t as determined by outcomes of attitude toward team and sponsor, sponsor patronage, and perceptions of team and sponsor social responsibility. With a pretest (n=154) and two experiments (n=169, n=172), results indicated sponsors with a functional-based fit...Read more

This research aimed to examine (1) the effect of domain overlap between CSR activity and Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSI) (i.e., CSR strongly or weakly associated with CSI) on attitude toward the sponsor via CSR perception of sponsor and (2) the moderating effects of perceived firm-serving motive for CSR activity. The authors conducted two experiment studies: Study 1 tested the mediation model; Study 2 assessed the moderated mediation model. Participants reported a less positive attitude toward the sponsor when CSR was strongly associated with CSI (i.e., in the high CSR-CSI domain...Read more

While the burgeoning research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) indicates the importance of tracking the interest of external stakeholders to obtain societal goals, insight into what types of CSR activities contribute to social outcomes remain scarce. As such, the purpose of this study was to identify the relevant dimensions of CSR that can enhance the social outcomes of one specific group of external stakeholders (i.e., sport fans). Data were collected from US sports fans (n = 312) over the course of two weeks. The present research indicates that fans gain more excitement and...Read more

The effects of different corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives-child and family, community relations, health and wellness, and environment protection-were compared in this study based on spectators’ attitudes toward a sports franchise and event attendance intention. A total of 354 spectators were recruited from the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) in Taiwan. A quasi-experimental design was used as the research design, and a one-way multivariate analysis of covariance was conducted for data analysis. The results of this study indicate that spectators perceive the...Read more

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of self-continuity messages on fans’ pride and word-of-mouth recommendations (WOM), and whether messages regarding sport team performance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) can enhance the effect of self-continuity messages. The results indicated that self-continuity can enhance fans’ pride, and WOM accordingly, and messages evoking self-continuity and CSR could enhance fans’ pride and WOM. Additionally, the results also indicated that CSR messages can enhance the impact of self-continuity on fans’ pride when fans heard that their...Read more

The purpose of this study was to advance our understanding of the role of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the donor decision making process in college athletics. A research model was developed to examine theoretical relationships among perceived CSR, trust, commitment and donation intention. The proposed research model was tested using 644 donors from a college booster club in the US through simultaneous equations. It was concluded from the results that donors’ perceptions about CSR activities significantly influenced trust and commitment toward the organization. Trust...Read more

This sport marketing study establishes a clearer demarcation between an event sponsor and a sponsored event in relation to investigating the potential value of congruity. Based on 1,615 field surveys, we uncover the asymmetrical impact of event-sponsor fit on the title sponsor and sponsored professional cycling event. Specifically, the study reveals how consumers’ positive perceptions of the sponsor rise when they perceive greater fit with the event; yet, congruity does not influence consumers’ attitudes toward the event. That is, even when the event and sponsor are perceived as a mismatch...Read more

The unprecedented growth of the Internet has provided new ways for organizations to communicate with their stakeholders. Consequently, messages devoted to ethical, environmental, and other social initiatives have increased in popularity. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one way in which organizations seek to manage stakeholder pressures, improve organizational reputation, and increase consumer patronage. Based on these potential outcomes, the purpose of this study was to analyze CSR–related content distributed by teams to their stakeholders via electronic newsletters. Over 800 e-...Read more

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has grown in importance to sport organizations as well as to the mega-events run by these organizations. This paper explores CSR initiatives related to Super Bowl XL in Detroit. Using Carroll’s (Carroll, 1979, 1999) framework of CSR, we outline some of the key community outreach efforts initiated by the NFL and the Super Bowl Host Committee, and further, we discuss the ways in which these efforts might help in building the NFL’s image as a professional sport league that takes its social responsibility seriously.Read more