FiT Publishing

A recent cause-related marketing (CRM) trend for sport organizations has been to adopt a service dog that they will train and showcase through social media and at team events. This phenomenon is unique as these teams are utilizing the dog as a brand association but through a charitable lens in that they are providing resources to train the dog and giving exposure to a good cause. This study examines the consumer behavior implications, specifically brand image, perceived altruism, and purchase intentions, of sport organizations adopting service dogs. Through an experimental design, this...Read more

While frequently examined in events and service research, satisfaction has received little examination in the context of sponsorship. Given the shared characteristics of both service and sport-derived products, this study, which was framed by the theory of planned behavior, aimed to examine the influence of event satisfaction, motorsport involvement, and sponsor-event fi t on both sponsor image and behavioral intentions for a title sponsor of an IndyCar event. In addition, the study explored the influence of satisfaction and motorsport involvement on sponsor awareness and image for...Read more

In 2016, several prominent athletes kneeled or sat during the national anthem of their games to protest social injustice in America. For their activism, these athletes inconsistently experienced both positive and negative consequences from their sponsors and fans. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate this phenomenon more closely by examining the effect of activism type and activism eff ort on a sponsor’s brand image and purchase intention of a product the athlete endorses, when controlling for brand familiarity. Participants (N = 384) were randomly assigned into groups...Read more

Determining the impact of sport sponsorship by alcohol companies has been identified as a priority research concern (World Health Organization, 2014). Despite the vast investment and potential risks, there is almost no sport sponsorship-specific research examining how the choice and behavior of one sponsorship partner affects consumer attitude toward the other partner. We test this relationship, focusing upon the controversial alcohol-sport sponsorship pairing, given its importance to sport management and policy. The findings of these robust experimental results provide the first evidence...Read more