Sponsees matter! How collective responsibility judgments of sport sponsors affect sponsee equity

Abstract

Research question: Previous research has focused on sport sponsors, with little known on how sponsorship affects sponsee equity (e.g. audiences' behaviors towards sponsees). Further, sponsorship research typically ignores concurrent sponsors, which are naturally perceived in terms of perceived 'groupness' (entitativity). In turn, entitativity will affect people's judgments of the collective responsibility (CR) sponsors have towards the properties they are associated with. To compound the issue, sponsees' dependence on sponsors typically affords the latter authority that can also affect the CR people perceive sponsors have. We therefore examine how people's concurrent sponsors' entitativity and perceived authority influence sponsee equity through CR. Research methods: Data were collected from 255 (Study one) and 233 (Study two) consumers in a European country. Data collection consisted of scenario-based surveys. Responses were analyzed via structural equation modeling using Lisrel. Results and Findings: We find that entitativity and perceived authority are related to people's inferences of omission, which consistently drives collective responsibility. However, the effect of inferences of commission on collective responsibility may be affected by the (non)official status of the sponsors. Meanwhile, entitativity and authority are also found to be linked to collective responsibility, which is itself related to sponsee equity. Implications: Theoretically, we advance knowledge of sponsee equity drivers by applying knowledge/theories from social psychology. Managerially, the findings suggest opportunities should be created for sponsors to be entitative and as having an authority over the sponsee.

Sponsorship’s Financial Sustainability for Cultural Conservation and Enhancement Strategies: An Innovative Model for Sponsees and Sponsors

“…Moreover, most research focuses on the effects that sponsorship generates for sponsor, neglecting the sponsee's point of view [37]. Among the exceptions, we highlight the study by Dickenson and Souchon (2019), in which the relationships linking multiple sponsors to a single sponsee are analyzed [38]. In this specific case, multiple sponsors represent an aggregate of social entities perceived as a single whole [39], which, according to social psychology, can be expressed in terms of entitativity [40,41].…”

When sponsorship causes anger: understanding negative fan reactions to postings on sports clubs’ online social media channels

“…Finally, future research may consider a more precise segmentation of post-related contents. For instance, Dickenson and Souchon (2019) have recently found that collective responsibility of sponsors can lead to a positive perception of both sponsors and sponsees. Further research could develop field experiments to investigate reactions to controlled content in order to derive more robust and causal interpretations.…”

The Role of Media in Sponsorship Decision Making During Covid-19: A Malaysian Perspective

“…It could be argued that when it comes to sponsorship, marketing managers still depend on their instinct rather than market research (Woisetschläger et al, 2017), and the influence of sponsors on sponsored properties is both largely overlooked and important in practise (Dickenson & Souchon, 2020). As a result, our study intends to understand the role of media in sponsorship from a B2B perspective (i.e.…”

“…There have been progressively rapid improvements in the field of sponsorship in the last 30 years and is one of the fastest growing areas of marketing (Mazodier, Henderson, & Beck, 2018;Woisetschläger, Backhaus, & Cornwell, 2017), whilst rapidly becoming a popular form of marketing communication (Dens, De Pelsmacker, & Verhellen, 2018;Dickenson & Souchon, 2020;Mazodier & Rezaee, 2013). Sponsorship growth is at a rate of 4.9 percent globally -higher than the other marketing communication tools such as advertising and promotion (International Event Group, 2018), and projected to reach USD89.6 billion in 2027 (Statista, 2021).…”