Understanding consumer attitudes in cause-brand alliances in sports: the role of sport entity attitudes

Abstract

PurposeThis study examines the effects of congruence and reliability on cause-brand alliance (CBA) program attitudes—exploring how CBA program attitudes and sport entity attitudes affect attitudes toward a sport-related and sport-unrelated brand in a single CBA.Design/methodology/approachAbout 240 survey participants answered questions before and after being exposed to information about the NFL Play 60 program. Consistent partial least squares structural equation modeling is utilized to test the hypotheses.FindingsResults suggest both congruence and reliability positively influence CBA program success; and both sport-related and sport-unrelated brands positively affect consumer attitudes when they participate in a CBA with a high-profile sport entity. This occurs directly through CBA program attitudes for a sport-unrelated brand and indirectly through sport entity attitudes for a sport-related brand.Originality/valueThis study extends the CBA literature in sports by showing (1) the role of reliability on CBA program attitudes, (2) the role of sport entity attitudes on other cause partner attitudes and (3) different paths for sport-related versus sport-unrelated brands that are partnered with a premium sport entity to achieve CBA program brand enhancements.

Greening Professional Sport: How Communicating the Fit, Proximity, and Impact of Sustainability Efforts Affects Fan Perceptions and Supportive Intentions

“…In fact, sport stakeholders now expect teams and leagues to practice CSR, particularly when it involves community involvement and giving back to the team's fans [20,27,28,30]. Mirroring findings from corporate CSR, sport CSR research has also demonstrated the business benefits of engaging in CSR: communication about such initiatives motivates positive affect toward a team and future purchase intentions [18,26,28,31].…”

“…In the realm of sport, a number of studies have further underlined the salience of fit in CSR effectiveness. Experimental evidence suggests that perceived fit can lead to positive attitudes [18], as well as increased donations [47] and supportive intentions toward the sports team [48] or league [49]. While fit has been tested before in the sport CSR context, its role has not been investigated in conjunction with public relations/strategic communication outcomes such as organization-public relationships (OPR) or organizational authenticity.…”

“…Sport fandom is unique in that fans derive psychological benefits from their team's positive performances [73], called basking in reflected glory (BIRG) [74][75][76]. Additionally, sport fandom may transfer positive attitudes towards a sport organization's CSR simply because the individual is a fan of the organization to begin with [18,26]. Given that highly identified fans are more likely to talk about a sport organization's CSR after reading about it [26] and the psychological tendency of fans to BIRG [76], perhaps fans would feel an even greater sense of identification with the organization after reading about a team's or organization's sustainability efforts.…”

“…The moderating effect of team identification on the perceptions of a team's CSR is still inconclusive, with some findings being nonsignificant [26], some showing higher identified fans with stronger supportive intentions [28], and some showing fans with low identification but more positive reactions to CSR [77]. While fandom has also been used as a control [18], our study considers that fandom may not be a conclusive moderator, but instead may be positively affected by sustainability communication such that fandom increases when reading about sustainability efforts, similar to BIRGing. Perhaps pride in the organization's efforts as a result of perceived fit with the organization, giving back to a local community, or making a noticeable impact can have a halo effect [26] on fandom.…”

“…With this different approach, our study brings variables from various areas of CSR research (e.g., public relations, advertising, marketing, sport) and combines them in a sport sustainability communication context to provide a framework for evaluating sustainability messages from sport organizations. While CSR cause fit has been a variable of focus in studies across disciplines [16][17][18], we add to this literature by connecting this concept to strategic communication outcome variables. The perceived distance between donors and donation beneficiaries has long been studied in fundraising communication [19].…”