Why Do Marketing Relationships End? Findings From an Integrated Model of Sport Sponsorship Decision-Making

Abstract

With firms spending $60 billion on sponsorship annually, it has become an integral part of the marketing mix and is necessary for the survival of many sport organizations. Despite the importance of these partnerships, conditions that may jeopardize what can be a long-term relationship for both sides are underresearched. Utilizing survival analysis modeling to examine a longitudinal dataset of 69 global sponsorships, the purpose of this research is to isolate factors that predict the dissolution of such partnerships and test a dynamic, integrated model of sponsorship decision-making. From the perspective of the sponsoring firm, congruence and high levels of brand equity were found to reduce the hazard of dissolution. Results indicate that economic conditions, such as an inflationary economy, are a statistically significant predictor of sponsorship dissolution. Increased clutter was also detrimental, with every one sponsor added increasing the hazard of dissolution, demonstrating the importance of exclusivity in global sponsorships.

The Impact of Sport Sponsorship Perceptions and Attitudes on Purchasing Decision of Fans as Consumers—Relevance for Promotion of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Practices

“…This result is in line with the research results carried out by Armstrong [22], which states that philanthropic sponsorship will have a stronger impact on improving the corporate image of commercial sponsorship. Another factor that influences consciousness and sponsorship attitudes is the fit between the sponsor and the sponsored subject [16,17,[23][24][25][26], as well as caution in the selection of sponsored subjects in order to avoid adverse effects [27][28][29][30][31]. Finally, the activation of sponsorship is highlighted as one of the factors that predispose the efficiency of the sponsorship investment [24,27,29,32,33].…”

The Role of Culture in Sports Sponsorship: an Update

“…While they found that external economic conditions play a significant predictive role, they also found that congruence between the sport property and commercial brand lessened the chances of dissolution. Increased clutter in the form of the sport property taking on more sponsor partners made dissolution more likely (35).…”

Why do all good things come to an end? An inquiry into the discontinuation of sport sponsor–sponsee relationships

“…Relationship marketing as a research lensa theoretical framework Sponsors and sponsees engage in mutually beneficial and reciprocal relationships (Farrelly and Quester, 2005). However, currently, few studies have investigated sponsorships and their discontinuation from a relationship marketing perspective, despite the fact that such a lens has been proven to be helpful (Farrelly and Quester, 2005;Jensen and Cornwell, 2017). Morgan and Hunt (1994, p. 22) define relationship marketing as "all marketing activities directed toward establishing, developing and maintaining successful relational exchanges."…”