What drives renewal of sponsorship principal/agent relationships?

The relationship between advertising agencies and their clients has been the subject of some research, including studies conceptualizing it from an agency theory perspective. The increasingly important relationship between sports (or art) properties and their sponsors, on the other hand, while recognized as crucial for the long-term success of the sponsorship agreement, has remained shrouded in mystery, with little or no research aiming to establish and understand the antecedent of sponsorship renewal. This article reports on an exploratory dyadic study examining the effects of market orientation, trust, and commitment on the principal's willingness to renew the sponsorship relationship. The leading sponsorship property in Australia, the Australian Football League (AFL), and its major sponsors provided the empirical context for this study.Francis Farrelly and Pascale G. Queste

Attitudinal effects of combined sponsorship and sponsor's prominence on basketball in Europe

An experimental study conducted in Europe examined the effects of two types of sponsorship activities, on-site sponsorship and televised broadcast sponsorship announcements, undertaken by basketball sponsors. A series of videos provided a variety of treatment exposures to four groups of young subjects, the usual target audience of basketball. The study revealed that the synergy often assumed between on-site sponsorship and television broadcast sponsorship does not exist. Furthermore, the main effect of either method were found to differ for each of the two sponsors of contrasted market prominence involved in the study.Lardinoit, Thierry and Quester, Pascale G

Failing to Engage: Parents’ Acceptance of the Promotion of Unhealthy Foods to Children

Six focus groups were conducted with parents and children to explore issues relating to the promotion of unhealthy foods to children. While general discontent with food advertising was expressed by parents and children, none of the parents reported ever making a formal complaint and most exhibited a begrudging acceptance of the current rates of advertising of unhealthy foods and the manner in which these foods are promoted. The primary reasons for this acceptance were found to be (i) an understanding that businesses need to promote their products to ensure their survival, (ii) an assumption that parents should be capable of overcoming the negative effects of advertising, (iii) the perceived value of competitions, toys, and other give-aways, and (iv) the increasing availability of healthy product variations

A collaborative interest model of relational coordination: Examining relational norms as actor bonds

An important aspect of business-to-business marketing involves the development over time of privileged bonds between firms. Research has identified the complexity of such bonds and emphasised the need for closer scrutiny of the different mechanisms at work in successful and mutually beneficial business relationships. Actor intention and actor bonds are structured as a complex amalgam of self and collective interest. Firms cooperate for self-interest and in that process generate relational norms whose structure can be represented as actor bonds. In this study, a longitudinal input-process-output model of relationships is proposed. Input by firms motivated to create relationships is driven by the need to access customers or resources. This desire to operate in a relationship leads firms to coordinate themselves through a process whereby relational norms are developed and finally, output is achieved at a relationship level. That output is conceptualised at a relationship level recognises the emergent results of interaction, an essential reason for joining any relationship. The model was empirically tested in the computer software industry with a survey of firms acting as principals and distributors in a number of existing distribution relationships. Our findings, based on regression analysis, suggest that self and collective interest result in an intriguing blend of relational norms. The proposition that self-interest is not linked to trust and commitment is supported, suggesting that relational coordination is primarily based on collective interest. However, the proposition that flexibility is linked to both self and collective interest is also supported. This suggests that the degree of flexibility found in relationships may reflect the continuing need of balancing self and collective interests. The final section of the paper proposes directions for future research on the intertwining of self and collective interest in relationships, along with their associations to actor bond structure that is configured as relational norms

Doing Well By Doing Good with Corporate Volunteering Programs

With rising pressure on firms to demonstrate social responsibility, and an increasing need to justify corporate expenditure, social marketing is one way firms can achieve more with less. Corporate volunteering programs (CVPs) are prime examples of social marketing initiatives that can be leveraged in such a way that firms can acquire a market advantage with minimal expenditure. CVPs develop the human capital of the organisation, whilst also communicating a proactive CSR image to stakeholders, providing plenty of bang for the firms’ buck. A conceptual framework is presented illustrating these benefits and demonstrating the influence of backstage CSR efforts, such as CVPs on consumer perceptions of front-stage performance.Claire Johnson, Pascale Quester, Carolin Plewahttp://www.anzmac2010.org

Determinants of community-based sponsorship impact on self-congruity

Sponsors increasingly shift from large professional to community-based properties, as these can deliver an engaged audience and enable them to demonstrate their corporate social responsibility (CSR). This research comprises two studies and shows that community-based sponsorship may improve CSR image and, in turn, self-congruity, a key determinant of consumer behavior. Study 1 investigates perceived sponsor-club fit, confirming attitude and corporate positioning similarity as relevant predictors. Importantly, CSR image similarity does not impact fit, suggesting sponsorship opportunities for organizations independent of their initial CSR image. Study 2 shows perceived sponsor CSR image to mediate the relationship between the perceptions of a community-based property's CSR image and consumers' self-congruity with the sponsor. While perceived sponsor-club fit and sponsorship awareness moderate the relationship between property and sponsor CSR image, attitudes toward CSR moderate the association between sponsor CSR and self-congruity. The paper concludes with implications and future research directions. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Pascale Quester, Carolin Plewa, and Karen Palmer, Marc Mazodie

Exploring the Interplay between message format, need for cognition and personal relevance on processing messages about physical activity: A two-arm randomised experimental trial

OnlinePublBackground: According to the Elaboration Likelihood Model, persuasion can occur via two different routes (the central route and peripheral route), with the route utilized dependent on factors associated with motivation and ability. This study aimed to explore the moderating role of need for cognition (NFC) and perceived relevance on the processing of physical activity messages designed to persuade via either the central route or the peripheral route. Method: Participants (N = 50) were randomized to receive messages optimized for central route processing or messages optimized for peripheral route processing. Eye-tracking devices were used to assess attention, which was the primary outcome. Message perceptions and the extent of persuasion (changes in physical activity determinants) were also assessed via self-report as secondary outcomes. Moderator effects were examined using interaction terms within mixed effects models and linear regression models. Results: There were no detected interactions between condition and NFC for any of the study outcomes (all ps > .05). Main effects of personal relevance were observed for some self-report outcomes, with increased relevance associated with better processing outcomes. An interaction between need for cognition and personal relevance was observed for perceived behavioral control (p = 0.002); greater relevance was associated with greater perceived behavioral control for those with a higher need for cognition. Conclusion: Matching physical activity messages based on NFC may not increase intervention efficacy. Relevance of materials is associated with greater change in physical activity determinants and may be more so among those with a higher NFC.Camille E. Short, Rik Crutzen, Emma M. Stewart, Jessica O, Rielly, Mathew Dry, Andrew Skuse, Pascale Quester, Amanda L. Rebar, Corneel Vandelanotte, Mitch J. Duncan, Andrew Vincen

When opposites attract? Exploring the existence of complementarity in self-brand congruence processes

In the psychology of human interpersonal attraction, complementarity is a well-recognized phenomenon, where individuals are attracted to partners with different but complementary traits to their own. Although scholarship in human-brand relations draws heavily from interpersonal attraction theory, preferred techniques for measuring self-brand congruence tend to capture it in only one form: the similarity configuration, which expresses the extent to which brand traits essentially resemble or mirror a consumer’s own. Hence, the aim of this study is to explore, for the first time, the existence of complementarity in self-brand congruence. From a canonical correlation analysis of survey data in which respondents rated their own personality traits and those of their favorite brand, the existence of both similarity and complementarity configurations is indeed revealed. Based on this, the study then derives a measure of self-brand congruence that captures both configurations, and tests its predictive power for a range of brand-related outcomes. The new measure is found to perform well against existing measures of self-brand congruence based purely on a similarity configuration, particularly for emotionally based brand-related outcomes

Externalizing, internalizing and fostering commitment: the case of born-global firms in emerging economies

This paper examines the HR practices of mature born-global firms from twenty-nine emerging economies. Through an examination of large scale survey data the paper questions the extent to which firm size impacts the employment of temporary workers, the employment of skilled workers and the extent of employee training. Findings suggest that as firm size increases the use of temporary workers decreases, the number of skilled workers increases and the number of employees receiving training also increases. The paper highlights how born-global firms are able to shift away from externalized, market-based approaches towards more internalized, commitment-based approaches in order to survive, adapt and grow