THE EFFECTS OF SPONSOR RELEVANCE ON CONSUMER REACTIONS TO INTERNET SPONSORSHIPS

This study reports the results of two experiments that were conducted to examine the effects of Internet sponsorships and the role of sponsor relevance in these effects. Experiment 1 used a group of college students and Experiment 2 replicated the first experiment using a group of nonstudent adults. Both experiments examined sponsorship linkage as a means of structuring Internet sponsorships that impacts sponsor recall, attitude toward the sponsor, and purchase intentions. Findings revealed that relevant Internet sponsors were more persuasive than irrelevant Internet sponsors for the three dependent variables. Two context variables, Web site credibility and intent to return to the site, moderated the linkage factor on sponsor evaluations in that higher levels of the context variables translated to more positive evaluations for relevant sponsors.