Linking sports sponsorship with purchase intentions

Purpose - It is common for companies to sponsor sports teams. The aim of this paper is to examine experimentally the impact of two team attributes (team performance and the presence of a star in the team) on consumers' intention to purchase the sponsor's product. The moderating role of team identification on the relationship between these two team attributes and intention to purchase is also to be studied.Design methodology approach - An experiment was conducted in Hong Kong. A series of hypotheses relating to team performance, presence of stars in the team, and team identification were tested.Findings - Team performance significantly influenced consumers' intention to purchase the sponsor's product, and this influence was more pronounced for casual than for avid fans and more pronounced when the team contained a star. A winning team with a star generated the strongest purchase intention. A losing team with a star produced the lowest purchase intention.Research limitations implications - The trade-off between internal and external validity when using experimental research methods constitutes the main limitation of this study. This limitation aside, the study suggested that sponsors should try to sponsor a winning team, especially if it contains a star player. A sponsor of a losing team might encourage the team management to take actions that increase the level of team identification among consumers. If the losing team also contains a star, the sponsor ought to promote other strengths of the team instead of focusing on team performance.Originality value - The paper extends previous work in the area by examining how team performance and the presence of a star in a team impact intentions to purchase the sponsor's product, and how team identification moderates the influence of these two attributes.