Sport sponsorship from perspective of great industrial companies’ managers

Abstract

The objective of this research was to analysis the perspective of great industrial companies’ managers about effective factors on attracting sponsors in professional sport. According to this objective, the statistical population of this study included senior managers of all great industrial companies in Khuzestan province in Iran. The questionnaire of this study was a scholar-made questionnaire which its Content validity was confirmed by professors and sport management experts and its reliability and construct validity were also examined. In order to analyze the data of this research, exploratory factor analysis and path analysis methods were used by SPSS and Smart-PLS software. Exploratory factor analysis demonstrated that there are 4 factors attracting sponsors and these factors indicated 68/8% of total variance. These factors were “economic-marketing”, “media”, “legal and juridical” and finally “sport teams and spectators”. According to the final results of path analysis, media factor gained the first rank among 4 recommended total factors. Based on the findings of the present research, it is suggested that officials and managers of sport teams in order to attract sponsors from industrial companies, should have special attention to cases such as improve the quality and use of modern technology in live broadcasting of sport events, spreading media coverage of sport events, creating and using laws related to TV broadcasting rights, Employing famous players and coaches in sport teams and attracting more spectators. 

Keywords

• Company managers,Smart-PLS,sport sponsorship

References

1. Areska J. The impact of Sport Sponsorship on Brand Equity: The Analysis of Red Bull GmbH. Bachelor Thesis FOR Degree in Marketing and Management Communication. Aarhus University; 2012.
2. Berrett T, Slack T. A framework for the analysis of strategic approaches employed by non-profit sport organizations in seeking corporate sponsorship. Sport Management Review, 2001; (4): 21-45.
3. Berument H. Performance of soccer on the stock market; Evidence from Turkey. Social Sciences, 2006; 43(4): 695-699.
4. Choi J. An investigation of sponsorship implications within a state sports festival: the case of the Florida Sunshine State Games. International Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship, 2011; January.
5. CronbachL J. Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 1951; 16(3):297-334.
6. Fornell C, Larker DF. Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of marketing research, 1981; 12: 39-50.
7. Heerden V. Factors affecting decision-making in South African sport sponsorships. Doctoral Thesis in Marketing and Communication Management. University of Pretoria. 2001.
8. Henseler J, Ringle C, Sinkovics R. The use of partial least squares path modeling in international marketing. Advances in International Marketing, 2009; 20: 277-320.

9. Ivarsson C, Johnson M. Sport Sponsorship as a promotional tool. Bachelors Thesis, Industrial Marketing and e- Commerce. Lulea University of Technology. 2004.
10. Mazodier M, Quester P. The role of sponsorship fit for changing brand affect: A latent growth modeling approach. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 2014; 31(1): 16–29.
11. Nunnally J. Psychometric theory. 2nded.New York, McGraw-Hill, 1978.
12. O'Reilly N, Horning L. Leveraging Sponsorship: The activation ratio. Sport Management Review, 2013; (16): 424-437.
13. Seguin B, Teed K, O'Reilly N. National sports organizations and sponsorship: an identification of best practices. International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2005; 1(1/2): 69-92.
14. Simmons C, Becker-Olsen K. Achieving marketing objectives through social sponsorships. Journal of Marketing, 2006; 70(4): 154–169.
15. Smith A. Introduction to sport marketing. Sport management series, 2008; (8): 326.
16. Uhrich S, Koeinigstrofer J, Groeppel-Kelin A. Leveraging sponsorship with corporate social responsibility. Journal of Business Research, 2013; Article in Press.
17. Wetzels M, Odekerken-Schroder G, Van Oppen C. Using PLS path modeling for assessing hierarchical construct models: Guidelines and empirical illustration. MIS Quarterly, 2009; 33(1): 177.
18. Ying F. Event Sponsorship in China, Corporate Communications. An International Journal, 2002; 7 (2): 110-116.