Impact of consumer involvement, emotions, and attitude toward Beijing Olympic Games on branding effectiveness of event sponsors

Abstract

Purpose

Sponsorship has undeniably become one of the fastest growing global marketing practices. Business corporations seek sponsorship opportunities to actualize their overall organizational objectives, marketing goals, and promotional strategies, particularly to enhance brand equity. This study aimed to examine the influence of consumers’ involvement, emotions, and attitude toward Beijing Olympic Games on the branding effects of the event.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants (N=556) were university students in China who had watched at least some coverage of Beijing Olympic Games. Two duplicate versions of a questionnaire were formulated and respondents were randomly selected to evaluate perceived branding effects of Beijing Olympic Games to be sponsored by two brands – Li‐Ning and Nongfu Spring.

Findings

An analysis of the structural model, relating brand loyalty, perceived quality, and brand association/awareness to respondent's involvement, emotional responses, and attitude toward the event, revealed that the proposed model fit the data well (CFI=0.96, TLI=0.98, RMSEA=0.048, WRMR=0.93). The findings revealed that branding effects were positively associated with consumer's attitude toward the sponsored event, which was partially determined by consumer's involvement and emotions.

Originality/value

This study examined the relationships among respondent's affective and cognitive involvement, negative and positive emotional responses, and attitude toward the Beijing Olympic Games on the perceived branding effects of event sponsorship.

Citation

Mao, L.L. and Zhang, J.J. (2013), "Impact of consumer involvement, emotions, and attitude toward Beijing Olympic Games on branding effectiveness of event sponsors", Sport, Business and Management, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 226-245. https://doi.org/10.1108/SBM-02-2011-0016