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This study identifies the outcomes prioritised by the sponsors of a sport, specifically football. The authors’ novel thesis is that the network collaboration between sponsors as well as with the sponsorship object (i.e. the football club) is a significant determinant of sponsor satisfaction and the likelihood of renewing the sponsorship deal. This perspective has not been adequately addressed in existing sponsorship research.

The authors use an original dataset to empirically analyse networks and their business value for football sponsors. Our data covers sponsors of the Norwegian football club Rosenborg Ballklub (RBK) from 2011 to 2018, which we analyse using regression models.

The results indicate that network effects are extremely important for sponsors in the RBK network. The authors’ analyses also indicate that network effects are more important than exposure.

When planning, sponsors must analyse their motives for being a sponsor and assess how well their network functions by exploring its cohesiveness and scope. It is also very important that the sponsorship object be aware of the value of the network and enable interaction between the sponsors.

This study confirms that functioning networks contribute to the satisfaction and renewal of sponsorships and can attract a growing number of sponsors for sports clubs, thus serving as an important source of income.

While various scholars have identified relationship marketing objectives as a rationale for sports sponsorship engagement, analytic investigations of the implications of a relational approach to the corporate sponsorship network have been slow to materialize. The purpose of this paper is to advance the discussion of sponsorship as a means of industrial sports marketing towards a network conceptualization, which can be dissected from both the perspective of the sponsoring firms and that of the sponsored enterprise.

This paper employs an illustrative case‐based approach to the application of network analysis tools as a means of exploring the relationship marketing dynamics of corporate sponsorship portfolios.

Several research propositions and applicable network analytics are presented within the context of Formula One racing team sponsorship portfolios. The concepts of network range, density, power, growth, and social capital are explored in regards to their influence on network actors and prospective actors.

Though often neglected in sponsorship research, B2B relational objectives are the focus of this paper, where various evaluative methods are suggested and their dynamic implications illustrated.

By utilizing an international contextual case and explicating several analytic network measures, this research extends the investigation of sports sponsorship beyond the image and awareness‐based objectives that have dominated this area of research. This application of social network analysis to the study of inter‐organizational networks in sport builds on the discussion of sponsorship as a bilateral relationship and advances the dialog towards a broader exploration of corporate sponsors and sport enterprises as network partners.

Offers a discussion on the interorganizational network approach as an interesting, alternative avenue for the development of sponsorship research. An example of how to describe and analyze a sport sponsorship arrangement case, using the interorganizational network approach as a theoretical frame of reference, is presented. Researching sports sponsorship from a network perspective extends the interorganizational network thinking from a traditional industrial/marketing channel context to the context of sponsorship formed by actors from the fields of sports, media and business. The phenomenon of networking is quite visible in the case of NMP‐FIS sponsorship arrangement. NMP has entered into relationships with various types of organizations in order to more effectively gain benefits from its sponsorship investment. Actors of the NMP’s focal snowboard sponsorship net possess different kinds of resources linked to public relations management, sports management and distribution of television rights. Different network actors bring to the arrangement not only their own resources and capabilities, but also their own networks of value adding relationships. Consequently, when planning international sponsorships companies need to assess not only the sponsored event/organization (its resources) but also its corresponding network (ability to link activities and tie resources with those of other actors), i.e. the “network identity” of the sponsored. The case presented clearly demonstrates the appropriateness of the network approach to sponsorship and other service‐oriented situations different from the “traditional” production situations. Further research could continue to add examples from other kinds of sponsorship relationships and networks, for example, from different kinds of sports and arts sponsorship arrangements. Furthermore, longitudinal perspectives are needed in order to gain understanding of the development processes of sponsorship relationships and networks.

Despite the fact that commercial sponsorship nowadays is a common phenomenon with salient effects on different aspects of developed societies at large (e.g. sports, the arts, the public sector, the media), academic research interest in this closely marketing‐related field seems to be rather low. Although there have been significant changes in marketing thinking during the 1990s, current research on sponsorship seems to be “stuck” in the more traditional, marketing‐mix management – and mass communicative effects‐based discourse. This paper aims at presenting a theoretical overview of how current sponsorship research could be developed further by applying the basic ideas and concepts provided by the interaction/network approach to the study of sponsorship‐related phenomena. Adopting an interaction/network perspective means that, instead of measuring the mass‐communicative effects on various audiences, the focus is on understanding the development of sponsorship relationships and networks, as well as on interpersonal communication processes going on between the sponsorship parties.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate firms’ reasons and motives for becoming sponsors and how they benefit from this networking engagement by exploring sponsorship networks associated with two Danish team sport clubs – a Premier League football club and a second-division handball club.

Two online surveys were conducted with firms associated with the networks during the Autumn and Winter of 2013/2014 (n=116). The questionnaire was theoretically anchored in the existing sponsorship literature, business network research, and social capital theory.

The results show that business logics were the dominating reasons for joining the network. A large proportion of the respondents reported having increased their number of business (32 percent) and social (26 percent) relations with other network members after joining the network. Furthermore, 37 percent of the respondents reported having made business agreements with companies external to the network via network contacts, which supports ideas of bridging social capital. More than half the respondents (59 percent) preferred doing business with network members rather than with non-members.

By investigating a local and regional sport club context, the paper adds to our knowledge about sponsorship networks. It emphasizes the potential importance of team sport clubs for the business landscape, thus maintaining that sport clubs fulfill an important role for local communities beyond being mere entertainment industries.

The purpose of this article is to explore the corporate brand‐web associated with the TOYOTA F1 Racing Team in order to exemplify existing theoretical discussions of the brand‐web concept and contribute to insights towards developing understanding of the structure of the corporate brand‐web and brand relationships.

A case study analysis of the TOYOTA F1 Racing Team, focusing on brand relationships associated with different levels of sponsorship is presented. The case study analysis is based on desk research.

The corporate brand‐web of the TOYOTA F1 Racing Team is presented. This portfolio of corporate brands and their relationships can be regarded as a corporate brand meta‐architecture. The study also offers taxonomy of different types of sponsorship‐based brand relationships, and identifies and discusses two key aspects of the relationships between brands, title sponsorship, and network relationships between the corporate brands in the brand‐web.

This article contributes to understanding of the corporate brand‐web and brand relationships in the sponsorship context and demonstrates the complexity of multiple brand relationships, and the need for researchers and practitioners to understand and manage their corporate brand architecture.

This study aims to analyze the structural characteristics of knowledge exchange in Zhihu Lives to provide feasible suggestions for improving the creative enthusiasm of knowledge providers.

This paper uses the domain classification of Zhihu Lives to construct a cross-domain knowledge exchange network.

This research makes the following findings: the small-world effect exists in the sponsorship network and is conducive to enhancing the learning willingness of knowledge providers; significant sponsorships and strong learning willingness exist among knowledge providers; the knowledge exchange is obvious among the fields of education, reading and writing, business and lifestyle and the fields of music, film, games, art, the internet, science and technology, design, financial economy and occupation; and knowledge exchange is obvious among the internal fields of education, reading and writing, and business and life style, between the internal fields of music, film, and games and art and between the internal fields of the internet, science and technology, design, financial economy and occupation.

This study can provide practical suggestions for the following development of the platform by analyzing the special phenomenon of knowledge exchange in the present stage of knowledge exchange.

This study explores the motives and objectives of sports sponsorship in China, taking into account the sports, social and cultural contexts. It also adopts a comparative approach to examine the sponsorship of elite and grassroots sports events in China.

This study adopts a qualitative approach, employing semi-structured interviews with representatives of nine companies sponsoring elite and/or grassroots sports events in Western China. The data were analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis.

In China, sponsors are frequently driven to sponsor elite sport events by a sense of obligation and responsibility to the country, whereas their motives to sponsor grassroots sport events is primarily influenced by sincerity and goodwill. Chinese companies consider brand awareness, exposure and the relationship with the government and authorities as key factors for sponsorship, and use sponsorship to achieve market-related objectives.

Companies’ sponsorship motives and objectives have received significant attention in the literature, but mainly in Western countries. In the context of China, this study identifies how sponsors utilize social networks to shape their motives and objectives. It also reveals certain patterns common with the current literature, as well as specificities such as how the roles of the government and authorities are linked to the contingent economic and social context of the country. Furthermore, the differences between elite and grassroots sports events sponsorship are explained.

The purpose of this paper is to extend sponsorship literature by investigating the role of the fit construct and perceived sponsorship portfolio size for event sponsorship success. To analyze the sponsor–event fit in more detail, the authors draw on the network perspective and, as a consequence, split the sponsor–event fit into two constructs: the sponsor–artist fit construct and the sponsor–event organizer fit construct. Then, a model is developed and tested that examines the effect of these two constructs and perceived sponsorship portfolio size on sponsorship success.

The model is tested with data from 330 visitors to two different concerts in Switzerland. Real events with non-student samples are examined. The data are tested using Mplus 6.0 structural equation modeling.

Results report that the sponsor–artist fit, the sponsor–event organizer fit and perceived sponsorship portfolio size are important drivers of attitude toward the sponsor. Moreover, sponsorships that cause positive attitudes toward the sponsor are found to enhance willingness to pay a price premium and purchase intention.

This paper reveals that it is important for sponsorship managers to correctly consider the fit construct and perceived sponsorship portfolio size for sponsorship success. Additionally, the tested model provides an instrument for measuring sponsorship effectiveness.

The current paper reveals new results by investigating the impact of the sponsor–artist fit and the sponsor–event organizer fit on sponsorship success. Furthermore, the current research paper is the first to analyze the effects of a sponsorship portfolio which is not limited to one sponsorship category on sponsorship success.

Sponsorship literature is deficient in terms of its failure to consider the process of managing sponsorship programmes, in particular the problem of commitment that has been identified in many relationships. Employing football shirt sponsorship dyads (football clubs and shirt sponsors) as a focus, this paper sets out to investigate the determinants of sponsorship commitment. Using quantitative and qualitative techniques, three important determinants are identified: shared values, perceived benefits and opportunistic behaviour. Following validation of these findings, structured interviews revealed a distinction between short-term and long-term 'committers'. This paper therefore concludes by proposing a matrix of football shirt sponsorship commitment which explores the implications of engaging in a relationship with the different 'committer' types.