Sport event vs. art event? The effect of CSR-linked sponsorship event type on product purchase

Abstract

Companies often administer sponsorship initiatives to fulfill their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and this practice is called CSR-linked sponsorship. This study investigated whether and how CSR-linked sponsorship event type influences consumers' intention to purchase sponsors' products, underpinned by balance theory and P–O-X theory. Our experiment showed that CSR-linked sponsorship to sport (vs. art) provokes greater purchase intention. This effect was positively mediated by the perceived sincerity of the sponsor. These findings enrich the literature by extending the scope of CSR-linked sponsorship research and illuminating both the consequence of CSR-linked sponsorship event type and its underlying mechanism. Our findings also provide managerial insights into effectively selecting CSR-linked sponsorship event type in such a way to facilitate consumers' purchase of sponsors' products.