Dae Hee Kwak

Athletes' transgressions and sponsor evaluations: a focus on consumers' moral reasoning strategies.

Marketing managers often face dilemmas when their athlete endorsers are accused of immoral behavior. However, research findings have been equivocal as to whether athletes’ transgressions damage endorsed brand evaluations. Using two experiments, we empirically demonstrate that consumers’ moral reasoning (i.e., moral rationalization, moral coupling, and moral decoupling) has differential effects on evaluations of a transgressor (Study 1). In Study 2, we examine the causal effect of moral reasoning choice on evaluations of the transgressor and the associated brand. Findings show that moral coupling has negative effects on the athlete and brand evaluations, whereas moral decoupling and moral rationalization positively affect brand attitude and purchase intent through positive evaluation of the athlete. Findings from this study provide empirical evidence to explain how and why some consumers continue or discontinue their support for a troubled athlete and associated brand.

Sponsorship-Linked Marketing: Introduction to Topics

Sponsorship of sport has developed over the past three decades to become a worldwide communications platform, a motivator for relationship building, and an omnipresent aspect of consumer experience for many. While it has been and continues to be a funding mechanism for sport, it is the evolution and metamorphosis of sponsorship-linked marketing that delivers endless research topics as sponsoring evolves dynamically.

Feelings of gratitude: a mechanism for consumer reciprocity

ABSTRACT Research questions: The purpose of this research is to theoretically develop and empirically test gratitude as a central mechanism within the triangular sponsorship model. This research addresses the following questions: (1) Which strategies most effectively generate gratitude toward sponsors? (2) What is the role of gratitude in stimulating consumer reciprocity? Research methods: Two studies were conducted to test the conceptual model. Study 1 implements an experimental approach in order to test the drivers of consumer gratitude in a controlled environment. Study 2 involves a field study in which the full gratitude and reciprocation model is tested in a naturalistic setting. Results and findings: The results demonstrate the impactful role of consumers’ causal attributions and value assessments upon feelings of gratitude. Further, gratitude was shown to promote consumer reciprocation. Findings were mixed regarding the relationship between perceptions of sponsor investment and gratitude. Implications: This research advances the body of sponsorship literature by introducing new insights regarding consumer reciprocity within this context. We offer an integration of attribution theory, grounded in the social and cognitive psychology literature, with theories of gratitude and reciprocity. Finally, we provide a theoretical account of the benefits derived from sponsorship by multiple significant stakeholder groups.

Gender differences on the effect of CSR engagement on team attitude and loyalty: a case study of a professional soccer club in Korea

The current case study examines the gender differences on the effect of perceived CSR engagement on attitude and re-attendance intention toward a professional sport team. Spectators at a professional soccer game (N = 380) in Korea participated in the study and a multiple group analysis was conducted between male and female participants. Findings show that perceived CSR engagement had a significant effect on re-attendance intention mediated by team attitudes. Interestingly, gender moderated the effect of perceived CSR engagement on team attitude, in the opposite direction from existing literature. For instance, CSR effects on attitude was greater for males than females, indicating that the link between a sport teams socially responsible initiatives and team attitude would be stronger for male spectators than female counterparts. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Athlete Scandals and Endorsement Marketing: Research Trends and Introduction to Topics

ABSTRACT Endorsement marketing has been widely used to generate consumer attention, interest, and purchase behaviors among targeted consumers. However, relatively little systematic research has been conducted to understand what happens to endorsed brands and athletes when an athlete engages in a scandal. This article briefly reviews concepts discussed in the athlete transgression research, and briefly describes the five articles included in this special issue. This article extends a note of appreciation to the members of the support staff and special issue editorial board.

Beyond the Sponsor Recall and Recognition: The Role of Sponsorship-Linked Communications on Creating Brand Attitude and Purchase Intention

Considerable research on sponsorship effectiveness has treated sponsor recall and recognition as main indicators of successful sponsorship. However, relatively little research has been conducted to examine if high brand recognition at a cognitive level translates into more desirable brand-related outcomes such as brand preference and purchase behavior. Instead of treating cognitive, affective, and behavioral sponsorship outcomes simultaneously, we examine the hierarchical relationship between these outcomes involving fans of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) fans. In particular, we focus on the mediating effects of sponsorship-linked communication efforts (i.e., driver-sponsor articulation, sponsorship-themed advertising and promotion) between cognitive and affective sponsor evaluations.

Uh-Oh, Tiger Is in Trouble: Empirical Analysis of Consumers’ Moral Reasoning Strategies and Their Implications for Endorsed Brands

Celebrity athlete endorsers are often engaged in immoral transgressions that cannot be controlled by marketers. While previous research on celebrity endorsement has emphasized how utilizing athletes could enhance persuasiveness of marketing communications, empirical research on consumer responses to athletes’ transgression and their associated brands remains sparse in the literature. In the present study, we focus on moral reasoning strategy (e.g., moral decoupling referring to exclusion of immorality in evaluation process: Bhattacharjee et al. 2012; moral rationalization referring to justification of immorality in evaluation process: Bandura et al. 1996) as a main processing mechanism. In two experimental studies, we identified the existence of a distinct moral reasoning process (i.e., moral coupling) which allows consumers to integrate judgments of morality and performance of a transgressed athlete. Study 1 examined the effect of moral reasoning priming on consumers’ judgments of a transgressed athlete’s morality and performance. Study 2 utilized path analyses to examine causal relations between different types of moral reasoning choices, attitude toward the athlete (AAth), attitude toward the endorsed brand (ABrd), and purchase intent (PI).

Building Team Identity Through Place Attachment: A Case of a Korean Professional Soccer Club

Professional soccer leagues in East Asian countries (China, Korea, and Japan) have a relatively short history compared to those in Europe. For instance, Korea’s K-League was launched in 1983 as the first professional soccer league among East Asian countries (e.g., China’s Super League in 2000 and Japan’s J-League in 1992). However, dwindling fan attendance over the past decade has challenged K-League and severe damage from a devastating match fixing scandal that took place in 2011. Given that the league recently adopted a promotion and relegation system in 2012, clubs are now even more challenged to build a strong and sustainable fan base. From a social identity perspective, the present chapter examines how local and regional identity help construct team identification and team loyalty. The first part of the chapter briefly reviews K-League’s 30-year history. The second part of the chapter applies the theory of social identity construction to explore the relationship between place attachment and team identification by conducting in-depth interviews with spectators of the first supporter-owned club in K-League history—Daejeon Citizen.