Contents for SMQ Issue 30:4
| Abstract: Sport Marketing Quarterly, Volume 30, No. 4, December 2021. |
| Athlete-Centric Employer Branding During Rival Leagues’ Market Entry Authors: Christopher Michael McLeod |
| Abstract: New sports leagues use employer branding to promote themselves as distinctive and desirable employers so they can attract talented athletes. A multiple case analysis was used to examine the employer branding strategies of four leagues that entered markets with incumbents: the National Women’s Hockey League, BIG3, Alliance of American Football, and Premier Lacrosse League. All four leagues used athlete-centric employer branding, which uses symbolic and instrumental employment information to signal commitment and involvement to athletes. Leagues also directed their employer branding to consumers. The findings suggest adding an employment dimension to theories of league brand architecture as well as reconsidering the audience for employer branding. Athlete-centric employer branding is a strategy for entering markets from a rival position and is likely to become more popular as public pressure on leagues increases. |
| Using Predictive Analytics to Measure Effectiveness of Social Media Engagement: A Digital Measurement Perspective Authors: Heather Kennedy, Thilo Kunkel, and Daniel C. Funk |
| Abstract: As social media becomes an increasingly dominant and important component of sport organizations’ marketing and communication strategies, effective marketing measurement techniques are required. Using social media data of a Division I football team, this research demonstrates how predictive analytics can be used as a marketing measurement tool. A support vector machine model was compared to a standard linear regression with respect to accurately predicting Facebook posts’ total interactions. The predictive model was used as (i) a planning tool to forecast future post engagement based on a variety of post characteristics and (ii) an evaluation tool of a marketing campaign by providing accurate benchmarks to compare against achieved engagement metrics. Results indicated the support vector machine model outperformed the standard linear regression and the marketing campaign was unsuccessful in achieving its goals. This research provides a foundation for future use of predictive analytics in social media and sport management scholarship. |
| Better Together? Examining the Impact of Official Secondary Ticketing Partnerships on Consumers’ Attitudes and Behaviors Authors: Koo Yul Kim and Joris Drayer |
| Abstract: To overcome the negative stigma due to their association with ticket fraud and price inflation, research has suggested secondary ticket market companies partner with professional sport leagues and teams. Moreover, such a partnership can increase revenues of the ticket market companies. However, additional research is needed to explore how official partnerships influence consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions. Relevant findings clarify the mechanism through which official partnerships affect secondary ticket providers’ financial success and provide insight into consumers’ attitudes toward the ticket resale industry while informing the literature on the effectiveness of sponsorships. Th us, utilizing a multi-study design, the current research examines consumers’ perceptions of official partnerships and assesses their impact on purchase intentions. Also, given historical negative perceptions of the secondary ticket market, the current study investigates the mediating effects of perceived risk and the moderating effects of ticket price. |
| Developing and Validating a Venue Stimuli-Local Image Fit Scale Authors: Yongjin Hwang and Khalid Ballouli |
| Abstract: Few studies in sport marketing have examined the formative role of venue stimuli in affecting sport spectators. As such, the fi eld currently lacks methodological direction for dealing with venue stimuli as a means to understand the sport spectator experience. Research is needed to inform academics and practitioners about the appropriate use and potential outcomes of venue stimuli, particularly as they relate to destination image and local place. Given the notable lack of investigation on this topic, this study was exploratory in nature, with the purposes of developing and validating a sport venue stimuli and local image fi t (SIF) scale. The development process of the SIF scale comprised the six stages of scale development recommended by previous scholars. Th e scale developed in this study provides a reliable and valid instrument designed to assess the extent to which sensory stimuli in the sport venue are congruent with local image, thus offering practitioners and academics a means to understand how inimitable elements of the local culture enrich the venue experience when they become intertwined with spectators’ sensory experience. |
| Delay Effect of Sport Media Consumption on Sport Consumers’ Subjective Well-Being: Moderating Role of Team Identification Authors: Wonseok (Eric) Jang, Joon Sung Lee, and Daniel L. L. Wann |
| Abstract: Although empirical evidence indicates that sport media consumption has a positive effect on sport consumers’ subjective well-being (SWB), there is little information regarding how these enhancements in SWB change over time. Th e current research demonstrates that less identified sport consumers experienced greater levels of purpose in life when it was measured right after they recalled their past sport media consumption than when it was measured aft er a 15-minute delay. Meanwhile, the level of purpose in life was similar for highly identified sport consumers whether it was measured right aft er recalling past sport media consumption or aft er a 15-minute delay. On the basis of a moderated mediation test, we further demonstrate that highly identified sport consumers experience a greater degree of eudaimonic value aft er recalling past sport media consumption, which delays hedonic adaptation among them. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed as they relate to SWB and hedonic adaptation. |
| How Sports Sponsorship Influences a Sponsor’s Financial Performance: A Case Study from the Korea Baseball Organization Authors: Hyun-Min Kim, Woon-Kyung Song, and Sanghak Lee |
| Abstract: his study aims to examine the effects of sponsorship on the sponsor’s financial performance. Th is study investigates return on sponsorship (ROS) with a quantitative analysis. Nexen Tire’s title sponsorship agreement with the Heroes baseball club in the Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) in 2010 is studied. Th e positive effect of sponsorship on the sponsor’s Tobin’s q is confirmed by comparing the non-sponsorship period (2000‒2009) with the sponsorship period (2010‒2018). It is also shown from an event study that the sponsor experiences negative abnormal stock returns on the news of the sponsorship agreement, though this was not found to be statistically significant. Still, when the sponsee enters the postseason, positive cumulative abnormal returns are observed, particularly significant 10 days before the postseason games. Th is study confirms the positive influence of sponsorship on the sponsor’s financial performance and, with evidence from South Korea, provides insight into Asian markets in need of research. Th e results suggest that 10 days before a postseason game would be an ideal time to leverage marketing and activate a sponsorship strategy. |
