THE META ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SPORTS SPONSORSHIP ON CONSUMER RESPONSE IN KOREA

Abstract

This study used a meta-analysis to conduct a comprehensive examination of the effectiveness of sports sponsorships. Research conducted in various academic fields, including tourism, economics, and advertising was reviewed and classified to evaluate the conclusions of prior studies. Journal articles, master’s theses, and doctoral dissertations published from 2010 to June 2020 were the subjects of the meta-analysis. Through title and keyword searches in online academic data bases, 266 papers were identified, 37 of which were suitable for the meta-analysis. From those papers, the publication years, independent variables, dependent variables, types of sponsee, statistical analysis methods, and results of 120 individual studies were coded in Microsoft Excel. Based on these data, the effect size was calculated using Fisher’s z, a correlation that reflects weight, using R software. A conceptual framework consisting of three antecedent categories (sponsor-related, interactive, and sponsee-related), three outcome categories (cognitive, affective, and conative), and one moderator variables (type of sponsee) was utilized. The overall effect size of sports sponsorship over the past decade was .3894 (ESzr), which can be considered more than a moderate effect size. Compared with the results of a prior study that analyzed primarily papers published in the 2000s, the effectiveness of sports sponsorships has increased. At the category level, sports sponsorships had greatest impact on consumers’ cognitive outcomes (ESzr = .4569) and were most affected by interactive antecedents (ESzr = .6235). In a pairwise meta-analysis between specific antecedent factors and specific outcome factors, several correlation appeared to show a large effect size: “mere exposure → image,” “leverage → image,” “congruency → all outcome factors,” “identification → image,” “identification → behavior intention,” “loyalty → image,” and “loyalty → affective.” From an academic perspective, a conceptual framework can help determine the effectiveness of sports sponsorship. From a managerial perspective, the effectiveness of sports sponsorship appears to increase over time, suggesting that the efficiency of sports sponsorship as a brand communication strategy is cumulative. The magnitude of the correlation effect between specific antecedent factors and outcome factors revealed by this study can be used by sponsor decision-makers to evaluate their sponsorship options.