Fit activates the spectators’ purchase intention for sports event sponsorship brands ——Based on the case of the live spectators of ATP 1000 Shanghai masters DUAN Yanling，LIU Bing
(1.School of Economics and Management，Shanghai University of Sport，Shanghai 200438，China； 2.School of Physical Education，Shanghai University，Shanghai 200444，China)
Abstract: This study proposes and tests the model of sports event sponsorship matching effect based on the perspective of congruity theory. On the basis of the survey related to the ATP 1000 Shanghai Masters, the results indicate that: (1)the perceptions of sports event sponsorship matching not only have significant positive effect on the spectators’ brand attitude towards both the event and the sponsors, but also promote their purchase intention to sponsor brand significantly; (2)the matching perception can realize the image transfer between sports event and sponsor brands, specifically, the spectators’ brand attitude towards the event can positively transfer to the brand attitude towards the sponsor brands; (3)the spectators’ brand attitude towards the sponsors can directly and positively affect the purchase intention to the sponsors’ brands, however, the spectators’ brand attitude towards the event can only indirectly promote their purchase intention through the brand attitude towards the sponsor brands. This study reveals that the influencing mechanism of matching awakens spectators’ purchase intention to sponsorship brands, and proves that sports event sponsorship matching can realize win-win goals for sponsors and sports event. The results of this study provide valuable theoretical evidences and practical implementations for the development and management of sports event sponsorship market in China.
Keywords: sports event sponsorship matching；brand attitude；image transfer；purchase intention；congruity theory