Author(s): Iyad A Al Nsour*, Raed A Athaydi and Mohammad J Al Tamim
This study aims to investigate the effect of sports sponsorship activities on the buying behavior of sports audiences, in addition to determining the statistical differences in the level of sports sponsorship activities and the buying response according to some organizational and demographics. The research population consists of Jordanian sports audiences who live in Amman city. The Convenience sampling technique is used. The researcher selects the respondents from coffee shops, cafes, famous malls in Amman, and social media users. The recommended sample size is 385. The unit of analysis is the Jordanian who attended and watched the sports activities for up to 19 years living in Amman. The study concludes that sports sponsorship activities strongly positively affected the buying response “ATR” of the sports audience. It is found statistically significant differences in the awareness tend to males and B. A degree holder. It is also found that the age between 42 - 46 is the most experienced, but it is found that there are no differences between the sports audience segments in the repeated purchase stage. Finally, it is a statistically significant difference in sponsorship activities and tends to the telecom companies in Jordan. The study presents a set of recommendations that enhance using the sponsorship in the local sports market.
The period between the seventies and eighties of the last century was the starting point of commercial sponsorship. In such time, companies have adopted creative ideas that support charitable works with commercial and profitable measures and their market presence [1]. The Modern commercial Sponsorship linking the party sometimes is the company - that provides money, services, and resources to an event, person, or organization on the other hand, and this relationship has some of the commercial rights of the sponsor company [2]. Erdogan and Kitchen also added that commercial sponsorship is a trial to promote the interest of companies and their brands and to link them with an event, organization, or charitable work widespread and accepted by society [3, 4].
Over time, the sponsorship contracts focus on the perceived benefits involved in sponsorship activities as an indirect communication tool, accessibility to various market segments, the ability to meet the institutional communication goals that involve long-term strategic benefits [5, 6]. Commercial sponsorship by companies increased from 37.9 billion in 2007 to 65.8 billion in 2018. Commercial sponsorship is a tool of modern marketing communication in funded events or occasions.
Sponsorship contracts have become one of the most prominent tools in sports and one of the pillars supporting growth, development, and diffusion worldwide. Sports sponsorship occupies the largest share of expenditure by companies while promoting their brands [7]. The Sports sponsorship contracts reached $ 45.3 billion and r 78.8% of total sponsorship contracts worldwide in 2015 [8]. Such sponsorship is used by large companies in international sports competitions and events to attract sports audiences to their products.
Research and studies show that sponsors companies exploit sponsorship activities to change the behaviors and attitudes of the most enthusiastic fans and sports athletic, attract them towards their products and brands, and meet the economic and sales benefits [9, 10]. Sponsorship contracts provide sports teams with sufficient funds through TV broadcasts and other sponsorship rights. The Real Madrid club (Spanish Football club) earned $ 3.65 billion in 2016 through sponsorship, so sports clubs strive to correlate the most famous and successful brands worldwide with contractual relationships to build networks of sports fans [11, 12]. Building a strong relationship among all parties in the sponsorship contract can increase effectiveness and success in planning and implementing communication and marketing functions [13]. Other research confirmed that sports sponsorship positively affected brand building and awareness, loyalty, and brand image, in addition to short-term benefits [14]. Studies also matched the sports sponsorship activities with awareness and knowledge offunctions, features, benefits, and brand price information [15]. Sports Sponsorship is the power to spread a positive brand image among consumers and to motivate the buying process [16].
Finally, we note that sports sponsorship contracts include many forms as the team’s uniforms, accessories, sports facilities, training centers, sports equipment, and gyms [17]. The sports sponsorship revenues for European football clubs reached 33% of total revenues [18]. There is high competition among the three leading companies on international sponsorship contracts Nike, Adidas, and Puma. It found a high competition in sponsorship contracts in football between Manchester United and Chevrolet reaching $80 million annually [19]. The Premier League generated the highest sponsorship revenues reaching 1.2 billion euros through 440 sponsorship agreements, Bundesliga and La Liga with 734 and 678 million euros in 2018, respectively (www.Sportskeeda. com, 2022). At the Arab countries level, Saudi Arabia has the first rank in sponsorship contracts reaching $376 million, with no more than $10 Million for the Jordan League in 2019.
Sponsorship is a commercial relationship between a company that grants money, services, or resources to a specific event, organization, or person. It includes some contractual rights that guarantee many commercial benefits to the contracting parties [20]. Erdogan and Kitchen (1998) add that sponsorship is a practice whereby companies seek to promote their brands by linking them to an organization or a charitable event that has a social value. Cambridge Dictionary of 2020 says that sponsorship is the amount of money granted to support a person or a specific event or activity by a company. In this study, a definition describes a commercial sponsorship as an indirect communication tool that includes a package of payments, financial or physical benefits, provided by the sponsor company to support one of the parties or social events that are important to society, and either such payments are used within a contractual relationship unrelated to the primary function of the company in, or it has direct and indirect marketing and selling advantages. It can be said that sports sponsorship activities - as a type of sponsorship- explain the interdependent relationship that ensures commercial benefits for the company (sponsor) and financial benefits and services to the sponsored team. Therefore sponsorship is considered one of the drivers of the sport worldwide, and it occupies a high percentage of expenditures in such companies [18]. Such expenses are aimed at promoting the brands and products to sports audiences. The literature has proven the positive relationship between sponsorship and fans’ behavior towards sponsors. Sports sponsorship can achieve all financial advantages for sponsor companies.
Sports Sponsorship seems to be a sports audience as the market has unique and special features that differ from other consumer markets [18]. The psychological tie of consumers with a favorite team imposes many attitudes and behaviors toward the team [21]. Literature shows cognitive factors shape and controls the beliefs and ideas toward this favorite team [22]. Other research decided that emotional factors the most affected fans’ behaviors [23]. Emotions are reasons for enthusiasm toward the favorite teams. It encourages the events and activities such as wearing team dress, participating in parties and occasions, and buying products and brands that carry the team logo and colors [24].
The sponsor companies exploit the feelings and sympathies of fans toward their favorite teams to generate short-term sales. Chadwick and Thwaites confirmed that strategic goals may be achievable in the long run [25]. Many studies confirmed the relationship between sport sponsorship with sales and stock prices [26]. Other studies included the impact of sport sponsorship on some behaviors of societies as exposure, awareness of brand image, buying intentions, and brand recognition [27]. Brand equity brand enhancement and sales increases [28-30]. In 2022, Al-Nsour added that sports sponsorship activities have a strong positive statistical effect on the brand equity in the minds of the Jordanian sports audience [31]. It was also found that there is a negative relationship between the brand equity and the age of the sports audience, while a positive relationship between awareness of sports sponsorship activities and age was proved.
Studies confirm that sports sponsorship has enhanced brand awareness and loyalty and achieved short-term sales goals [14]. Other studies confirmed the sports sponsorship has a role in passing the brand image of sponsors and considering it enough reason to buy, such studies cited the impact of sports sponsorship on the World Cup fans in South Africa in 2010, and they were able to build awareness and recall a group of previously unknown brands (Prasa, Saryam, Ymyu solar, sera), and this is at a time when some of the well-known brands have marketing failure during the event such as Emirates Airlines [32, 33]. Another study concludes that brand enhancement has a positive significant effect on buying the brand of the sponsor companies [29].
Sports sponsorship has improved the purchasing power of the sponsor company and some financial factors such as stock prices and brand equity [7]. Sports sponsorship activities have a positive role in brand building and improving customer loyalty and satisfaction, as well as a positive impact on the perception and image of the sponsor brand, and this result is consistent with the Biscaia study et al. so the brand image push the sports audience towards the brands of sponsor companies and improving their purchasing intentions [34-36]. It finds that the information stored in the audiences’’ minds becomes buying intent with time [37].
Despite the positive impact of sports sponsorship on the buying behavior of the audience; however, many studies have shown a negative effect on the buying intentions toward the products of the sponsor companies [19]. It is found that joint sponsorship of the competing teams is less actionable by the two teams’ fans and can’t achieve the desired positive results for the sponsor brand [38]. Ambush marketing, extreme marketing, and dependence on media to measure sports sponsorship are obstacles facing the sponsorship industry (Picton &Brodrick, 2005).
According to the literature, we can developed the conceptual framework, and developing the research hypothesis.
These hypotheses are developing and the research model as follows:
This study consists of one question and is distributed to a sample of 58 persons and 15% of the recommended sample size. The person was selected from the social media users via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. The question “Are you a follower or watcher of the sports activities in Jordan? The results show that 75% of the respondents are followers and watchers of Sports activities in Jordan.
It consisted of all followers and watchers, and attendees of the sports activities in Amman city. According to the Department of Statistics, the total population of Amman in 2019 reached 4.33 million [39]. The research population calculations are as follows:
a. Based on the results of the pilot study, the study population of the followers, watchers, and attendees of sports activities in Jordan for 2019 is 4.33 million people (0.75* 4.3) = 3.248 million).
b. The population percent over 19 years old reaches 55.7%, so the total population over 19 years old reaches 1.8 Million persons (0.557* 3.248 =1.8 Million).
c. The total research population is 1.8 million people.
The convenience sampling method is used, and can meet the research goals. It selects the respondents from coffee shops, cafes, famous malls in Amman, and social media users. It is found that the recommended sample size reached 385. The e- questionnaire is designed on Google Drive. The questionnaire is randomly distributed to the fans face-to-face. The distributed questionnaires are returned and used in the final analysis. The unit of analysis is the Jordanian citizens and interested in attending and watching sports activities over 19 , and living in Amman
The measurement tool is the planned questionnaire. It is designed to collect the primary data required for research goals. The questionnaire is developed according to the literature. The five points Likert scale is used. The value (5) is given for a very high response, (4) is a high response, (3) is given for a neutral response, (2) is given for a low response, and the value (1) is given for a very low response.
To analyze the research results, descriptive statistical analysis (arithmetic mean, standard deviation, and relative frequency) is calculated. The response degree of the variables is evaluated according to the relative arithmetic mean as follows: more than 4.2 is very high, (2) 4.2 - more than 3.4 is high, (3) 3.4- more than 2.6 is average (moderate), (4) 2.6 - 1.8 is weak and less than 1.8 is very weak. Cronbach’s alpha is a measure of internal consistency as closely related to a set of items as a group and measures scale reliability. Cronbach’s alpha is not a statistical test and it is a coefficient of reliability (or internal consistency). The Cronbach alpha coefficients of the research variables are between 0.845 and 0.936. It means that the two variables have been relatively accepted. Internal consistency of the two and sub-variables is statistically accepted since it is more than the statically permitted rate of 60%.
| N | Research Variables | Reliability |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Independent Variable (Sports Sponsorship) | 0.845 |
| 2 | Dependent Variable (Buying Response) K and the Sub Variables as follow: | 0.936 |
| A | Awareness | 0.869 |
| B | Trial | 0.89 |
| C | Repeat | 0.092 |
| Total Reliability | 0.944 | |
The IV “sports sponsorship” consisted of 8 items. All responses are high, and none have very high, medium, low, and very low responses. Improving the team reputation at the local level has a high arithmetic mean reached 3.84, then attracting the best coaches for the team (3.83). Improving the team’s reputation abroad in the third queue with a 3.78. The overall mean of the IV reached (3.62) with (1.011) a standard deviation. This means that the level of sports sponsorship activities is highly perceived in the Jordan market and approved by 56.3% of the respondents.
| N | The Statement | Response Degree% | S.D | Mean | Rank | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SA | A | M | DA | SDA | |||||
| 1 | Developing the team and improve the competition Power. | 22.4 | 41.4 | 27.6 | 3.4 | 5.2 | 3.72 | 1.022 | High |
| 2 | Improving the team’s reputation at the local level | 25.9 | 46.6 | 15.5 | 10.3 | 1.7 | 3.84 | 0.988 | High |
| 3 | Improving the team's reputation abroad | 31 | 25.9 | 32.8 | 10.3 | 0 | 3.78 | 1.009 | High |
| 4 | Increasing the fans' attendance at team matches | 15.5 | 34.5 | 34.5 | 13.8 | 1.7 | 3.48 | 0.978 | High |
| 5 | The sponsoring company benefits more than the team itself | 15.5 | 36.2 | 25.9 | 22.4 | 0 | 3.45 | 1.012 | High |
| 6 | Attract the best coaches for the team | 25.9 | 37.9 | 31 | 3.4 | 1.7 | 3.83 | 0.920 | High |
| 7 | More investment in the team issues | 19 | 32.8 | 32.8 | 12.1 | 3.4 | 3.52 | 1.047 | High |
| 8 | Attract famous players to play in the team | 20.7 | 19 | 37.9 | 19 | 3.4 | 3.34 | 1.117 | High |
| Overall Sports Sponsorship | 21.988 | 34.288 | 29.75 | 11.83 | 2.138 | 3.62 | 1.0116 | High | |
The buying intention toward a brand c pattern of three steps followed by consumers toward adopting a product. Brand awareness is the result of the consumer’s learning of product availability and attributes. After product awareness, consumers test the product physically. The suitable product for consumers generates repeated purchases. ATR determines the product adoption process [40]. Overall DV (Buying Response ATR) consisted of 17 items. The responses varied by the phase in the ATR process. The response model measures buying behavior. The arithmetic mean of the DV reached (3.764) and a standard deviation (0.604). It means that the level of buying response is high, and this result is approved by (70.7%) of the respondents. The buying process (ATR) is as follows:
The first stage is brand awareness consists of 6 items. All items were high by 68.7% of the respondents. It found that the arithmetic mean of the overall brand awareness is (3.896) and the standard deviation (0.805). It means that brand awareness is very high. The sports sponsorship activities explained 65.5% of the brand awareness of the Jordanian respondents.
The second stage is brand trial and consists of 5 items. 3 items are high, and the other two items are moderated. The arithmetic mean of the trial is (3.514) with a standard deviation (0.934). It means that a trial is high by 51.7% of the Jordanian respondents. The sports sponsorship activities explained 50% of the Trial brand by the Jordanian respondents in the response model
The third stage is purchase repeat consists of 7 items. All items have a high level of response by 3.89 arithmetic mean and standard deviation (0.844). It means that repeat purchase is high by 63.3% of the Jordanian respondents. Sports sponsorship explained 34.5% of repeat purchase behaviors in the response model.
| N | The Statement | Response Degree% | S.D | Mean | Rank | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SA | A | M | DA | SDA | |||||
| 1 | I Obtained enough information about the brand. | 22.4 | 43.1 | 31 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 3.8276 | 0.86121 | High |
| 2 | There is an Increase in interest in the brands and the products offered. | 22.4 | 48.3 | 27.6 | 1.7 | 0 | 3.9138 | 0.75590 | High |
| 3 | I am follower of the new brands and products. | 20.7 | 39.7 | 36.2 | 3.4 | 0 | 3.7759 | 0.81742 | High |
| 4 | I knew a new knowledge about the quality and characteristics of sponsor products. | 19 | 34.5 | 39.7 | 6.9 | 0 | 3.6552 | 0.86960 | High |
| 5 | The ability to differentiate sponsor brands from competitors | 29.3 | 51.7 | 17.2 | 1.7 | 0 | 4.0862 | 0.73232 | High |
| 6 | I have the ability to brand recall | 34.5 | 46.6 | 15.5 | 3.4 | 0 | 4.1207 | 0.79643 | High |
| Awareness | 24.72 | 43.98 | 27.87 | 3.13 | 0.283 | 3.897 | 3.3117 | High | |
| 1 | I have a desire to buy the sponsor products. | 19 | 39.7 | 29.3 | 10.3 | 1.7 | 3.6379 | 0.96787 | High |
| 2 | I got a good deal with the sponsor company. | 12.1 | 29.3 | 41.4 | 12.1 | 5.2 | 3.3103 | 1.01233 | Moderate |
| 3 | The possibility of buying the sponsor company products at higher prices. | 10.3 | 31 | 36.2 | 20.7 | 1.7 | 3.2759 | 0.96959 | Moderate |
| 4 | I have the desire to tell others about buying experience of the sponsor company. | 13.8 | 41.4 | 37.9 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.5862 | 0.89901 | High |
| 5 | Passing the positive impression of the sponsor company and its products. | 19 | 43.1 | 32.8 | 5.2 | 0 | 3.7586 | 0.82314 | High |
| Trail | 14.84 | 36.9 | 35.52 | 10.34 | 2.4 | 3.51378 | 0.934388 | High | |
| 1 | The brand and company images are improved. | 27.6 | 39.7 | 27.6 | 5.2 | 0 | 3.8966 | 0.87238 | High |
| 2 | The positive change in the brand image. | 20.7 | 48.3 | 27.6 | 3.4 | 0 | 3.8621 | 0.78245 | High |
| 3 | Promoted brand penetration in the market | 34.5 | 46.6 | 17.2 | 1.7 | 0 | 4.1379 | 0.75969 | High |
| 4 | Increase the brand’s ability to attract team fans | 29.3 | 43.1 | 22.4 | 5.2 | 0 | 3.9655 | 0.85769 | High |
| 5 | It improved the ease of communication with the audience | 19.3 | 47.6 | 24.6 | 3.5 | 5.3 | 3.7193 | 0.99560 | High |
| 6 | Increase the level of trust in the sponsoring company | 19 | 37.9 | 37.9 | 5.2 | 0 | 3.7069 | 0.83789 | High |
| 7 | The company has sponsored the brand selling platform | 25.9 | 46.6 | 24.1 | 3.4 | 0 | 3.9483 | 0.80399 | High |
| Repeat | 25.186 | 44.257 | 25.914 | 3.9429 | 0.7571 | 3.89094 | 0.84424 | High | |
| Overall ATR Model | 21.58 | 41.713 | 29.767 | 5.8054 | 1.1468 | 3.7671 | 0.86137 | High | |
To test the first sub-hypothesis, the IV and DV were sports sponsorship and brand awareness. Table 4 shows the results of the analysis using the enter method. The statistical analysis shows that sports sponsorship has a statistically significant effect on brand awareness towards the sponsor brand and products according to the tabulated and calculated statistical significance levels (0.00 and 0.05). The coefficient B shows that sports sponsorship has a positive statistical effect on awareness by 0.568. It found a positive correlation between the two variables reaching 65.5%. Therefore, 41.9% of the variance in awareness refers to sports sponsorship. The ANOVA (F) was used to test this hypothesis. The results show that the calculated value (0.00) is lower than 5%, so the sub-hypothesis is accepted. There is a statistically significant effect of sports sponsorship on the brand awareness by the Jordanian sports audience toward the sponsor company
The DV and IV are sports sponsorship and brand awareness. Table 4 shows the results of the analysis using the enter method. The statistical analysis shows that sports sponsorship has a statistically significant effect on the trial of the sponsor brand according to the tabulated and calculated statistical significance levels (0.00 and 0.05). The coefficient B shows that sports sponsorship has a positive statistical effect on enhancing the level by 0.666 units, and it is found that there is a positive correlation between the two variables reaching 59.5%. Therefore, 34.7% of the variations in the trial referred to sports sponsorship activities. The ANOVA (F) is used to test this sub-hypothesis. It shows that the calculated significance level (0.00) is less than 5% and a statistically significant effect of sports sponsorship on the level of trial by the Jordanian sports audience.
The statistical analysis shows that sports sponsorship has a statistically significant effect on repeat purchases of brands according to the tabulated and calculated statistical significance levels (0.00 and 0.05). The estimator B shows that sports sponsorship has a positive statistical effect on repeat buying of the brand by 0.599 units, and it is found that there is a positive correlation between the two variables reaching 63.3%. Therefore, 39.1% of the variations in the repeat stage refer to sports sponsorship activities. The ANOVA (F) result shows that the calculated significance level (0.00) is less than 5%, and the subhypothesis is accepted. There is a statistically significant effect of sports sponsorship activities on the repeat trial by the Jordanian sports audience.
Finally, to test the first hypothesis, which says a statistically significant effect of sports sponsorship on response behavior at the statistical significance of 5%. The last linear model is used. Y refers to the DV (ATR) as a response model, while X1 represents the IV (the sports sponsorship). Table 7 showed that sports sponsorship has a statistically positive effect on Buying Response “ART” and the impact factor reached 0.617. This means that each JD spent on sports sponsorship will increase the buying response by 0.617 JD. It found that the correlation between the two variables reached 72.3%, and sports sponsorship explained 51.4% of the variance in the buying response of the sports audience. The ANOVA showed that the calculated significance level (0.00) is less than the level of significance (0.05), so a statistically significant effect of sports sponsorship on the buying response of the Jordanian sports audience was proved.
| DV | IV | B | t | Sig. | Statistical Indicators |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awareness (A) |
Intercept | 1.776 | 5.34 | 0.00 | F= 42.164 Sig. = 0.00 |
| Sports Sponsorship |
0.586 | 6.493 | 0.00 | Sports Sponsorship |
|
| Trial (T) | Intercept | 1.103 | 2.515 | 0.015 | F= 31.303 Sig. = 0.00 r=0.599 R-2 = 0.347 |
| Sports Sponsorship |
0.666 | 5.595 | 0.00 | ||
| Repeat (R) | Intercept | 1.723 | 4.783 | 0.00 | F= 37.526 Sig. = 0.00 r=0.633 R-2 = 0.391 |
| Sports Sponsorship |
0.599 | 6.126 | 0.00 | ||
| Buying Response (ATR) |
Intercept | 1.534 | 5.287 | 0.00 | F=34.204 Sig. = 0.00 r=0.59 R-2 = 0.338 |
| Sports Sponsorship |
0.617 | 7.836 | 0.00 |
The analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to test the second hypothesis. The F statistics fit more than two options of answer including type of sponsor, type of sponsorship, and communication tool. The statistical decision rule decides that accept the effect of organizational factors when the calculated significance is less than 5%. Table 9 shows no statistically significant differences in the perceived sports sponsorship by type of sponsorship and the communication tool. These organizational factors have no affectation on the variance of awareness toward sponsor brands. While the results show that there are statistically significant differences in the awareness according to the fieldwork of sponsors. Such differences tend to telecom companies accounted for 38.9% of total sponsors in Jordan.
| DV | Characteristics | F | Sig. | The Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sports Sponsorship |
Type of sponsor | 4.121 | 0.003 | There is Statistical Differences tend to Telecommunication Companies. |
| Type of sponsorship | 0.466 | 0.915 | No Statistical Differences. | |
| Communication Tools | 0.849 | 0.565 | No Statistical Differences. |
The ANOVA is used to test the hypothesis when there are two or more options like age, education, and loyalty. The t-test is used in the case of two answers as gender. F and T-tests are used in the case of the normal distribution of data. The statistical rule says that if the significance level is lower than 5%, means accepting the effect of the demographics on brand awareness. Table 9 shows a statistical difference in brand awareness according to age. Scheffee test shows that variance in brand awareness tends to age 42- 46 years. This group is mature and aware of the brand compared to the other categories. The positive correlation between age and brand awareness was proved. It means that increasing the age of the sports audience will enhance the brand awareness of the sponsor brand.
Table 6 shows accepting the hypothesis says that there are no statistically significant differences in the level of the brand trial according to gender, education, and loyalty of the Jordanian sports audience. It is found that there are statistically significant differences in the brand trial by education. These differences tend to age between 42 - 46. This age group is highly experienced and mature.
Table 6 shows that the level of the repeat (repurchase) of the brand is similar for all groups of Jordanian sports audiences. There is no affectation of personal demographics such as gender, age, education, and loyalty on the variance of the repurchase. The age, gender, education, and loyalty of the Jordanian sports audience have statistically failed to produce different behaviors in the postpurchase stage toward sponsor brands and products.
| Independent Variable | Demographic Variable | F (t) | Sig. | The Statistical Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand Awareness | Gender | 5.508 | 0.022 | There are statistically significant differences Tend to Males.. |
| Age | 0.713 | 0.661 | There are no statistically significant differences. | |
| Education | 4.331 | 0.012 | There are statistically significant differences Tend to University BSc Holders. | |
| Loyalty | 0.112 | 0.953 | There are no statistically significant differences. | |
| Brand (Buying) Trial | Gender | 6.206 | 0.016 | There are statistically significant differences tend to males. |
| Age | 2.329 | 0.039 | There are statistically significant differences tend to age group 42- 46. | |
| Education | 1.578 | 0.216 | There are no statistically significant differences. | |
| Loyalty | 0.277 | 0.842 | There are no statistically significant differences. | |
| Repeat Purchase | Gender | 3.448 | 0.069 | There are no statistically significant differences. |
| Age | 0.041 | 0.415 | There are no statistically significant differences. | |
| Education | 1.121 | 0.333 | There are no statistically significant differences. | |
| Loyalty | 0.128 | 0.943 | There are no statistically significant differences. |
There is weak participation by the private sector in local sports events. Despite this weakness, sports sponsorship is still the pillar for sports competitions and occasions in Jordan by 74% of the sports audience. Telecommunications companies are the most sponsor in the local market by 38.9% of sponsorship contracts. The awareness of sports sponsorship is high despite the low value of sponsorship contracts. Zain is famous company in the telecommunication market but still presents low participation than expected. For example, sponsorship contracts with the two football clubs in Jordan - Al-Faisaly and Al-Wehdat - reached 130 and 240 thousand J.D respectively, and the other sponsorship contract with Al-Ramtha sports club of unknown value. There are many sponsored activities as traditional competitions in Jordanian cities, financing the equipment, and building stadiums and playgrounds. Mobily another telecommunication company interested in the local rally and football team called the Jordan youth club through financial aid, sportswear, and clothes, banners to promote Mobily products, using the company logo on the team shirts, and the club’s facilities to promote their products. Sports sponsorship contracts mainly focused on professional football league clubs with tiny amounts not exceeding more than 5 million JD. By 2020, the Jordanian Football Association restructured the awards of local championships because most of the sponsorscanceled their sponsorship contracts. The financial dilemma reduced the prizes by 50% (Jordan Football Association, 2020). The figures showed that Al - Manaseer Group was the official sponsor of the Jordan Football Association championships by sponsorship agreement reached JD1.5 million, and JD 1.15 million for national teams such as the first national team, Olympic team, youth, and amateur’s teams. The sponsorship contracts advantages of Al - Manaseer Group include displaying its logo on the sports clothes of professional clubs in all of their marketing campaigns, the audio-visual and print media, and in the friendly matches and training times. In second place, the airlines’ share reached 19.4% of the total sports sponsorship contracts. Royal Jordanian Airlines has a sponsorship contract with a Spanish football team called “Leganes”. The tourism sector as restaurants and hotels has 8.4% of the total sponsorship market. The retail stores have 2.8%. All information was evidence of the low contribution of the Jordanian private sector in supporting sports activities. The sponsor companies in Jordan prefer financial aid accounting for 32.4% of total sponsorship contracts, advertising, press, and news campaigns accounting for 20.6%, financing stadiums, sports buildings, and facilities, and international and regional competitions of teams accounting for 11.8% each. The logistic services such as travel tickets and accommodation, food, and beverages accounted for 14.7% of the total sponsorship contracts. Generally, 52% of sports sponsorship activities are seasonal and concentrated on external championships.
The level of awareness of the sponsor’s brand has a high degree by the Jordanian sports audience. Despite the small scale of the local sponsorship market, 81.1% of the sports audience can recall the sponsors’ brand and distinguish it from competitors. 70.7% of the audience prefers the sponsors’ products. The sports sponsorship campaigns are a source of information about the brands and products for 65.5% of the sports audience, and this causes a continuous tracking of the new products by 60.4%. Consequently, our current findings are consistent with other studies that showed that information about sports sponsorship activities has a positive effect on the awareness of the sports audience [41]. Brand awareness is the most affected part by sponsorship activities (0.581). According to the assumptions of the hierarchical effect model ATR, the awareness stage (A) accounted for 65.5% of the response behavior of the total Jordanian sports audience. It is the first stage in the ATR hierarchical effect model.
The sports sponsorship activities positively affected buying responses by trial the sponsors’ brand reached 0.666. It is more than another coefficient in the other stages of ATR. At this stage, the brand buying experience is approved by 50% of the sports audience, and this value is less than the percentage recorded in the first stage. Sports sponsorship activities can improve the buying intentions of the sports audience [36].This result is consistent with our outcome that the stored information in the mind of customers transforms into buying intentions over time [37]. In detail, the positive impression toward the sponsor companies proved according to 62.1% of the sports audience responses. Therefore such activities enhance the brand image of the sponsors compared to competitors [27]. Our results confirmed that improvements in buying intentions and positive WOM improved the buying intention among customers Pijkeren [36]. Sports sponsorship activities enhanced the brand image of 69.8% of Jordanian sports customers consistently with Keller who prove the high effect of sports sponsorship on brand image and future purchases [32]. There is 41.4% of the sports audience has a good deal with sponsor companies, and 41.3% of customers have buying intention of the high valued products from the sponsor company. So, the current study concludes that the buying experience is a temporary process consisting of promotional offers and selling benefits in the short - run [14]. Thus, sports sponsorship activities have no strategic content in the long run [28]. 51.7% of the sports audience prefers pre-purchase of sponsors’ brands and enhancing their buying intentions sooner [37].
The third stage of the ATR model is the repeat purchase (postpurchase). The sports sponsorship activities have a positive impact on 34.5% of the Jordanian sports audience in the post-purchase stage, especially those who have the desire to repeat the purchase in a consistent with the assumptions of the ATR model, and perhaps the spread of the brand in the market increase the repeated buy for 81.1% of the sports audience. Sponsorship activities are considered a marketing tool for 72.4% of such audience toward the sponsors’ brand and a platform to sell the brand to 72.5% of the sports audience. We add that sports sponsorship improved the brand image of 67.3% of the audience, changed the impression of 69%, and increased trust and easy communication with 56.9% and 66.9% of the sports audience, respectively.
In this part, there are statistically significant differences in the awareness of the sponsors’ brands. This awareness varies among the sports audience segments by gender and education. The males are more aware than females. Bachelor degree holders are more aware than other segments. We add that the age group between 42 - 46 years of the Jordanian audience is the most experienced people. There are no differences between the sports audience in the post-purchase stage. Accordingly, sports sponsorship activities don’t improve loyalty measures [32]. Despite the high degree of satisfaction, loyalty was not considered in previous studies [34]. This vital result is due to the bilateral sponsorship agreements of competing teams in Jordan, and this reduced the loyalty indicators toward the sponsor companies. This makes the sponsor companies less favorable to the fans of competing teams [38]. It is found that there are statistically significant differences in the awareness toward sponsorship activities, and such differences tend to the telecom companies that accounted for 38.9% of total sports sponsorship contracts as mentioned above.
Finally, this study believes that legislation and laws of sports sponsorship contracts in Jordan are a necessity, and there is a massive need to motivate the private sector contributions towards sponsorships agreement, so this will be through more governmental financial incentives such as income tax exemptions, and establishing a private agency for sports investment. The alternative sources of income for sports clubs are a key priority, and this will reduce the financial dependency on the government and motivate the growth of local sports faster. The Tourism Promotion Authority can play a role by merging sports sponsorship activities with the entrainment industry in the sports sector and easing the families’ tourism attendance into sports events and occasions. The re-allocation of marketing resources into new tools is an urgent necessity in the 21st century. Al-Nsour (2020) found that there are no statistical differences in brand enhancement and buying the brand according to personal factors [29]
The figures confirmed that the advertising spending for 2015 (the last information) in Jordan reached $150 million, or 3% of the total advertising spending in the Arab countries (Arab Center for Research and Consulting Studies “IPSOS” (2016). The Telecommunications companies accounted for 30%, whilethe banks reached 4.7%. This result is consistent with our research results mentioned above. TV has 47% of total media tools (Arab Center for Research and Consulting Studies “IPSOS” (2016). However, other research confirmed that TV advertising in Jordan is less source of the planned purchase process for 98.5% of Jordanians [42]. There is a tiny importance in formulating consumer impressions, so this tool failed to build early loyalty toward some brands [43]. The business firms in Jordan used traditional communication policies to fit the oligopoly market. The advertising is less used, and the low-cost means using less costly and more effective communication tools such as outdoor adverting and newspapers, and Sports sponsorship is the most prominent indirect low-cost marketing communication tool used by sponsors. Not only confirm the impact on loyalty but also have short-term selling advantages. Sponsor companies used a set of communication tools combined between the traditional and new means, with the use rate of traditional means reaching 52%, while the tools such as trade exhibitions, events sponsorship, and social responsibility programs have 48% of the total means. In detail, online communication tools have 34.5%, social media has 25%, and TV coverage reaches 26.9%. The study confirms the moderated positive effect of sports sponsorship activities on the buying behavior of the Jordanian sports audience, and the correlation reached 70%. The value added to the current study by proving the assumptions of the ATR hierarchy model. The awareness stage starts with 65.5% of the Jordanian sports audience. In the Trial stage, the percentage decreases to 50%. Finally, it reaches 34.5% in the repeat stage (post-purchase stage) [44-50].
