Determinants of sport sponsorship response of consumers and effcts of sport sponsorship on consumers

Determinants of Sport Sponsorship Response of Consumers and Effects of Sport Sponsorship on Consumers The purpose of this study was to investigate effects of consumers' attitudes about a sports event, sponsor-event fit and the sponsor and to investigate the effects of sport sponsorship response on consumers. The special purpose of this study was to determine the 18-30 years old university students' attitudes about the event- sponsor pairs of the 2001 European Basketball Championship Turkish Basketball Team, 2002 World Cup Turkish Football Team and 2003 World Athletics Championship Süreyya Ayhan and to determine how the sponsor-event fit perceived by the participants and lastly to measure the effects of consumers' attitudes on the sponsors' products/brands in terms of interest, favorability and use. 284 Turkish university students were participated the study. After conducting validity and reliability study of the SSEDA in the coverage of this research, data was obtained by they were administered SSEDA. Descriptive statistics, regression and MANOVA and ANOVA methods were conducted to analyze the data. Results indicate that although all of the independent variables affect the consumers' response to sport sponsorship in terms of interest, favor and use, the most important factors creating effects on consumers' attitude were sponsor-event fit, sponsor image, personal liking for the event, sincerity of sponsor and attitude to sponsor.-118 In terms of gender, there were no differences among three sponsor- event pairs in terms of interest, favor and use, but there were differences female and male consumers in terms of use for Süreyya Ayhan- Vestel. Male consumers used more products of the sponsor than females. Finally, the most successful sponsorship in terms of interest, favor and use among three sponsor-event pairs were Süreyya AYHAN- Vestel, Basketball- Garanti Bankası, Football-Efes Pilsen. Key Words: Sport sponsorship, sponsorship response, consumers.