The effect of corporate social responsibility activities of sport clubs on club and brand image: An empirical research on Beşiktaş JK

With this research, the effect of corporate social responsibility activities of sports clubs on the image of the club and brand image of the business named after the sports club has been studied. The sample group of the study consists of the spectators of the Beşiktaş sports club in the Super League on 26.01.2020 in Goztepe-Bjk competition (n:400). In the analysis of the data obtained with the structured questionnaire, first of all, descriptive analyzes such as percentage and frequency have been made, and statistical methods such as confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis have been used. The relationship between the latent and observed variables of the research and the hypotheses to be tested were analyzed with Structural Euotion Modeling, which is one of the multivariate statistical methods. In the study, the relationship between CSR (corporate social responsibility) and club image, CSR and brand image, club image and brand image was tested separately. Then, the research model, which includes 30 variables including economic, legal, ethical, philanthropy, club image and brand image, whose statistical suitability was previously determined as a result of the analysis, was tested in a single model and its analyzes were completed. Thus, cause-effect relationships, the degree of relationships between variables and the mediating effect of the club image were tested. It is seen that the hypothesis of the model mentioned in the research -"sports clubs effect on CSR activities, the image of the club and the brand image of the business it named after the sports club"- is partially supported by the model. The spectators stated that the image of the club had a meaningful effect on the brand image of the business that the club bears the name of. Likewise, the audience has shown that they think that philanthropy and responsibility have a significant effect on the image of the club. Thus, it is seen that the basic hypothesis is partially supported. Therefore, the model obtained in the second stage turns out to be statistically significant in terms of both p-value and model compatibility. According to these values, the research model is at an acceptable level in its final form.