Title: Determinants of purchase intention toward sponsoring product: mediating role of sponsor identification in Korean professional baseball games

Authors: Woo-yeul Baek; Kevin K. Byon; Charles W. Jones; Young-hwan Choi

Addresses: Department of Sport Management, Namseoul University, 509 Sung-Am Cultural Gym, 91 Daehak-ro, Cheonan-si, Korea ' Department of Kinesiology – Sport Management, Indiana University, 1025 E. 7th street, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA ' Department of Kinesiology – Sport Management, Indiana University, 1025 E. 7th street, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA ' Department of Sport Management, Namseoul University, 509 Sung-Am Cultural Gym, 91 Daehak-ro, Cheonan-si, Korea

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effect of sponsor identification in the relationship between team identification and purchase intention of a title sponsor's product in the Korea Baseball Organization League (KBO League). Fans of seven teams (N = 691) in the KBO League participated in the study. Results showed that multi-dimensional team attributes such as team attractiveness, team similarity and team awareness, positively affected team identification, and that sponsor identification fully mediated the relationship between team identification and purchase intention. These findings extend previous studies on sponsorship effectiveness and provide empirical support for the relationships between team identification, sponsor identification, and purchase intention.

Keywords: sport sponsorship; team identification; sponsor identification; purchase intention; sponsor products; South Korea; professional baseball; Korea Baseball Organization League; KBO League; team attributes; team attractiveness; team similarity; team awareness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMM.2014.073211

International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, 2014 Vol.15 No.5/6, pp.261 - 278

Received: 17 Dec 2014
Accepted: 25 Jul 2015
Published online: 27 Nov 2015 *

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