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While a substantial body of research has emerged examining the affect corporate sponsorship has on consumers, the literature has yet to consider how sponsorship affects business-to-business customers. Grounded in social identity theory, this paper addresses this important gap by proposing and empirically testing a B2B sponsorships effects model. The model is tested utilizing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) of data collected from 552 active business-to-business customers of an industry supply company. Results suggest B2B customers are attuned to company sponsorship activities and are influenced by these sponsorships. Specifically, corporate sponsorships can influence customer’s loyalty, positive word-of-mouth and purchase decisions by enhancing customer’s level of company identification. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
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CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP EFFECTS IN BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETS
Mark Groza – Northern Illinois University
Joe Cobbs – Northern Kentucky University
Research Motivation
Research Question
How does sponsorship affect B2B buyers?
Can sponsorship enhance supportive behaviors (i.e., WOM, Loyalty, Share of Wallet)?
What does the ‘black-box’ of this process look like?
B2B versus B2C Buying Process
Buyer Behavior Professional Buyers Experts Well Trained, Rational
Product Large Quantities – Volume
Discounts Customized solutions
Promotion Salespeople important part of
selling firm’s promotional strategy
Buyers are engaging venders later in purchase process
Buyer Behavior Non-Professional Buyers Knowledge Gap No formal training, Emotional
Product Smaller volumes Standardized
Promotion Salespeople not as important to
selling firm’s promotional strategy
Buyers are engaging venders later in purchase process
B2B B2C
B2B Buying Process
With all that said:
B2B buyers buy from brands and people they trust – Relationships are extremely important (Mudambi 2002)
“Analyzing data from more than 100,000 business decision makers, Chally discovered that 39% of B2B Buyers select a vendor according to the skills of the salesperson rather than price, quality, or service features.” – Fogel, Hoffmeister, Rocco and Strunk (2012 HBR)
Theoretical Framework
Social Identity Theory (Tajfel and Turner 1985)
Customer-Company Identification (CCID) Bhattacharya and Sen (2003)
Individuals identify with companies to satisfy key self-definitional needs. The need for…. Self-Continuity Self-Distinctiveness Self-Enhancement
Conceptual Model
Customer- Company
Identification
Perceived Prestige of Sponsored
Entity
Sincerity of Sponsorship
Customer Loyalty
Word-of-Mouth
H3
H1
H2H5
ControlsAge
GenderTenure
Share-of-Wallet
H4
Sample and Measures
Customers of a North American industrial supply company
552 (992) 56% response rate
Sample consisted of customers who were aware of the company’s sponsorship but not directly engaged (i.e., attending an event) in the sponsorship
Measures
Construct Items
Source
Prestige 4 Mael and Ashforth, 1992
Sincerity 5 Speed and Thompson, 2000
CCID 2 Bergami and Bagozzi, 2000
Loyalty 3 Palmatier, Scheer and Steenkamp, 2007
WOM 5 Harrison-Walker, 2001)
Share-of-Wallet
1 Lichtenstein, Drumwright and Braig, 2010 CFA (RMSEA = 0.057, CFI = 0. 96, GFI = 0.93, NFI = 0.94)
Factor Loadings (all above .7, but 1 (.68) AVE (all above .60)
SEM Results
Hypothesized Model
Alternative
ModelH1
Prestige CC-ID .167** .154**
H2
Sincerity CC-ID .454** .412**
H3
CC-ID Loyalty .814** .761**
H4
CC-ID WOM .878** .831**
H5
CC-ID Share-of-Wallet .538** .556**
Controls Age CC-ID -.169** -.177** Gender CC-ID .015 .015 Tenure CC-ID -.047 -.049Direct Effects Prestige Loyalty n.s. Prestige WOM n.s. Prestige Share-of-
Wallet n.s.
Sincerity Loyalty .095* Sincerity WOM n.s. Sincerity Share-of-
Wallet n.s.
Note: ** p < .01; * p < .05; n.s. Not Significant
Theoretical Implications
CCID is key driver of B2B supportive behaviors (opening the black box)
Affiliated organizations (i.e., sponsored orgs) can influence a customer’s identification levels
Linking an inter-organizational relationship to customer supportive behaviors
Practical Implications
Prestige (def: perceptions that other people believe the organization is well regarded, Bergami and Bagozzi 2000) is an important antecedent
Sponsors must appear to be sincere
B2B firms should use sponsorship to build long-term customer relationship
Limitations & Future Research Limitations
Self-report data Customers from one firm, one industry, one
sponsorship
Future Research Include additional antecedents Use longitudinal data Use objective sales data
Questions?
