Understanding the sponsee's experience: An assessment of the sponsor-sponsee relationship

Giulio Toscani

Research output: Other contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Sponsorship is the fastest-growing marketing communication tool, both in terms of volume and complexity. The two central players in any sponsorship arrangement are the sponsor and the sponsored institutions’ (sponsee). Sponsors are gradually increasing the amounts that they invest in sponsorships and elevating outcome requirements for their investments, as reflected in the large body of research dedicated to sponsors’ needs in terms of brand awareness, consumer loyalty and evaluation of results. On the other hand, the sponsees needs are relatively neglected, especially in the arts sector, where there has been little research focused on what arts sponsees require from a sponsorship arrangement. This research fills this gap by investigating the sponsorship process that arts sponsees go through and provides the first theoretical model of this process. Because of the need to inductively explain the process, taking into account its causes and consequences, the grounded theory method is used to develop a substantive theoretical model. Indepth interviews with 31 arts sponsorship managers, globally dispersed and with demonstrated experience in sponsorship, were collected, and they indicate that the arts sponsee’s reciprocity with a sponsor in a sponsorship interaction is a highly complex experience that involves both the internal arts sponsee and external sponsor’s actors. Within the complexity of the experience, the relationship is arguably not a developmentally normal experience, given arts sponsees’ professional situations. The conclusion is that the reciprocity that arts sponsees experience throughout the sponsorship interaction is often not acknowledged or understood and would benefit from further empirical research.
Original languageEnglish
TypeTesis doctoral
Number of pages396
Place of PublicationStockholm
ISBN (Electronic)978-91-7729-848-9
StatePublished - 1 Aug 2018
Externally publishedYes

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