•Influencer-product congruence affects product attitude and advertising recognition.•Sponsorship disclosure is linked to the calculative motive inference of the influencer.•Sponsorship disclosure ...affects product attitude through a serial mediation.•Social media users infer multiple alternative motives of the influencer.
This study investigates the effects of influencer advertising attributes on consumer responses via multiple motive inference processing. Influencer-product congruence and sponsorship disclosure are manipulated as independent variables. In so doing, this study examines whether social media users infer two types of motives (Affective vs. Calculative) of the influencer derived from perceived congruence (High vs. Low) and sponsorship disclosure (Presence vs. Absence). Results suggest that influencer-product congruence can be used to enhance product attitude and reduce advertising recognition by generating a higher affective motive inference. Sponsorship disclosure can also affect product attitude in a serial mediation of calculative motive inference and advertising recognition. The multiple motive inference model explained the dual processing of influencer advertising by attributing to the prior persuasion knowledge and situational characteristics simultaneously. The findings discussed theoretical and managerial implications on native advertising on social media.
Despite the theoretical and practical importance of marketing relationships, the factors influencing their dissolution are under-researched. Thus, this study investigates the causes of the ...dissolution of horizontal marketing partnerships, utilizing survival analysis modeling to analyze a longitudinal dataset of 136 U.S.-based title sponsorships. Several predictors of either the dissolution or persistence of such relationships were identified, including regional proximity of the sponsor and the sponsorship level offered. From the perspective of the sponsoring brand, a business-to-business perspective caused a statistically significant reduction in the probability of dissolution, whereas the presence of high technology increased the probability the relationship would be dissolved. Contrary to past research, neither congruence or brand equity were influential. This research furthers understanding of conditions that may contribute to the dissolution of sponsorship-related horizontal marketing partnerships, allowing for these factors to be monitored prior to and during what is intended to be a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship.
Controversial sports sponsorships—namely those in which the sponsoring company is involved in ethically questionable activities—is a relevant area of research. Currently, there is a limited ...understanding about how controversial sports sponsorships affect sponsored teams and their perceived impact on local communities (e.g., the home city experiencing a surge in popularity). This article presents two studies that examine the interplay between sponsor moral appropriateness and self-team connection. The obtained results showed that a controversial sponsorship's lower moral appropriateness does not influence the propensity to support the team among consumers with higher levels of self-team connection, but it is critical for those with a lower self-team connection. When confronted with sponsors that are perceived as less morally appropriate, consumers with a lower self-team connection exhibit a lower propensity to support the sponsored teams and have a reduced perception that such teams might produce positive externalities for local communities.
•Controversial sports sponsorships may have negative effects on sponsored teams.•They may also have negative effects on perceived external benefits for local communities.•Sponsors perceived as morally inappropriate are more likely to produce such negative effects.•These effects are stronger for consumers with a lower self-team connection.
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