Marketing

Context (archaeology)

Relationship marketing

Sports marketing

Biology

Identification (biology)

Word of mouth

Social psychology

Sincerity

Public relations

Computer science

Botany

Structural equation modeling

Business

Paleontology

Advertising

Psychology

Marketing management

Political science

Value (mathematics)

Sociology

Consumption (sociology)

Antecedent (behavioral psychology)

Machine learning

Social science

Sport management

Journal of Business Research

E-sports games can drive the sports industry forward and sponsorship is the best way to engage consumers of this new sport. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of sponsorship image and consumer participation in co-creation consumption activities on fans’ sponsorship response (represented by the variables interest, purchase intention and word of mouth) in e-sports. Four antecedent variables build sponsorship image (i.e., ubiquity of sport, sincerity of sponsor, attitude to sponsor and team identification). A quantitative approach is used for the purposes of this study. Some 445 questionnaires were filled in by fans who watch e-sports in Spain; these are analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The outcomes show that sponsor antecedents are crucial factors if a sponsor wants to change their sponsorship image and influence sponsorship response, and that it is also possible to use participation to improve responses.

Sponsorship image and value creation in E-sports