The Evolution of Scholarly Research on Sponsorship: Expectations About the Future of This Research Domain

This study examines how scholarly research on sponsorship has evolved from 2001–2011 and envisages the shape of this domain from 2012–2014. From the 6,240 words counted in 573 articles, we identified prominent themes around “sponsorship,” “sponsor,” “sport,” “brand,” and “marketing” from 19 key concepts. We assessed sets of concepts that best reflect the sponsorship theme by conducting a series of multiple linear regression analyses. Trend analyses from 2012–2014 indicated prospects for a dramatic increase in research activity around six topics. We anticipate the rate of sponsorship research will continue briskly in line with the continued escalation of global sponsorship expenditure.     

Conceptual Foundations of Sponsorship Research

This study maps the semantic evolution of sponsorship research to develop a richer understanding of how the field has evolved. Using Leximancer text-analytics software, we conduct a content analysis of 841 sponsorship article abstracts from over 150 scholarly journals (1980–2012). We map the semantic evolution of the sponsorship concept and formulate a new definition of sponsorship research. Four foundational pillars of sponsorship research are identified: (1) intellectual, (2) strategic, (3) behavioral, and (4) relational. Sponsorship research is theorized to involve the investigation of the delivery of value to companies arising from the strategic implementation of their sponsorship marketing objectives.     

Enhanced Geospatial Validity for Meta-analysis and Environmental Benefit Transfer: An Application to Water Quality Improvements

Meta-regression models are commonly used within benefit transfer to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for environmental quality improvements. Theory suggests that these estimates should be sensitive to geospatial factors including resource scale, market extent, and the availability of substitutes and complements. Valuation meta-regression models addressing the quantity of non-market commodities sometimes incorporate spatial variables that proxy for a subset of these effects. However, meta-analyses of WTP for environmental quality generally omit geospatial factors such as these, leading to benefit transfers that are invariant to these factors. This paper reports on a meta-regression model for water quality benefit transfer that incorporates spatially explicit factors predicted by theory to influence WTP. The metadata are drawn from stated preference studies that estimate per household WTP for water quality changes in United States water bodies, and combine primary study information with extensive geospatial data from external sources. Results find that geospatial variables are associated with significant WTP variations as predicted by theory, and that inclusion of these variables reduces transfer errors.     

Willingness to Pay for Agricultural Land Preservation and Policy Process Attributes: Does the Method Matter?

This article examines relationships between willingness to pay for land preservation and policy process attributes. The approach departs from traditional welfare assessments in that it does not constrain attributes of the policy process to be utility-neutral. Results indicate policy process attributes may influence utility in some circumstances, even after controlling for the influence of land use outcomes often correlated with specific policy techniques. Results further imply that in some cases, even comprehensive specification of land use outcomes by stated preference instruments may be insufficient to prevent systematic shifts in willingness to pay related to unspecified, yet assumed, policy process attributes.     

Customer response to dissatisfaction: A synthesis of literature and conceptual framework

Business-to-business customers who are dissatisfied with services or products may respond by voicing complaints, by exiting the transaction relationships, by spreading negative word-of-mouth (WOM) about their experiences, and/or by continuing the transactional relationships as they are. The authors synthesize extant customer (dis)satisfaction response behaviors in the organizational buyer behavior literature, and discuss within-firm and third-party recipients of voicing and negative WOM. A model of customer response behavior is disclosed featuring possible influences of exit, voice, loyalty, and negative WOM: number of alternative suppliers, past complaint response behavior, number of years in relationship, and type of purchase. Propositions are provided on the effects of influence variables on response behavior relationships.