Corporate sponsorship and intention to sponsor sporting events in Malaysia - Theory and Practice in Hospitality and Tourism Research - page 110

Linked Investments Companies (GLICs) such as
PNB and corporate bodies or private sectors such
as CIMB Bank, Nestles' Milo and 100plus.
The importance of sporting events was acknowl-
edged where the government intends to expand
sports tourism offerings in Malaysia beyond host-
ing events such as golf tourism included in Malay-
sian Economic Transformation Programme (ETP)
in order to increase tourist arrival and Malaysia's
GNI. The government of Malaysia has also rec-
ognized the impact of corporate bodies in sports
development in the country. The world of sports
without the support of corporations would col-
lapse (Irwin, 1993). Thus, the purpose of this study
is to examine the relationship between corporate
sponsorship objectives; public awareness, corporate
image and community involvement towards inten-
tion to sponsor sports events and to explore the
relative importance and most influential corporate
sponsorship objectives to the corporate sectors.

one author to another in terms of company's
involvement in sport sponsorship (Buhler et al.,
2009; Dolphin, 2003) (Abiodun, 2011). Corporate
organizations view sponsorship relationship as an
activity that will benefit both the corporate organi-
zations, as well as the sport federations (Benadie,
2005). Javalgi et al. (1994) opined that sponsor-
ship is the underwriting of a special event with the
object of supporting organizational objectives by
enhancing corporate image, increasing awareness
of brands and leverage corporate reputation.

2.2 Public awareness
An organization engage in sponsorship is due to
a number of factors. Sponsorship increases public
awareness of the organizations product or brand,
altered public perception, enhancing organizations
products and brand image as well as enhancing the
sales (Verity, 2002). According to Dolphin (2003),
brand awareness will unsurprisingly boost from
sponsorships. Profile of the corporate brand will
then increase the value of the brand through brand
awareness and sponsorships might also arouse the
products and services. Corporate reputation is an
intangible cost of corporation's main focus in busi-
ness. Verity (2002) proposed that generating brand
awareness accrues naturally from sponsorship.
However Hoek, Gendall, Jeffcoat, and Orsman
(1997) suggested that the benefits of sponsorship
do not accrue automatically.
Mullin, Hardy, and Sutton (2007) included pub-
lic awareness of a company under the corporate-
related objectives while increase product/brand
awareness is listed under product-related objec-
tives. In IEG list of why companies sponsor, they
listed 'to create awareness' as one of the reasons
for companies to sponsor.

2 LITERATURE REVIEWS

2.1 Corporate sponsorship objectives
Corporate sponsorship objective is defined as the
successfulness of an event being sponsored by a
company and how useful it is and how well the end
result can be evaluated (Abiodun, 2011). These
objectives set the frame through which a spon-
sorship should be selected in order to reach those
objectives (Ivarsson & Johansson, 2004).
Thwaites (1995) proposed that one of the fea-
tures of sponsorship is its ability to contribute
to a wide range of objectives at both corporate
and brand level. Among the many related objec-
tives would include increasing product or brand
awareness, reinforce or alter market perception of
both product and brand and identifying it with a
particular market segment (Ivarsson & Johans-
son, 2004; Meenaghan, 1983). Through achieve-
ment of multiple objectives stated earlier is what
sponsorship companies would expect (IEG, 2008).
Meenaghan (1983) also stated in his studies about
how a specific sport sponsorship may be selected is
referred to the ability to fulfill objectives through
the sponsorship. Companies must have apparent
objectives and reasons for their actions at all times
before committing themselves to sponsor an activ-
ity (Shank, 1999). It is also worth stating that Java-
lgi Traylor, Gross and Lampman (1994) suggest
that the objectives tend to be unclear.
Corporate objectives are the basis for the list
development of sponsorship benefits (Buhler,
Chadwick & Nufer, 2009) that vary from organi-
zation to organization, from industry to indus-
try, from large organization to small and from

2.3 Corporate image
Hall (1993) reports that company reputation is
the intangible resource most focused on by CEOs.
Image and reputation can be seen as resources that
enable a company to secure a competitive advan-
tage (Amis, Slack & Berrett, 1999). Sport sponsor-
ship is a useful tool to enhance or even to change
the company's brand or the company's image sta-
tus which has been proven by authors (Abiodun,
2011). Sponsorship might have an impact on the
image of the corporate bodies (Dolphin, 2003).
A specific brand or a company perception by a
particular market segment can be influenced by
sponsorships that might enhance the image of the
corporate bodies. Meenaghan (1983) and K. Gwin-
ner (1997) listed corporate image as one of the two
most common objectives to sponsorship engage-
ment where it can help to establish, strengthen or
change brand image.