Consumer Engagement and Sponsorship Effectiveness: Finding Flow in Sport

Consumer engagement concerns the quality (or strength) of the psychological connection with sport properties (or sponsors) perceived by the consumer, which is a valuable asset to sponsored property’s and sponsor’s brand equity and a key determinant of sponsorship effectiveness. In this study, we focus on the phenomenon of ‘flow’ (i.e., state of intense momentary engagement) as an important indicator of consumer engagement and examine the phenomenon’s influence on sponsorship effectiveness. A pre-post survey-based study was conducted to test whether the experience of flow influences the consumer’s attitude and behavioral intention towards the sponsor before and after the sponsorship exposure through a major sporting event. The results showed significant moderating effect of flow, suggesting emphasis on flow as a key indicator of consumer engagement and a key construct explaining sponsorship effectiveness.