And now, goodbye

While most sponsorship research focuses on the initiation and maintenance of properties and the brands that sponsor them, little is known about how brands fare when they terminate sponsorship relationships. Building on balance theory and attribution theory, we examine contextual characteristics that mitigate negative effects of sponsor exit, including the brand’s motives for sponsorship, sponsorship duration and the number of sponsors supporting the event. The results of two experimental studies show that, although exit generally harms attitudes towards the exiting brand, contextual characteristics along with the consumer’s involvement with the domain of the event shape differential consumer responses to sponsor exit. The findings have implications for sponsorship theory as well as practical implications for sponsored properties and the brands they seek to attract and maintain as sponsors.