Journal of Services Marketing

Brand knowledge transfer via sponsorship in the financial services industry

Sujin Yang Sejin Ha
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To cite this document:
Sujin Yang Sejin Ha , (2014),"Brand knowledge transfer via sponsorship in the financial services industry", Journal of Services
Marketing, Vol. 28 Iss 6 pp. 452 - 459
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David M. Woisetschläger, Manuel Michaelis, (2012),"Sponsorship congruence and brand image: A pre#post event analysis",
European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 46 Iss 3/4 pp. 509-523
Leah Donlan, (2014),"An empirical assessment of factors affecting the brand-building effectiveness of sponsorship", Sport,
Business and Management: An International Journal, Vol. 4 Iss 1 pp. 6-25 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/SBM-09-2011-0075
Brian Beal, (2014),"Executive summary of “Brand knowledge transfer via sponsorship in the financial services industry”",
Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 28 Iss 6 pp. - http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JSM-07-2014-0256

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 Brand knowledge transfer via sponsorship in
the financial services industry
Sujin Yang
8seconds Division, Fashion Business, Cheil Industries, Seoul, South Korea, and
Sejin Ha
Department of Retail, Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

Abstract
Purpose – The main aim of this study is to develop a framework of brand knowledge transfer through sponsorship for sponsors within an insurance
industry in South Korea. To this end, this study explores: how pre-event brand knowledge and perceived sponsor– event fit contribute to post-event
brand knowledge and if and how consumers’ attitudes toward insurance agents play a role as a moderator in the model. Brand knowledge is
examined in terms of brand awareness and corporate image.
Design/methodology/approach – Using a paper-and-pencil survey method, data were gathered from consumers (n ⫽ 330) who participated in
a parenting education program in which an insurance company partnered with a baby food manufacturer in South Korea. Hypotheses were tested
using structural equation modeling.
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Findings – The results confirm the occurrence of brand knowledge transfer for sponsors via sponsorship. Pre-event brand awareness and corporate
image affect post-event brand awareness and corporate image, respectively, while perceived event–sponsor fit affects both attributes of post-event
brand knowledge. Further, consumer attitude toward sales agents partially moderates brand knowledge transfer.
Research limitations/implications – Because the data focused on a single segment of sponsorship events in the financial service industry in South
Korea, the results must be carefully applied to other forms of sponsorship, industries and cultures.
Practical implications – This study highlights the effectiveness of sponsorship in the financial services industry. By aligning sponsorship events with
sponsors’ characteristics and managing their brand knowledge, companies can maximize brand knowledge transfer contributing to brand equity.
Originality/value – This study identifies consumers’ pre-extant attitudes toward sales agents as a moderator that controls brand knowledge
transfer, the pre-event and post-event corporate image relationship, specifically.
Keywords Fit, Sponsorship, Corporate Image, Brand awareness, Insurance agents
Paper type Research paper

An executive summary for managers and executive
readers can be found at the end of this issue.
Introduction
Both service providers and researchers understand the
significance of branding as a marketing tool (Brown and
Dacin, 1997; Keller, 1993). Branding is particularly important
for financial services, for which consumers rarely assess their
quality before or even after purchase. In essence, unique
characteristics such as uncertainty, complexity and
inseparability of production and consumption discourage
consumers from measuring the quality of a financial service.
This has also been the case with insurance, a sector of financial
services, where consumers are not able to evaluate credence
attributes or products until they benefit from qualifying
conditions such as accidents, illness, or death or even after use
(Liebermann and Flint-Goor, 1996; Zeithaml, 1981).
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0887-6045.htm
Accordingly, key components of brand equity such as brand
awareness, brand literacy, brand experience and corporate
image play important roles in guiding consumers to make
decisions about financial products (de Chernatony and
Cottam, 2006; Hoffman et al., 1991).
Sponsorship is one of the common brand marketing strategies
designed to establish, cultivate or change brand equity.
Sponsorship refers to “the provision of assistance either financial
or in-kind to an activity by a commercial organization for the
purpose of achieving commercial objectives” (Meenaghan, 1983,
p. 9). Sponsorship entails two activities:
1 an exchange between the two firms (a sponsor and a
sponsee) which develop the sponsored activity; and
2 the marketing of the sponsored activity mainly exploited
by the sponsor (Cornwell and Maignan, 1998).
The numerous positive outcomes of sponsorship include
awareness and identification of sponsors (Bennett, 1999; Pham
and Johar, 2001); images of sponsor, brand and corporation
(Gwinner and Eaton, 1999; McDonald, 1991; Woisetschläger
and Michaelis, 2011); sponsor credibility (Rifon et al., 2004);
attitude toward the sponsor (McDaniel, 1999; Rifon et al.,
2004); word of mouth (Tsiotsou and Alexandris, 2009); and

Journal of Services Marketing

28/6 (2014) 452–459 Received 31 March 2013
© Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0887-6045] Revised 28 November 2013
[DOI 10.1108/JSM-11-2013-0313] Accepted 30 January 2014

452
 Brand knowledge transfer
Sujin Yang and Sejin Ha
purchase intention (McDaniel, 1999). From the branding
strategy perspective, sponsorship aims to accomplish image
goals, namely, establishing brand equity through positive brand
knowledge transfer between an event entity and a sponsor.
Sponsorship has gained special attention among insurance
companies in South Korea as a means to cope with two
challenges (Insnews.co.kr, 2011). First, the insurance industry is
currently at a mature stage in South Korea in that 80 per cent of
Koreans have at least one insurance policy, and an estimate of the
rate of those insured has arrived at 98 per cent per household
(Kiri.or.kr, 2009). As a result, identifying a new market remains
essentially constant as a key task for insurance companies.
Second, insurance firms are in trouble with respect to consumers’
negative perceptions of insurance agents. Unlike in the USA,
becoming an insurance agent in South Korea is relatively easy.
An individual can easily get an insurance license by simply
participating in some training offered by an insurance firm to
work as an insurance agent and gets paid a commission for the
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sales he/she generates. No post-secondary education is required
as well. In response to the ease of obtaining work as a sales agent,
not surprisingly, homemakers who are available to work
part-time have been the traditional sales channel, and personal
networks and face-to-face interactions have been the
long-established sales approaches in the insurance industry. But
such a sales channel system has created problems such as sales
agents showing a lack of professionalism, mis-selling, not
achieving customer retention and promoting unfavorable
perceptions regarding sales agents and insurance firms. Thus,
insurance firms have come to see the need for strategies (e.g.
sponsorship) to sustain and further expand their market.
Although evidence supports the fact that sponsorship leads
to various benefits, less understood is how, from a consumer’s
perspective, sponsorship and pre-existing beliefs about a firm’s
entity (sales agents) come into play in shaping brand image
transfer. Additionally, sponsorship in an insurance industry,
part of financial services, has been less explored. This study
aims to close this gap by exploring brand knowledge transfer
through sponsorship events within the insurance industry
context in South Korea. To this end, this study proposes that
sponsorship can develop brand knowledge transfer when there
is a good fit between the sponsoring firm and the sponsored
event. Moreover, this study suggests that a pre-existing belief
in a sponsor’s entity (sales agents) will play a moderating role
in brand knowledge transfer via sponsorship. The specific
aims of this study, thus, are to examine:
● the dynamics among perceived sponsor–sponsored event
fit and consumers’ pre-event and post-event brand
knowledge about the sponsor; and
● the moderating effects that attitudes toward insurance
agents have on the strength of these dynamics.
To examine consumers’ brand knowledge of sponsors, this
study focuses on two attributes: brand awareness and
corporate image.
This study expands the knowledge about brand marketing
in the financial services industry by demonstrating how
consumers develop brand knowledge about sponsoring firms
in response to sponsorship programs, as well as in relation to
pre-existing attitudes toward insurance agents. The findings
from this study will be valuable for insurance marketers
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Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 28 · Number 6 · 2014 · 452–459
striving to find new customers and increase market share in
the saturated, mature market.
Theoretical background
Brand knowledge transfer
To understand how consumers develop brand knowledge
transfer via sponsorship, this study applies the concepts of image
transfer (Gwinner and Eaton, 1999) and brand-leveraging
process (Keller, 2003). The transfer refers to the process by
which information (e.g. image, meaning and value) pertaining to
one entity becomes associated with another entity; brand transfer
represents the process of a brand becoming linked to another
person, place, thing or brand (Carrillat et al., 2010; Keller,
2003). In addition, transfer occurs not only through the
borrowing of an event’s image but also through the borrowing of
the sponsor’s image (Keller, 2003).
Focusing on event sponsorship as a brand image building
strategy, Gwinner and Eaton (1999) explain that:
● sponsorship elicits brand image transfer in which the
event’s image determines the image of the participating
company and its brand; and
● the similarity between the event and the sponsoring
company/brand facilitates the brand image transfer process.
Gwinner and Eaton’s image transfer is in line with the
brand-leveraging process by Keller (2003) in the marketing
literature. Keller elucidates how brand knowledge is shaped
across various kinds of brand information in consumer
memory. The framework specifically states that:
● transfer of brand knowledge takes place through brand
information leveraging from a brand to another entity; and
● the brand leveraging is determined by knowledge of the
entity, meaningfulness of the knowledge and transferability
of the knowledge.
Keller also summarizes eight types of brand information
including awareness, attributes, benefits, images, thoughts,
feelings, attitudes and experiences. There is ample evidence that
the image transfer elicited by a variety of marketing programs
(e.g. sponsorship events, cause-related marketing programs)
plays a pivotal role in shaping brand knowledge and
decision-making (Carrillat et al., 2010; Grohs and Reisinger,
2005; Grohs et al., 2004; Gwinner and Eaton, 1999).
Accordingly, in examining brand knowledge transfer via
sponsorship in the financial services industry, the current study
posits that post-event brand knowledge about a sponsor
(insurance firm) is a function of consumers’ perceptions of
sponsorship-related information and pre-extant knowledge
about the sponsor. The two types of brand knowledge examined
in this study are the sponsor’s brand awareness and corporate
image.
Brand awareness and corporate image
Gwinner and Eaton (1999) identified two main goals of
sponsorship: enhancing brand awareness and developing,
fortifying or changing corporate image. When companies
target new markets or offer new products, brand awareness
and corporate image are particularly important (Jalleh et al.,
2002) and are thus effective performance measures. Brand
awareness refers to how a consumer can easily recall or
recognize the sponsor; corporate image refers to the set of
 Brand knowledge transfer
Sujin Yang and Sejin Ha
associations a consumer holds in his/her memory in relation to
the sponsor’s brand (Keller, 1993).
Perceived fit between sponsorship and sponsors
Furthermore, as image transfer involves more than two
entities, the key lies in the fit between the entities (Gwinner
and Eaton, 1999) and thus, fit is of primary interest in this
study. In the context of sponsorship, fit concerns the similarity
(relevance, consistency, congruence, match) between the
sponsored event and the sponsoring company based on
consumers’ knowledge about both (Johar and Pham, 1999).
When the sponsor’s image matches the sponsored event’s
image or vice versa, fit occurs. In addition, individuals are
likely to encode and represent information more efficiently
than otherwise when the incoming information is connected to
existing knowledge (Stangor and McMillan, 1992). This is
because, when inconsistency occurs, consumers find the
information ambiguous and complex, which together impede
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the organization and development of the collective knowledge
about an event. Many studies in the marketing and advertising
literature highlight the advantage of fit in the sponsorship
occurrence (Carrillat et al., 2010; Chien et al., 2011; Fleck and
Quester, 2007; Gwinner and Eaton, 1999; Rifon et al., 2004).
More specifically, fit influences image transfer (Grohs et al.,
2004; Gwinner, 1997), sponsor’s image (d’Astous and Bitz,
1995), sponsor recall (Johar and Pham, 1999), positive
attitudes toward sponsorship (McDaniel, 1999; Rifon et al.,
2004; Speed and Thompson, 2000) and sponsor’s equity
(Becker-Olsen and Simmons, 2002). Consequently, in
examining fit of sponsorship in the financial services industry,
this study predicts that the greater the fit between a sponsored
event and a sponsoring firm, the more favorable the responses
would be that consumers exhibit to the firm.
Hypotheses development
Figure 1 displays the conceptual model and hypotheses. Building
on the notions of brand knowledge leveraging and image transfer
(Gwinner and Eaton 1999; Keller 2003), this study proposes that
Figure 1 Proposed model and hypotheses
Pre-event brand
H1
awareness
H5
Perceived fit
(event – sponsor)
H6
Pre-event
corporate image
H2
H7a
Attitude toward insurance
agents
Note: Dotted lines denote moderating effects
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Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 28 · Number 6 · 2014 · 452–459
when consumers are offered a sponsorship event, their post-event
brand knowledge about the sponsoring company will be a
function of: pre-event existing knowledge about the sponsor’s
brand and evaluation of the event in light of the event–sponsor
fit. Furthermore, pre-event brand knowledge will play a role in
determining consumers’ evaluation of the event-sponsor fit.
Brand awareness and corporate image represent brand
knowledge in relation to sponsorship.
H1. There is a positive relationship between a customer’s
pre-event brand awareness and post-event brand
awareness.
H2. There is a positive relationship between a customer’s
pre-event evaluation of corporate image and post-event
evaluation of corporate image.
H3. There is a positive relationship between a customer’s
perceived fit between a sponsored event and a sponsor
and pre-event brand awareness.
H4. There is a positive relationship between a customer’s
perceived fit between a sponsored event and a sponsor
and post-event evaluation of corporate image.
H5. There is a positive relationship between a customer’s
pre-event brand awareness and perceived fit between a
sponsored event and a sponsor.
H6. There is a positive relationship between a customer’s
pre-event evaluation of corporate image and perceived
fit between a sponsored event and a sponsor.
Moderating role of attitude toward insurance agents
The insurance business in South Korea is somewhat unique in
that it counts heavily on insurance agents to sell insurance
products. This draws a proposition that consumers’ beliefs
about insurance agents may have an impact on their
information processing and evaluation of insurance firms’
Post-event brand
awareness
H3
H4
Post-event
corporate image
H7c
H7b
 Brand knowledge transfer
Sujin Yang and Sejin Ha
marketing activities. This study considers consumers’ attitude
toward insurance sales agents as a moderator that may control
the process of brand knowledge transfer. Attitude toward
insurance sales agents is defined as a consumer’s collective
evaluation of insurance sales agents based on his/her past and
present business experiences with or without information
about insurance agents. Having a positive attitude toward
insurance agents may promote brand knowledge transfer in
favor of the sponsor. On the other hand, having a negative
attitude toward insurance agents may have deteriorating or no
impact on brand knowledge transfer. When incongruence
exists between incoming sources (e.g. a sponsor’s products
introduced at a sponsored event) and pre-existing information
(evaluation of the sponsor’s sales agents), consumers might
find it difficult to process the information efficiently because
more deliberate cognitive efforts and tradeoffs for
decision-making are required (Heckler and Childers, 1992;
Meyers-Levy and Tybout, 1989; Wansink and Ray, 1996).
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Accordingly, when prior attitude toward a sponsor’s sales agents
is negative, consumers would not be able to fully accept favorable
information delivered by the sponsor at the sponsored event.
In exploring this possibility, this study presumes that
consumers’ overall attitudes toward insurance sales agents
would interact with a general feature (corporate image) more
than with a specific source (brand awareness) in shaping brand
knowledge and, therefore, the study focuses on the effects of
corporate image moderated by prior attitudes toward
insurance. Examining changes in corporate image before and
after sponsorship of insurance companies, this study expects
that when consumers hold a positive attitude toward insurance
agents, they will be more likely to value an event sponsored by
an insurance firm as they engage in brand assessment
regarding the firm in conjunction with its entity (insurance
sales agents), relative to when consumers have a negative
attitude toward the sales agents of the insurance firm.
H7a. The positive effect of pre-event evaluation of corporate
image on perceived event-sponsor fit is stronger when
customers have a positive attitude toward insurance
agents than when they have a negative attitude toward
insurance agents.
H7b. The positive effect of perceived event-sponsor fit on
post-event evaluation of corporate image is stronger
when customers have a positive attitude toward
insurance agents than when they have a negative
attitude toward insurance agents.
H7c. The positive effect of pre-event evaluation of corporate
image on post-event evaluation of corporate image is
stronger when customers have a positive attitude
toward insurance agents than when they have a negative
attitude toward insurance agents.
Methodology
Research context: financial services in South Korea
To explore sponsorship in the financial services industry of
South Korea, this study examined a sponsorship event in
which an insurance company collaborated with a partner firm
and held a parenting education program for customers. The
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Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 28 · Number 6 · 2014 · 452–459
partner firm was the second-largest baby food manufacturer in
South Korea, and the insurance company, the sponsor, held
the largest market share in the insurance sector in South
Korea. Potential participants were recruited from those on
consumer panels who attended a sponsored event in 2011
about childrearing education. The partner sent out event
invitations and offered the education session, while the
insurance company provided the place and souvenirs for the
event and held a session introducing its insurance programs/
policies to the attendees. This partnership was deemed
suitable for this research for the following reason. The
insurance firm, whose main market was customers aged ⬎ 40
years, realized the need to pursue young adult consumers who
might often be in two-income families and be interested in
financial planning for themselves. Indeed, the young adult
consumer reported the lowest life insurance subscription ratio
kiri.or.kr (2011). Because the partner mainly targeted young
adults (20-40 years old) with young children, the hosted event
helped the sponsor to reach this potential market.
A total of 371 attendees participated in a paper-and-pencil
survey and were rewarded with refreshments. The data were
gathered at two points in time: before the sponsored event and
after the sponsored event. As participants arrived at the event,
they answered a survey asking their pre-extant perceptions of the
sponsor (insurance firm) in terms of brand awareness and
corporate image. The childrearing talk lasted for about 2.5 hours.
The insurance firm had 30 minutes in the middle to introduce its
insurance programs and policies and also offered insurance
consultation at the end of the event. After the event concluded,
the respondents were asked to rate the insurance company again
as they had then become aware of the insurance firm’s
sponsorship of the event. They answered questions including
post-event brand knowledge about the sponsor, perceived fit
between the event and the sponsor, general attitude toward
insurance sales agents, and demographic characteristics.
Instruments
Research constructs were measured using scales from previous
research. Brand awareness and corporate image are two
measures of brand image transfer via sponsorship. Brand
awareness was captured with three items adopted from Yoo
and Donthu (2001) (“I can recognize this insurance firm
among other competing insurance firms”, “I am aware of this
insurance firm” and “I have heard of this insurance firm”).
Three items from Nguyen and Leblanc (2001) assessed
corporate image of the insurance firm (“I have always had a
good impression of this insurance firm”, “In my opinion, this
insurance company has a good image in the minds of
consumers” and “I believe that this insurance firm has a better
image than its competitors”). A two-item scale devised by
Broniarczyk and Alba (1994) measured perceptions of the
sponsor– event fit (based on my experience with the event: “I
feel the partnership between the insurance firm and the event
is complementary” and “I feel the partnership between the
insurance firm and the event makes sense”). Attitude toward
insurance agents was collected with a question: “My overall
feeling toward insurance sales agents is positive” (Burnkrant
and Unnava, 1995). The survey also collected demographic
data on gender, age of youngest child and amount of money
intended to pay for insurance. All scales except for
 Brand knowledge transfer Journal of Services Marketing
Sujin Yang and Sejin Ha Volume 28 · Number 6 · 2014 · 452–459

demographic and insurance information were rated on a
7-point scale (1 ⫽ strongly disagree; 7 ⫽ strongly agree).
To develop a survey questionnaire in Korean, this study
administered standard survey development procedures,
carefully taking into account the construct and face validity of
the construct measures (Brislin, 1970). A native speaker
translated the questionnaire in English into Korean, and then
another native speaker back-translated it into English. Then
the questionnaires were back-translated to ensure that all
items were worded adequately.
Results
Preliminary analyses
Out of 371 responses gathered, 330 responses were deemed
usable for data analysis. All the participants were female, and
the mean age was 36 years. Most of the participants (90.9 per
cent) had children under the age of 2 years. As for affordable
price ranges for life insurance, approximately half of the
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indices simultaneously to assure model fit appropriateness.
The analysis yielded adequate model fit statistics: ␹2 ⫽
259.82, df ⫽ 82, ␹2/df ⫽ 3.17, p ⬍ 0.001, CFI ⫽ 0.94, TLI ⫽
0.93, IFI ⫽ 0.94, RMSEA ⫽ 0.80 [90 per cent C.I.:
0.70-0.09] (Browne and Cudeck, 1993).
Most of the proposed hypotheses were accepted, except for H3,
which proposed a link from pre-event brand awareness to perceived
sponsor–event fit. Perceived fit between the event and the sponsor
positively related to both post-event brand awareness and post-event
corporate image, supporting H1 and H2, respectively. With respect
to the association between pre-event brand evaluations and
perceived fit, results revealed that perceived sponsor–event fit was
positively related to pre-event corporate image (H4) but not to
pre-event awareness (H3). Further, pre-event brand awareness had
a direct impact on post-event brand awareness, consistent with H5.
Likewise, pre-event corporate image influenced post-event
corporate image directly, yielding support for H6 (Figure 2).

The moderating role of attitude toward insurance agents

participants estimated $200-300 per month while 30 per cent
To test the moderating effects of attitude toward insurance
estimated $100-$200 per month. All scales showed the
sales agents on the associations that the corporate image had
acceptable reliabilities, exceeding the threshold of 0.70
in the proposed model, this study followed the steps suggested
(Nunnally, 1978) (Table I).
by Dabholkar and Bagozzi (2002). Over 50 per cent of the
participants indicated a neutral attitude toward insurance
Hypotheses testing
agents by rating it 4 on the 7-point scale, and were removed
The process of testing the hypotheses consisted of two steps:
from the following analyses. The remaining responses were
1 the test of the proposed model positing brand image
divided into two groups: the positive attitude group (n ⫽ 74,
transfer through sponsorship; and
M ⫽ 5.54, SD ⫽ 0.67) and the negative attitude group (n ⫽
2 the test of moderating effects of attitude toward insurance
75, M ⫽ 2.52, SD ⫽ 0.62).
agents.
First, SEM was estimated for each group. According to
The analysis was executed by structural equation modeling Dabholkar and Bagozzi (2002), four models (models A, B, C
(SEM) using AMOS 19.0. This study also tested several and D) were assumed by differentiating the constraint levels of

Table I Convergent and discriminant validity

Constructs Cronbach’s ␣ 1 2 3 4 5
1. Pre-event brand awareness 0.70
2. Pre-event corporate image 0.93 0.47ⴱⴱⴱ
3. Perceived event-sponsor fit 0.87 0.26ⴱⴱⴱ 0.22ⴱⴱⴱ
4. Post-event brand awareness 0.74 0.31ⴱⴱⴱ 0.34ⴱⴱⴱ 0.36ⴱⴱⴱ
5. Post-event corporate image 0.92 0.22ⴱⴱⴱ 0.51ⴱⴱⴱ 0.33ⴱⴱⴱ 0.67ⴱⴱⴱ
Notes: Numbers are correlation estimates between constructs; ***
p ⬍ 0.001

Figure 2 SEM results (H1-H6)

Pre-event brand 0.22 (2.52)**

Post-event brand
awareness awareness

0.05 (-0.54)ns 0.49 (4.60)***

Perceived fit
(event – sponsor)

0.29 (3.28)*** 0.51 (9.10)***

Pre-event Post-event
corporate image corporate image
0.32 (6.89)***

Note: Numbers are standardized factor loadings followed by Critical Ratios

(CRs) in parentheses. *p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001

456
 Brand knowledge transfer
Sujin Yang and Sejin Ha
relations between constructs in the proposed model. Model A
is a full invariance model and also constrained, meaning the
same across the two groups not only in error variances but also
in path coefficients. Model C is an unconstrained model
without cross-sample constraints. Model B has path
coefficients constrained, while model D has only error
variances constrained across the two groups. When ␹2/df
difference between Models B and C (A and D) for error
variances is not significant and ␹2/df difference between
Models A and B (C and D) for path variances is significant,
the proposed paths can be considered as being significantly
different. The analyses revealed that while ␹2/df of Model B
did not significantly differ from that of Model C (␹2diff. ⫽
10.00), Models A and B were significantly different in ␹2/dfs
(␹2diff.⫽ 81.74, p ⬍ 0.01).
Second, multi-group comparison analyses were made to see if
the relationships between the sponsor’s corporate image before
and after the event and its brand fit to the event would differ
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between the two groups (positive vs negative attitude groups).
H7, proposing the moderation by attitude towards insurance
agents, failed to receive support. The analyses also provided
directional supports for H7a and H7c, proposing that the effects
of pre-event corporate image on fit and fit on post-event
corporate image would be greater for the positive attitude group
than the negative attitude group, although they failed to offer
statistical support. Unexpectedly, however, the analyses showed
that attitude towards insurance agents had a significant
moderating effect on the pre-event corporate image – post-event
corporate image association, but in the opposite direction. That
is, the effect of pre-event corporate image on post-event corporate
image was greater when attitude toward insurance agents was
negative than when it was positive (Table II).
Discussion
Conclusion
The purpose of this study is to explore brand knowledge transfer
for sponsors through sponsorship and the moderating effects of
attitude toward insurance agents on brand knowledge transfer
within the insurance industry context in South Korea. The
results of this study confirm the occurrence of brand knowledge
transfer for sponsors via sponsorship with respect to corporate
image and brand awareness. That is, in the event of sponsorship,
perceived fit between the event and the sponsor contributes to
post-event brand awareness and post-event corporate image.
Furthermore, perceived fit between the event and the sponsor is
associated with the pre-event corporate image but not with the
pre-event brand awareness. Additionally, pre-event corporate
image and pre-event brand awareness contributed to post-event
corporate image and pre-event brand awareness, respectively. An
examination of path coefficients representing the strength of
brand knowledge transfer reveals that perceived fit played a
Table II Path coefficients for positive vs negative attitude toward insurance agents
Proposed paths
H7a. Pre-event corporate image ¡ perceived fit
H7b. Pre-event corporate image ¡ post-event corporate image
H7c. Perceived fit ¡ Post-event corporate image
Notes: Numbers are unstandardized coefficients, followed by Critical Ratios (CRs) in parentheses;
Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 28 · Number 6 · 2014 · 452–459
critical role in determining post-event brand awareness and
corporate image compared to pre-event brand knowledge
factors. Such findings support previous research which argued
the importance of fit in developing effective sponsorship marketing
(Fleck and Quester, 2007; Gwinner and Eaton, 1999).
The results show that pre-event brand awareness did affect
post-event brand awareness directly rather than through
perceived fit. This may be due to two reasons. First, the sponsor
this study examined was the leading company in the insurance
industry in South Korea, meaning that the company had already
built a good level of brand awareness in the minds of consumers.
This implies that, at a mature point in a business with
well-established brand awareness, firms’ corporate image would
benefit from engaging in sponsorship. Second, as fit in this study
concerned the congruency in image between the event and the
sponsor, pre-event brand awareness might not be as strongly
associated with the event–sponsor fit as pre-event corporate
image was. That is, when evaluating fit between two entities (an
event and a sponsor, in this study), consumers tended to apply
image as opposed to brand awareness to judge how they were
similar or different. Comparing brand awareness between the
event and the sponsor would be less likely because knowledge of
the existence of each entity stands alone in the minds of consumers.
The tests for moderating effects of attitude toward insurance
agents on corporate image transfer reveal that only the
relationship between pre-event corporate image and post-event
corporate image differed across the positive and negative attitude
groups. That is, the positive effect of pre-event corporate image
on post-event corporate image was greater when consumers held
a negative attitude toward insurance agents than otherwise; an
event–sponsor fit did not interact with consumers’ perceptions of
insurance sales agents for either pre- or post-event corporate
image. This finding implies that corporate image may be a more
relevant criterion for optimizing a sponsorship for sponsors
struggling with negative perceptions about sales agents than for
those having professional sales agents. Another possible
explanation is that a logical fit between a sponsor and an event
itself does not override consumers’ unfavorable perceptions
about sales agents. There may be other associations (e.g.
sponsorship – consumer associations) beyond the event–sponsor
fit that are effective in facilitating brand knowledge transfer to
consumers who hold negative attitudes toward sale agents. The
results call for further in-depth investigations as to what
characteristics of sponsorship efforts do work alongside
consumers’ negative perceptions about insurance sales agents for
enhancing corporate image.
Managerial implications
The findings from this study are valuable to prove the
effectiveness of sponsorship for insurance service marketers
striving to increase market share in a mature market. First, event
sponsorship is an effective tool to improve brand awareness and
Positive attitude group Negative attitude group ⌬␹2
0.27 (1.55) 0.02 (0.076) 0.59 (p ⫽ 0.44)
0.21 (1.95) 0.67 (5.42)ⴱⴱⴱ 6.35 (p ⫽ 0.01)ⴱⴱ
0.42 (2.75)ⴱⴱⴱ 0.20 (1.34) 1.04 (p ⫽ 0.31)
**
p ⬍ 0.01, ***
p ⬍ 0.001
457
 Brand knowledge transfer
Sujin Yang and Sejin Ha
corporate image of insurance firms in the financial services
industry. This study demonstrates that the effectiveness of
sponsorship marketing is evident in the insurance industry in
South Korea under the so-called saturated mature market.
Second, brand image transfer works well when a sponsored event
delivers fit to the sponsor. Thus, firms have to exert their efforts
to design and execute an event in ways that will promote their
own favorable image. Last, this study shows that negative
attitudes toward insurance agents enhanced the pre- and
post-event corporate image link; however, our prediction that
favorable attitudes toward insurance agents would strengthen the
associations from pre-event corporate image to perceived fit and,
in turn, to post-event corporate image received only directional
support. Three implications from the results have been
identified. First, of obvious importance in cultivating brand
equity is corporate image, and this is the case especially in a
business environment where consumers’ perceptions of sales
agents are less favorable. Next, favorable attitudes toward sales
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agents did contribute to the transfer of corporate image in the
context of an event–sponsor fit. Thus, it is crucial for marketers
to put forth an effort to develop new and favorable perceptions
among consumers regarding insurance agents while managing
sponsorship programs in line with the focal insurer. Finally,
insurance firms need to improve the sales channel system by
adopting higher professional and educational standards for sales
agents and financial advisors.
Limitations and future research
The limitations of this study point to ideas for future research.
First, this study examined fit as a one-dimensional concept
primarily for the sake of parsimony and simplicity (Speed and
Thompson, 2000); however, fit encompasses multidimensional
features such as symbolic fit and functional fit (Gwinner and
Eaton, 1999; Rifon et al., 2004). Investigating different
dimensions of fit and their dynamics in relation to consumer
evaluations of sponsorship would advance the current
understanding of sponsorship in the context of financial services
(insurance business). Second, the model under investigation
focused on a sponsor (an insurance firm) assisting a sponsee to
hold a sponsorship so as to examine brand image transfer for the
sponsor. Future research can advance the model by
incorporating the sponsee’s point of view. Third, the use of a
single item for attitude toward sales agents must be viewed within
this limitation: it is impossible to test its internal consistency or to
perform measurement model analyses with its scores. Future
research needs to apply a multi-item scale to measure attitude
toward sales agents. Fourth, due to the nature of the sponsorship
event of this study (childrearing education), the sample were all
females, inviting additional studies examining both genders and/
or comparing the proposed model between males and females.
The data used in this study were cross-sectional, utilizing pre-
and post-event surveys. Longitudinal, multi-sponsorship program
research will be meaningful for conclusions on the causal effects
of brand knowledge transfer via sponsorship. Last, the single
market data of South Korea warrants caution in generalizing the
study results, while calling for a cross-cultural investigation.
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About the authors
Sujin Yang received PhD in consumer sciences and retailing
from Purdue University and is a senior manager of marketing
and business strategy at Cheil Industries. She has worked for
Samsung Groups such as Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung
Economic Research Institute and Cheil Industries as a
marketer and manager of strategy. Her research interests
include consumer behavior, services marketing and
consumers’ use of technology (e- and m-commerce). Her
research articles appeared in the Journal of Retailing and
Consumer Services and Journal of Electronic Commerce Research.
Sejin Ha holds a PhD in consumer sciences from the Ohio State
University, and is an Assistant Professor in the Department of
Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management at University of
Tennessee. Her primary research interests lie in psychological
aspects of consumer behavior within a variety of retail and service
contexts. Her articles appeared in referred journals such as
Journal of Business Research, Journal of Service Management, The
Service Industries Journal, International Journal of Retail and
Distribution Management, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research
and International Journal of Mobile Marketing. Sejin Ha is the
corresponding author and can be contacted at: sha5@utk.edu