Sponsorship-Linked Attitudes of Employees of Sponsoring Firms: SMEs Versus Large Organisations

Corporate sponsorship is often used to develop positive attitudes towards a brand or a firm, among its customers and/or potential customers. Depending on the size of the organisation, corporate sponsorship may involve high-profile entities (such as the Olympics), or smaller local groups or individuals, but the prominence of large entities means that sponsorships by large organisations attract most media and research attention. A less commonly studied effect of sponsorship is the effect on the attitudes of the sponsoring organisations’ own employees. In this area, as with consumer-focused sponsorship, large organisations are likely to have substantial advantages. Large firms have the resources to leverage their sponsorship both internally and externally. Large organisations also have the expertise to effectively communicate their sponsorship-relationship to internal audiences. Yet smaller organisations may also be successful in engaging employees by sponsoring local entities at far lower cost, and providing opportunities for employee participation in the sponsorship. This research compares sponsorship-linked attitudes of 405 employees at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large organisations. Despite large organisations’ bigger budgets, sponsorship-linked attitudes were not significantly lower among SME employees. For one measure, sponsorship-linked organisational identification, SME employees rated significantly higher than employees of large organisations. The findings suggest that sponsorship can result in positive employee attitudes, even in SMEs—and may in fact be even more cost-effective for SMEs. These results may be due to increased communication within SMEs, or because SME employees may have stronger affiliations with sponsored entities. Implications for research and practice are discussed.