An empirical assessment of employer branding as a form of sport event sponsorship

Purpose. The purpose of this paper is to expand and test Backhaus and Tikoo’s (2004) employer branding (EB) conceptual framework from the perspective of internal EB in a sport event sponsorship context. Design/methodology/approach. This study developed a set of hypotheses, which were tested in the context of a business-to-business multinational organization’s sport event sponsorship project. Empirical data were collected from 716 employees of the case company after the sponsorship project was complete. Findings. The results support all the hypotheses and reveal that a sport event sponsorship project can act as a means to achieving EB goals in the investigated context. Research limitations/implications. The sample of the study was limited to the existing personnel of one case company. The study measures the effects at a single point in time, thus the findings should be validated with longitudinal research design. Practical implications. The results propose that companies can benefit from integrating sport sponsorship with internal EB. Practitioners are advised to create sponsorship projects that involve current employees effectively. Originality/value. The study adds to the literature by being among the first empirical studies to have tested the effects of EB among current employees via a sponsorship project.