Abstract
Over the past three decades, corporate sponsorship has evolved into a key element in the marketing communications mix. More recently, the concept of “sponsorship-linked internal marketing” has attracted interest among scholars who study how sponsorship can build corporate identity and increase employee involvement. However, existing knowledge about the effects of sponsorship on employees is still sparse, despite the prevalent rationale that an employer’s sponsorship activity may influence employees’ perceptions of their employer and their behavior within the organization. This research responds to calls to investigate the strategic application of sponsorship within the firm (Farrelly et al. in J Sport Manag 26(6):506–520, 2012). Grounded in signaling theory and prior sponsorship research, we develop and empirically test a sponsorship effectiveness model among employees of a Swiss retail company. Our findings demonstrate that a high level of sports, cultural, and ecological sponsorship quality, as well as a high level of sports and ecological sponsorship quantity, positively impacts employees’ brand commitment and brand behavior through their perception of the brand image and brand understanding. Furthermore, the effects of sponsorship quality are stronger than sponsorship quantity.