IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mig/tmjrnl/v9y2021i2p497-518.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Threat of Disreputable Behaviour for Esports Sponsors

Author

Listed:
  • Bruno Duarte Abreu Freitas

    (University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia, Portugal.)

  • Ruth Sofia Contreras-Espinosa

    (Ramon Llull University, Spain.)

  • Pedro Álvaro Pereira Correia

    (University of Madeira, Portugal.)

Abstract

This research aimed to determine if disreputable behaviour in esports is a threat to its sponsors. An exploratory design and a convergent-parallel mixed method with equal status were used. Esports sponsorship experts (N = 22) were interviewed via digital platforms and esports fans (N = 5,638) filled an online survey. Qualitative data was processed on NVivo 10 and quantitative on SPSS 25. The results showed that most experts consider disreputable behaviour as a threat to esports sponsors and roughly one-third of fans have developed negative feelings towards esports sponsors due to disreputable behaviour. The most brand-image threatening types of behaviours are corruption, illegal and unregulated gambling, and toxicity. Despite esports’ rapid growth, the field of esports sponsorships has received poor academic attention. Moreover, the findings are relevant for existing and potential sponsors wishing to understand how esports’ disreputable behaviour can damage their brands and how to proactively avoid this threat.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruno Duarte Abreu Freitas & Ruth Sofia Contreras-Espinosa & Pedro Álvaro Pereira Correia, 2021. "The Threat of Disreputable Behaviour for Esports Sponsors," Transnational Marketing Journal, Oxbridge Publishing House, UK, vol. 9(2), pages 495-515, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:mig:tmjrnl:v:9:y:2021:i:2:p:497-518
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.33182/tmj.v9i2.1542
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.tplondon.com/tmj/article/view/1542/1171
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/https://doi.org/10.33182/tmj.v9i2.1542?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mig:tmjrnl:v:9:y:2021:i:2:p:497-518. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Oxbridge Publishing House (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.transnationalmarket.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.