European football teams’ CSR engagement

impacts on customer-based brand equity

Jens Blumrodt
Department of Management and Organization, ESC Rennes School of Business, Rennes, France
Douglas Bryson
Department of Finance and Operations, ESC Rennes School of Business, Rennes, France, and
John Flanagan
Southampton Business School, Southampton Solent University, Southampton, UK

Abstract
Purpose – Brand management is a central issue for the sports industry in general, and professional football clubs (usually called soccer teams in the
USA) are the archetypal branded sport in that industry; the brand is their most important asset. Match attendance equates with financial return;
patently it is a preoccupation of senior management. Metrics of brand performance need be up to date, and include contemporary issues such as
corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a reflection of consumer expectations. This paper aims to address these issues.
Design/methodology/approach – The methodology aims to evaluate consumers’ perceptions and purchase behaviours. A sample survey of
consumers’ brand evaluations has been collected and factor and regression analyses have been employed.
Findings – Recent models based on Keller’s conceptual approach have not emphasized the evolution of societal concerns. Brand management in the
football industry has to change to meet customer expectations better.
Practical implications – This research demonstrates that professional football clubs may be different from other businesses. The research method
used enables the evaluation of customer-based brand equity. Findings suggest clubs’ involvement in community activities influences brand image and
customer behaviour. The sport entertainment industry requires a specific type of brand management and customer perceived ethicality has to be an
integral part of the approach.
Originality/value – Brand theories tend to stem from marketing and they are inclined to emphasize the same kind of product-oriented concerns.
However, customers expect more than watching an exciting game in a pleasant environment; they are affected by clubs’ community involvement which
impacts on the affect towards the brand. This is demonstrated through purchase behaviours of spectators. This research determines and evaluates these
issues for the cases of two professional football clubs.

Keywords Brand equity, Sports, Football, Football club, Corporate social responsibility, Consumer perceived ethicality, Customer-based brand equity,
Sport entertainment

Paper type Research paper

An executive summary for managers and executive
readers can be found at the end of this article.
Introduction
Sports clubs are inevitably preoccupied with results. Market
orientation is a relatively recent phenomenon, which
professional sports clubs have started to adopt, rather than
traditional “common sense” management where team
performance was the primary focus (Shilbury et al., 2003).
Strategic brand management has only become a key issue in
the last decade (Gladden and Funk, 2002). The role of CSR
in sport has been opened to analysis, interpretation and
empirical research (e.g. Smith and Westerbeek, 2007; Walters,
2009; Walters and Tacon, 2010), business and management
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Journal of Consumer Marketing
29/7 (2012) 482– 493
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0736-3761]
[DOI 10.1108/07363761211274992]
journals have published special issues on CSR in sport
(Babiak and Trendafilova, 2010; Sheth and Babiak, 2010),
and the CSR literature in major sports management journals
is growing quickly (Babiak and Wolfe, 2006; Hemsley, 2009;
Breitbarth and Harris, 2008).
However, there is yet to be research in the domain of
evaluation methods for sport brands, and such activities might
fail if they do not track changes in consumers’ brand
perception. Research findings in other sectors could also
contribute to the sport entertainment industry (for example
John et al., 2006).
Thus, we pose the following research question:
What elements of brand image influence the purchase behaviour of sports
spectators?
Despite the simplicity of the research question, the
underpinning concepts are complex. Community
involvement could be one of these concepts. Brunk (2010)
proposed a consumer perspective of corporate ethics and
introduced the construct of consumer perceived ethicality
(CPE) of the brand, and further research on CPE and its
influence on consumer decisions has been called for (Brunk,
2010; Cohn, 2010; Shea, 2010).

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 European football teams’ CSR engagement impacts on brand equity
Jens Blumrodt, Douglas Bryson and John Flanagan
Manchester United immediately suggests ideas such as
football, England, the colour red, and superior team
performance. However, CSR as an element of customers’
perceptions linked to professional football clubs and its
impact on the brand image and customer based brand equity
has not previously been investigated.
This paper is presented in six sections: the introduction,
formulates the research question; the literature review looks at
football clubs and their environment, the concept of corporate
social responsibility, and consumer perceptions of the ethical
and philanthropic behaviour in sports clubs; the methodology
explains the clubs selected for our research; the findings are
described and analysed; the findings are discussed; and our
conclusion explains the implications of our findings for
professional football club managers.
Literature review
Football clubs as brands
During the 1980s, brand equity was widely researched due to
the assumed link with competitiveness and market value
(Kotler et al., 1999), and the sport entertainment industry has
learned from the work of Keller, Aaker and Kapferer (Sunde
and Brodie, 1993). Burgeoning sport brands epitomise a
media society where reality and fiction are conflated (Merten,
2003). Professional football (soccer) is the sport with the most
followers (and viewers) on the planet. The media coverage of
sport entertainment assures a disproportionally high degree of
visibility of the small and medium seized enterprises, such as
Chelsea with its 160 employees. European clubs and their
competitions are widely broadcast in Europe and in Asia, so
even small clubs have started to investigate these markets
(Söderman et al., 2010).
Researchers have striven for a better understanding of the
facets of the sport business including brand, brand equity and
customer-based brand equity (Bauer and Sauer, 2005; Boone
et al., 1995; Chadwick et al., 2007; Richelieu and Pons, 2006;
Ross, 2006). Strong brand equity has many advantages for
football clubs, such as customer loyalty and a stable number
of spectators, even if the team does not compete at the top
level. Strong brand equity makes higher ticket prices
acceptable and allows for the sale of club merchandise
(Gladden et al., 1998; Gladden and Milne, 1999).
Brands have equity, based on loyalty, recognition and
perceived quality, but brand image is the foundation for
building brand equity (Chen, 2001), and a strong, positive
brand image leads to competitive advantage (Rio et al., 2001).
Although sports brand extensions such as the launch of new
products have limited potential (see Shilbury et al., 2003;
Mullin et al., 2000), research on branding and diversification
strategies can nevertheless succeed in the sports industry in
general and in sport entertainment industry in particular
(Appostolopoulou, 2002; Campbell and Kent, 2002).
Manchester United (MU) illustrates the international
success of a sports brand (Hill and Vincent, 2006) and the
French club Olympique Lyonnais (OL) has launched eight
sub-brands and more than 30 licences since 2000.
Corporate social responsibility
There has been a four-fold increase in CSR activities between
1950 and 2000, and a similar pattern is manifest in
professional sports businesses (Godfrey, 2009). However,
academics, managers and policymakers continue to wonder if
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Volume 29 · Number 7 · 2012 · 482 –493
CSR actually resonates with customers and if such spending is
futile and should be left to the government (see Friedman,
1970; Harper and Mithani, 2011).
We do not intend to examine the value of CSR engagement,
but we remark that corporate scandals and the current
economic crisis have concentrated public attention on
economic and corporate ethics. The growth of CSR
activities in the last decade has raised consumers’
expectations of socially responsible goods and services
(Strong, 1996), and the study of marketing ethics has
demonstrated that consumers want companies to be socially
responsible and to make concrete contributions to society
(Gurau and Ranchold, 2005). CSR engagement influences
consumer perception, purchase intent, and loyalty (Mohr and
Webb, 2005; Roe et al., 2001), and firms increasingly consider
CSR to be a facet of strategy and of organization culture
(Zadeck, 2004).
CSR and sport
Unethical behaviour associated with sport brands has been
well documented (Ballinger, 1992), and the image of
professional football clubs is often tainted by business
scandals (Jessel and Mendelewitsch, 2007). In France,
professional sport, especially football, is perceived to have
questionable ethics and is associated with the words “money”
and “doping” (CSA, 2007). However, poor conduct in the
sport industry is not new, and corrupt dealings might equally
be viewed as human nature and the understandable quest for
power and influence. Society does not evolve in a totally
benign manner, and sport (as an element of society) is no
exception, and the values inherent in sports also change. Yet
sport does have positive values: the education of children, the
health of the public, and the identity and morality of the
nation. Ethical values are largely related to sport in general
and by extension also to sports clubs (Godfrey, 2009).
In Carroll’s framework (Carroll, 1979; Carroll and
Buchhotz, 2006), organizations evolve through four levels of
CSR: to be profitable, to be legal, to be ethical, and to be
good (i.e. philanthropic). A club as a business meets
shareholders’ expectations (to be profitable) and needs to
abide by sporting rules and the law (to be legal). Our research
addresses Carroll’s third and fourth levels by examining
customers’ brand perceptions, investigates how consumers
interpret the brand behavior (Cohn, 2010), and asks the
experts of the club brand – the fans. Media coverage,
corporate communications and informal advocacy give
football fans a uniquely profound knowledge of the brand
compared to the customers in other industries (Blumrodt,
2011).
Customer based brand equity and CSR
Customer based brand equity derives from the compounding
effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the
marketing of the brand. Brand knowledge includes brand
awareness and brand image, where brand image is defined as
“perceptions about a brand as reflected by the brand
associations held in consumer memory” (Keller, 1993, p. 3).
Spectators present during a football match have already made
their purchase decision. Instead of watching the game on TV,
they prefer to be present at the game; they also prefer game
attendance to other forms of entertainment.
For the football industry we investigate perceptions of CSR,
such as the club’s engagement with their region, the
 European football teams’ CSR engagement impacts on brand equity
Jens Blumrodt, Douglas Bryson and John Flanagan
importance of the club to its city and region, the contribution
of the club to the good reputation of the region, responsibility
and social engagement, engagement with ethical partners and
sponsors, respect towards the ecological environment and the
honesty and transparency of the club.
Our research aims to identify the brand image factors of
spectators attending matches, which impact on brand equity.
Aaker‘s (1991) definition of brand equity remains the most
widely accepted (Motameni and Shahrokhi, 1998), and
defines brand equity as a set of assets linked to a brand’s name
and symbols that add to (or subtracts from) the value
provided by a product or service to a firm, and/or that firm’s
customers. The brand equity assets are brand name
awareness, brand loyalty, perceived quality, and brand
associations. Together, these assets are designated “brand
image”. The value added from brand image includes financial
or commercial value, especially expected cash flow (Keller,
1993; Shocker and Weitz, 1988). Therefore, customer
purchase intention is of interest, because brand image leads
to a willingness to pay more for well-known brands, rather
than functionally similar but unbranded products.
Keller (1993) classified three major categories of brand
associations: attributes, benefits and attitudes. Attributes can
be seen in various ways, and we follow Keller’s categorization.
Product related attributes are ingredients necessary for
performing the product or service function by consumers.
Attributes are descriptive features linked to the product and
can be product related or non-product related. Non-product
related attributes are the external aspects of the product or
service that relate to its purchase or consumption. Customer
benefits are personal values that the consumer attaches to the
product or service attributes – that is, what the consumer
thinks the product or service can do for them. Brand attitudes
are often the basis consumer behaviour, and are the overall
evaluation of a brand (Keller, 1993).
Methods
We assume that there are three categories of product related
attributes, non-product related attributes, benefits, and
spectators’ CSR-ethical perceptions. Each category may be
broken into several factors, and the nature of these factors was
be operationalized by specific items in the questionnaire.
Previous studies have used psychometrics, and confirmatory
factor analysis (CFA) to estimate the predictability of
purchases (Jöreskog and Sörbom, 1993). However, the use
of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to detect multiple brand
associations, their importance and their reliability is neglected
by the literature (Homburg and Giering, 1996). Perceptions
have an impact on intentions, such as the intended behaviour
of spectators. The black box concept aims to ascertain
patterns of customer behaviour when taking purchase
decisions. Past experience (the input) explain brand
perceptions (the intentions) which impact on customer
loyalty to a team, purchasing club merchandise, buying
tickets and season tickets.
The literature has defined several factors of brands relevant
for the sport entertainment industry (Gladden and Funk,
2001, 2002; Ross et al., 2007; Bauer et al., 2008). One
product related attribute for football clubs is the primary
service, the match on the field. Factors reflecting this core
product are linked to players, team success, and the
management of the club. Interviews were used to create an
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Volume 29 · Number 7 · 2012 · 482 –493
initial set of the factors specific to each of the brands of the
two football clubs in this research. We used exploratory factor
analysis (EFA) to identify and significant factors for the
brands of each club. These factors explain the key traits of the
brands. Cooper and Schindler (2006) and Malhotra (2007)
argued that only a small number of factors are useful for
determining key traits. Whereas others have identified 14 or
16 factors, Bauer et al. (2008) proposed just five factors. Four
of the factors are similar to the three categories of Keller’s
model, and the fourth, brand loyalty, measures the impact of
brand image on consumer behaviour. Our research objective
is to verify the existence of a CSR-ethical category in the
brand perception of football club spectators. We define the
fourth category brand attitudes as consumers’ overall
evaluation of the brand. Attitudes are a function of the
associated attributes and benefits that are salient for the
brand. They serve the consumer by reflecting themselves, via
their self-concept, in the brand (Keller, 1993); for us brand
attitudes are related to CPE (see Table I).
Previous studies have explained the first two categories (cat
1.1 and 1.2), but category 3 needs further investigation; these
are factors relating to the CSR of a sport club.
Hypotheses
Research has shown that sport entertainment industry brands
are well known but that while brand awareness has little
impact on brand knowledge; brand image does improve brand
knowledge (see Ross, 2006). Thus, our conceptual framework
assumes that brand image impacts on consumers and hence it
is possible to predict purchase behaviour patterns. This study
Table I Brand image elements
Categories, factors, and items
Category number 1/Cat 1: Core services (or product related
attributes)
FA1: Game-team, success, and players (items: team and quality of the
game, team success, Team loyalty, and quality of players)
FA2: Management (items: quality of coach, management of the club, and
shareholder’s involvement)
Category number 1.2/Cat 1.2: Other attributes (or non-product
related attributes)
FA3: Stadium (items: modernity of the stadium, atmosphere and
personality of the stadium, and localization of the stadium
FA4: History and tradition (items: club’s history, and clubs history as a
success story)
FA5: Entertainment (items: the giant screen, pompom girls, speaker, and
PA system contribute to entertainment)
FA6: Other services (items: friendliness of the servers, services efficiency,
and quality of the catering)
Category number 2/Cat 2: Customers’ benefits (benefits)
FA7: Brand benefits (items: escape, emotion linked to the game, and peer
group acceptance)
Category number 3/Cat 4: CPE (or Keller’s brand attitudes)
FA8: CSR (items: engagement within the region, club’s transparency and
honesty, social responsibility and engagement, instruction of young
players, and security)
Source: Based on authors’ fieldwork
 European football teams’ CSR engagement impacts on brand equity
Jens Blumrodt, Douglas Bryson and John Flanagan
assesses and explains three different purchase behaviours of
football spectators:
1 the purchase of merchandise;
2 the purchase of season tickets; and
3 the frequency of attendance at games.
Previous research has shown that a football club’s brand
image is based on the spectators’ brand associations. Our
research includes brand as an element of brand image of
professional football clubs. Thus:
H1. CPE is an integral part of the brand image.
Previous research has linked brand associations to behaviour,
so we can say that brand image has an impact on sport
spectators’ behaviour. The factors and categories which
impact on fans’ behaviour need to be determined, and those
factors and categories might differ between the brands. Thus:
H2. CPE impacts on sport spectators’ behavioural
intentions.
If the customers perceive clubs’ community involvement as
important, CPE must be an increasingly important
managerial concern for the sport entertainment industry.
Therefore it can be assumed that the CSR of clubs have
evolved differently (Misener and Mason, 2009). Thus:
H3. Increasing brand image impacts positively on CPE.
Sampling design and exploratory study
The two clubs for this research are located in Brittany,
France. Stade Rennais Football Club (SRFC) has played in
the first division for over 50 years, and Football Club de
Lorient (FCL) was promoted to the first division in 2006.
Both clubs are known in France; SRFC is a regional Brand
(Couvelaere and Richelieu, 2005), with a good chance of
earning national recognition, whereas FCL remains a local
brand. Both play in small to medium sized, recently renovated
stadiums (FCL 16,870 seats, and SRFC 29,800 seats).
Semi-structured interviews with fans from each club
illustrated feelings, ideas, perceptions, and fan loyalty. The
interviews for the two clubs were continued until they stopped
generating new significant information (Silverman, 2000).
These interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed
with NVivo software. All interviewees mentioned the clubs’
sporting performance, players’ techniques and teams’ tactics,
while male respondents also raised the issue of general
management skills. Female respondents were more prone to
mention comfort and cleanliness of the facilities. The
interviews reflected a concern for the club’s values, honesty,
fair play, security, community involvement, impact on the
region, setting an example for youths and imparting values
inherent to the club itself, not just the values of individual
players. Results from interview analysis and the literature
review were the foundation for determining the brand
associations which reflect the brand image in the customers’
perceptions. The literature, interviews, and the contribution
of experts were the basis for developing a questionnaire. A
pilot questionnaire was developed and pre-tested.
The questionnaire data were collected separately during
matches of the two teams. 500 questionnaires were completed
at FCL and 496 questionnaires at SRFC. Questionnaire
administrators were placed in the stadium at different access
points to the seating areas. Questionnaires were completed
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face-to-face, and as a result, they were all completed in full.
The respondents were both season ticket holders and non
season ticket holders; thus all had paid for entry to the match.
Results and analysis
Data analysis
The questionnaire data were analysed with SPSS. We
compared our sample characteristics with the SRFC
spectator profile as understood by the club’s management
(age; social situation; origin; occasional spectator, regular or
season ticket holders; frequency of visits to the stadium,
consumption of the football product (via TV, mobile phone,
newspapers, journals, and buying merchandise). The data
were obtained from three different sources. First, CRM
software which was operational as of 2005 provided a profile
of the clientele; second, the benchmark profile available from
the institute TNS Sofres (market research and poll specialists);
and third, from the e-ticketing service. FC Lorient did not
have such detailed and readily available data so we
constructed a similar data set including measures expected
by the FCL top management.
Of the spectators 73 per cent of the SRFC are between the
ages of 30 and 59, while at Lorient there is an aging public
(62 per cent of the spectators are older than 40 years and 18
per cent were older than 60). The two clubs show an elevated
percentage of liberal professions represented in their
respective data sets. The spectators of the SRFC and of
FCL proved to be diversified and showed that today
professional football interests a wider section of the
population than in the past. As was expected, the sample
was largely male for both clubs (SRFC: 86.7 per cent; FCL:
87.2 per cent), which is average for Ligue 1 games (Ligue de
Football Professionnel, 2009).
Analysis of clubs’ brand images
The hypothesized model for French team sports was
empirically tested using a survey, exploratory factor analysis
and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Table II presents the
factors after Varimax rotation.
Table II groups data from the two brands (FCL: white;
SRFC: grey). The first column indicates names of items,
factors (FAs) and categories. Columns 2 and 3 present the
mean of the assessed items. The FAs and categories were
submitted to separate reliability analyses in order to
determine their usefulness as scales (see Cronbach’s Alpha:
columns 4 and 5). After examination of the scree plot, 7
factors were retained and explained 84.2 per cent of the total
variance (AVE: columns 6 and 7) of the FCL brand image
and 68.4 per cent for SRFC. The differing scores reflect two
distinct brand images.
The First category (Product-related brand attributes): We
observed good perceived performance on the factors game-
team, success, and players for the FCL club. An exceptional
item for this club is also the coach who has been in charge of
the team for 20 years and has pushed the club from the
second league to the first league. SRFC is also positively
perceived even though the two teams ranked on the second
half of league table. The first category is consistent for the
different factors (Cronbach’s a: FCL 0.912 and SRFC
0.788).
The product related attributes explain the main part of
spectators’ brand perception for FCL (31.390 per cent out of
 European football teams’ CSR engagement impacts on brand equity Journal of Consumer Marketing
Jens Blumrodt, Douglas Bryson and John Flanagan Volume 29 · Number 7 · 2012 · 482 –493

Table II Items, means of items, and reliability of constructs

Cronbach’s
Mean of Alpha for
assessed categories (C)
items: and factors (FA) CFA
6 max. $ 0.60 AVE (%) FL ($0.50)
Categories, factors, and items (FA) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Column: 1 FCL SRFC FCL SRFC FCL SRFC FCL SRFC
Cat 1: Product-related brand attributes 0.912 0.788 31.390 13.398
FA (1): Game-team, success, players FA1 FA4
Team and quality of the game 4.1 4.1 0.924 (2) 0.937 (1)
Team success 4.3 3.8 0.885 0.712 25.845 7.958 0.906 (3) 0.845 (2)
Team loyalty 4.4 3.7 0.730 (4) 0.665 (4)
Quality of players 4.3 3.8 0.936 (1) 0.777 (3)
4.1 4.0
FA (2): Management FA6 FA7
Quality of coach 4.7 4.1 8.65 0.554 (3)
Management of the club 4.4 4.3 0.889 0.790 5.545 5.440 0.787 0.754 (1)
Shareholder’s/presidents involvement 4.2 4.0 0.740 0.708 (2)
Cat 1.2: Non-product-related brand attributes 0.806 0.812 27.265 29.344
FA (3): Stadium FA5 FA2
Modernity of the stadium 3.5 5.3 0.712 0.649 5.800 8.931 0.827 0.684 (3)
Atmosphere and personality of the stadium 4.1 5.0 0.827 0.793 (2)
Localization of the stadium 3.9 5.0 0.644 0.842 (1)
FA (4): History and tradition FA8
Club has a long history – 4.8 – 0.634 – 4.555 – 0.987
Clubs history is a success story 4.4 3.8 0.768
FA (5): Entertainment FA7 FA5
The giant screen contribute to entertainment – 2.6 0.623 0.744 4.440 7.501 – 0.784 (1)
Cheerleaders 2.8 – 0.766 (3) –
Speaker 3.5 3.9 0.876 (1) 0.576 (3)
PA system 3.3 3.2 0.825 (2) 0.625 (2)
FA (6): Other services FA2 FA3
Friendliness of the servers 4.5 2.2 0.911 0.768 17.025 8.357 0.871 (1) 0.902 (3)
Services efficiency 4.2 2.3 0.846 (2) 0.914 (2)
Quality of catering 4.2 2.5 0.625 (1) 0.924 (1)
Cat 2: Brand benefits FA4 FA6
Escape 4.5 5.0 0.644 0.647 9.588 7.450 0.878 0.733 (3)
Emotion linked to the game 4.6 4.8 0.834 0.781 (2)
Peer group acceptance 4.6 4.8 0.719 0.887 (1)
Cat 3: CPE FA3 FA1
Engagement within the region 4.8 4.4 0.961 (1) 0.825 (1)
Club’s transparency and honesty 4.4 4.2 0.912 0.789 16.020 18.198 0.913 (3) 0.765 (3)
Social responsibility and engagement 4.6 4.5 0.896 (4) 0.787 (2)
Instruction of young players – 5.6 – 0.755 (4)
Security 4.8 5.2 0.936 (2) 0.723 (5)
84.263 68.390
Notes: Columns 2 and 3 – average of items maximum score of 6; 3 and 4 – Cronbach’s a for category and factors; columns 6 to 9 – concern the CFA after
Varimax rotation; 6 and 7 – AVE: average variance explained in %; 8 and 9 – FL (factor loadings)
Source: Based on authors’ fieldwork

84.263 per cent) and a significant part for the SRFC brand
image (13.398 per cent out of 68.390 per cent). After CFA,
FA1 (Game-team, success, players) is the first factor for FCL
team, but factor four for the SRFC (factor loadings: columns
8 and 9). Both factors are consistent. FA2 (Management)
ranks 6th for FCL and 7th for SRFC.
The second element of the First category (Cat 1.2: Non-
product related brand attributes): SRFC performs well for the
stadium items; probably due to recent renovations. Although
the team has played for more than 50 years in the first Ligue,
the trophy cabinet continues to gather dust. FCL was recent
promoted to the first Ligue. Both clubs’ entertainment factor

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 European football teams’ CSR engagement impacts on brand equity
Jens Blumrodt, Douglas Bryson and John Flanagan
remains unsatisfactory for additional entertainment (such as
giant screens and cheerleaders). The P.A. system could be
better and it is the only real added value entertainment factor.
The other services factor is negatively perceived for SRFC
and positively for FCL. The two clubs performed poorly on
the entertainment factor, and SRFC also did badly for other
services.
This element is consistent (Cronbach’s a: FCL 0.806 and
SRFC 0.812) as are the constituent factors. Non-product
related attributes are the main part of spectators brand
perception for the SRFC brand image (29.344 per cent out of
68.390 per cent) and a significant part for FCL (27.265 per
cent out of 84.263 per cent).
The Second category (Brand benefits): Stadium attendance
is a positive experience – for FCL (9.588 per cent) and for
SRFC (7.450 per cent) of the perceived brand image. The
factors are ranked 4th (FCL) and 6th (SRFC), and are
consistent (Cronbach’s a: SRFC 0.647 and FCL .644).
The Third category (CPE): The clubs’ engagement in the
region regarding social and humanitarian programs is positive.
The security of the stadium and surroundings is more than
just the delivery of a service; it is part of the values of the
company, delivering an entertainment experience for the
whole family. Spectators evaluate SRFC’s engagement as
exceptional for young players’ instruction. The category is
consistent (Cronbach’s a: FCL 0.912 and SRFC 0.789).
Both clubs show a CPE category which helps to explain the
variance. The CPE makes up a large proportion of spectators
brand perceptions for SRFC (18.198 per cent out of 68.390
per cent) and a significant proportion for FCL (16.020 per
cent out of 84.263 per cent). The category is ranked 1st for
SRFC and 3rd for FCL.
As in previous research (see Ross et al., 2006), our results
confirmed that multiple factors exist. The brand images of the
two clubs are widely positive; although some negative and
neutral evaluations of factors exist. The CPE dimension has
found to be an independent and clearly distinct factor.
Purchase behaviour and loyalty
We conducted a binary logistic regression analysis following
the confirmatory factor analysis. This analysis is a powerful
test for establishing relationships between dependent variables
(e.g. loyalty and purchase intentions) and an independent
variable (i.e. brand associations). This test determines
whether the independent variables explain a significant
variation of the dependent variable (Cooper and Schindler,
2006; Malhotra, 2007). The different factors were
recalculated as categories (Cat 1 (Product-related brand
attributes) ¼ FA1, FA2; Cat 1.2 (Non-product-related brand
attributes) ¼ FA3,4,5,6; Cat 2 ¼ Brand benefits; Cat
3 ¼ CPE) and their impact on the spectators’ measured
brand behaviour.
The results of the analysis demonstrated that consumer
behaviour depends on the brand image, and that different
factors influence behaviour (see Tables III, IV and V).
The logistic regression model predicts the probability of an
event occurring for a given person: from 0 (event did not
occur) to 1 (outcome did occur). The outputs of the logistic
regression on SPSS are arranged in blocks. From block 0
variables in were taken forward. Wald statistics have a chi-
square distribution and predictors of the outcomes are
significantly different from zero. The Exp B was greater than
1 and therefore indicated that as the predictor increases, the
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Volume 29 · Number 7 · 2012 · 482 –493
odds of the outcome occurring increase (Field, 2009). The
Cox and Snell (1989) R-squared values indicated that as the
predictor variable increases so does the likelihood of the event
occurring, and the partial correlation was positive. As
expected, Nagelkerke’s R-squared value was fairly different
from the Cox and Snell value.
From Block 1 the percentage is indicated (classification
table). In Table III for FCL 79 per cent of cases can be
correctly classified (the predictability is good for No: 68.5 per
cent and Yes: 87.4 per cent). The predictability of spectators’
behaviour differs for the two clubs.
The core product (Cat 1: Product-related brand attributes)
was, as expected, an important influence. It was present in
two out of the three cases with positive purchase intention
(see Tables III and IV). The brand attitude category (Cat 3:
CPE) was omnipresent for the SRFC, but did not appear in
FCL spectators’ purchase intentions. Other categories
explained the predictability of purchase intentions and loyalty.
We found that:
1 For the two clubs team performance incites the purchase
of club merchandise.
2 For FCL the purchase of season tickets is influenced by
the brand benefits, especially the quality of the services in
the stadium. The purchase of season tickets for SRFC can
be predicted by brand attributes (non-product-related see
stadium).
3 Loyalty can be defined as a lasting allegiance to a team
(Wakefield and Sloan, 1995) or a club in particular (Van
Leeuwen et al., 2002). We consider that spectators
attending more than five to nine visits per season are loyal.
FCL’s spectator loyalty is predictable by attributes. SRFC’s
loyalty can be predicted from the brand attributes and
benefits, and from CPE. The CPE category for SRFC is
pervasive in the spectators brand perception. Brand image is
thus based on specific types of brand associations including
product and non-product related attributes, benefits, and
CPE.
Results of hypothesis testing
.
The analysis has shown that the football clubs’ brand
image is strong and impacts on spectators’ behaviour.
Brand image impacts on spectators’ behavioural
intentions and therefore we accept H1: CPE is an
integral part of the brand image.
.
Even if CSR is a coherent and consistent category in
spectators’ brand associations they do not automatically
link purchase intentions to club attitude. We cannot
confirm H2 for either club (H2: CPE impacts on sport
spectators’ behavioural intentions.)
.
The clubs’ media exposure, spectators’ profile and clubs’
community involvement are key elements for the impact
of CPE on purchase. The regional club (SRFC) has more
media pressure than its local competitor (FCL). The
public of the regional club is younger and more sensitive
to the undertaking of a CSR engagement. In this case,
CPE is linked to purchase behaviour. We accept H3 that
the H3: Increasing brand image impacts positively on
CPE.
 European football teams’ CSR engagement impacts on brand equity Journal of Consumer Marketing
Jens Blumrodt, Douglas Bryson and John Flanagan Volume 29 · Number 7 · 2012 · 482 –493

Table III Purchase of merchandising products

Predictability of purchase intentions
Categories in equation A E.S. Wald df Sig. Exp(B)
FCL 79% No: 68.5% Yes: 87.4% Step 1 Cat 1 0.567 0.145 16.342 1 0.000 1.863
Constant 2 2.046 0.629 10.590 1 0.001 0.129
Cox and Snell R-squared 5 0.572; Nagelkerke R-squared 5 0.567; Chi-squared 5 17.294; d.f. 5 1; Sig. 5 0.000
SRFC 67% No: 58.5% Yes: 74.4% Step 2 Cat 1 0.434 0.116 13.960 2 0.000 1.691
Cat 3 0.322 0.127 6.394 2 0.000 1.380
Constant 2 3.058 0.663 21.264 2 0.000 0.051
Cox and Snell R-squared 5 0.579; Nagelkerke R-squared 5 .698; Chi-squared 5 31.493; d.f. 5 1; Sig. 5 0.000
Source: Based on fieldwork

Table IV Purchase of season tickets

Predictability of purchase intentions
Categories in equation A E.S. Wald df Sig. Exp(B)
FCL 69% No: 48.4% Yes: 79.6% Step 1
Cat 2 0.527 0.127 12.570 1 0.000 1.544
Constant 22.046 0.523 19.345 1 0.000 0.047
Cox and Snell R-squared 5 0.546; Nagelkerke R-squared 5 0.423; Chi-squared 5 21.296; d.f. 5 1; Sig. 5 0.000
SRFC 72% No: 61.5% Yes: 79.3% Step 1 Cat 1.2 0.534 0.123 14.776 1 0.000 1.654
C3 0.4212 0.131 5.467 1 0.000 1.303
Constant 22.066 0.663 20.656 1 0.000 0.067
Cox and Snell R-squared 5 .655; Nagelkerke R-squared 5 0.545; Chi-squared 5 17.094; d.f. 5 1; Sig. 5 0.000
Source: Based on fieldwork

Table V Customers’ loyalty

Predictability of purchase intentions

Categories in equation A E.S. Wald df Sig. Exp(B)
FCL 77% Casual: 41.5% Loyal: 94.7% Step 2
Cat 1 0.622 0.123 21.641 2 0.000 1.779
Cat 1.2 0.435 0.137 12.347 2 0.000 1.576
Constant 23.026 0.563 27.656 2 0.000 0.067
Cox and Snell R-squared 5 0.565; Nagelkerke R-squared 5 0.658; Chi-squared 5 26.461; d.f. 5 2; Sig. 5 0.000
SRFC 69.5% Casual: 71.3% Loyal: 67.6% Step 2 Cat 1 0.567 0.145 19.971 2 0.000 1.576
Cat 2 0.489 0.168 14.465 2 0.000 1.458
Cat 3 0.413 0.189 12.791 2 0.000 1.211
Constant 22.089 0.647 42.787 2 0.000 0.087
Cox and Snell R-squared 5 0.576; Nagelkerke R-squared 5 0.617; Chi-squared 5 36.352; d.f. 5 2; Sig. 5 0.000
Source: Based on authors’ fieldwork

Discussion
European sport policies
Sports policies differ from one country to another, even if
some sports are played worldwide (Chalip et al., 1996). In
Europe, club performance decides league position. The core
service is provided while clubs are competing. Promotion to a
higher league leads to more media exposure, broadcasting
rights, and higher sponsorship fees. Clubs’ of the top league,
with a strong brand image, have more broadcasting
opportunities than clubs with weaker brand image (DNCG,
2009), as typified by the allocation of French TV rights
(Besson, 2008). However, the contrary is also true. Thus,
clubs are obsessed by sporting performance.
Our research results suggest the following:
.
The customer experience is linked to the match on the
field. Brand attributes, especially product related
attributes, are in the heart of spectators’ brand
perceptions.
.
The atmosphere in the stadium contributes to a positive
customer experience.
.
Spectators enjoy stadium attendance.
.
The stadium is an important entertainment tool for the
football clubs.
.
CPE is part of the brand image for both clubs researched.
We conclude that sporting performance is an important brand
element. This is not surprising. We highlighted the lack of
additional entertainment for the two clubs, although the two
are typical of all French clubs in this respect (Sportfive, 2007;

488
 European football teams’ CSR engagement impacts on brand equity
Jens Blumrodt, Douglas Bryson and John Flanagan
Ipsos, 2008). Spectators’ expectations are high in France
especially for the clubs in the French Football League. The
French football business mentality is less developed and less
fan orientated then in England, Germany, Italy, and Spain
(Blumrodt, 2011); the richest European Leagues dominating
the UEFA competition Champions League and Europe
League, and the five richest leagues of the 53 in Europe.
When the exceptional, sensational, and spectacular side is
emphasized, we talk more about performance and less about
fun, even if spectacular is not always present (Sayre, 2008).
Improved in situ entertainment will add value for the brands,
similar to the typical entertainment surrounding matches in
American sports competitions.
French stadiums do not meet international standards
(Seguin and Valention, 2008). On the other hand, smaller
stadiums are not full. This may be a reflection of a lack of
interest for this sport or simply an oversupply for smaller
cities. Companies might be legal owners of the brand, but the
sense of ownership of the brand is shared between consumers
and suppliers (Berekoven, 1995; Becker, 2002); this sense of
brand ownership is stronger in the sport industry then in
others. When clubs are developing their brands they are
playing with something sacred that is more than a commercial
tool – they are managing the community property (Milligan,
2009). The sport entertainment industry must satisfy local
requirements, as well as international expectations emanating
from different stakeholders. We base our meaning of
“stakeholder” on Freeman’s definition: “any group or
individual who can affect, or who is affected by the
achievement of the firm’s objectives” (Freeman, 1984,
p. 25). This includes shareholders, employees, suppliers,
lenders, the city council, leagues, media, and spectators. The
clubs have their goals and also a specific spectator profile. The
interdependency of the club and the spectators stimulates the
relationship between customers and their brand as in no other
industry (Milligan, 2009). However, clubs seem to be fixated
on the ‘quality’ of their primary product, and by doing well in
CSR, they might impair the core product: entertainment
based on athletic performance.
In terms of brand image, the two investigated clubs are
modest, but in terms of number of employees they are typical
of European clubs. They do not perform as well as expected
on all the brand image categories. There is room to improve.
The CPE category is inherent in the brand images of these
clubs. The CPE sensitivity of a young high educated public
reinforces the importance of CSR (Bloodgood et al., 2008).
Football brands are not only on field of play; they are in the
field of business.
Ethical issues: social and regional engagement
Almost all the clubs in France are tenants of their stadium and
a good relationship with the owner of a facility (the host city)
is essential. Collaboration between the club and the city is
important, and the spectators are keenly aware of this. Many
French football clubs are over 100 years old, and have built
strong ties with their city. Clubs engage in local and regional,
even national and international, projects with the intention of
building social goodwill. Thus, sport spectators can identify
themselves with the club as a representative actor of the city
itself (Bauer et al., 2008). When French clubs compete, the
games are very popular in the city and region of the club;
there is a strong link to the community.
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Journal of Consumer Marketing
Volume 29 · Number 7 · 2012 · 482 –493
The two researched clubs have relationships with regional
amateur clubs, and members are regularly invited to attend
games. The club SRFC also organises games with
humanitarian and health objectives for the European
Leukodystrophy Association, which is represented by
Zinédine Zidane, a famous former French national football
player (ELA, 2011). Our research confirms the positive
impact of clubs’ engagement in humanitarian programs such
as this, and it shows that spectators expect a serious
involvement in society from their sport brand.
Security: the club guarantees the security of the
spectators
The security of the stadium and its surroundings during a
game has become more than a simple service. Clubs are
expected to assure security in and around the stadium, and
hooligan behaviour is illegal and not tolerated. Security is
crucial, especially for events that are aimed at attracting young
people, elderly people, and families. For example, spectators
are searched such that concealed metallic objects are
detected. Good relationships between fan clubs and the
football club act as a support for security in the stadium and
its surroundings, which in turn contributes to a good
atmosphere in the stadium. Our research confirms that
security is important in the creation of brand attitudes.
Young players’ education: importance of home-grown
players
It is a legal requirement for French clubs to give access to
players as young as 15 years old; thus they provide training
centers and education. Having a training center allows clubs
to identify and train the star players of the future, but more
importantly, it gives young athletes the chance to plan their
professional careers. Some of these training centers see their
mission as more than just training children to play football.
They give an opportunity to combine football with a real
professional reorientation for those who are not selected as
professional players.
The SRFC do more than expected by law and was
recognized in 2011 by the League for the fifth consecutive
season as the club with the best player education. When we
started our research (season 2008-2009), the FCL education
center had not been accredited by the League. Our research
made evident that the SRFC engagement is considered as an
ethical act which is expected and desired by spectators.
Conclusion and managerial implications
In the last ten years most of the French professional clubs
opted for a legal statute similar to a limited liability company
(Société Anonyme Sportive Professionnelle - SASP). This is a
shift away from their not-for-profit organization origins. So
CSR is an increasingly strategic imperative for football
executives (Sheth and Babiak, 2010).
What might be done by management?
.
While product related attributes are well managed, the
non-product related attributes are an opportunity for
improvement. Underdeveloped services, such as the lack
of pleasant snack bars for spectators, are a real limitation
to the customer experience. This comes as a surprise,
because the quality of such services is directly manageable
by the club.
 European football teams’ CSR engagement impacts on brand equity
Jens Blumrodt, Douglas Bryson and John Flanagan
.
FCL still focuses primarily on the core product.
Communication should become more customer
orientated.
.
Even if the clubs are increasingly focussing on customers,
the brand does not achieve the desired positive brand
image. There is a lack of entertainment off the field. The
large screens recently installed at SRFC are only used for
advertisements, and there is no interesting visual content
to supplement game play.
.
Community engagement needs to become a formalised
strategic brand management strategy.
Are these managerial issues a dilemma? We think not.
Management is capable of action.
First, clubs have to become owner of their facilities. Up to
now, only two clubs are own their stadium. Ownership should
encourage the clubs to develop more customer friendly
stadiums.
Second, we identified that is CPE important for clubs.
Medium sized French clubs could learn from their German
neighbours: most German professional teams publicise their
mission statement and design clear business objectives on
their web sites. One of the clubs’ objectives linked to their
mission is their CSR engagement. Yet, only the biggest
French professional clubs, such as Paris Saint-Germain and
Marseille, have their own foundation for humanitarian work.
No French clubs mention the brand’s mission, objectives and
CSR engagement as part of their strategy.
The guiding concept proposed by Capron and Quairel-
Lanoizelée (2007) is appropriate in the sport area, especially
when we take into account the dominant values of the societal
context in which those activities of the company take place.
Capron and Quairel Lanoizelée stress the importance of
symbolic and cognitive factors, and integrate conflicting
expectations of different stakeholders. Leaders implement
strategies considering both the message of the strategy and the
business benefits of the strategy. Inherent to sport’s nature
and sporting values, ethical behavior should be the underlying
concept of sport entertainment industry. Sporting values and
ethical considerations should become guidelines for these
businesses.
Future research in this area can be conducted in different
directions. A first step could be to take the same research
protocol and apply it to other European clubs. Finding can
then be compared to those from the French football clubs
studied in this research.
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About the authors
Jens Blumrodt is Assistant Professor at the Department of
Management and Organization at the ESC Rennes School of
Business in Brittany, France. He teaches in the area of sport
and tourism. He studied sport sciences at the University in
Bielefeld, Germany and holds a Doctorate in Sociology from
the University of Rennes 2 Brittany, France. He is the
Programme Manager of the MSc. in Sports, Leisure and
Tourism Management. His recent research is linked to
strategic brand management and CSR issues. He is
Researcher at the ESC Research Centre “Centre of
Responsible Business”. He acts as a consultant for
companies in the sport and tourism area. Jens Blumrodt is
the corresponding author and can be contacted at:
jens.blumrodt@esc-rennes.fr
Douglas Bryson is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of
Finance and Operations at the ESC Rennes School of
Business in France. He researches in the areas of consumer
psychology and organizational behaviour and teaches research
methods and data analysis. He holds a BSc from the
University of Manitoba, Canada, an MBA from the
University of New Brunswick, Canada, and is a PhD
candidate at the University of Cambridge, UK. He has
 European football teams’ CSR engagement impacts on brand equity Journal of Consumer Marketing
Jens Blumrodt, Douglas Bryson and John Flanagan Volume 29 · Number 7 · 2012 · 482 –493

consulted and coached in companies in various domains from Figure 1

North America to East Asia.
John Flanagan is a Visiting Lecturer at ESC Rennes in
France, MICA in Ahmedabad India, Oxford Brookes
University in England, Reading University in England, and
Southampton Solent University in England. He teaches
operations management, innovation management, and related
subjects such as supply chain management and project
management. He researches organizational behaviour,
operations management, and strategic marketing. He holds
a BSc in Managerial and Administrative Studies from Aston
University, and an MSc in Technology and Innovation relevant issue for clubs, their community involvement is still
Management from the Science Policy Research Unit at Sussex
considered a secondary imperative compared to sporting
University.
performance.
Clubs spend increasing amount of money on their
Executive summary and implications for community involvement. Our research showed that the
managers and executives consumer perspective of corporate ethics is important and
we proposed the inclusion of the construct of consumer
This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives
perceived ethicality (CPE). Sport spectators’ attending games
a rapid appreciation of the content of the article. Those with a
particular interest in the topic covered may then read the whole consider themselves as experts of sport; they know their club
article to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of and club’s actions in the community. A starting question is
the research undertaken and its results. therefore whether clubs’ community involvement is perceived
by spectators? Managers need to know if CPE impacts on the
brand image and the brand equity of their club. The study
Spectators attending the games suggests an adapted model for assessing European football
Sport is present in all societies and football is the world’s most clubs’ customer based brand equity with CPE becoming an
widely broadcast, and supported sporting activity. Soccer integrated part of it (see Figure 1).
teams (known as Football clubs in Europe) are medium sized Past experience influences clubs’ brand image and impact
companies, and some are as well known as international on customer purchase intentions and behaviour.
mega-brands due to their media exposure. Brand image for all
clubs is the most important asset and impacts on customers’
Is our club concerned?
perceptions. Gate revenues, from spectators attending
Great professional football clubs make their CSR engagement
matches, are considered by the top management of
visible. French football clubs are hesitating to develop a CSR
professional football clubs as an important commercial
policy, even if managers agree with the interest of CSR and
development opportunity.
mention the CSR actions and community engagements
Spectators’ perceptions and intentions have been assessed.
provided by their brand. However, other product related
In the sport entertainment industry, the brand image can be
projects have greater priority.
considered as the most important asset of customer based
The present study has made evident that CPE impacts on
brand equity, and it is a predictor of customers’ purchase
behaviour. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and clubs’ brand image. All European professional football clubs should
community involvement impact on brand image. Spectators’ be concerned. CPE impacts on brand equity, while
perceived ethicality, demonstrated by the brand, is part of the influencing customers’ behaviour (purchase of
brand image and must therefore be evaluated. merchandising products, season tickets sales and customer
loyalty).
What about our brand? The results from this study, those investing in CSR, help
The sporting performance of the team is, for the top justify their engagement and underline the necessity of a
management of professional football clubs, the crucial clearly designed CSR policy.
element for satisfying spectators’ expectations. Current
brand image and brand equity measurements include (A précis of the article “European football teams’ CSR engagement
product related attributes, non-product related attributes, impacts on customer-based brand equity”. Supplied by Marketing
benefits and brand attitudes. Even if CSR has become a Consultants for Emerald.)

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