Enhancing the benefits of professional sport philanthropy: The roles of corporate ability and communication strategies

Building upon scholarly work on corporate associations, social identity, and corporate philanthropy, this study aimed to: (1) identify the effect of perceived corporate ability (CA) associations of professional sport organizations (PSO) on consumer support of their nonprofit partners and (2) understand communication strategies that enable PSOs to gain greater business benefits from their philanthropic activities. The results of an experiment supported the role of perceived CA in influencing consumer intentions to donate to a PSO's nonprofit partner, and further showed that this perception had a greater effect when respondents’ identification with the PSO was low. The finding also indicated that a message describing a PSO's donation of a large amount of money for a cause could create positive attitudes toward the PSO. These findings extend recent work on professional sport philanthropy by demonstrating that—under certain conditions—such an activity can enhance benefits for both PSOs and their nonprofit partners.

► We examine how the benefits of professional sport philanthropy are enhanced.
► Corporate ability of a sport team increases consumer donation intention to its supporting cause.
► Perceived corporate ability negatively interacts with team identification.
► A donation of a large amount of money for a cause creates positive attitudes for a sport team.