A
THLETE
A
CTIVISM
IN
C
ORPORATE
C
OMMUNICATION
The effect of Corporate Political Advocacy on Nike’s brand reputation
Simone Batelaan
12035122
Master’s Thesis
Graduate School of Communication Master’s programme Communication Science
Abstract
This research (N = 200) on athlete activism investigates the effect of Corporate Political Advocacy (CPA) and type of female athlete endorser on the reputation of a sports brand. Since Nike was one of the precursors in this field, the experiment was conducted as a Nike case study. This research is carried out by the use of an online survey experiment with a 2x2 factorial between-subjects design and analyses if women who see a famous female athlete (Serena Williams) rate the brand (Nike) higher than women who see a less famous female athlete (Sloane Stephens). Especially, this experiment holds elements to see if it has an influence on the reputation of a sports brand when the advertisement comprises an activist element. Lastly, the researcher incorporated the moderating effects of feminism affinity, sports affinity, and endorser affinity. The results showed that there is no direct relationship between CPA and brand reputation. Additionally, no significant effect was discovered in the relationship between type of female athlete endorser and brand reputation. PROCESS analyses showed that endorser affinity had a significant direct effect on brand reputation, sports affinity a marginally significant direct effect, and these two moderators showed a significant interaction effect.
Keywords: Corporate Political Advocacy, athlete activism, brand reputation, sports affinity,
Table of Contents
Abstract
1. Introduction...4
2. Theoretical background... 6
Image, reputation and impression...6
Corporate Political Advocacy...7
Athlete Activism...10
Endorser type: ordinary woman or famous female athlete?...11
Transformational leadership...13
Social Cognitive Theory...14
Feminism affinity...15 Sports affinity...16 Endorser affinity...17 3. Methods...18 Sample……...18 Procedures…...19 Measures...22 4. Results...24 Descriptive statistics...25 Manipulation checks...25 Research hypotheses...26 Explorative analyses...28
5. Discussion and future research directions...29
6. Limitations...33
7. Conclusion...34
8. References...36
Appendix I. Experimental stimuli………...45
Appendix II. PROCESS moderation tables...47
Introduction
“If we show emotion, we are called dramatic. If we want to play against men, we are nuts. And if we dream of equal opportunity, delusional. When we stand for something, we are unhinged. When we are too good, there is something wrong with us. And if we get angry, we are hysterical or irrational or just being crazy. But, a woman running a marathon was crazy. A woman boxing was crazy. A woman dunking? Crazy. Coaching an NBA team? Crazy. A woman competing in a hijab, changing her sport, landing a double-cork 1080 or winning 23 grand slams, having a baby and then coming back for more. Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy, and crazy. So if they want to call you crazy? Fine. Show them what crazy can do” (Nike, 2019).
This passage is narrated by Serena Williams in Nike’s advertisement “Dream Crazier.” It underlines the challenges that female athletes have experienced and still experience vis-à-vis male athletes. This woman, who won more major tennis single titles than anyone in the Open Era, is an activist athlete who stands up for women’s rights. She is one of the main ambassadors of Nike; the sports brand that embraces diversity as one of the key pillars in its strategy and aims at being the frontrunner in Corporate Political Advocacy (CPA).
Sport brands like Nike used to stay away from controversial topics as religion and politics. However, currently there is a shift visible in the communication of these corporates, explicitly liaising with race, sex, and immigration issues. There is even a growing trend in “using” athletes and political topics, the latter better known as CPA. Consequently, “politics will continue to follow sport, but the dialogue will be more two way than ever” (Croatto, 2018, p. 19). Characteristic for athletes, more than other endorsers as actors for example, is “their ability to carry a unique range of psychological and social meanings” (Desmarais, 2017, p. 18). Athlete activism is on the rise these days and more brands than ever participate in political debates, which shows the accelerating successful fusion of CPA and athlete activism (Frederick et al., 2019).
Despite an increase in the interest in athlete activism, previous research on athlete activism has predominantly focused on male athletes specifically (Agyemang, 2012;
Cunningham & Regan, 2012), while there are many examples of female athletes engaging in political discussions as well. Although women’s presence in sports activities has grown heavily, generally sport or physical exercises are still viewed as a realm more home to men (Messner, 2009). It happens to be considered as “manlier” and more suited for men than women (Hardin & Greer, 2009). Thus, people hold certain beliefs about the division between men and women and the accompanying roles and characteristics that both have. This is explained by social role theory, which shows that our society holds a bias against the desirable behavior of different gender types (Anglin et al., 2018).
Consequently, scholars recommended to focus on women and social norms, regarding the effectiveness of activist athletes as brand endorsers (Fink et al., 2012; Tingchi & Brock, 2011). This research on athlete activism widens the knowledge of the effect of athlete activism as it focuses on female athlete endorsers, instead of well-studied topics as ethnicity and race. This study assesses how CPA and athlete activism merge in advertisements like the ones of Nike. It furthermore addresses authenticity and fit of the brand with the activist as brand endorser, for the effect on reputation. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of CPA (activism vs no activism) and type of female athlete endorser (famous female athlete endorser vs less famous female athlete endorser) on the reputation of a sports brand.
Additionally, this study will research whether this effect is different when feminism affinity, sports affinity, and endorser affinity are considered. Therefore, the following research question will be assessed: “To what extent can an effect be perceived when using activist
advertisements, compared to non-activist advertisements, in the corporate communication, on the brand reputation of Nike? And how does this differ when assessed between famous and less famous female athlete endorsers for both categories?”
Theoretical background
Image, reputation and impression
With respect to branding literature, scholars tend to equate the concepts of image and
reputation (Brown et al., 2010). This research discards brand image as it reflects a more short-lived immediate perception, while for this study it will be more interesting to research the overall, long-lived perception of the brand, in this case Nike. Brand reputation will be more aligned with a structural perception and therefore the term will be defined as “the overall estimation in which a company is held by its constituents” (Fombrun, 1996, p. 37). “In this respect, it is an output of the brand identity that the company proposes” (Veloutsou & Moutinho, 2009, p. 315). Brand reputation is therefore not only aimed at keeping the
customer satisfied; it has a purpose of showing that the brand lives up to its ideals and values over a longer period of time.
When a brand frequently breaks it promises and does not deliver what the customer expects, the reputation will be negatively influenced (Hond et al., 2014). Research shows that people can see a brand – figuratively – as if they are a celebrity with whom they feel a
connection (Rook, 1985). As customers may link brands to celebrities, one can imagine the impact for a brand depending on the way the famous athlete, who is connected to the brand through an endorsement contract, acts and/or expresses her or himself. Exemplified by the downfall of Nike’s stock rating after the outcome of Tiger Woods in a “me too” and drug and alcohol abuse scandal (Stango, 2009). Nevertheless, this influence of negative celebrity endorser publicity on consumer attitude towards the brand is most pronounced when attitudes have not been formed yet, as with new or unfamiliar brands (Doyle et al., 2014).
Additionally, previous research on athlete activism showed that it is even more important that there is a good fit between the brand and the endorser (Amos et al., 2008). In case of a negative match between the brand and the endorser, this may harm the reputation on
a longer term, if compared with a scandal, as the one of Woods, which is considered a more short-term problem (brand image). Currently, a much-debated topic in brand reputation literature is the degree in which a company is involved in CPA.
Corporate Political Advocacy
Engaging in what researchers would call CPA, companies take a clear stance on socio-political issues. Advocacy’s roots are in the Latin verb advocare, which literally translated is to summon assistance. “Vox” is also part of this term, which is Latin for voice (Wettstein & Baur, 2016). Combining these two, advocacy is defined as “the act of publicly representing an individual, organization, or idea with the object of persuading targeted audiences to look favorable on – or accept the point of view of – the individual, the organization, or the idea” (Edgett, 2002, p. 1). So, with CPA a brand or company exhibits publicly compassion with and for particular human beings, groups, norms and principles, with the ambition to assure and convince the wider population to support this political idea or thought (Wettstein & Baur, 2016).
To take a stance on socio-political issues can be done in different forms (directly or indirectly), themes (from feminism to racial inequality), and formats (as e.g. advertisements or public speeches), which makes CPA still a relatively elusive concept. For example, Nike portrays Serena Williams in its “Dream Crazier” advertisement with a somewhat mild statement (“If they think your dreams are crazy, show them what crazy dreams can do”), which can be seen as a form of passive and indirect CPA. However, Nike also uses active, more provocative CPA, with for example the advertisement of American football player Colin Kaepernick, who took a knee during the national anthem to raise awareness for police
brutality in the United States, portraying his activist, rather intrusive protest activities. Lastly, Nike’s former CEO, Mark Parker, who stepped down as per January 2020, addressed the
issue of race and violence by sending out an internal letter to his employees, which was later published online (Butler-Young, 2016). These examples show that there is not a clear-cut concept of advocating CPA. Multiple forms are possible, via their endorsers but also directly when advocated by their staff members.
How this political involvement is perceived within society is understudied (Hond et al., 2014). CPA may be diffused with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): “characterized as a corporation undertaking pro-social acts such as charitable donations and ethical business practices. CSR explicitly seeks to benefit both society and the company, ultimately inducing favorable attitudes” (Hydock et al., 2019, p. 2). “Although CSR may induce varying levels of support, it is not generally seen as divisive. In contrast, the recent wave of CPA is divisive; it seems to invite both opposition and support” (Hydock et al., 2019, p. 3).
Nike is the kind of company that creates advertisements that provoke both opposition and support, as seen with the advertisement of Kaepernick. This led to a spectacular media stunt in cooperation with Nike. Yet, not all Nike customers embraced this collaboration. Some of their loyal customers started to boycott this advertisement and shared on social media how they burned their Nike’s, while there was also a strong supporters base (Taylor, 2018). It could be said that this stunt was a calculated move, which proved to be commercially savvy, as the sales of Nike had gone up with thirty one percent since the launch of the campaign with Kaepernick (Pengelly, 2018). Almost two years after this ad was released, Intravia et al. (2019) found that on average two-thirds of the Americans wanted Nike to address social issues in their ads.
When comparing companies that perform CPA and companies that do not perform CPA, Hillman et al. (2004) found that companies that did perform CPA experienced a higher increase in their profits. It seems that to make an impression as a sports brand, society
company’s bottom line – the company’s financial strength – in mind. Research also found a positive joint effect of CSR and CPA (Du et al., 2019), encouraging companies to include CPA in their strategy. It is risky, because not all stakeholders will agree with what the brand advocates for (Intravia et al., 2019). Despite the liabilities, according to the literature review of Lux et al. (2012), CPA will eventually be profitable for a brand.
Furthermore, CPA is not an equivalent for lobbying. The focus is not on individual officials or high-up stakeholders, but on the public. Additionally, companies generally do not execute CPA with merely a commercial lens (Hydock et al., 2019). CPA may be potentially harmful for the company’s revenue, as there are risks involved. On the other hand, CPA gives brands a tool to try and minimize the distance with their customers, as they can take a position that gives the potential consumer a feeling of care and involvement, in which people can recognize themselves and perceive a momentum of belonging. With CPA, a brand can achieve this; it enables to speak out on the issues that people care about. Herewith, CPA touches upon the current demand of consumers for personalization (Poell, 2015).
According to Poell (2015), “personalization is enhancing the reach and speed of activist communication while simultaneously undermining its long-term efficacy…understood from a socio-cultural perspective, the personalization of activism implies that individuals’ own narratives rather than collective identity frames become important in activist mobilization and communication processes” (p. 532). Consequently, one could argue that activist
communication would enhance the brand reputation, as people feel more connected through this personalized experience.
One of the arguments for this urge to personalize the brand experience could be the decline of religion and faith in the state and government. It has created a “societal vacuum for courageous brands to fill” (Stephens, 2019). In 2018, communications firm Edelman
decisions based on a brand’s position on social and political issues (Stephens, 2019). More than half of the people believe that brands can do more to solve social problems than
governments (Stephens, 2019). With CPA, a company can provide for consumers to identify with the brand (Fitzgerald & Donovan, 2018).
New to CPA literature is the study of Lin (2019), which showed that reputation moderates the effect of CPA on a company’s financial performance. However, that study did not consider the possible direct effect of CPA on brand reputation. The present study
anticipates in that respect, in the sense that it is not clear yet how, and to what extent, political advocacy by famous and less famous female athletes enhances or decreases a reputation, and what this effect implies for the corporate communication strategy of a brand. From the viewpoint of the abovementioned published literature on CPA, which predominantly shows that people want brands to partake in political advocacy, it seems that CPA will have a positive effect on brand reputation. Hence, the first hypothesis is:
H1: Brand reputation will be more favorable when CPA is used in the sports brand corporate communication compared to the situation that no elements of CPA are used in the sports brand corporate communication.
Athlete activism
Athlete endorsers are defined as “any individual who enjoys public recognition and who uses this recognition on behalf of a consumer good by appearing with it in an ad” (Brooks & Harris, 1998, p. 35). They are “some of the most recognizable, revered, and imitated celebrities of all” (Shanklin & Miciak, 1997, p. 1). Currently, multiple athletes use their public recognition to spark attention and create conversations on themes as discrimination and malpractices in the sports domain. These athletes use their sport as the means to establish
social change and are called activist athletes (“Athlete Activism”, n.d.). Brands can choose to work with them to show that they support the activist aims of the athlete. Serena Williams fights for women’s rights and Nike collaborates with her to show their support. Another example is basketball player LeBron James, who stands up for Black empowerment and is seen as the “most powerful voice in his profession” (Bembry, 2018, para. 2). He achieved to close a deal with Nike “for life” with an approximate value of 1 billion dollars (Knowlton, 2016).
Concluding such significant sponsor deals is, however, never without a risk. To be determined as a famous athlete and to stand up against controversial topics as discrimination and inequality can have a serious backlash. Coombs & Cassilo (2017) show how fans can often react that such athletes must stick to their status quo and “being a ‘jock for justice’ (Dreier & Candaele, 2004 as cited in Coombs & Cassilo, 2017) can have serious
repercussions” (p. 4). Related to this idea that athletes must stick to their status quo, Schmidt et al. (2019) found no difference on purchase intention when an athlete was involved in activism. Additionally, as experienced by LeBron James, when one starts as an athlete
activist, the athlete creates a certain expectation for his or her community and supporters base, which may result in a “fear of falling short of that activist role” (Coombs & Cassilo, 2017, p. 434). Therefore, the question arises if athletes want to take on this responsibility.
Subsequently, brands must think of the question whether they should cooperate with these famous activist athletes or strategically opt for non-famous ordinary people?
Endorser type: ordinary woman or famous female athlete?
Erdogan (1999) wrote a literature review on the effect of using celebrities in an endorsement strategy and found that there are both benefits and risks when contracting famous people. According to Atkin and Block (1983), the famous endorser is observed as more capable and
credible and makes the image of the product more favorable. In addition to this, Petty et al. (1983) found that sports celebrities create a more positive attitude about the brand when compared to ordinary people as endorsers. Knoll & Matthes (2017) show that the use of celebrities has an overall positive effect on the advertised product of a brand. They found that once celebrities are used in the advertisement, consumers tend to pay more attention. The status of the celebrity causes that the consumer is more motivated and thus has a greater recall of the advertisement. Yet, there are also brands that anticipate on the absent or even negative effects of famous endorsers (scandals e.g.) and point at the trend of using more ordinary people – instead of famous endorsers – at the center of advertisements.
A few years ago, there was only a small number of non-famous women seen in campaigns of Nike (Garcia, 2018). Several brands, e.g. Dove and Levi’s, achieved successes in the last decade by choosing for ordinary women in their commercials. “Women are
motivated by being part of a movement, by participating in a lifestyle – not necessarily by the performance of top athletes” (Garcia, 2018, para. 15). Therefore, brands may experience a certain shift in the use of famous endorsers towards a growing number of non-famous endorsers. Women feel personally attached to the brand and can relate to the model that is portrayed. This could also be linked to the current need for, and trend of, personalization (Poell, 2015).
Scholars as Agyemang (2012) emphasize how sport has been constructed as a battlefield for political debate. Proponents of this idea emphasize that famous athletes and their ambassadors – sports brands – are in a unique position of having wide exposure, and therefore they should make use of this status to create a transformation within different topics (Agyemang, 2012); “athletes are called to action and with them, sport can continue to use its powerful platform for social change” (Lapchick et al., 2014, as cited in Coombs & Cassilo, 2017, p. 436). Herewith, scholars confront sports professionals and their sponsors to be aware
of their influential position. They point at their visibility and prominence, and how they have to some extent the responsibility to take over the baton of their forerunners, as for example sprinter Wilma Rudolph, who broke the gender barrier of all-male events in track and field (Agyemang, 2012). She is regarded as a women’s rights pioneer (de Soysa & Zipp, 2019).
Overall, and despite the growing trend to work with ordinary women, scientific
literature shows that when brands use famous endorsers, this will have a positive effect on the brand and their products. Thus, the second hypothesis is:
H2: Brand reputation will be more favorable when famous female athletes are used in the sports brand corporate communication compared to when less famous female athletes are used in the sports brand corporate communication.
Transformational leadership
In 2012, Agyemang published a study on the notable smaller amount of Black male athlete activism in the 21st century, when compared to the Black male athletes in the 60s and 70s
(Muhammed Ali, Juan Carlos etc.). He performed his research among others by using the concept of transformational leadership, defined as “the process of influencing major changes in attitudes and assumptions of organizational members and building commitment for the organizations mission and objectives” (Yukl, 1989, as cited in Agyemang, 2012, p. 438). In this procedure, the followers gain a feeling of belonging and want to anticipate on the mission of that leader (Kent & Chelladurai, 2001). In this respect, the leader is eager to provoke movement with her or his statements and actions (Bass, 1985). This can be used as theoretical justification for the effect that leaders, female athletes in this case, have on their followers. Agyemang (2012) calls for “empirical studies to obtain the perspective of Black female athletes utilizing the aforementioned case study approach” (p. 443).
According to Weese (1995), transformational leaders have to possess the following characteristics (also known as the 5 C’s): “credible character, compelling vision, charismatic communication, contagious enthusiasm, and culture builder” (p. 61). Serena Williams certainly possesses all these qualities in her well-known outings in- and outside the tennis court (“Serena Williams: The Transformational Leader”, 2018, November 27; Charbonneau et al., 2001). Sloane Stephens is not as famous as Serena and thus for example does not perceive the status of “culture builder,” since she does not (yet) enjoys the public recognition that Williams has gained. Therefore, it will be interesting to see if there is a difference between Williams and Stephens in case of a link between transformational leadership and the brand reputation of Nike; is the brand reputation more favorable when a “transformational leader” like Williams is used in the campaign compared to Stephens?
Social Cognitive Theory
Sports can be seen as a reflection of society, a microcosm of society. It portrays a scaled down version of life, including all the ups- and downs, conflicts and celebrations. With sports one can see how people really behave (Eitzen, 2001). A relevant theory, when looking at how people behave in life with regard to sports and activism, is Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). SCT is developed by Bandura (1986) and explains how people learn and act: “the primary goal of SCT is to illustrate how individuals are not shaped by inner or external stimuli, but rather by triadic reciprocality. This involves the interconnectedness of behavior, cognition, and the environment” (as cited in Agyemang, 2012, p. 438). SCT shows four phases that enable one to replicate a certain behavior: “attending the model, retention of the behaviors that are to be emulated, the means to reproduce what one has witnessed, and motivation to replicate the behaviors” (Bandura, 1986, as cited in Agyemang, 2012, p. 439). Plotnik’s (1999) research showed this process after infants were exposed to a doll. Those who were
exposed to a doll that showed violent behavior had a higher risk on acting in a brutal manner, when compared to the infants that were exposed to a normal doll, which did not show violent behavior.
A concept that is part of SCT is symbolic interaction (Agyemang, 2012). SCT concludes that symbolic activities (discourse and gestures) create images in people’s minds and herewith create the setting for “what it is to be like Serena” for example. With that in mind, people act according to Serena’s behavior. This is relevant for the effect of the use of female athletes on brand reputation. Both SCT and transformational leadership provide a frame for the possible link between female athlete activism and brand reputation. Moreover, this provides a link with the moderators of this study. As SCT declares that one learns by looking at the activity of other people and behaves accordingly, and since transformational leadership underlines the idea that adherents pursue the ideology of their leader, there would potentially be a stronger effect of CPA and type of female athlete on brand reputation, when feminism, sports, and endorser affinity are high.
Feminism affinity
Although there are many renowned female athlete endorsers, most sponsorship deals remain to be closed with female athletes in types of sports that are considered “gender appropriate sports”; nine of the top ten earning female athletes compete in golf or tennis (Van Riper & Badenhausen, 2008; Van Badenhausen, 2019). Other studies put this into perspective. The study of Fink et al. (2012) showed that sport type (gender appropriate versus gender inappropriate) played no role in perceptions of athlete-product fit, as long as there is a congruency between the athlete, the brand and the (political) message advertised. Perhaps these findings are a result of slight changes in gender norms. As Koivula (2001) stated, “assumptions about gender and gender categories are in turn based on socially constructed,
historically specific, and cultural representations of the social interactions that occur among gendered individuals through their relations to others. These concepts and constructs are thereby sometimes subject to change” (p. 378).
Post structural feminism “draws on these notions of language and discourse to understand existing power relations that disadvantage women and to identify opportunities and strategies for change” (Bristor & Fischer, 1993, p. 100). These post-structural feminists claim that all we learn from experiences in life, is socially constructed and shaped through ancient, communal, and bureaucratic discourse (Bristor & Fischer, 1993). Following post structural feminism and SCT, this study argues that when feminist activist rhetoric is used in Nike’s advertisement, women that have affinity with feminism and/or see a feminist athlete will value Nike for speaking up for women’s rights. This leads to the third hypothesis:
H3a: The effect of CPA on brand reputation will be stronger when feminism affinity is high.
Sports affinity
When brand managers set up their endorsement strategy, it is crucial to think about the reputation and meanings of the sport that the endorser plays, as this can influence the overall reputation of the brand (Desmarais, 2017). The image of the sport of the endorser is a special layer in the Universal Athlete Endorser Profile, which is a holistic framework that
“conceptualizes the athlete endorser as a bundle of meanings organized in different layers” (Desmarais, 2017, p. 23). With type of sport being a special layer in the profile, it underlines the importance of focusing amongst others on the particular sport of the endorser.
The effect of the image of the sport also has an influence on the affinity with sports. In this study the focus is on tennis. When looking at the claims of transformational leadership and SCT, when exposed to an advertisement with a sports woman, this has a positive effect on
the rating of a sports brand. It may influence the question how respondents perceive the reputation of Nike. Besides the special interest in tennis, having an affinity with sports will have a general positive effect on the overall estimation of the respondents of Nike, since it is one of the top global sports companies. Therefore, the fourth hypothesis is:
H3b: The effect of CPA on brand reputation will be stronger when sports affinity is high.
Endorser affinity
Two models that are recognized in measuring the effect of endorsers are the Source
Credibility Model and the Source Attractiveness Model. According to the still widely used Source Attractiveness Model (McGuire, 1985), attractiveness has four key determinants: familiarity, similarity, likeability and attractiveness to the individual. McGuire takes source attractiveness as one of the source credibility dimensions, but many researchers studied the effect of attractiveness separately (e.g. Micu & Coulter, 2012). According to the Source Credibility Model (Hovland et al., 1953), one should measure the level of expertise and trustworthiness to have the best indicators to see if the customer has an affinity with the endorser one is exposed to, and if the endorser is thus effective. Research found that “credible endorsers are more successful in attitude change, message recall, and behavioral response compared to less credible ones” (Sternthal et al., 1978, as cited in İrem Eren-Erdogmus et al.,
2016, p. 589).
As Desmarais (2017) mentioned, currently there is a need for a more detailed research on the meaning of “the athlete endorser” and its influence on a brand’s reputation. According to Desmarais (2017), “using athlete endorsers as part of advertising campaigns should help build the feeling of a more authentic relationship between the public and the athlete endorser
through emotional triggers such as sympathy and empathy” (p. 26). Consequently, the fourth hypothesis is:
H3c: The effect of type of female athlete endorser on brand reputation will be stronger when endorser affinity is high.
A conceptual visualization of all hypotheses is portrayed below.
Figure 1.
Conceptual design of the study
Method
Sample
The targeted population of this study consisted of women with access to Internet, as they were recruited via social media outlets and apps that require Internet. This study aimed at recruiting 50 respondents per cell, so for the four different cells it needed at least 200 participants. The participants could open the survey via their mobile phone or computer and were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions.
Corporate Political Advocacy Type of female athlete
endorser Feminism affinity Sports affinity Endorser affinity Brand reputation H1 H2 H3a H3b H3c
As this survey experiment was distributed via different social media outlets, a
convenience sample was developed. While “in every type of research, it would be superlative to use the whole population, in most cases it is not possible to include every subject because the population is almost finite” (Etikan et al., 2015, p. 1). So, although convenience sampling is part of nonprobability sampling, where not all subjects in the population have an equal chance of being selected for the research, convenience sampling provided the most subjects who met practical criteria as easy accessibility in a limited time and space.
Finally, 271 participated in this study, 71 of which had to be excluded because they failed to respond to all questions. This resulted in missing values in their data set. Final analyses were thus conducted over a sample of 200 participants. In total, the sample consisted of 21 different nationalities. The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 70+ years old, with 83.5% being 18-29, 5.5% 30-39, 2.0% 40-49, 8% 50-59, .5% 60-69 and .5% 70+.
Table 1.
2x2 factorial between-subjects design
Famous female athlete endorser (Serena Williams)
Less famous female athlete endorser (Sloane Stephens) CPA (activist advertisement) n = 49 n = 53
No CPA (non-activist advertisement)
n = 58 n = 40
Procedures
First, the researcher had to determine which brand and endorsers were suitable for this study. Since Nike is the number one sports brand that incorporated CPA and many of their
advertisements involve elements of CPA, this brand was chosen as construct for brand reputation. To critically examine the effect of CPA in the corporate communication of Nike, the researcher differed between activist content and non-activist content. As a result, it was possible to differentiate between the effects that an activist advertisement has on the brand reputation versus a non-activist advertisement.
Since Serena Williams is a famous female activist athlete and Nike sponsors her, she was selected for the research as famous female athlete. For reasons of internal validity, the researcher had to choose a female tennis player comparable to Serena Williams’s level, yet less famous. Therefore, Sloane Stephens was chosen. She has comparable looks as Serena Williams – also a Black player – and plays the highest level of tennis, however she is not (yet) as famous and successful as Serena Williams.
Before initiating the actual experiment, the researcher conducted a pre-test among 10 participants. The pre-test helped to determine the final constructs for the main study. Based on the findings from the pre-test, the ethnicity question was removed, and the brand reputation scale and endorser affinity scale were revised. The following elements were included in the study: (a) CPA, (b) type of female athlete endorser, (c) feminism affinity, (d) sports affinity, (e) endorser affinity and (f) brand reputation.
On December 5th, 2019 the survey was uploaded on Qualtrics. Via this online survey
software program, the researcher was able to conduct survey research and analyze responses. Respondents took part in the study from December 5th until and including December 16th,
2019. The main survey instrument consisted of eight sections: introduction and geographical data, feminism affinity questions, sports affinity questions, Nike advertisement (stimuli), endorser affinity questions, brand reputation questions, manipulation check, and debriefing.
Participants read a consent form informing them of the study’s purpose, benefits, risks, ASCOR approval, contact information of the researcher and consent to participate in the
study. After giving consent, participants were asked about their age and nationality. Then, participants were asked to indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with statements about feminism (e.g. “People should define their marriage and family roles in ways that make them feel most comfortable”). The feminism questions were followed by questions about the respondents’ sports participation (e.g. “Which sports do you play?”) and affinity with sports, as they were asked to indicate the extent to which they agreed or
disagreed with statements about sports (“Currently, I am very interested in sports”). Hereafter, the respondents were exposed to an advertisement of Nike. They were introduced to this advertisement with the following note: “Now you will see an advertisement of Nike. Please analyze this ad carefully and continue to the next questions.” No additional information on the brand or endorser was given before the respondents were exposed to the advertisement. Each of the respondents had an equal chance of receiving one of the four advertisements.
The manipulated advertisement representing the scenario famous female athlete with no activism (hereafter Ad 1) was a photo of Serena Williams with a tennis racket above her head. The advertisement was accompanied by Nike’s logo, their slogan “Just do it” and the name of Serena Williams in small italics under the slogan. The original advertisement
representing the scenario famous female athlete with activism (hereafter Ad 2) was a photo of Serena Williams with a tennis racket above her head and it showed the following statement: “If they think your dreams are crazy, show them what crazy dreams can do.” Additionally, the advertisement was accompanied by Nike’s logo, their slogan “Just do it” and the name of Serena Williams in small italics under the slogan.
The manipulated advertisement representing the scenario less famous female athlete with no activism (hereafter Ad 3) was a photo of Sloane Stephens with a tennis racket in her hand. The advertisement was accompanied by Nike’s logo, their slogan “Just do it” and the
name of Sloane Stephens in small italics under the slogan. The manipulated advertisement representing the scenario less famous female athlete with activism (hereafter Ad 4) was a photo of Sloane Stephens with a tennis racket in her hand. The advertisement showed the following statement: “If they think your dreams are crazy, show them what crazy dreams can do.” Additionally, the advertisement was accompanied by Nike’s logo, their slogan “Just do it” and the name of Sloane Stephens in small italics under the slogan.
Next, the respondents continued answering the survey questions. They were asked to consider the athlete they just observed in the advertisement when answering the questions about the endorser. The respondents had to answer statements about the endorser’s expertise, trustworthiness, attractiveness, and familiarity.
At last, the respondents were asked to answer questions about Nike to determine the effect of the experiment on the brand reputation. They had to answer statements about Nike’s customer orientation, product and services, and social and environmental orientation.
Finally, to check if the manipulations were perceived as intended, a manipulation check was done with two questions: “Which endorser of Nike have you seen in the advertisement?” and “Did you notice an activist text in the advertisement?” The study concluded with a debriefing about the aim and intention of the research(er).
Measures
Corporate Political Advocacy
CPA is the main independent variable in this study. This construct was measured by
analyzing the difference between the four conditions. Two of the four advertisements (Ad 2 and Ad 4) contained an activist slogan and herewith showed an element of CPA. Therefore, by comparing the conditions, the researcher was able to measure CPA.
Type of female athlete endorser
Type of female athlete endorser was the second independent variable in this study. This construct was measured in the same way as CPA. Two of the four advertisements (Ad 1 and Ad 2) contained a famous female athlete and the other two (Ad 3 and 4) showed a less famous female athlete. With these conditions the researcher was able to measure type of female athlete endorser.
Feminism affinity
Feminism affinity was the first moderator in this study. This construct was measured by a modified version of the scale of Henley et al. (1998). The items were modified and most of the statements were removed to fit feminism affinity. Two items that received a sufficient Cronbach’s alpha were eventually used. The items were measured using a five-point Likert-type scale, ranging from disagree to agree. The response anchors included disagree –
somewhat disagree – neither agree nor disagree – somewhat agree –agree. The items received a Cronbach’s alpha of α = 0.72.
Sports affinity
The construct sports affinity was the second moderator. In the study of Rotgans (2015) a valid scale for individual interest in a particular theme was developed. Although interest and affinity cannot be used interchangeably, for sports affinity the general interest statements were valid to use, since the definition for interest that was used by Rotgans corresponds to the definition used for affinity in this study. Interest is defined as something that “develops over time and is a relatively enduring predisposition to attend to objects, events, ideas, etc., and to reengage with particular content. Moreover, this process is considered to be associated with positive feelings, increased value and knowledge” (Rotgans, 2015, p. 69). The researcher
defines affinity as a “strong liking for, or attention to, someone or something.” These two concepts overlap regarding the focus on positive associations and feelings. Sports affinity was measured using a five-item, five-point semantic differential scale. The items received a Cronbach’s alpha of α = 0.85.
Endorser affinity
Endorser affinity is the third moderator in this study. The Athlete Endorser Effectiveness Scale (AEES) of Peetz (2012) was used to determine endorser affinity. This scale processed the two most notable theories considering endorsement studies, namely the Source Credibility Model (Hovland et. al., 1953) and the Source Attractiveness Model (McGuire, 1985).
Endorser affinity was measured using a 12-item, 5-point semantic differential scale. The items received a Cronbach’s alpha of α = 0.85.
Brand reputation
The dependent variable in this study is brand reputation and the scale of Walsh et al. (2009) was used to measure this construct. Participants were asked to respond to their views of Nike as an organization. Brand reputation of the organization was measured using a ten-item, five-point semantic differential scale. The items received a Cronbach’s alpha of α = 0.88.
Results
First the averages and standard deviations of the four conditions were analyzed. These variables are visualized in Table 2.
Table 2.
Descriptive statistics of the conditions
Conditions Brand reputation1
n M SD
Serena Williams CPA 49 3.67 .63
No CPA 58 3.50 .78
Sloane Stephens CPA 53 3.67 .64
No CPA 40 3.62 .71
Total 200 3.61 .69
Note. 1Measured on a 5-point Likert scale
Manipulation checks
The survey included two manipulation checks to ensure the manipulation measured CPA and type of female athlete endorser. To check if participants had noticed an activist element (if there was any), everyone was presented the following question: “did you notice an activist text in the advertisement?” (1 = yes / 2 = no). The chi-square test revealed a statistically significant difference between the group that received the activist advertisements and those receiving the non-activist advertisements χ2 (1) = 21.52, p = <.001. 72.3% of the respondents who received the activist advertisement confirmed that they saw an activist element in the advertisement (M = 1.28, SD = 0.45), compared to the respondents who received an advertisement with no activist element (M = 1.61, SD = 0.49), where 60.9%, indicated that they had not seen an activist element.
Similarly, a manipulation check was used to determine if the respondents took notice of the type of female athlete endorser they were exposed to (famous or less famous). The question that had to be answered was: “which endorser of Nike have you seen in the
advertisement?” (1 = Serena Williams, 2 = Sloane Stephens, 3 = Venus Williams).
Intentionally, a third option was added with a famous female athlete that was not included in the experiment. A chi-square test was conducted to determine whether a statistical difference existed between the two means. The chi-square test revealed a statistical difference between the two groups χ2 (2) = 99.87, p = < .001. Almost all respondents who saw Serena Williams answered correctly 1 (M = 1.08, SD = .391), just as the respondents who saw Sloane Stephens answered 2 (M = 1.82, SD = .60). Thus, participants were aware of the athlete they were exposed to, whether famous or less famous.
Research Hypotheses
H1. Corporate Political Advocacy & Brand Reputation
An independent samples t-test was conducted to compare brand reputation in the conditions CPA and no CPA. Levene’s Test showed that equal variances requirement was not met (F = 4.1, p = .044). There was a slight Mdiff (= .12) but not significant difference in the scores between the conditions activism (M = 3.67, SD = .63) and the conditions no activism (M = 3.55, SD = .75); t(196) = 1.21, p = .23. Therefore, H1, indicating that brand reputation will be more favorable when CPA is used in the sports brand corporate communication, compared to the condition that no CPA is used in the sports brand corporate communication, was rejected.
H2. Type of Female Athlete endorser & Brand Reputation
Another independent samples t-test was conducted to compare brand reputation in the famous female athlete and the less famous female athlete conditions. Levene’s Test showed that equal variances requirement was met (F = .73, p = .394). There was a non-significant difference in the scores for famous female athlete (M = 3.58, SD = .72) and the less famous female (M = 3.65, SD = .66) conditions; t(196) = -.78, p = 0.43. Therefore, H2, indicating that brand reputation will be more favorable when famous female athletes are used in the sports brand
sports brand corporate communication, was rejected.
Moderation analysis – Feminism, Sports and Endorser Affinity
The moderation model with brand reputation as dependent variable, feminism affinity as moderator and CPA as independent variable was examined with PROCESS SPSS (Model 1;
5000 bootstraps; Hayes, 2018) and showed a non-significant interaction effect (b = -.35, SE = .21, 95% CI [-.77, .08]), t(195) = -1.61, p = .108 (see table 3). H3a, indicating that the effect of CPA on brand reputation will be stronger when feminism affinity is high, was rejected.
The moderation model with brand reputation as dependent variable, sports affinity as moderator and CPA as independent variable was examined with PROCESS SPSS (Model 1; 5000 bootstraps; Hayes, 2018) and showed a non-significant interaction effect (b = .13, SE = .09, 95% CI [-.04, .31]), t(195) = 1.54, p = .124. Yet, sports affinity showed a marginally significant effect on brand reputation (b = .11, SE = .06, 95% CI [-.01, .23]), t(195) = 1.85, p = .066 (see table 4). Still, H3b, indicating that the effect of CPA on brand reputation will be stronger when sports affinity is high, was rejected.
The moderation model with brand reputation as dependent variable, endorser affinity as moderator and type of female athlete endorser as independent variable was examined with PROCESS SPSS (Model 1; 5000 bootstraps; Hayes, 2018) and showed a non-significant
interaction effect (b = .21, SE = .15, 95% CI [-.08 .50]), t(195) = 1.41, p = .159. Yet, endorser affinity showed a significant direct effect on brand reputation (b = .32, SE = .10, 95% CI [.12, .53), t(195) = 3.11, p = .002 (see table 5). Still, H3c, indicating that the effect of type of female athlete endorser on brand reputation will be stronger when sports affinity is high, is rejected.
Explorative analyses
The moderation model with brand reputation as dependent variable, sports affinity and endorser affinity as moderators, and CPA as independent variable was examined with
PROCESS SPSS (Model 2; 5000 bootstraps; Hayes, 2018). This model explained 16% (R2 = .16) of the variance and showed that interaction 1 (condition activism x sports affinity) had a stronger significant effect (b = .18, SE = .09, 95% CI [-.01, .35]), t(193) = 1.96, p = .051, than interaction 2 (condition activism x endorser affinity), (b = -.25, SE = .14, 95% CI [-.53, .02]),
t(193) = -1.80, p = .072. Interestingly, when endorser affinity was low (M = 3.33) and sports
affinity was medium (M = 3.4), and when endorser affinity was low (M = 3.33) and sports affinity was high (M = 4.40) there was a significant effect. Additionally, endorser affinity had a significant direct effect on brand reputation (b = .37, SE = .10, 95% CI [.18, .57]), t(193) = 3.74, p = <.001. See table 6 in Appendix II for the details of the model.
An independent t-test with type of female athlete endorser and endorser affinity showed that there was a significant difference between the Serena Williams – famous female athlete – (M = 4.44, SD = .59) and the Sloane Stephens – less famous female athlete – (M = 3.83, SD = .64) condition; t(198)= 7.06, p = <.001. Indicating that when respondents saw a famous female athlete there was a higher endorser affinity.
Lastly, an independent samples t-test showed that the respondents who indicated that they played or watched tennis, scored significantly higher on sports affinity than those who were not labeled as “tennis lovers.” There was a significant difference in the scores for tennis lovers (M = 3.54, SD = 1.00) compared to the no tennis lovers (M = 3.14, SD = 1.11)
Discussion and future research directions
As athlete endorsement contracts are top priority of sports brands in this era, companies have to be aware of the influence that an activist athlete can have on the brand reputation.
In the current experimental study, it was investigated whether an effect of CPA and type of female athlete endorser on the brand reputation of Nike could be identified and whether this possible relationship was moderated by the concepts of feminism, sports and endorser affinity. To find out, the following question was raised: “To what extent can an effect be
perceived when using activist advertisements, compared to non-activist advertisements, in the corporate communication, on the brand reputation of Nike? And how does this differ when assessed between famous and less famous female athlete endorsers for both categories?”
There was no significant effect of CPA on the brand reputation of Nike. This was contrary to what was expected, which was that women who saw an activist advertisement would rate the brand reputation of Nike higher than women who were exposed to a non-activist advertisement. Previous research showed that due to amongst others CPA, a brand can build a competitive advantage (Lux et al., 2012). Although Lin (2019) merely shows the positive moderating effects of CPA on a company’s financial performance, other researchers also encourage companies to build on their CPA strategy (Du et al., 2019). For example, Stephens (2019) presented findings that almost two-thirds of the consumers buy a product because of the brand’s position on political issues and Hillman et al. (2004) showed a higher increase in profits when CPA was incorporated in the company’s strategy.
A possible explanation for the lack of findings could be that the activist element was not visible or explicit enough. The statement used in this experiment was not strongly
provoking. Therefore, respondents may not have observed it as an activist statement. As there was no effect in line with the mentioned studies on CPA, further research is necessary on the effect of CPA on brand reputation, and especially in the context of female athlete endorsers.
This could be done with for example a similar experiment as used in this study, but then with more provoking and bold statements in the CPA conditions.
Similarly, the assumption was that there was a relationship between type of female athlete endorser and brand reputation. Although there is a current trend of using ordinary women at the heart of commercials and campaigns, scientific studies show that using famous athlete endorsers is beneficial for the rating and reputation of a brand (e.g. Knoll & Matthes, 2017). Anticipating on the findings of Desmarais (2017), who showed that when famous athlete endorsers were part of the advertisements, the feeling of recognition and authenticity increased, one would expect that the reputation would significantly increase as well. Contrary to expectations and to what most literature suggests, this study did not find a significant effect. An explanation could be that women nowadays are not influenced anymore by famous athletes, but prefer to see a woman just like them, who they can relate to (Garcia, 2018). This could also be linked to the current need for, and trend of, personalization. Future research should further elaborate on this and focus on the difference between famous, less famous and ordinary women in advertisements, as currently contradictory findings can be observed in both scientific and non-scientific articles (Garcia, 2018; Erdogan, 1999; Petty et al. 1983).
This study showed that endorser affinity has a positive effect on the brand reputation of Nike. Although there was no significant moderating effect of endorser affinity on the relationship between type of female athlete endorser and brand reputation, this study found that the higher the endorser affinity, the better the brand reputation. Respondents who were exposed to Serena Williams showed a higher feeling of affinity, than those who were exposed to Sloane Stephens. However, this feeling of affinity with a famous athlete, Williams, does not correspond with the idea of using ordinary women at the heart of the campaign.
famous athletes, but why this subsequently does not influence their rating of the brand when the aspect of CPA is in play.
Moreover, this research followed the suggestion of Peetz (2012) as it used the Athlete Endorser Effectiveness scale. According to Peetz, future research should focus on research in other countries and called for studies to focus on less famous athletes to see if the factors in this scale can also be used when less famous athletes are used. Therefore, this study helped to further construct the validity of this scale as it was assessed in another country – the
Netherlands – and involved both a famous female athlete and a less famous female athlete. Additionally, the findings of this study were able to follow up on the study of
Agyemang (2012) and the influence of a famous Black female athlete from the perspective of SCT. This study could not confirm the claim that SCT makes that people behave upon
watching other’s actions. Respondents who were exposed to activist advertisements did not behave in a very different manner in their answers compared to respondents who were not exposed to an activist advertisement. It would be interesting for future research to investigate the effects of SCT on athlete activism and vice versa.
Transformational leadership proclaims the idea that adherents pursue the ideology of their leader (Kent & Chelladurai, 2001), which could not be confirmed by this study.
Although Serena Williams can be seen as a transformational leader – she has a significant impact on the media and its many followers via amongst others Nike – the respondents who saw Serena Williams did not take on her beliefs, in the sense that brand reputation was not rated more favorable by the respondents that were exposed to her activist behavior, compared to the rating of respondents who saw the advertisement without her activist behavior.
Therefore, another experiment could take place with video experiments instead of photos, as videos have been successfully used in transformational leadership experiments before (Hoogeboom & Wilderom, 2019).
The idea of “activism” could be investigated in multiple ways. This study made use of text in a print advertisement, however for future experiments it would be interesting to make use of a different form of CPA. This study did not use a “risky” slogan, but a single, not too provoking slogan, focusing on women. With this form, the current study could not deduct a strong effect. However, a different form – a more provoking text like “Gender equality is not a woman’s issue, it is a human issue: it affects us all” – and/or a different theme, has the potential, from that perspective, to lead to a significant strong effect.
Although gender inequality issues are more on the political agenda nowadays, this study did not find a moderating effect of feminism affinity on the relationship between CPA and brand reputation. This may also be due to the way in which it was measured in this research with merely two statements of the modified version of the scale of Henley et al. (1998). So, when looking at the scales used for the survey of this study, the feminism affinity scale could be rewritten and hereafter it could be researched which statements load
sufficiently on this scale. In this study the statements relating to the private sphere were most successful. A possible explanation could be that, as most respondents were young women, these statements were relatable to issues they have to deal with in this phase of their life, and therefore found it easier to answer these statements. However, this scale should be extended with themes like politics and equality on the work floor. With an appropriate feminism affinity scale, this topic may lead to relevant additional results.
While no significant moderating effect was found of sports affinity on the relationship between CPA and brand reputation, there was a marginally significant direct effect of sports affinity on brand reputation. This may be because Nike is a sports brand and thus when women have an interest and high affinity with sports, they value this brand higher, regardless of the content of the message in the advertisement: political or not political, with famous or less famous endorsers. Additionally, in the moderation model with both endorser affinity and
sports affinity, sports affinity scored significantly higher. This study showed that when sports affinity is high or medium, and the endorser affinity is low, there is a significant effect. This can be the result of the possible trend that women nowadays attach more value to the topic and the fit with the product, than to the (famous) endorser of the product. Future research should investigate this effect of sports affinity and conduct an experiment with both a sports brand and a non-sports brand. Additionally, the current study found that when people are into the sport that is portrayed in the advertisement, in this study tennis, the general affinity with sports is also higher. Future research should find out whether there is indeed a difference between different kinds of sports and how the level of activism is perceived, as this study only focused one type of sports.
The number of studies that focuses specifically on the effect of female athlete activists as brand endorsers on the brand reputation is very limited. Therefore, this experiment should be replicated, with a focus on different types of CPA, gender, sports, and brands. There is still a lot to explore, and there are various ways to get more grip on this subject. Although there were some marginally and direct significant results in this study, the researcher could not find a significant effect for the main hypotheses. For future research it is recommendable to consider a more direct approach, with the design of an experiment around female athlete activism, CPA, and brand reputation. The use of bold statements, with provocative imagery, may result in robust results.
Limitations
Like every empirical study, this research also holds limitations. As with case studies, the conclusions of this research are based upon one target case: Nike. Therefore, the results are less generalizable; they cannot be applied broadly. In relation to other brands, with or outside sports, the theme of activism and related subjects as addressed in this research may, and
probably will be, assessed noticeably different.
Additionally, the sample used for this study had two limitations: the size and the biased population. Due to time constraints and limited financial resources, the sample size consisted of 200 respondents. A higher number of respondents would have made the results of this research more reliable. Also, the respondents were mostly young females with a higher education, which is not a reflection of society.
Regarding the manipulation check question on activism, a little more than 60% of the respondents who received a non-activist advertisement confirmed that they had not seen an element of activism. This means that almost 40% answered “yes” on the question whether they had seen an activist element, while they were not exposed to an activist element. A possible explanation for this could be that the question was too leading in that respect, and therefore respondents may have answered with a socially desirable answer. Another explanation could be that the respondents may have thought that they should have seen an activist element, and therefore answered with “yes.”
Finally, in this experiment merely static print advertisements were used, without addressing social media platforms.
Conclusion
A recent paper on athlete activism suggests that “future research should determine how themes related to activism efforts change over time” (Schmidt et al., 2019, p. 671). The current study took this advice further as the researcher decided to focus on female athlete activism, and the impact it may have on the reputation of a brand. Similar to the experiment of Schmidt et al. (2019), this study could not detect a significant difference between activism and no activism. It could be argued that it is more important that there is a fit between the athlete and the brand (Amos et al., 2008), than that there should be a focus on activism.
Another possible explanation for the lack of a significant result of CPA on brand reputation may be the unreliable and risky context of CPA and the high competition in the political domain. Additionally, since CPA is a relatively new and unexplored topic, the integration of these strategies may still be under investigation.
Currently, there is a lack of research on the effect of CPA on brand reputation, especially in the female sports endorsement domain. Therefore, brands and their brand managers are still skeptical about using political statements in corporate communication. Because of this concern about the consequences for the company, not more than one-fifth of the marketing managers believes in the idea of being politically active as a brand (Moorman, 2018). This study aimed at showing a positive effect of CPA on brand reputation, to break through this skepticism. Yet, this study could not confirm that the reputation of a brand increases when CPA comes into play. However, it found out which variables can positively influence the brand reputation. For example, when the client has a high affinity with the endorser (Serena Williams), or has a fit with the theme (in this case sports and tennis). The current study made a start in this specific field, but there is much more to investigate about female athlete activism in relation to brand reputation. As long as one just shows scholars “what crazy can do,” it will be relevant for this discipline.
References
Athlete Activism. (n.d.). APA Div. 47: Society for Sport, Exercise & Performance
Psychology. Retrieved from: https://www.apadivisions.org/division-47/about/athlete-activism/
Atkin, C., & Block, M. (1983). Effectiveness of celebrity endorsers. Journal of Advertising
Research, 23(1), 57–61.
Agyemang, K. (2012). Black male athlete activism and the link to Michael Jordan: A
transformational leadership and social cognitive theory analysis. International Review
for the Sociology of Sport, 47(4), 433–445.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690211399509
Amos, C., Holmes, G., & Strutton, D. (2008). Exploring the relationship between celebrity endorser effects and advertising effectiveness: A quantitative synthesis of effect size. International Journal of Advertising, 27(2), 209–234.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2008.11073052
Anglin, A., Wolfe, M., Short, J., Mckenny, A., & Pidduck, R. (2018). Narcissistic rhetoric and crowdfunding performance: A social role theory perspective. Journal of Business
Venturing, 33(6), 780–812. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2018.04.004
Bandura, A. (1986). Social Foundations of Thought and Action. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations. New York: The Free Press. Human Resource Management, 25(3), 481–484.
https://doi.org/10.1002/hrm.3930250310
Bembry, J. (2018, February 18). LeBron James Is the Most Powerful Voice in His Profession. Retrieved from:
Bristor, J., & Fischer, E. (1993). Feminist Thought: Implications for Consumer Research. Journal of Consumer Research, 19(4), 518–536.
https://doi.org/10.1086/209320
Brooks, C. M., & Harris, K. K. (1998). Celebrity athlete endorsement: An overview of the key theoretical issues. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 7(2), 34–44.
Brown, T., Dacin, P., & Pitt, L. (2010). Corporate image and reputation in B2B markets: Insights from CI/ARG 2008. Industrial Marketing Management, 39(5), 709–711. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2010.02.008
Butler-Young., S (2016). Nike CEO Mark Parker Takes Stand On Race, Violence & Policing in America. Footwear News. Retrieved from:
https://footwearnews.com/2016/influencers/power-players/nike-ceo-mark-parker-letter-employees-race-violence-police-america-black-lives-matter-240965/
Coombs, D. S., & Cassilo, D. (2017). Athletes and/or Activists: LeBron James and Black Lives Matter. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 41(5), 425–444.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0193723517719665
Croatto, Pete. (2018). Uniformed Acts of Defiance: Books on Athlete Activism Kick Off a New Season. Publishers Weekly, 265(14), 31.
Cunningham, G., & Regan, M. (2012). Political activism, racial identity and the commercial endorsement of athletes. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 47(6), 657– 669. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690211416358.
Charbonneau, D., Barling, J., & Kelloway, E. (2001). Transformational Leadership and Sports Performance: The Mediating Role of Intrinsic Motivation. Journal of Applied Social
Desmarais, F. (2017). Who is the Athlete Endorser? A Cross-Cultural Exploration of Advertising Practitioners’ Views. Journal of Global Marketing, 30(1), 12–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/08911762.2016.1250976
de Soysa, L., & Zipp, S. (2019). Gender equality, sport and the United Nation’s system. A historical overview of the slow pace of progress. Sport in Society, 22(11), 1783–1800. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2019.1651018
Doyle, J., Pentecost, R., & Funk, D. (2014). The effect of familiarity on associated sponsor and event brand attitudes following negative celebrity endorser publicity. Sport
Management Review, 17(3), 310–323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2013.10.003
Du, J., Bai, T., & Chen, S. (2019). Integrating corporate social and corporate political
strategies: Performance implications and institutional contingencies in China. Journal
of Business Research, 98, 299–316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.02.014
Edgett, R. (2002). Toward an Ethical Framework for Advocacy in Public Relations. Journal of Public Relations Research, 14(1), 1–26.
https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532754XJPRR1401_1
Eitzen, D. S. (2001). Sport as Microcosm of Society. Sport in Contemporary Society, Sixth Edition, Worth Publishers, pp. 1-9.
Erdogan, B. (1999). Celebrity Endorsement: A Literature Review. Journal of Marketing
Management, 15(4), 291–314. https://doi.org/10.1362/026725799784870379
Eren-Erdogmus, İ., Lak, H., & Çiçek, M. (2016). Attractive or Credible Celebrities: Who Endorses Green Products Better? Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 235, 587–594. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.11.085
Etikan, I., Musa, A., Alkassim, R. (2015). Comparison of Convenience Sampling and Purposive Sampling. American Journal of Theoretical and Applied Statistics, Vol. 5, 1-4. doi: 10.11648/j.ajtas.20160501.11
Fink, J., Parker, H., Cunningham, G., & Cuneen, J. (2012). Female athlete endorsers: Determinants of effectiveness. Sport Management Review, 15(1), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2011.01.003
Fitzgerald, M., & Donovan, K. (2018). Consumer Responses to For-Profit Firms Exercising Religious Freedom in the Marketplace. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 37(1), 39–54. https://doi.org/10.1509/jppm.16.208
Fombrun, C. J. (1996). Reputation: Realizing Value from the Corporate Image. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Frederick, E., Pegoraro, A., & Sanderson, J. (2019). Divided and united: perceptions of athlete activism at the ESPYS. Sport in Society, 22(12), 1919–1936.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2018.1530220
Hardin, M., & Greer, J. D. (2009). The influence of gender-role socialization, media use and sports participation on perceptions of gender-appropriate sports. Journal of Sport Behavior, 32, 207–226.
Hayes, A. (2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis : a
regression-based approach (Second edition.). New York: The Guilford Press.
https://doi.org/10.1108/07363769510795697
Henley, N., Meng, K., O’Brien, D., Mccarthy, W., & Sockloskie, R. (1998). Developing a Scale to Measure the Diversity of Feminist Attitudes. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 22(3), 317–348. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.1998.tb00158.x Hillman, A. J., Keim, G. D., & Schuler, D. (2004). Corporate political activity: A review and
research agenda. Journal of Management, 30(6), 837-857.
Hond, F., Rehbein, K., Bakker, F., & Lankveld, H. (2014). Playing on Two Chessboards: Reputation Effects between Corporate Social Responsibility ( CSR ) and Corporate
![Bronstinductie bij schapen : vijf jaar onderzoek op de Waiboerhoeve = Oestrus induction with sheep : five years research on the Waiboerhoeve [Experimental Farm]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==)