Corporate Decision-Making for Arts Sponsorship

Abstract

Sponsorship is a crucial revenue stream for many non-profit arts organisations. At the same time businesses appear to be viewing sponsorship and philanthropy as an ever more strategic activity, yet little is known about the actual decision-making processes these companies undergo in considering arts sponsorships. Examination of sponsorship and philanthropy literature revealed that an opportunity existed to study these processes in more depth, and the research question was posed: How do companies make decisions when considering arts sponsorship? Literature from Organisational Buying Behaviour and Decision-making provided lenses by which these processes could be viewed, and a subsequent framework was developed to inform the research. Multiple cases of positive arts sponsorship decisions from within New Zealand were examined. Responses from 24 in-depth interviews resulted in the identification of ten cases for which information was gathered from multiple informants on both sides of the relationship. In addition, ten interviews were categorised as “experts” on the topic of arts sponsorship more generally, and used as a secondary source of data. Within and between case analyses was combined with comparison of expert responses to yield initial results. Taking a theory-building approach, iteration between results, literature and theory served to develop the final findings. This study revealed a number of key themes which characterise these decisions. Firstly, the expectations and perceptions of society, concerning sponsorship, influence stakeholders, companies and individual managers, and subsequently influence these decisions. Secondly, a co-existence of both commercial and philanthropic goals was found within decisions, suggesting that such decisions are not always categorized into one particular area. Thirdly, a key influential role was identified in these decisions as that of an advocate, being a manager who sees the benefit of the sponsorship and essentially makes it happen within the organisation. Fourthly, it was found that these decisions rely on and are influenced in part by individual intuition, based on personal and professional experience, and serving to pave the way for a type of informed happenstance, necessary for the decisions to progress. While three decision paths were noted in this study, a general decision process was proposed which would vary based on many of the characteristics above. Overall, this study has contributed to sponsorship and philanthropy literature in revealing arts sponsorship decisions to be complex, with managers influenced by expectations and perceptions of society, commercial and philanthropic goals, individual and company frames, and intuitive and economic justifications. In conclusion, propositions and suggestions for future research are proposed, along with implications for managers in both arts organisations and sponsoring businesses.