Adverse Effects When Partnering for Corporate Social Responsibility in the Context of FIFA World Cup Sponsorship

The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of partnership for corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the context of the sponsorship of the 2014 men’s FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) World Cup on host city residents’ evaluations of sponsors. One hundred sixty Rio de Janeiro residents participated in the experiment. The results showed that partnerships with FIFA or the Brazilian government, which are both accused of mismanagement and corruption, worsened attitudes toward the sponsor compared to a CSR engagement without a partnership. Thus, adverse effects when partnering for CSR were found. Furthermore, the linkage to FIFA made the sponsor more dependent on the host city residents’ overall evaluation of the sports federation. The dependency on FIFA can be good or bad for sponsor brands: attitude to the sponsor and, hence, behavioral intentions to engage with the sponsor increase (decrease) with better (worse) attitude toward the sports federation.