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This paper aims to develop and validate a psychometrically sound scale measuring buyers’ motivation to avoid being duped (MAD) in a marketplace transaction.

Standard scale construction methodology was followed in developing the MAD Scale. Eight studies were conducted.

Three underlying MAD factors were discovered: suspicion of sellers, anticipated aversive emotions and deception detection. For purposes of analyses, data were collapsed across factors. High MAD individuals exhibited more vigilance in decision-making, were less trusting of strangers and displayed a greater desire to appear perfect to others. Those high in MAD were also more apt to have a prevention regulatory focus. Test-retest reliability was satisfactory, and no social desirability bias was observed. Finally, in an economic game with real financial consequences, those higher (vs lower) in MAD invested less after being duped, thus supporting criterion validity.

Marketplace deception has been identified as an existential threat facing consumers. Yet, few studies have examined how consumers cope with this threat. There currently exists no scales to measure consumer motivation to avoid being duped. The current research defines MAD and differentiates it from related constructs. The MAD scale will be useful in a variety of research contexts related to marketplace deception.

Sponsorship identification accuracy is typically assessed as the percentage of consumers answering “yes” when asked if a brand is a sponsor (hits). However, this fails to consider misattribution (answering “yes” for a non-sponsor brand; false alarms). Misattribution reflects consumer confusion and dilutes the benefits of an official sponsorship, offers an advantage to a non-sponsoring rival and reduces a brand’s return on sponsorship investment. Informed by signal-detection theory (SDT), we show how hits may be disentangled from false alarms using a measure of sensitivity called d-prime (d’). A related measure of response bias (c) is also discussed.

In Study 1, we report the results of an experiment. In Study 2, we rely on a field study involving actual sponsors and fans.

The use of d’ and c is superior to tallying “yes” responses because they account for accurate sponsor attribution and misattribution to non-sponsor competitors.

In the context of sponsorship, we demonstrate how d’ and c can be easily calculated using Excel. Our research also includes an experimental study that establishes the hypothesized effects and then replicate results in a field setting.

The sports industry is one of the fastest growing business sectors in the world today and its primary source of revenue is derived from fans. Yet, little is known about fans' allocation of time, effort, and/or financial expenditures in regard to the sports they care so desperately about. The purpose of this paper is to explore the multidimensional aspects of such manifestations of fan avidity and examine the nature of heterogeneity of such expressions.

Data were collected from a student sample of football fans from a well‐known US university.

In total, 35 different expressions of fan avidity are developed related to how fans follow and support their favorite team. A spatial choice multidimensional scaling model is developed to uncover four latent dimensions of fan avidity expression.

The managerial aspects of these empirical findings are provided, and the authors suggest several directions for future research.

Stadium naming rights programs have proliferated over the past decade, yet we have no direct evidence that these types of sponsorship programs help companies develop their long-term brand equity or even provide a short-term boost to corporate value. This paper examines the impact that naming rights programs have had on the stock values of the corporate sponsors. Using event study analysis, it is found that there are mixed responses to these types of programs. A discussion is provided which helps to explain the mixed results and provides communications mangers with some suggestions on creating more effective naming rights programs.

The active role that the tourism sector assumes in increasing the Gross Domestic Product is by now recognized and this fact makes the operators in the sector considerably more responsible. So all the companies that operate in the sector need a continous managerial adaptation such that renders them able to answer, time after time, the demand necessities.