The Consequences of Endorser’s Doping Scandal in Sport Marketing

One of the marketing communications strategies for promoting a brand is sport celebrities' endorsement, however, sponsors are always concerned of experiencing doping related consequences for their brands and products due to the consumers' believes and beliefs on the endorsed product which may be changed by those consequences. The main purpose of the present research was to modeling the consequences of endorser’s doping scandal in sport marketing. 56 items were used and 224 men and women students of bachelor program of physical education and sport sciences of the Iranian universities participated in measuring the research variables and model the causal relations. The research data were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM). The results of SEM showed acceptable model fit indexes and significant relationships between variables. Results also revealed that reasoning strategy of moral rationalization has a moderating effect on the relationship between moral emotions and attitude change toward doped athlete. Finally, regarding to the personal differences as cultural, social, personality and livelihood, the manner of responding to the questionnaire can be consider as a research limitation. However, moral emotions negative dimensions (Contempt, Anger, Disgust) were analyzed as significant variables in predicting consumer’s behavior and attitude in the current research, other positive dimensions (Gratitude, Awe, Admiration) should be explored in the future studies.