Attitudes towards the (UN)official sponsor : ‘Cultural factors' impact on consumers' attitudes towards ambush marketing

Abstract: Ambush marketing has recently become a large problem for event owners and official sponsors. One of the main focuses, in the field of ambush marketing, has been about consumers' attitudes towards ambush marketing. However, the research field has a gap in what affects consumers’ attitudes. The purpose of this thesis is to explain the causal effect between consumers’ culture factors and their attitudes towards ambush marketing. This thesis uses a conceptual model that is based on theories in national culture, marketing and psychology. This thesis uses a positive, deductive approach with an explanatory research design. The quantitative method is a survey that is handed out to Swedish students and exchange students from China. Analyses show that consumers' culture has a significant correlation to their attitudes towards ambush marketing. Consumers in cultures with high power distance and/or collectivism, have a significant stronger negative attitude towards ambush marketing, compared to consumers who have low power distance and/or individualism. The theoretical implications in this thesis fill the gap about what causal effect culture factors have on consumers’ attitudes towards ambush marketing. This thesis has also contributed to the more controversial belief, that the consumers’ do not have such negative attitude towards ambush marketing. The findings will be of managerial use for event owners who are taking actions against the ambush companies. Limitation of this study is that theory on the cultural factors is only based on one theoretical framework, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.