The influence of sports sponsorships on the organisational commitment of employees has the potential to critically impact the sport sponsorship decisions of companies. In periods of economic uncertainty and economic decline, companies often consider sport sponsorship a fundamental expense that has to be carefully managed and measured against the corporate objectives. Employees are a vital asset to any company, and taking into consideration which teams or sporting events employees support, may be a key contributing factor to the ensuing productivity. This trend was investigated by conducting various research strategies in the course of compiling a final research document. These strategies included sending out electronic questionnaires to the employees of a sample company that sponsors provincial sporting teams. Statistical analysis on the results obtained culminated in in-depth conclusions that strive to theoretically answer the research question posed at the onset of this study. The outcome of the research study showed that sports sponsorships do not contribute sufficiently to the organisational commitments of employees to justify its inclusion on the list of sports sponsorships’ key objectives when making strategic decisions. However, some evidence suggests that a reverse influence may exist whereby specific sports teams prove useful in the recruitment process and/or sponsorships decisions. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

[pt] A atividade de patrocínio vem se modificando em todas as partes do mundo. No Brasil, em particular, observa-se que o patrocínio vem sendo mais utilizado como ferramenta do mix de marketing das empresas para promover suas marcas. Porém, uma dificuldade está presente na realidade das empresas patrocinadoras e dos profissionais que trabalham com patrocínio: a avaliação dos projetos. Este estudo se propõe a identificar as principais características dos projetos de patrocínio de eventos e discutir a importância destas características na escolha dos projetos a patrocinar. Foram levantadas 22 características utilizadas por decisores e experts no processo de avaliação de projetos de patrocínio de eventos. Foi constatado ainda que a importância destas características é influenciada pelos diferentes objetivos considerados pelos executivos no momento da escolha dos projetos. / [en] Sponsorship activity has been experiencing changes worldwide. In Brazil, particularly, sponsorship is widely used as a tool within companies´ marketing mix for promoting companies´ brands. However, an issue is present in the reality of sponsor companies and professionals who work with sponsorship: the assessment of projects. This study proposes to identify the main characteristics within sponsorship project of events, and asses the importance of those characteristics when deciding which projects to sponsor. A total of 22 characteristics used by decision makers and experts in the process for assessing sponsorship projects of events were found. The study also determined that the importance of these characteristics is influenced by various purposes, which executives take into account when deciding to sponsor or not projects.