Attention Economy and Sponsors’ Risk Perception: Explaining the Decision-Making Logic of Commercial Brands in Women’s Sports (A Grounded Theory Study)

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to explain how commercial brands develop risk perceptions regarding sponsorship of women’s sports in Iran and to identify strategies for addressing such risks through the lens of the attention economy.

Methodology: This qualitative study employed a systematic grounded theory approach. Participants comprised brand strategists and sponsors, sport managers and policymakers, female athletes and coaches, and academic experts, who were recruited through purposive sampling followed by theoretical sampling. Data were collected through 24 in-depth semi-structured interviews, with sampling continuing until theoretical saturation was achieved. The data were analyzed using constant comparison through open, axial, and selective coding, and the resulting categories were organized within a paradigmatic framework encompassing causal, contextual, and intervening conditions, strategies, and consequences. Trustworthiness was strengthened through member checking, maximum variation sampling, external auditing, and inter-coder agreement.

Findings: The analysis revealed “attention-economy-based risk perception” as the core phenomenon underlying brands’ sponsorship decisions, comprising three interrelated dimensions: uncertainty of commercial returns, regulatory and reputational risk, and investment trust and security risk. Attention deprivation and the inability to substantiate attention, together with instability of the sponsored sport asset, intensified perceived risk, whereas managerial and commercial capability, social legitimacy, symbolic capital, social support networks, and brand–market fit could modify its severity. Effective responses involved generating and redistributing attention, professionalizing and substantiating value, redesigning value propositions and financing mechanisms, and managing stakeholder experience. The relationships among categories further indicated that the central mechanism was “uncertainty in converting attention into demonstrable value.” Thus, increased visibility alone was insufficient to reduce investment risk unless audience attention could be translated into measurable and defensible evidence of economic, reputational, or relational value.

Conclusion: Reducing sponsors’ perceived risk in women’s sports requires a shift from the mere generation of visibility toward “demonstrable attention,” whereby audience attention is transformed into credible metrics and verifiable commercial and social value. This mechanism can facilitate the transition from episodic sponsorship to sustainable investment, greater economic maturity, and shared value creation between commercial brands and women’s sport.