Abstract
Cause sponsorship is one of the most frequently used cause-related marketing (CRM) strategies for extending brand image, often through strategic alliances with nonprofit organizations. Whilst airlines’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives have received focused attention in the sustainable tourism literature, the effective development of cause sponsorship has not been understood. In particular, an understanding of airlines’ cause sponsorship of non-sports related charitable causes and their influence on perceived congruence between the airline and its associated causes are limited. In order to address this gap, the study delves into the intersection of entrepreneurial marketing and sponsorship of environmental and/or social causes. It investigates the structural relationship between entrepreneurial marketing, congruence, favorability toward the airline, and purchase intention by analyzing a sample of 443 travelers on US-based full-service airlines using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The study demonstrates the positive effects of value creation and risk management on congruence, which in turn has a positive influence on travelers’ favorability toward the airline. Further, it confirms that favorability toward the airline predicts purchase intention. This study highlights that entrepreneurial marketing efforts to create customer value, and effective management of the associated risks, are indispensable to successful conveyance of congruent airline sponsorship programs.
Highlights
Sustainable tourism literature has been built upon two major strands of sustainability marketing research: a sustainability consumerism approach and a product development approach with a focus on environmental and social impacts [1]
The results revealed that the measurement model has a substantial model fit to the data, showing χ2 = 550.403, df = 301, χ2/df = 1.829 at p < 0.001, GFI = 0.918, CFI = 0.967, IFI = 0.967, TLI = 0.961, RMSEA = 0.043 [83]
Six pairs of factors unsatisfied by Fornell and Larcker’s [84] suggestion were re-examined using Bagozzi and Yi’s [86] recommendation, and significant differences were confirmed between the free model and the combined model for any pair of factors, showing that discriminant validity was achieved
Summary
Sustainable tourism literature has been built upon two major strands of sustainability marketing research: a sustainability consumerism (that is, market-led) approach and a product development approach with a focus on environmental and social impacts [1] The former is associated with identification of market segment needs, where pro-environmental appeals are likely to attract consumers’ “pro-sustainability values, beliefs and behavioral intentions” [1] such as involvement in voluntary carbon offsetting. The latter has focused on producers’ efforts to promote the purchase of sustainable products, which may include message framing for marketing sustainable tourism. Non-profit organizations supported by Air France-KLM include WWF, Red Cross, and Aviation Sans Frontières, to illustrate a few
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