The influence of cause-related marketing campaign structural elements on consumers’ cognitive and affective attitudes and purchase intention

Abstract

This study explored middle- to high income consumers’ awareness and opinions of cause-related marketing and the influences of selected campaign structural elements on consumers’ responses. The study was conducted using qualitative focus groups and a quantitative 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 factorial experiment. A communications approach was adopted to investigate consumer responses to the cause-related marketing communicated campaign itself with education as the beneficiary. The qualitative research revealed that South African consumers are positively disposed toward cause-related marketing in an educational context and that they prefer positive, prosocial campaign messaging. The experiment confirmed that campaign structural elements exert significant independent and interactive influences on consumer intentions, attitudes, and perceptions. A low-involvement product, a specific donation recipient, and a high magnitude actual amount donation were found to have the most significant impact on consumer responses.