The role of passengers’ involvement in cause related marketing: Moderated mediation effects of brand attitude and brand consciousness in the airline industry

Abstract

Airline companies have implemented cause related marketing (CRM) to contribute to sustainable development and gain competitive advantage in the market providing identical services and products. This study thus aims to understand customers’ perception of airline CRM and its effect on their loyalty. Empirical research was conducted on data collected from 443 travelers on US-based full service airlines that participate in charitable donation and analyzed using the Statistical Program for the Social Sciences (SPSS)-based program, PROCESS. The results revealed brand attitude’s significant mediating role and brand consciousness’s moderating role in building customer loyalty. The identification of an important moderated mediating function by combining mediation of brand attitude with moderation of brand consciousness expands the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) research in the airline context. Moreover, this study suggests that airlines encourage passengers to being involved in CRM in order to benefit both the nonprofit organizations and the brand itself through building customer loyalty.