Cause-related Marketing Research Articles

A close look at research on pursuing the right formula for cause-related marketing advertising

In a typical cause-related marketing (CRM) campaign, a company donates a percentage of product sales to a charity or nonprofit related to the chosen cause. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the literature on this subject, and briefly discusses common antecedents of CRM advertising effectiveness. The exploration of the CRM literature starts with advertising and reviews two factors: emotional appeal and execution style. We further discuss contextual elements such as cause factors, company factors, and factors related to CRM activities. This paper integrates research findings across studies to develop a coherent and comprehensive picture of the extant CRM research conducted in the advertising field. Practitioners can use these insights to communicate with their target markets and enhance acceptance of their CRM campaigns. The paper further shows the growth and evolution of the topics covered in marketing-related journals and in the International Journal of Advertising. Lastly, the paper discusses under-researched topics, and important upcoming trends and research avenues.

Mapping the Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) field: document co-citation and bibliographic coupling approach

Mapping the Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) field: document co-citation and bibliographic coupling approach

When helping is risky: The influence of ethical attributes on consumers' willingness to buy farmer-assisting agricultural products online.

Chinese e-commerce platforms have long helped to sell agricultural products through farmer-assisting marketing activities, effectively alleviating the problem of stagnant agricultural products in some areas, and have become a valuable cause-related marketing strategy. The ethical attributes of farmer-assisting agricultural products have unique value compared with other agricultural products. However, the existing research rarely pays attention to the influence of the ethical attributes of farmer-assisting agricultural products on consumers' willingness to buy farmer-assisting agricultural products online. Based on collective efficacy theory and risk perception theory, this study systematically explores the influence mechanism of ethical attributes (symbolic ethical attribute and functional ethical attribute) on consumers' willingness to buy farmer-assisting agricultural products online through three situational experiments. The results show that compared with functional ethical attributes, symbolic ethical attributes have a more positive impact on consumers' willingness to buy farmer-assisting agricultural products online. In addition, it further reveals two mediating pathways of ethical effects (collective efficacy and risk perception) and boundaries (emergency of farmer-assisting events). This study helps to understand the ethical attributes of farmer-assisting agricultural products, and provides some practical suggestions for e-commerce enterprises implementing farmer-assisting marketing communication activities or marketers developing and promoting farmer-assisting agricultural products.

Self-Efficacy, Resilience and Distress: Challenges in Education for Sustainable Entrepreneurship in a Health Context

The European Commission has highlighted the development of entrepreneurship competence in lifelong learning skills. In this way, the present study aims to contribute towards fostering the intrapreneurial mindset in healthcare settings. The focus of attention is on the relationship between organizational structures and processes (work-related content and content, specifically psychosocial risk factors), as well as individual wellbeing factors (distress and resilient coping) that could be relevant not only for the promotion of organizational wellbeing, but also to ensure an intrapreneurship-friendly environment (through the promotion of self-efficacy). An empirical study was conducted involving 333 formal caregivers of healthcare services. Portuguese versions of the instruments Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10), Brief Resilient Coping Scale (BRCS), and Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ III, medium version) were employed. Results show that resilience and distress (at the individual level), as well as role clarity, control over working time, and job insecurity (at the organizational level) are predisposing factors for self-efficacy, which are highlighted as essential to ensure an enabling environment for intrapreneurship and wellbeing. For practical consideration, we present an entrepreneurial mindset development strategy through the implementation of cause-related marketing as a pedagogical tool for entrepreneurship within the organization, which allows for experimentation and the necessary creative flexibility.

Mapping the Research Pattern of Cause-related Marketing: A Bibliometric Analysis of Publications during 2000-2020

ABSTRACT When it became clear that cause-related marketing (CaRM) is a primary driver of a company’s marketing strategy, CaRM as a research domain developed rapidly. Despite the fact that CaRM has received a lot of attention, only a few authors have done bibliometric analysis on it. As a result, an additional bibliometric analysis of CaRM is required to bring together the additional contributions, developments, and current research lines. Thus, this research aims to use bibliometric analysis to better understand the CaRM concept in marketing literature. In this study, 443 articles from Scopus, a widely used electronic database, are retrieved for the years 2000 to 2020. The authors used VOSviewer to perform citation analysis, co-citation analysis, keyword analysis, and bibliographic coupling. Our findings revealed that the field’s development is dominated by authors and institutes from the United States and Europe. The presence of Asian countries indicates that the topic of research is becoming increasingly important. The data support the claim that the majority of current ideas in the field are derived from publications published in prestigious journals. Bibliographic coupling resulted in the identification of five clusters: (1) mechanism of CaRM, (2) attributes of CaRM, (3) CaRM and consumer behavior, (4) role of different factors in the effectiveness of CaRM, (5) cause and brand in CaRM. The findings of this study will be relevant not only to scholars working in the CaRM field but also to practitioners and policymakers who want to improve their understanding of CaRM.

Cause-Related Marketing and Attitude Toward Corporate Image: An Experimental Study

In a world of attention scarcity, cause-related marketing strategies generate a substantially greater impact. The neurophysiological mechanisms that support favorable consumer attitudes toward cause-related marketing messages are, however, rather little understood. This study attempts to comprehend how a marketer may employ cause-related marketing initiatives to improve the company’s reputation as well as how program, company, and product identities affect consumers’ attitude toward the corporate image. Following the classical experimental design, this study uses four stimuli to investigate the effects of cause type and cause category on attitude toward corporate image. The four different stimuli used in this study are exposure to a negative corporate image of a fictitious brand, exposure to a negative corporate image with exposure to cause-related marketing message on Save Amazon Rainforest, exposure to a negative corporate image, and exposure to cause-related marketing message on Educate Homeless Children project, and exposure to a negative corporate image and exposure to cause-related marketing message on feeding the hungry homeless children with a description about the gravity of hunger among the poor homeless children of India. For this study, 1,171 urban Indian consumers were used as the sample. The study suggests that empathy-embedded cause-related marketing communications are characterized by primary need-based humanitarian causes. This study thus validates the mirror neuron hypothesis, which confirms that customer-centricity increases with the degree to which the communication content is similar to that of the respondent. A higher degree of customer-centricity results in a better advertisement attitude, which improves consumer attitude toward the corporate image.

Assessing the Relevance of Framing Messages on Backing Intentions in Crowdfunding Social Cause-related Marketing Campaign

This study investigates the interaction effects of framing messages and social cause-related marketing on support intentions in crowdfunding campaign message narratives. Hypothesis were tested first by using 430 samples in an independent-samples t-test. The mean value difference demonstrates that the social cause-related marketing (SCRM) project (mean = 3.784) has a significantly bigger effect on backing intention than the non-SCRM project (mean = 3.012). This supports the study hypothesis that individuals involved in SCRM crowdfunding have a higher backing intention than those who are not involved. The results further indicated significantly greater backing intentions with social cause-related marketing positive framing messages than negative attribute framing messages without cause-related marketing, whereas there was no significant difference between negative attribute framing messages with social cause-related marketing. This finding provides new insights for project initiators for using crowdfunding platforms for a social marketing campaign.

Addressing the Cause-Related Marketing Paradox for Luxury Brands to Increase Prosocial Behavior and Well-Being

Although luxury firms have come under increasing pressure to engage in corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, they have traditionally been hesitant to engage because of the CSR–luxury paradox: the values and motivations underlying luxury consumption (self-enhancement) may conflict with the values and motivations underlying prosocial behavior (self-transcendence), and thus their CSR initiatives may not only be ineffective, they may actually harm the brand. In this commentary, we discuss research on the strategies and tactics luxury brands can use to nudge luxury consumers to engage in their cause-related marketing (CRM) initiatives by aligning the values of their luxury customers with the symbolic values of their CRM offerings and thus increase the impact of the prosocial causes on societal well-being. This research supports the objectives of transformative luxury research (TLR) in integrating luxury consumption into the mission and vision of transformative consumer research (TCR).

The Effect of Promotional Format, Message Framing, and Psychological Distance on Perception and Engagement of Cause-related Marketing

Aims: This research provides a unique lens by offering a more comprehensive consideration of cause-related marketing (CRM) campaign effectiveness. Specifically, we propose that the relative effectiveness of contribution type (monetary vs. in-kind) may hinge upon message framing (loss vs. gain-framed).
 Study Design: Integrating construal level and prospect theories with related CRM, message framing, and psychological distance literatures lead to propositions.
 Methodology: Literature reviews were first conducted. Rationalized on the construal level theory, multiple propositions of the effect of psychological distance on different contribution types and message framing are presented. The relationships among these concepts are proposed to have significant and positive effects on the effectiveness of CRM promotional campaigns based on the literature reviewed.
 Conclusion: The proposed research model not only advances the collective knowledge of construal level theory and psychological distance literatures, making a theoretical contribution specifically in the CRM field, but also should provide important marketing insights to guide CRM practices.

Impact of skepticism on CRM luxury campaign participation intention of Generation Z

PurposeThis study examines the influence of consumer skepticism on cause-related marketing (CRM) campaign participation intentions of Generation Z consumers from emerging market perspective. This study was undertaken due to the paucity of relevant literature in the public domain to directly investigate whether and how consumers' skepticism affects CRM participation intentions, specifically in the luxury retailing context.Design/methodology/approachA survey was conducted among 552 Generation Z consumers and path analysis was used to examine the direct and indirect effects of skepticism. The mediation and moderation analysis was used to explore and test the authors' hypotheses via partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS SEM).FindingsThe authors' findings provide empirical evidence that corporate social responsibility, religiosity and cause involvement positively affects consumer participation intentions, and this link is also established indirectly through skepticism toward the CRM campaign. These findings provide novel theoretical contributions by establishing skepticism's complex role in determining the CRM participation intention in the Generation Z consumers' context. This study further demonstrates the moderating effect of gender and luxury store format on consumer skepticism and CRM participation intentions.Originality/valueThe Generation z group will represent a quarter of the Asia–Pacific region's population by 2025. However, little is known about Generation z consumers' CRM participation intentions. This research would help practitioners, including luxury retailers, CRM managers and advertising professionals, to effectively design CRM campaigns. The paper contributes by highlighting the theoretical implications and managerial implications based on the current findings in the emerging market context.

Cause-related marketing and its impact on brand image and loyalty: Evidence from international fast-food chains

ABSTRACT The work described in this paper investigates the impact of cause-related marketing on brand image and loyalty from the perspective of international fast-food chains. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with the managers to assess the current use of cause-related marketing practices (CrM) in fast-food chain restaurants. From the results of the interviews and review of literature, a model was developed including four variables, these are as follows: CrM, customer loyalty, brand image, and price increase. A self-administered structured questionnaire was designed to collect data on managers perspective of CrM, impact on brand image, customer loyalty, and price increase. Seven hundred and four questionnaires were distributed. Results from the study indicate that there is a correlation between CrM and brand and that there is a positive and significant and relationship between CrM and customer loyalty, CrM was found to have more effect on attitudinal loyalty than on behavioral loyalty. In addition, results revealed that brand image and customer loyalty are correlated. Regression analysis signified that customer loyalty is affected by brand image as the relationship between them is significant and positive. The study also found that brand image acted as a partial mediator between CrM and customer loyalty.

You’re getting warmer: examining a “warmth effect” as antecedent to cause-related purchase intentions for sport-themed CRM

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how exposure to a cause-related marketing (CRM) initiative involving sport teams affects attitude formation for the team and its amplification of purchase intention for team-branded merchandise. Specifically, this paper assessed the role of distinct measures (warmth, brand attitude, admiration and success) on purchase intention.Design/methodology/approachThe hypothesized model was tested using a 2 (promotion: CRM vs non-CRM) × 2 (team: successful vs unsuccessful) between-subjects design. Following MANCOVA analysis, the moderating effect of success was explored within the sequential moderated mediation model where perceived warmth and brand attitude explicated the effect of CRM exposure on purchase intention.FindingsThe results of this paper suggest that a “Warmth Effect” played a prominent role in shaping consumer perception for sports teams when partnered with a non-profit brand in a CRM appeal. Perceived team success was revealed as moderator, while warmth, brand attitude served as serial mediators on purchase intention.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper provides evidence-based insights to sport marketers to leverage CRM strategy in strengthening brand-related outcomes. Sport marketers may find the CRM strategy useful for engaging “casual” fans. Further analysis is needed to determine the generalizability of this consumer response to CRM in other product domains.Practical implicationsPractical implications include leveraging CRM strategy to strengthen brand-related outcomes (i.e. perceived warmth, brand attitude and purchase intention), while also being mindful of the timing of CRM initiatives to optimize engagement. Sport marketers may find the CRM strategy useful for engaging “casual” fans.Originality/valueThis paper lends clarity to brand attitude formation in the context of CRM. The findings of this paper demonstrate the influence of perceived warmth, brand attitude and success on purchase intention.

Gaining legitimacy and host market acceptance: a CRM analysis for foreign subsidiaries in China

PurposeBuilding on the scant literature on how foreign subsidiaries strategize Cause-Related-Marketing (CRM) to gain legitimacy and acceptance in host markets, this paper investigated the impact of two CRM components (post-crisis recovery, CSR activities) on subsidiary performance and future opportunities in China, a country whose institutional development lags behind its economic achievements. The study also investigated the moderating effects of strategic mindset and subsidiary empowerment on CRM effects, issues highly relevant to MNCs and their subsidiaries.Design/methodology/approachTo minimize common method variance, the study adopted a multi-informant firm executive survey design that included responses from a director and a manager from 230 foreign subsidiaries operating in China. The director-level respondents assessed Firm Competences, Organizational Ties, Subsidiary Performance and Future Opportunities. The manager-level respondents assessed CSR activities (Legal, Ethical and Philanthropic CSR) and other operational measures.FindingsThe two CRM components affected Subsidiary Performance (sales, shares and profit) and Future Opportunities in different ways as postulated by legitimacy theory. While Post-crisis Recovery enhanced Subsidiary Performance (sales), it could not enhance Future Opportunities by itself unless the subsidiary received headquarters empowerment. Interestingly, only Ethical and Philanthropic CSR activities with enhancement from Strategic Mindset mattered to Future Opportunities.Originality/valueThe research unfolded key elements in how foreign subsidiaries planned CRM strategies to gain legitimacy and acceptance in a host market with less-developed institutions, thereby addressing a gap in the literature. It also showed how firms internalize CRM and became receptive to social sentiments of a significant host market.

When Bad Becomes Good: The Role of Congruence and Product Type in the CSR Initiatives of Stigmatized Industries

This study examines how congruence and product type affect consumer responses in the context of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of stigmatized industries. This study conducted two experiments with college students to assess the effects of congruence and CSR type (cause-related marketing vs. advocacy advertising) (Study 1) and effects of congruence and product type (hedonic vs. utilitarian) (Study 2) on consumers’ corporate evaluations. The results of Study 1 showed that congruence generates weaker attributions of corporate altruistic motives and greater negative perceptions of corporate credibility and attitude than incongruence. However, there was no significant effect of CSR type on consumers’ evaluations of a company. The findings of Study 2 revealed significant main effects for product type. When CSR initiatives are associated with hedonic products, consumers’ altruistic attributions, credibility, and attitudes toward the product are more negative than when linked to utilitarian products in stigmatized industries. Moreover, there was a marginally significant interaction effect of congruence and product type on attitude toward the company. This study contributes to the emerging body of CSR literature in stigmatized industries by empirically determining how congruence and hedonic product type may cause backlash effects.

Does Your Cause Fit My “Self”? Self-Expansion and Self-Concept in Cause-Related Marketing

Cause-related marketing is a strategic approach to differentiate, earn consumer preference, and sustain brand growth by supporting environmental and social concerns. Cause-related campaigns are effective, impact consumers decision making, and build brand preference when there is a deep identification with the cause and an understanding of consumers’ motivators, affect factors, and aspirations. How cause-brand affinity affects the relationships that consumers nurture with these brands as they expand their selves is still unknown. This study assesses the impact of cause-brand and cause-self-identity fit on brand engagement in self-concept and self-expansion driven by consumers’ intention to self-verify and self-aspire when building brand relationships. Our findings suggest that cause-brand and cause-self-identity connection allow consumers to self-expand. A cause-brand value fit beyond functional and image is required for brand credibility and engagement to self-verify. Simultaneously, consumers self-aspire due to a fit between the meaning of the cause and their ideal selves and becomes a moderator source for self-expansion. A methodological contribution identifies a new “values” dimension in the conceptualization of cause–brand fit. A theoretical model is tested through confirmatory factor analysis, LISREL, and PLS-SEM modeling. Self-expansion and social identity are the theoretical framework. This study is the first to test the notion that consumers’ self-expansion results from the concurrence of cause-brand fit, cause-self-identity fit, and brand engagement in self-concept in cause-related marketing. Keywords: Cause-related Marketing, Self-concept, Self-expansion, Cause–brand fit, Cause-self-identity fit, Branding. DOI: 10.7176/JMCR/85-09 Publication date: July 28 th 2022

Dark souveniring: just a souvenir or something more complex

ABSTRACT Dark tourism shops have faced considerable moral criticism. This study draws on site observation and worksheets associated with a field trip to the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, to examine children’s souvenir purchasing experiences. Employing thematic analysis of children’s narratives, the findings reveal that dark souvenirs can facilitate contextualisation of the site, emotional engagement, and symbolic meanings for the purchase of such souvenirs. Souvenirs and souveniring are discussed in reference to cause-related marketing strategies to balance the commemorative, educational, and economic objectives. The cause-related marketing partnership between the museum and charitable organisation enhances the acceptance of the souvenir shop and its products. The concept of cause-related marketing is valuable for explaining museum and charity shop dynamics, to inform effective management.

The impact of perceived manipulation, motives, and ethicality in cause-related marketing: a CRM+ model

ABSTRACT We developed a CRM+ Model using experimentation and structural equation modeling analysis. CRM+ demonstrates previously unexplored interrelationships among consumer-perceived manipulation, brand motives, perceived ethicality of the Cause-related Marketing, and brand attitude. CRM+ reveals that perceived ethicality of the CRM has a significant positive effect on brand attitude, though it is not as pronounced as the effect of perceived altruistic motives. Egoistic motives decrease ethicality perceptions, but has no direct effect on brand attitude. Altruistic motive perceptions diminish egoistic motive perceptions. CRM+ suggests marketing managers should prioritize emphasizing altruistic motives and ethicality of the partnership over downplaying egoistic motives.

How much can Saudi corporations benefit from cause-related marketing? Insights from exploring the charitable incentives of Saudi consumers

PurposeThis study aims to explain the impact of donations to a charity, company-cause fitting, corporate reputation, corporate philanthropic involvement and message content on Saudi consumers who purchase products that are promoted using cause-related marketing (CrM) campaigns.Design/methodology/approachStructural equation modelling partial least square is used to analyse the responses of 293 Saudi respondents.FindingsUsing Smart-PLS, the results show that donation size is positively related to the Saudi consumer’s purchase intention. However, differences in the donation amount did not affect the purchase intention. Regardless of the cause that motivates firms to donate money to philanthropic organisations, Saudi customers do not generally pay attention to the company-cause fit association. Retail corporate reputation, corporate philanthropic involvement and message content positively influence the purchase of products sold using CrM campaigns. This study explores the psychological and social attitudes Saudi customers demonstrate towards CrM campaigns. Regardless of corporation motives, Saudi customers care about charitable deeds. Moreover, positive message framing is effective when the content is emotive, comprehensive and persuasive.Originality/valueThis study explores the psychological and social attitudes Saudi customers pay towards CrM campaigns. The message content relied significantly upon the cause fit and the magnitude of the donated money. Marketing research would benefit from investigating the role of applying efficient persuasive tactics to convey and frame public messages.

Donating to a good cause: Optimal coordination design of a dyadic supply chain with socially aware consumers

Socially aware consumers care about giving to a good cause through their purchases. In reality, though, while some consumers respond favourably to companies' social responsibility initiatives, others apprehend because they do not trust the company or the effectiveness of the cause. That variability in consumers’ perceptions and purchase decisions inevitably adds to demand uncertainty. This paper studies the optimal design of a coordination mechanism for a socially responsible dyadic supply chain (SC) with a manufacturer supporting a cause-related marketing campaign (CMC) and a retailer selling to socially aware consumers. Unlike in pertinent literature, we take demand as uncertain due to consumers’ diverse and unpredictable responses to announced CMC. In a Stackelberg game setting, we determine the optimal donation size (a percentage of the selling price) for the manufacturer and the retailer’s optimal order size. We show that a two-part tariff (TPT) contract coordinates the SC. The numerical experiments demonstrate that the proposed TPT contract incentivizes the manufacturer to reach out to socially aware consumers by pledging to a charity. We also show that the proposed coordination model can achieve a Pareto-improving solution.

Price discrimination through cause‐related marketing

AbstractA common form of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by firms is to agree to donate a fixed portion of private good revenues to a charitable cause. In this paper, we explore a new rationale for such CSR known commonly as Cause‐Related Marketing (CRM). We argue that linking private good purchase with charitable donations to a partnering nongovernmental organization (NGO) allows the firm to price discriminate between altruistic consumers who wish to make charitable donations out of their income and nonaltruistic consumers who do not place any value on such donations. The disparity in altruistic propensities translates into a difference in private good value which limits the firm's ability to extract consumer surplus in the private good market. Linking private good sales to charity brings down the variation in private good value and enables the firm to appropriate greater surplus. At the same time, by inducing nonaltruistic consumers to donate through their purchase of the charity‐linked good, CRM may also increase charitable donations to the NGO beyond the level that would be achieved under the standard voluntary contributions equilibrium. We extend our model to consider the effects of CRM on profits and donations when altruistic consumers can choose between donating directly to the NGO out of their income and donating through their purchase of the charity‐linked good. We consider this choice in the context of CRM advertising where firms make the altruism of their consumers public and thus provide exhibition value to donations made through the charity‐linked good. We find that the case for CRM strengthens when we allow the firm to appropriate exhibition utility through advertising while enabling greater donations for the NGO through direct donations as well as CRM.