The Influence of Cause-Related Marketing on Millennials’ Purchase Intentions: Evidence of CSR from an Emerging Economy

Swapna J Shetty, Molly Sanjay Chaudhuri, Ankitha Shetty
(Submitted 26 March 2020)
(Published 20 May 2021)

Abstract


Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been implemented through sponsorships, philanthropy, and cause-related marketing (CRM), amongst which CRM has aroused the interest of many academicians and stakeholders. The study aims to examine the antecedents of cause-related marketing while considering attitude as a mediator to test its relationship with the purchase intention. The snowball sampling technique for data collection was administered to Indian millennial consumers from the regions of Karnataka and Kerala. A total of 313 valid cases were selected for the analysis, which employed partial least squares (PLS) based on structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings have shown that a positive relationship exists between cause participation and purchase intention. Further, product/cause congruence & consumer/cause identification had a positive impact on attitude, while attitude, in turn, showed a favorable association with the purchase intention. This study disclosed the relative importance of the compatibility between the social causes supported by the company with its engaged business while adopting CRM campaigns, and highlighted the need for the involvement of consumers in the CRM programs for their effectiveness.


Keywords


cause-related marketing, product-cause congruence, consumer-cause identification, cause participation, purchase intention

Full Text: PDF

DOI: 10.22146/gamaijb.55069

References


Aaker, David A. 2005. Strategic Market Management (7th ed.). New York: John Wiley.

Anderson, J. C., &Gerbing, D. W. (1988). Structural equation modeling in practice: A review& recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103(3), 411–423.

Anuar, Marhana Mohamed, and Osman Mohamad. (2012). Effects of skepticism on consumer response toward cause-related marketing in Malaysia. International Business Research, 5 (9):98-105.

Anupam Singh & Priyanka Verma (2017). Driving brand value through CSR initiatives: An empirical study in Indian perspective. Global Business Review, Vol 19, iss. 1, pp. 85-98.

Bae, M. (2016). Effects of various types of cause-related marketing (CRM) ad appeals on consumers’ visual attention, perceptions, and purchase intentions. Journal of Promotion Management, 22(6), 810–834.

Barone, M. J., Norman, A. T., & Miyazaki, A. D. (2007). Consumer response to retailer use of cause-related marketing: is more fit better? Journal of Retailing, 83(4), 437–445.

Barone, Michael & Miyazaki, Anthony & Taylor, Kimberly. (2000). The Influence of Cause-Related Marketing on Consumer Choice: Does One Good Turn Deserve Another? Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 28. 248-262.

Baltar, F. and Brunet, I. (2012). Social research 2.0: virtual snowball sampling method using Facebook. Internet Research, Vol. 22No. 1, pp. 57-74.

Bendapudi, N., Singh, S. N., & Bendapudi, V. (1996). Enhancing helping behavior: An integrative framework for promotion planning. Journal of Marketing, 60(3), 33-49.

Benezra, K. (1996). Cause & effects marketing. Brand week, Vol. 22, pp. 38-40.

Berger, I.E., Cunningham, P.H. & Drumwright, M.E. (2006). Identity, identification, & relationship through social alliances. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol.34 No. 2, pp. 128-137.

Bhattacharya, C.B. & Sen, S. (2003). Consumer-company identification: a framework for understanding consumers’ relationships with companies. Journal of Marketing, Vol. 67 No. 2, pp. 76-88.

Bigne-Alcaniz, E., Curras-Perez, R. and Sanchez-Garcia, I. (2009). Brand credibility in cause-related marketing: the moderating role of consumer values. Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 437-447.

Bronn, P. & A. Vrioni. (2001). Corporate Social Responsibility & Cause Related Marketing: An Overview. International Journal of Advertising, 20(2), 205-222.

Brown, Tom J. & Peter A. Dacin. (1997). The Company & the Product: Corporate Associations & Consumer Product Responses. Journal of Marketing, 61 (January), 68-84.

Cause-driven marketing engages Asia. (2016, July 25). WARC.Accessed on 07 July-2020, URL https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/news/causedriven_marketing_engages_asia/37128

Chang, C.-T. (2008). To Donate or Not to Donate? Product Characteristics and Framing Effects of Cause-Related Marketing on Consumer Purchase Behavior. Psychology & Marketing,Vol. 25(12), 1089–1110.

Chang, C.T. and Cheng, Z.H. (2015). Tugging on heartstrings: shopping orientation, mindset, and consumer responses to cause-related marketing. Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 127 No. 2, pp. 337-350.

Chattananon, A., Lawley, M., Supparerkchaisakul, N., & Leelayouthayothin, L. (2008). Impacts of Thai cause- related marketing on corporate image. International Journal of Emerging Markets, Vol. 3(4), pp. 348-63.

Chin, W. (2001). PLS—Graph user’s guide. PLS-graph user’s guide version 3.0. Houston, TX: Soft Modeling Inc.

Chowdhury, T. G. & Khare, A. (2011). Matching a cause with self-schema: the moderating effect on brand preference. Psychology & Marketing, 28(8), 825-842.

Cone (2010). 2010 cause evolution study. Retrieved from https://www.conecomm.com/research-blog/2010-cause-evolution-study

Creswell, J.W. (2014). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research, 4th Ed., Pearson Education Limited, UK.

Drumwright, Minette E. (1996). Company Advertising with a Social Dimension: The Role of Noneconomic Criteria. Journal of Marketing, 60 (October), 71-87.

Duarte, Paulo Alexandre de Oliveira Silva, Susana Costa e. (2018). The role of consumer-cause identification & attitude in the intention to purchase cause-related products. International Marketing Review.

Eastman, J. K., Smalley, K. B., & Warren, J. C. (2019). The Impact of Cause-Related Marketing on Millennials’ Product Attitudes and Purchase Intentions. Journal of Promotion Management, 25(6), 799–826.

Ellen, P. S., Webb, D. J., & Mohr, L. A. (2006). Building corporate associations: Consumer attributions for corporate socially responsible programs. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34, 147-157.

Eurostat (2009). Youth in Europe: A Statistical Portrait. Brussels: European Commission.

Eurostat (2015). Being Young in Europe Today. Brussels: European Commission.

File, K.M. & Prince, R.A. (1998). Cause related marketing & corporate philanthropy in theprivately held enterprise. Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 17 No. 14, pp. 1529-1539.

For a Worthwhile Cause. (2007, May 5). Financial Express. Retrieved from https://www.financialexpress.com/archive/for-a-worthwhile-cause/198440/

Gray, R. (2000). Developing a tight fit is crucial to CRM. Marketing, No. 4, pp. 37-8.

Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E., & Tatham, R. L. (2006). Multivariatedata analysis (6th ed.), Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Pearson Prentice-Hall.

Hair, J. F., Jr., Anderson, E. R., Tatham, L. R., & Black, C. W. (1998). Multivariate dataanalysis (5th ed.), London, UK: Prentice-Hall.

Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2014). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), Los Angeles: Sage Publication.

Hair, J. F., Sarstedt, M., Hopkins, L., & Kuppelwieser, V. G. (2014). Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM): An emerging tool for business research. European Business Review, 26, 106–121.

Hair, J.F., Ringle, C.M., & Sarstedt, M. (2011). PLS-SEM: Indeed a silver bullet. Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, 19(2), 139–151.

Hajjat, M. (2003). Effect of cause-related marketing on attitudes and purchase intentions: Themoderating role of cause involvement and donation size. Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing, 11, no. 1: 93–109.

Haley, E. (1996). Exploring the construct of organization as source: consumers’ understandings of organizational sponsorship of advocacy advertising. Journal of Advertising, Vol. 25No. 2, pp. 19-35.

Hammad, H., El-Bassiouny, N., Paul, P., & Mukhopadhyay, K. (2014). Antecedents and consequences of consumers’ attitudinal dispositions toward cause-related marketing in Egypt. Journal of Islamic Marketing, 5(3), 414–445.

Hill, R.P. (2017). Essay on Moral Marketer Behaviour: Beyond Corporate Social Responsibility. Global Business Review, 18(3_suppl), S70-S74.

Hoeffler, S. & Keller, K.L. (2002). Building brand equity through corporate societal marketing. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 78-89.

Hou, J., Du, L. & Li, J. (2008). Cause’s attributes influencing consumer’s purchasing intention: empirical evidence from China. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing & Logistics, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 363-380.

Hulland, J. (1999). Use of partial least squares (PLS) in strategic management research: A review of four recent studies. Strategic Management Journal, 20(2), 195–204.

Human, D., & Terblanche, N. S. (2012). Who receives what? The influence of the donation magnitude and donation recipent in cause-related marketing. Journal of Nonprofit&Public Sector Marketing, 24(2), 141–160.

Hyllegard, K., Yan, R., Ogle, J. & Attmann, J. (2010). The influence of gender, social cause, charitable support, & message appeal on Gen Y’s responses to cause- related marketing. Journal of Marketing Management, 27(1-2), 100-123.

Joe¨lleVanhamme, Adam Lindgreen, Jon Reast & Nathalie van Popering (2011). To Do Wellby Doing Good: Improving Corporate Image Through Cause-Related Marketing. Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 109 No 3, pp. 259-274g.

Jonas-Dwyer, D., & Pospisil, R. (2004). The Millennial effect: Implications for academic development. Report for HERDSA, Australia.

Kim, Y. J., & Lee, W.-N. (2009). Overcoming consumer skepticism in cause-related marketing: The effects of corporate social responsibility and donation size claimobjectivity. Journal of Promotion Management, 15(4), 465–483.

Kline, R. B. (1998). Principles & practice of structural equation modeling. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2012). L. (2006) Marketing management

Kotler, L., & Nancy, L. (2002). Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most for Your Company & Your Cause. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Ladero, M., Casquet, C. & Singh, J. (2015). Understanding factors influencing consumer attitudes toward cause-related marketing. International Journal of Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Marketing, 20, 52-70.

Lafferty, B. A., & Edmonson, D. R. (2009). Portraying the cause instead of the brand in cause-related marketing ads: Does it matter? Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Vol. 17(2), pp. 129-43.

Lafferty, B. and Edmondson, D. (2013).A note on the role of cause type in cause-relatedmarketing, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 67 No. 7, pp. 1455-1460.

Lafferty, B.A., Lueth, A.K. & McCafferty, R. (2016). An evolutionary process model of cause-related marketing & systematic review of the empirical literature. Psychology &Marketing, Vol. 33 No. 11, pp. 951-970.

Lichtenstein, D. R., Drumwright, M. E., and Braig, B. M. (2004). The Effect of Corporate Social Responsibility on Customer Donations to Corporate-Supported Non-profits. Journal of Marketing, 68(4), 16-32.

Lohmöller, J.B. (1989). Latent variable path modeling with partial least squares. Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag.

Luna, I. R. D., Montoro-Ríos, F., Liébana- Cabanillas, F., & Luna, J. G. D. (2017). NFC technology acceptance for mobile payments: A Brazilian Perspective. Review of Business Management, 19(63), 82-103.

Marhana Mohamed Anuar and Osman Mohamad (2012). Consumer Response to Cause-related Marketing: A Case of Malaysia. Journal of Asian Business Strategy, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp. 71-76.

Nan, X., & Heo, K. (2007). Consumer response to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives: examining the role of brand-cause fit in cause-related marketing. Journal of Advertising, Vol. 36(2), pp. 63-74.

Nunnally, J. (1978). Psychometric theory. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Office, C. S., & Implementation, P. (2017). Youth in India 2017.

Pandey, S., Chawla, D., Jeong, L. S., Bautista, R., & Santos, J. E. (2020). An Experimental Approach to Examine the Antecedents of Attitude, Intention, and Loyalty Towards Cause-related Marketing: The Case of India and the Philippines. Global Business Review.

Patel, J.D., Gadhavi, D.D. & Shukla, Y.S. (2017). Consumers’ responses to cause related marketing: moderating influence of cause involvement &skepticism on attitude and purchase intention. International Review on Public & Nonprofit Marketing, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 1-18.

Petrenko, O. V., Aime, F., Ridge, J., & Hill, A. (2016). Corporate Social Responsibility or CEO Narcissism? CSR Motivations and Organizational Performance. Strategic Management Journal, 37(2), 262-279.

Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Podsakoff, N. P., & Lee, J. Y. (2003). The mismeasure of management & its implications for leadership research. The Leadership Quarterly, 14(6), 615–656.

Prensky M (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants’ part 1. On the Horizon 9(5): 2–6.

Richardson, H. A., Simmering, M. J., & Sturman, M. C. (2009). A tale of three perspectives: Examining post hoc statistical techniques for detection & correction of common method variance. Organizational Research Methods, 12(4), 762–800.

Ringle, C. M., Wende, S., & Becker, J-M. (2015). “SmartPLS 3,” www.smartpls.com

Samu, S., &Wymer, W. (2009). The effect of fit & dominance in cause marketing communications. Journal of Business Research, 62(4), 432-440.

Sciulli, L. M., & Bebko, C. (2005). Social cause versus profit-oriented advertisements: An analysis of information content and emotional appeals. Journal of Promotion Management, 11(2–3), 17–36.

Sen, S. and Bhattacharya, C.B. (2001). Does doing good always lead to doing better? Consumer reactions to corporate social responsibility. Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 38 No. 2, pp. 225-243.

Shabbir, S., Kaufmann, H. R., Ahmad, I., & M. Qureshi, I. (2010). Cause-related marketing and consumers purchase intention: the moderating role of brand awareness and corporate image. African Journal of Business Management, Vol. 4(6), pp. 1229-35.

Sheikh, S.-R. & Beise-Zee, R. (2011). Corporate social responsibility or cause‐related marketing? The role of cause specificity of CSR. Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 27-39.

Shree, D., Gupta, A., & Sagar, M. (2017). Effectiveness of cause-related marketing for differential positioning of market entrant in developing market: An exploratory study in Indian context. International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 22(2), 1–13.

Shruti Gupta and Julie Pirsch. (2006). The company-cause-customer fit decision in cause-related marketing Shruti. Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol.6, pp. 314–326.

Skarmeas, D. and Leonidou, C.N. (2013). When consumers doubt, watch out! The role of CSR scepticism. Journal of Business Research, Vol. 66 No. 10, pp. 1831-1838.

Strahilevitz, M., & Myers, J. G. (1998). Donations to charity as purchase incentives. How well they work may depend on what you are trying to sell. Journal of Consumer Research, 24(4), 434–446.

Subrahmanyan, S. (2004). Effects of price premium & product type on the choice of cause-related brands: a Singapore perspective. Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 13(2), pp. 116-24.

Sweta Srivastava Malla & Ruhee Singh (2017). Does Corporate Social Responsibility Matter in Buying Behaviour? —A Study of Indian Consumers. Global Business Review, 18(3) 781–794.

Tajfel, H. & Turner, J. (1985). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior, in S. Worcehl and W.G. Austin (eds.). Psychology of Intergroup Relations. 2nd ed., (Nelson-Hall, Chicago IL), pp. 7-24.

Tangari, A.H., Folse, J.A.G., Burton, S. and Kees, J. (2010). The moderating influence of consumers’ temporal orientation on the framing of societal needs and corporate responses in cause-related marketing campaigns. Journal of Advertising, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 35-50.

Ting, H., Cyril de Run, E., & Thurasamy, R. (2015). Young Adults’ Attitude Towards Advertising: a multi-group analysis by ethnicity. Revista Brasileira de Gestão e Negócio 17(54), 769-787.

Twenge JM (2006). Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled – & More Miserable than Ever before. New York: Free Press.

Vanhamme, J., Lindgreen, A., Reast, J., & van Popering, N. (2012). To do well by doing good: Improving corporate image through cause-related marketing. Journal of Business Ethics, 109(3), 259–274.

Varadarajan, P.R. & Menon, A. (1988). Cause-related marketing: a coalignment of marketing strategy & corporate philanthropy. Journal of Marketing, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 58-74.

Webb, Deborah J. & Lois A. Möhr. 1998. A Typology of Consumer Responses to Cause-Related Marketing: From Skeptics to Socially Concerned. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 17, 2: 226-238.

Zdravkovic, S., Magnusson, P. & Stanley, S.M. (2010). Dimensions of fit between a brand and a social cause and their influence on attitudes. International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 151-160.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.




Copyright (c) 2021 Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.