Attribution and Effectiveness of Cause-Related Marketing: The Interplay between Cause–Brand Fit and Corporate Reputation

Abstract

In cause-related marketing (CRM) programs, the fit between the cause and brand is an important factor influencing consumer perceptions and behavior. However, the literature demonstrates that there is disagreement regarding the effect of cause–brand fit on consumer responses with varying corporate reputation. This study aims to examine the influence of cause–brand fit on consumer attitudes, attributed company motives, and the moderating role of corporate reputation. With a two (fit: high/low) by three (reputation: low/medium/high) experimental study, we reveal that consumers hold positive attitudes toward companies that engage in CRM campaigns. The effect of cause–brand fit on consumer-attributed company motives is moderated by corporate reputation. For low-reputation companies, a high cause–brand fit CRM campaign resulted in consumers attributing more negative motives to companies than low-fit campaigns. The opposite was true for medium-reputation companies. Meanwhile, high-reputation companies with a high cause–brand fit elicit greater value-driven attributed motives from consumers than other motives. Recommendations for implementing CRM programs and for future research are discussed.

A Systematic Review of Experimental Studies Investigating the Effect of Cause-Related Marketing on Consumer Purchase Intention

“…Therefore, the CRM strategy has been widely adopted by companies all over the world. According to the IEG (Innovation Excellence Growth) Sponsorship Spending Report (2019) [13], CRM generated sponsorship has increased from USD 630 million [14] to USD 2.23 billion in the last two decades [13].…”

Cause‐related marketing in pandemic context—The effects of cause‐brand fit and cause‐brand alliance on customer‐based legitimacy and reputation

“…As such, the more customers perceive the cause–brand alliance positively, the more likely they are to participate in the alliance through their purchases (Myers et al, 2013). Additionally, in high cause–brand fit CRM campaigns, customers attribute more negative motives (i.e., stakeholder‐driven and egoistic reasons to implement such campaigns) to low reputation firms (Zhang et al, 2020). Given that customers play the role of legitimating agents (Lillqvist et al, 2018), how they perceive the level of cause–brand fit (Lafferty, 2007) and form their attitude toward the cause–brand alliance (Myers et al, 2013) determines whether they grant or deny legitimacy to the brands' CRM campaigns.…”

“…Studies have also highlighted the psychological role of brand trust in higher donation intention in CRM campaigns during the COVID pandemic (Huang & Liu, 2020). Nevertheless, the effect of cause–brand fit on consumers' attitudes and behaviors in the CRM context is still debatable (Zhang et al, 2020). Overall, the latest studies suggest a more promising CRM effect on long‐term image building than on companies' sales (Schamp et al, 2022).…”

Fundamental Power of Social Media Interactions for Building a Brand and Customer Relations

“…A number of authors believe that the operationalization of the brand and the credibility of social media communication messages represent a mix between the visual elements that shape the corporate reputation and the aspects that the organization projects abroad and aims to be recognized online [63,64]. Thus, the inter-dependence link between identity and image in the formation of the online brand can be observed.…”