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Increased word-of-mouth via strategic cause-related marketing
Abstract
This research examines word‐of‐mouth (WOM) promotions as an additional consequence of a successful cause‐related marketing (CRM) partnership. Firms properly aligned in CRM partnerships should increase positive feelings that can translate into positive WOM from the public. WOM efforts should be considered in marketing campaigns to develop successful long‐term CRM strategies. Additionally, carefully planned CRM campaigns with positive WOM give firms a competitive advantage without the backlash of consumer skepticism often reported when firms attempt to manipulate WOM campaigns. This study is grounded in associative learning theory which provides support for the strengthened associative links between firm and charity when the relationship is properly aligned. This empirical study suggests that strategically aligned CRM relationships can improve positive WOM recommendations. Results of ANOVA and factor analysis indicate that consumers are more receptive to CRM partnerships that consist of compatibility between firm and charity that persist over time. Results suggest that consumers are more likely to recommend the more properly aligned partnerships to others.
Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
... From the perspective of promoting the social responsibility initiatives, cause-related marketing (CRM) can be considered an effective tool. In addition, its emergence represented a defining frame for aligning, from strategic considerations, both corporate and philanthropic objectives, at the level of all the facets of the company's promotional strategy (Liu & Ko, 2011;Thomas, Mullen & Fraedrich, 2011). ...
... Furthermore, as opposed to sponsorship, the first element which occurs in the case of CRM is represented by the consumer behavior and then, as a result, the company makes a donation in order to support the cause (Cornwell & Coote, 2005). Given the previous definitions and statements, we agree on the idea that the key-element of cause-related marketing Business Excellence and Management Volume 9 Issue 2 / June 2019 nt 8 reveals the fact that the donation offer is conditioned by the consumer, committing himself in a revenue producing transaction with a partner (oriented towards obtaining profit) of the NGO (Thomas, Mullen & Fraedrich, 2011). Consequently, in a CRM context, we refer to three categories of entities -company, nonprofit organization (as a certain cause representative), and consumer. ...
... Several studies indicate that the reputation is the most important intangible asset hold by NGOs, situation that determines their representatives to be more and more aware of the importance of the marketing concepts as organizational identity, or brand image and personality. The organizational identity also reflects itself into the cause related to the NGOs' object of activity, so that the corporate donor is influenced in terms of brands included in its portfolio or identity (Sarstedt & Schloderer, 2010;Thomas, Mullen & Fraedrich, 2011). So, the image attached to the social cause is projected over the company which involves itself in supporting it. ...
The nonprofit sector and the organizations that define it are characterized by a particular approach. In this regard, NGOs’ overall activity is strongly influenced by their ability of financing it through a generous palette of fundraising methods. The current paper is centered on one of the most used ones, namely the one of cause-related marketing. In this regard, it could be assumed that it acts as a connecting element between the represented social cause and the financial support that could be obtained through financial means from a corporate entity that decides to integrate its own brand image. Moreover, given the fact that it is transaction-based, the fundraising method under discussion requires the presence of a third-party, namely the one of the consumer that decides to support the social cause represented by the nonprofit organization that involves itself in such a mutually beneficial program.
... Усните препораки се тема на проучување во психологијата на однесување на потрошувачите и маркетингот во последниве неколку децении. Нивната важност произлегува од влијанието врз донесувањето одлуки кај потрошувачите (Thomas, Mullen, & Fraedrich, 2011). Истражувањата укажуваат дека усните препораки (Word of Mouth -WOM) имаат значајно влијание на јавното мислење, и на проценката на квалитетот на производите и услугите при купувањето и се поефикасни од повеќето други маркетинг алатки (Kietzmann & Canhoto, 2013;Kozinets, Valck, Wojnicki, & Wilner, 2010). ...
... Од маркетиншки аспект истата е неплатена алатка, но како извор на информации може да се јави во позитивна или негативна форма (Groeger & Buttle, 2014). Влијанието на усните препораки произлегува од тоа што најчесто се споделуваат преку неформални канали на комуникација, а ваквата интерперсонална комуникација ги поттикнува луѓето да пробуваат нови нешта, или, пак, да се воздржат од тоа (Berger, 2014;Kiecker & Cowles, 2002;Thomas et al., 2011). Иако е прилично застапена тема во маркетингот, малку е истражувана од аспект на процесите кои се случуваат на индивидуално ниво и кои ги поттикнуваат самите потрошувачи да се впуштат во процесите на споделување усни препораки. ...
... Електронското ширење на усните препораки станува важна комуникациска алатка, како за компаниите, така и за потрошувачите. Претходните истражувања укажуваат дека усните препораки имаат големо влијание врз донесувањето одлуки, како и врз преференциите и изборот на потрошувачите (Kiecker & Cowles, 2002;Thomas et al., 2011). Притоа, постојат повеќе варијабли кои влијаат на однесувањето на потрошувачите при примањето и ширењето на усните препораки (Berger & Schwartz, 2011;Chu & Kim, 2011;Kiecker & Cowles, 2002), а дел од нив се специфично поврзани со ширењето на електронските усни препораки (Chu & Kim, 2011;Kiecker & Cowles, 2002). ...
... Outcome variables Effects of CRM on outcomes Varadarajan and Menon (1988) Purchase behavior CRM will positively influence consumers' initial and continuous purchase intention Ross et al. (1992) Product evaluation Consumers had better evaluation and higher purchase preference for products with CRM and were willing to convert their current brands into corporate brands with a higher level of social responsibility Sánchez (2000) Advertising effectiveness Charity marketing helped enterprises to establish a good image and brand recognition and had a better advertising effect Chaney and Dolli (2001) Actual purchase behavior Most consumers would show their support for the CRM activities through actual purchase behavior Kalligeros (2005) Emotional connections and purchase behaviors CRM could create emotional connections between consumers and products which could further affect consumers' purchase behaviors Lee Thomas et al. (2011) Consumers' attitudes and brand credibility CRM made companies benefit from improvement of consumers' attitudes and credibility toward brand Moosmayer Dirk and Fuljahn (2013) Evaluation of the firm When consumers believed that the CRM campaign was based on altruistic motives, their evaluations of the firm would be improved significantly Frontiers in Psychology | www.frontiersin.org charitable marketing activities (Human and Terblanche, 2012;Yoo et al., 2018). ...
... Previous studies of CRM have focused on promotional aspects, like cause-brand fit (Trimble and Rifon, 2006;Lafferty, 2007;Lee Thomas et al., 2011;Myers and Kwon, 2013), firm-cause fit (Gupta and Pirsch, 2006;Koschate-Fischer et al., 2012;Elving, 2013), ad type (Hyllegard et al., 2010;Chang, 2011Chang, , 2012Tucker et al., 2012), and ad focus (Lafferty, 2009;Samu and Wymer, 2009), but few studies have focused on CRM approach (BOGO and BOGM) and their respective application scope, not to mention comparing two CRM approaches in one study. Additionally, although there have been some studies on product types in CRM (Strahilevitz and Myers, 1998;Strahilevitz, 1999;Lafferty et al., 2004;Hou et al., 2008;Chang and Liu, 2012), they have not explored the interaction of product type and CRM approach on consumers' purchase intention. ...
With the progress of social and improvement of public awareness, the demand for enterprises to participate in a social welfare cause is increasing. A company can directly support corporate social responsibility issues through cause-related marketing (CRM) approaches, for example, by donating part of the proceeds from product sales (i.e., buy-one give-money or BOGM) or simply by donating their products (i.e., buy-one give-one or BOGO). Previous research has only discussed the impact of one of these CRM approaches on customers in one study. This research compared the effect of these two approaches on the purchase intention of consumers. Experiment 1 demonstrated that, for practical products, the purchase intention of BOGO (vs. BOGM) was higher, while for hedonic products, the purchase intention of BOGM (vs. BOGO) was higher. More importantly, we found a potential mechanism – perceived helpfulness – that drives our main effect. Experiment 2 revealed that the different statement order of charity information and product information in advertising can moderate the main effect. The research also provides several implications and insight into how companies can make donations while winning more customers’ willingness to pay, thus encouraging more companies to fulfill their corporate social responsibility.
... Many small nonprofit organizations do not have the resources for traditional marketing or media; thus, positive word of mouth and referrals are an important influence on member acquisition, donor loyalty, and organizational reputation building (Williams & Buttle, 2013). Positive word of mouth can emulate from the services provided, networking practices, strategic alliances, the volunteers/ officers themselves, and other communication practices (Thomas, Mullen, & Fraedrich, 2011;Williams & Buttle, 2013). Indeed, given that SR offers a relationship-building activity within organizations and has an indirect influence on positive word-of-mouth communication (Waters & Ott, 2014), nonprofit organizations may be able to build their reputation, organizational value, and stakeholder loyalty through the communication channels of their members. ...
... Word of mouth refers to the active promotion of the club to people who are not members. This construct was operationalized as a five-item measure developed from the literature on word of mouth in sport volunteering contexts (Lee et al., 2016) and nonprofit cause-related marketing (Thomas et al., 2011). In the current study, participants were asked to rate the following items on a 7-point Likert-type scale (0 = strongly disagree to 6 = strongly agree): (1) "I encourage my friends to join this club," (2) "I like providing information about my club to people," (3) "I tell others about my club," (4) "I speak positively to others about my club," and (5) "I recommend my club to people who seek my advice." ...
Membership-based associations are critical to their local communities and the overall social impact of the non- profit sector. This study examines how organizational social responsibility within nonprofit membership asso- ciations influences positive member involvement behav- iors, including volunteering, speaking positively about the club, and member loyalty. Self-administered online questionnaires were completed by 735 members within seven grassroots membership associations in Ontario, Canada offering community-based sport programs. Results show that members are somewhat aware of and felt positively about their organization's socially respon- sible efforts. Awareness of these efforts had a positive direct effect on the involvement behaviors of members, including intention to stay involved with their club and speaking positively about their club to others (i.e., word of mouth). Members' level of social consciousness was found to have a positive direct effect on word of mouth. Furthermore, members' positive evaluation of sport clubs' socially responsible initiatives was found to par- tially mediate the positive relationship between social consciousness and involvement behavior, as well as par- tially mediate the positive relationship between aware- ness of those efforts and involvement behavior. Results of this research provide grassroots membership ssociations with an in-depth understanding of how their organization's efforts toward social responsibility influence member perceptions and behaviors, which may help them focus their efforts and more effectively manage their social change agenda moving forward.
... Korištenje marketinga općeg dobra na taktičkoj razini temelji se na povećanju efikasnosti promocije proizvoda ili usluga s ciljem ostvarivanja veće prodaje. Robinson et al. (2012) upućuju na novi oblik marketinga općeg dobra koji se sve više primjenjuje, a to je koncept prema kojem poduzeća dopuštaju potrošačima da sami biraju kojem bi se dobrotvornom događaju trebalo pomoći. Na taj način se očekuje veća efikasnost koncepta marketinga opće dobrobit. ...
... To može dovesti do shvaćanja da dobrotvorne organizacije zapravo više i ne trebaju pomoć zbog čega prestanu davati priloge te se ukupna prikupljena sredstva smanjuju. U konačnici to ima štetne posljedice za njih jer su neprofitne organizacije, zbog manjka sredstava primorane smanjiti svoje aktivnosti i usluge.Poduzeća koja primjenjuju ovaj koncept mogu kod potrošača izazvati osjećaj da se kroz pomoć u financiranju dobrotvorne svrhe zapravo pomaže financiranju razvoja proizvoda i/ili usluga poduzeća (navedeno u.Organizacija koja odabere partnera sa sličnim ciljevima, kupcima/korisnicima i namjerama može smanjiti potrošačev skepticizam prema motivima tvrtke i tako dobiti željeni ishod marketinga opće dobrobiti (ThomasLee et al. 2011). Sullivan (1997 prema Simcic Brønn i Vrioni Belliu (2001) ističe da sljedeće izjave dovode do paradoksne situacije kada firme razmatraju koncept marketinga općeg dobra:"Ukoliko poduzeća ne pružaju previše informacija o dobrotvornim programima koje podupiru, tada potrošači vjeruju da sigurno nešto skrivaju. ...
Društveno odgovorno poslovanje (eng. Social Responsible Marketing) je suvremena poslovna praksa koju primjenjuje sve veći broj poduzeća kako u svijetu tako i u Hrvatskoj. Učinkovitu primjenu ovakve poslovne prakse osigurava dobra i etički prihvatljiva komunikacija sa svim interesno-utjecajnim skupinama pri čemu je značajna uloga marketinga kao komunikacijskog kanala. Postoji širok izbor između alternativa prema kojima poduzeća mogu poslovati društveno odgovorno, a svaka od tih alternativa nudi brojne koristi za sve uključene strane. U posljednjih nekoliko godina "društvena osjetljivost” sve više dolazi do izražaja, a upravo to je pogodovalo pojavi i sve većoj primjeni marketinga opće dobrobiti (eng. Cause Related Marketing-CRM). Marketing opće dobrobiti se smatra "win-win" situacijom prema kojoj sve uključene strane (poduzeće, neprofitna organizacija i potrošači), imaju koristi. Unatoč brojnim prednostima ne smiju se zanemariti niti potencijalni problemi koji se mogu javiti prilikom primjene marketinga opće dobrobiti.
... The acceptability of mCRM is on a rising trend, as it is cost-effective, it reaches a wider customer base and it has the ability to gather real-time customer information and feedback (Buttle, 1998). This relationship impacts positively on customers satisfaction and increases loyalty which leads to positive WOM (Ejaz et al., 2013, Lee et al., 2011, Zalloum et al., 2019, Christofi et al., 2020, leading to third hypothesis: ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of mobile customer relationship management (mCRM), service innovation (SI) and word of mouth (WOM) on the investment decisions (IDs) of mutual fund investors.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a new model for impacting the IDs of mutual fund investors. To verify the suggested model, Partial Least Squares with Structural Equation Modelling are used. For analysis, a survey questionnaire is designed, and data inputs were invited from more than 400 online mutual fund investors in Delhi NCR.
Findings
The outcomes reveal that the ID of mutual fund investors is significantly influenced by WOM. WOM, in turn, is significantly impacted by mCRM applications through SI playing a mediating role.
Research limitations/implications
The limitation with reference to survey respondents was that only online mutual fund investors using mCRM applications were considered. Moreover, this study was conducted in Delhi NRC, and a limited sample was considered.
Practical implications
The result from this research helps the financial organisation to consider SI in their mCRM application as one of the main concerned areas for increased WOM that directly influences the ID of mutual fund investors.
Originality/value
This study highlighted the impact of SI and WOM on the mutual fund investors’ decision, who use mCRM application. The outcome may contribute to the theoretical framework of IDs concerning mCRM applications. The results of this research offer practical implications for financial organisations in strategising their marketing and product development plans in the context of mutual funds. Also, the mutual fund ID through mCRM application is positively influenced by SI and WOM using both constructs as sequential mediating tools. This research offers new insights into mCRM application for mutual fund investors and financial organisations in India.
... Successful CRM programs have been tied with various corporate objectives such as increased sales, enhanced corporate brand image, thwarting negative publicity, and facilitating market entry (e.g., Bronn & Vrioni, 2001;Gupta & Pirsch, 2006b;McWilliams & Siegel, 2001;Varadarajan & Menon, 1988). Other benefits such as switching brands or retailers, increasing positive word of mouth, and reducing employee turnover with CRM programs have also been reported (e.g., DiNitto, 1989;Meyer, 1999;Smith & Alcorn, 1991;Thomas, Mullen, & Fraedrich, 2011). ...
... Kuterz and Lazarfold (2015) concluded that the effect of people's words on each other is seven times more effective than the advertisements in newspapers and magazines (Ennew et al, 2020). Parvadan and Vowra (2014) realized that people think 90% of commercial adverts are unbelievable, while they believe 90% of word-of-mouth advertisings are believable and authentic (Thomas et al., 2011). ...
1 Associate Professor, Department of Industrial Management, Rasht Branch, *Corresponding Author Email: M.Taleghani454@yahoo.com Given the changes that have recently occurred in the banking industry of Iran, including the development of private banks, and since state-owned banks have joined the private sector, the competition in the industry is growing. In such an environment, keeping current customers and attracting new customers require an efficient and effective management in all the aspects of the bank with an emphasis on marketing management. On the other hand, since Iranian customers do not have enough trust in media advertising and they believe advertisements and commercials do not give true and real information to them, in their purchase decisions, they rely on the information that they have obtained through friends and acquaintances, because they think they are more believable. In these circumstances, one of the ways in which banks can differentiate themselves from others and gain a competitive advantage, is the use of word-of-mouth advertising. Given the importance of this issue, the purpose of this research is to study the factors affecting the formation of word-of-mouth advertising among bank customers of MelliBank branches in Guilan Province. A questionnaire was used for data collection and structural equation modeling was used for the data analysis and hypothesis testing. This research is practical in terms of purpose and it is a descriptive survey concerning the nature and method. The results of the research suggest that customer focus, relationship focus, interaction, and staff characteristics have a positive impact on relationship quality. It was also found that relationship quality has a positive impact on relationship continuity and word-of-mouth advertising. Moreover, the positive influence of relationship continuity on word-of-mouth advertising was also confirmed.
... A stronger emotional bonding between donors and charity brands can ensure brand loyalty (Michel and Rieunier, 2012). It is notable that positive customer-brand ties are a product of perceived credibility (Lee Thomas et al., 2011). However, recently, researchers revealed questionable brand image of charity brands as a key tension facing charitable organisations (Lee, 2013), which signals a trust deficit between charity brands and key stakeholders. ...
Purpose
The research concerning brand credibility of charity brands is scantly examined. The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role of brand credibility within the customer-based brand equity model to investigate donor perceived brand equity of charity brands.
Design/methodology/approach
In a cross-sectional research design, a survey-based research strategy is followed to collect data from 448 active Muslim donors in Pakistan. The collected data are analysed by employing confirmatory factor analysis based on Smart PLS 2.0.
Findings
The results indicate that donor perceived brand association, brand awareness and brand loyalty strongly relate to perceived brand equity of charity brands. The brand credibility moderates the relationship between perceived quality, equity and brand loyalty, and equity paths.
Practical implications
The charity brands need to focus on building a strong brand image and reputation to uplift brand credibility which can be achieved by offering training programmes addressing various social causes such as HIV and Cancer prevention.
Originality/value
The proposed moderating effects of brand credibility and its application to charity brands operating in an Asian Muslim country context are unique products of this study.
... Furthermore, SNSs can be useful for promoting electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in the digital world (Chu & Kim, 2011). Thomas, Mullen, and Fraedrich (2011) suggested that wordof-mouth (WOM) was a consequence of a successful CRM. ...
This study examined the effectiveness of cause-related marketing (CRM) and product conspicuity on social networking sites (SNSs). In addition, the moderating roles of self-monitoring were investigated. A 2 (CRM message: presence vs. absence) × 2 (Product type: conspicuous vs. inconspicuous) experimental design was employed. Results showed that CRM messages led to more favorable responses than non-CRM messages in the context of SNSs. In addition, the more conspicuous a product, the more effective a CRM message was. The moderating effect of self-monitoring was found in term of attitude toward the ad. Implications and future research were discussed.
... Studies have verified that CRM improves product sales (Andrew et al., 2014), strengthens consumer attitudes toward companies that sponsor causes (Ross et al., 1992), increases product sales prices (Leszczyc & Rothkopf, 2010), and enhances the positive image of other products under the same brand (Krishna H & Rajan, 2009). CRM also promotes relationships between stakeholders (Bhattacharya et al., 2009) and enhances a firm's positive word of mouth (Thomas et al., 2011). However, CRM also has negative effects; for example, skepticism and distrust can cause consumers to develop a perception of "cause-exploitative marketing" toward poorly designed charitable strategies implemented by companies (Sasse & Trahan, 2007;Varadarajan & Menon, 1988). ...
... Such theories are supported by findings that co-branding helps unknown or less familiar brands to build brand associations and improve perceived quality and attitudes (Voss and Gammoh 2004). Consequently, marketing strategies that feature more than one brand continue to grow (Bloom et al. 2006; Lee Thomas et al. 2011). ...
Co-branded advertising, where advertisements feature two partnered brands from different categories, should ideally benefit both brands. We test this assertion by studying the effect of featuring a second brand in advertisements on ad and brand name memorability, and the role of category context on which brand is recalled. Our test covers online display advertisements for consumer-packaged brands paired with charity and retailer brands in three markets (USA, UK, and Australia). Independent sample comparisons across 54 brand pairs show that advertising two brands has a neutral effect on ad memorability and negative effect on brand memorability. Furthermore, the advertisement’s category context determines which of the brands is recalled. Our findings support a competitive interference theory of dual-brand processing, whereby the two brands compete for attention resources. The results have implications for the return on investment from advertising expenditure, which will vary substantively depending on whether the costs of advertising are shared or borne by one brand in the pair.
... According to Gallup's Honesty and Ethics Poll "advertising is perceived as one of the most unethical businesses" (Mostafa, 2011, p. 42). Similarly, "advertising is a form of communication that does its best to make truth a minor criterion for judging its worth" (Spence and Heekeren, 2005, p. 44), while consumers see as much as 90 per cent of the advertising as non-trustworthy (Lee et al., 2011). ...
Purpose
This paper aimed to explore people’s beliefs towards Islamic advertising
Design/methodology/approach
Being exploratory in nature, this paper applied qualitative method of research by adapting thought elicitation technique of data collection. This method rests in the projective techniques of data collection, and is also known as ‘word association technique’. It allows free thinking of respondents that helps in generating rich data, most required in qualitative studies.
Findings
Various beliefs regarding Islamic advertising were extracted and categorized into different dimensions. These dimensions pertained to Islamic advertising’s possibility, nature, characteristics, real-time decisions, and potential outcomes
Research limitations/implications
Being an exploratory study, the data is collected from a small sample, hence raising generalization issues. Though, the same opens avenue for future research in that these dimensions should be subject to validation via large sample size.
Practical implications
This research will help in developing a scale to measure attitudes towards Islamic advertising, which the researchers can use to find justification for using Islamic advertising. Such application has great implications for businesses as Islamic advertising concept stands contrary to the contemporary practices.
Originality/value
It adds to the developing field of Islamic marketing, by being the first attempt of its kind in paving the way for Islamic advertising.
... In addition, these studies show that due to prices, consumers with low altruistic attitude tend to assign more negative assessments of products related to CRM than those with a high altruistic attitude. CRM has become an effective tool to increase positive word of mouth (Thomas et al. 2011). ...
It is the objective of this paper to analyse the attitudes of consumers towards CRM in terms of age, sex and education, and also in those of their financial situation. The research was conducted with the application of a direct survey in the period since 1st December, 2015, until 31st January, 2016. For the purpose of the analysis, 390 surveys, which had been completed in a correct way, were accepted. Those were presented to the respondents with the application of the five-point Likert scale in order to determine the degree of the acceptance of every single statement. This study leads to the conclusion that consumers have positive attitudes towards CRM programs. As many as 46.9 % of respondents buy products related to CRM, while 36.3 % do it impulsively. Consumers are aware of the marketing motives of running CRM (72.3 %). Only 27.7 % of respondents are willing to pay a higher price for CRM products. Young, educated women who are residents of large cities have the most favorable attitudes toward CRM. Cause Related Marketing is positively received by consumers and particularly expected in the sector of food products and products for children. The results of the research contribute to perfecting the hitherto-applied marketing activities, and also make it possible for the development of solutions within the scope of the effectiveness of CRM to take place.
... (Lee Thomas, Mullen, & Fraedrich, 2011) Organizations must invest time and money in partnering with a charity organization that supports a cause that is appealing to the customer base. (Svensson & Wood, 2011) The for-profit and non-profit organizations should evaluate their partnership and their CrM activities before presenting it to customers. ...
Cause-related marketing (CrM) has been a topic of interest to academicians, researchers and practitioners in disciplines of marketing. The increasing number of publications by various authors in this area reflects its importance. In this work, we review research papers on CrM that have been published in peer-reviewed journals in the past two decades to provide insights to researchers and practitioners into the various factors that influence the success of CrM. This study summarizes and critiques empirical findings found in cause-related marketing literature from 1988-2016 (August). Three hundred and two papers published in reputed journals during this period are reviewed. The review also identifies knowledge gaps in the area of CrM.
... Our results are consistent with previous studies on the relationship between customers sense of devotion to their organisation and their positive WOM comments in non-profit organisations settings (Hibbert et al., 2003;Lee Thomas et al., 2011). ...
Purpose- The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between perceived external prestige (PEP), the student experience, attitude, and behaviour in the context of higher education institutions.
Design/methodology/approach– A comparison of the relationships between prestige perception, the student experience, WOM, and loyalty is examined within a one highly prestigious institution and one mid-ranked institution. Multigroup structural equation modelling was employed to examine data obtained from 948 respondents at the two institutions.
Findings– While respondents from the top-ranked institution exhibit a significantly higher perception of university prestige than mid-ranked university respondents, no significant differences were found between the two groups of respondents in terms of the strengths of relationships between constructs. The analysis revealed that students’ perception of their university experience performed a full mediating effect on the relationship between PEP and WOM, as well as a partial mediating effect on the relationship between PEP and loyalty.
Practical implications– Student perceptions of the university experience is a strong indicator of attitude and behaviour. For university administrators, enhancing the student experience is just as important as managing a university’s reputation with respect to engendering loyalty and positive WOM.
Originality/value – This is the first study to link PEP with student attitude and behaviour. The findings provide interesting theoretical insights as well as useful managerial implications to enhance consumer experience which in turns affect their attitude and behaviour towards the organisation.
... Since 90% of the advertising is viewed by consumers as non-credible while 90% of WOM as credible [7], this situation has enhanced the effectiveness of WOM. Reference [8] indicated that there is indeed a positive relationship between positive WOM and the rate of satisfaction in conventional banking industry. ...
Purpose – The main purpose of this paper is to test the impact of customer satisfaction on word-of-mouth in the banking industry of Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – A framework was developed based on the extensive review of literature, with two variables – customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth. The causal relationship envisaged was tested using Structural Equation Modelling. For this purpose a self-administered structured questionnaire was distributed among 500 customers registered with different banks operating in Malaysia. Out of the total 500 distributed questionnaires 407 were finally selected for data analyses. SPSS and AMOS software programmes were used to analyse data. Data analyses encompass descriptive analyses, reliability tests, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and full fledge structural modelling. Findings – The results reveal that customer satisfaction has a significant positive impact on word-of-mouth. Data resulted in acceptably high reliability during the reliability tests. Exploratory factor analysis for customer satisfaction resulted in 3 dimensions which were further converged into 2 dimensions during confirmatory factor analysis. Measurement models resulted in good fit giving a green signal for testing causal relationship and full structural modelling. The results of full fledge structural model indicated good fit with the data. In this case, a normed chi-square (χ²/df) of 3.087, comparative fit index (CFI) of 0.954, and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.045 indicate the same. Practical implications – A high positive significant impact (0.825) of customer satisfaction on word-of-mouth clearly indicates that it is imperative for banking sector to enhance customer satisfaction. This is due to the inevitable growth of information technology, instant popularity of websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Wikipedia which have given liberty to customers in spreading their positive or negative feedback quickly and conveniently. Policy makers of service industry in general and financial service industry in particular may benefit from the findings of this study. Originality/value – Importance of word-of-mouth is not new to the organisations. This research is a unique attempt, using structural equation modelling (SEM), to investigate the impact of customer satisfaction on word-of-mouth in the banking industry of Malaysia.
... Purchasing a product with a cause provides consumers with the feeling that they can ''make a difference in the world'' and ''makes philanthropy simple and convenient'' (Eikenberry 2009 pp 52–53). CRM has become an effective tool to increase sales (Strahilevitz 1999; Strahilevitz and Myers 1998; Varadarajan and Menon 1988), enhance brand image (Berger et al. 1999; Brønn and Vrioni 2001; Brown and Dacin 1997; Gupta and Pirsch 2006; Nan and Heo 2007; Ross et al. 1992), and increase positive word of mouth (Thomas et al. 2011). Research has addressed the ethical aspects of CRM advertising (Ross et al. 1992 ). ...
Donating money to a charity based on consumer purchase is referred to as cause-related marketing (CRM). In this research, we profile consumer psychographics for skepticism toward advertising in a CRM context. To be specific, this study investigates whether and how psychological antecedents (i.e., consumer shopping orientation and mindset) and gender differences influence consumer skepticism toward advertising. An empirical study was conducted with 291 participants. Structural equation modeling was employed for hypothesis testing. The results suggest that a utilitarian orientation and an individualistic mindset are positively related to skepticism toward advertising, while a hedonic orientation and a collectivistic mindset are negatively related to skepticism toward advertising. Gender differences are also found in the aforementioned relationships. The segmentational approach of gender and psychographics can assist marketers to explain consumer attitudes toward CRM and then to communicate with those CRM advocates better.
The tourist village "Kampung Nanas" which is still in the development stage requires a promotional strategy to increase the number of visitors. Promotion strategy in the perspective of Islamic economics is the right strategy because the promotion style is different from others. This study wants to provide ideas for the "Kampung Nanas" tourist village which has just been established and is trying to develop with all its limitations. The research method used is a qualitative research method with a case study approach. Data collection methods used are interviews, observation and documentation. The results show that the promotion strategy in the Islamic economy consists of 1. Advertising or advertising which is divided into the principle of monotheism, the principle of justice and the principle of trust, 2. Sales Promotion is by giving free entrance tickets. 3. Personal Selling is by socializing it to the Palaan community. Kampung Nanas Tourism Village has implemented promotions in accordance with Islamic teachings but needs to be maximized again because the promotions carried out are still very limited.
Consumers often view online reviews as trustworthy sources of information in Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) sharing economy, these online reviews create a word-of-mouth (WOM). This paper focuses on four pricing strategies: fixed pricing based on registration fee, dynamic pricing based on registration fee, fixed pricing based on transaction fee and dynamic pricing based on transaction fee, to judge the impact of WOM. Consider a C2C sharing economy market composed of consumers, suppliers, and a platform, construct a game theory model, and obtain the equilibrium solution using backward induction. We find that a moderate WOM always makes the fixed pricing strategy attract more demand. However, the dynamic pricing strategy consistently yields higher profit. Furthermore, if total demand and profit are pursued by the platform at the same time, WOM production makes the dominant strategy shift to fixed pricing strategy based on transaction fee and dynamic pricing strategy based on transaction fee.
Purpose
Facilitating members' continual participation in a community is crucial for ensuring the community's long-term survival. However, knowledge regarding whether member similarity is related to member participation and the mechanism underlying this relationship is limited. Drawing on similarity–attraction, social exchange and social identity theories, this study explored the influences of different facets of similarity (i.e. value, personality and goal similarity) on group norm conformity, group identity and social participation.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 444 Taiwanese members of social networking sites (SNSs), and structural equation modeling was employed to examine the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
The results revealed that value similarity directly affected group norm conformity but did not directly affect group identity; personality similarity influenced group identity but not group norm conformity. Goal similarity had positive influences on group norm conformity and group identity. Moreover, group norm conformity had direct and positive influences on group identity and social participation; group identity also had a positive influence on social participation.
Originality/value
On the basis of the aforementioned findings, this study contributes to the understanding of factors facilitating SNS members' participation from the perspective of similarity. These findings can serve as a reference for SNS administrators to facilitate social participation by emphasizing member similarity.
Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) is one of the most versatile activities among the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Though CRM is extensively researched, however, only a few authors have performed systematic literature reviews on CRM. Therefore, more systematic reviews of CRM are still needed to complete and bring together the more contributions, advances, and different existing research lines. Thus, this paper provides a comprehensive overview of the existing literature in CRM from the two keywords: “Cause-Related Marketing” and “Cause Marketing”, and the time period ranges from 1988 to 2020. In this study, rigorous protocol is used in synthesizing 344 English articles drawing upon e-journal database searches. These articles were categorized by time-wise development, country-wise development, methodological development, cross-cultural analysis, the role of journals. This study also carried out the Bibliometric Analyses. The review highlights that the concept of CRM has evolved from being considered a marketing mix tool (a promotion tool), to being considered as a CSR initiative, with a more strategic character. Our findings revealed that only a few journals published articles on CRM. Geographically, the CRM study was initiated in North America, followed by Europe and Oceania, and Asian and Sub-Saharan African countries. From the third decade, there was more collaboration in cross-cultural studies and the use of mixed-method (qualitative and quantitative studies) approach. Lastly, this study shows the most manifest research gaps in CRM that opens avenue for future research.
Purpose
This study investigates the effect of product quality and price fairness on consumer cause-related marketing (CRM) participation and also the moderating role of donation-related customer predispositions (i.e. empathy and cause importance) on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Data for the study were obtained from 240 respondents. A structural equation modelling approach was used in analysing the data.
Findings
Results from the analysis indicate that fair pricing and product quality affect CRM participation. The findings also provide insights into the moderation role of empathy and cause importance.
Originality/value
Prior research studied the effect of promotion on CRM participation; however, this study examines the effect of product and price. The findings offer insight into issues of research and managerial interest, offering insightful implications to the academic and practitioner communities in developing countries, respectively.
The purpose of the paper is to (i) analyze how different users of social media (Twitter) interact and spread cause-related communication and (ii) explore how people search for cause-related marketing campaigns online, allowing a comparison between individualist and collec-tivist cultures. A social network analysis was used to map the different types of networks created by online users. A second in-depth study on how online users search for cause-related marketing campaigns used a 5-year analysis. Online users in individualist countries are more engaged with a broader community than those in collectivist countries who focus their attention on a narrower set of CRM messages. These findings are useful insights for companies and charities, which should adopt different strategies depending on the culture.
Charities and marketers routinely incorporate images of recipients, for example victims of a flood or famine, in their prosocial advertising; however, previous literature suggests mixed results regarding the effectiveness of relying on sad versus happy images of victims. Recently, due to reactance to excessively traumatic marketing campaigns, happy victim images have been found to be more effective in eliciting prosocial behaviors. To extend this line of research, an experiment found that consumers are more willing to help when viewing advertisements featuring happy children over sad children. Moreover, helping mode moderates the relationship between victim image and helping intentions. The effect of a happy victim image is attenuated when consumers are asked to buy cause‐related products rather than donate to charities. According to emotion regulation consumption theory, consumers mitigate the feeling of negative emotions by increasing their intention to buy cause‐related products. Practically, the findings provide guidance on integrating victim images in prosocial advertising.
Purpose
With the rising concern for the planet and people dimensions of the triple-bottom-line, an increasing number of firms are using cause-related marketing (CRM) to create a win-win situation for all stakeholders. With growing internet and social media access the Indian consumer is being invited to participate in such campaigns through digital platforms. The purpose of the present study is to examine consumer perceptions about select digital CRM campaigns in terms of perceived fit between the brand and the cause being promoted and the extent of participation effort required by the campaign and further to investigate the relationship between these two variables and consumers’ intentions to participate in the campaign, engage in positive word-of-mouth about it and their brand purchase intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
Six online CRM campaigns in the consumer products space were taken up for study. Primary data was collected through a structured questionnaire in an online mode, which provided an advertisement snapshot and a brief description of each CRM campaign. Items to measure variables under examination were adapted from the extant literature. Three versions of the questionnaire were created, with each version involving two of the six campaigns. Thus, each respondent was responding to items pertaining to two campaigns only. A total of 242 responses were collected, using non-probability sampling.
Findings
The study indicates overall positive responses to the digital CRM campaigns included in the study. It finds that for the online CRM campaigns taken up for examination, respondents perceive a high extent of brand-cause fit. A fit between the cause being promoted and the brand’s sphere of activity is a factor that needs to be considered for its impact on consumer willingness to participate in the campaign and intention to engage in positive word-of-mouth about it. The study does not indicate a significant relationship between participation effort for online campaigns and consumer behavioural intentions. Consumer participation intentions and word-of-mouth intentions are found to be positively related to intentions to purchase the brand associated with the campaign.
Practical implications
In their efforts to design effective CRM campaigns, marketers should use creativity in looking for a common thread, which ties their business or brand with the cause being promoted. Consumers tend to perceive this congruence between the cause and the brand and this impacts their behavioural responses. It is possible that the fact that consumers are not required to make a purchase but are being invited to support a cause by performing a non-transaction-based activity, may also underlie their positive response to this genre of CRM activities. The study provides an understanding of factors that contribute to the effectiveness of non-purchase-based online CRM campaigns in garnering consumer engagement with the campaign and the brand.
Originality/value
The results provide important insights regarding non-transaction based digital CRM campaigns and the relationship between brand-cause fit, perceived participation effort and targeted changes in consumers’ behavioural intentions. Online CRM campaigns involving consumer participation in forms other than brand purchase are an emerging area of effort towards customer engagement and thus warrant further investigation.
Purpose
This study aims to gain insight on evaluation of cause-related marketing (CrM) campaigns by the millennial with focus on skepticism, brand identity and patronage intention.
Design/methodology/approach
To attain the above objective a conceptual model was developed and tested using structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis.
Findings
The finding suggests that sub-segments exist among millennial segments. They can be classified into hedonic, utilitarian, individualistic and collectivists. Compared to utilitarian and individualistic customers hedonic and collectivists were found to evaluate CrM campaign more favorably. Utilitarian and individualistic depict skepticism toward CrM campaign.
Practical implications
The in-depth knowledge gained about millennials is expected to benefit academicians and marketers alike. Academicians will be enriched by the knowledge of the micro-segments that exists among the millennial and how that had differential impact on their skepticism while evaluating CrM campaign. The marketers involved in the designing and implementation of the CrM campaign will be benefited from the in-depth knowledge of segments with lower and higher levels of skepticism. Such knowledge gained will help them develop more effective CrM campaign.
Originality/value
One of the contributions of the present study is that it extends the existing knowledge about millennials, particularly in the context of CrM campaign evaluation integrating it with other important variables such as skepticism, brand identity and patronage intention.
Purpose
A substantial body of research evidence has now accumulated in the cause-related marketing (CRM) literature. Yet, research on positive word of mouth (WOM) in the CRM domain is scarce. Based on this, the purpose of this paper is to present a framework that enhances positive WOM persuasion in a CRM context.
Design/methodology/approach
Specifically, the authors explore collectivism as a contextual dimension for positive WOM persuasion in a CRM setting and discusses three novel constructs for effectively designing such campaigns, namely, cause proximity, choice of donation type and choice variety of donation types in a single offering frame. Based on conceptual logic and drawing on literature from a variety of disciplines, this framework should provide deeper insight into achieving positive WOM persuasion with CRM strategy and implementation.
Findings
Additionally, the analysis leads to specific research questions regarding the associations between these contrasts and positive WOM persuasion in a CRM context.
Originality/value
Finally, the managerial and theoretical contributions are discussed, as well as directions for further research.
The study targets to determine the factors which lead to affective responses of consumers toward the Cause Related Marketing (CrM) program and its behavioral outcomes. Findings of the study show that three factors, namely the affinity of consumer with the cause, the fit between the brand and cause and finally, the perception about the donation level are three important determinants of the generation of emotional responses toward the CrM program. These emotional responses in turn affect the purchase intention of consumers and their propensity to engage into WoM activity. However, the skepticism of consumers about the real intent of the brand in engaging in such CrM programs mediates this effect. The direct and strong positive effects of affective responses towards the CrM program on both intentions to purchase and engagement into WoM activity, becomes stabilized largely when the skepticism level increases. Based on the findings of the study, some practical implications which may help to generate more effective CrM programs are provided
With charitable donations becoming a conventional norm, companies may choose to donate their products to improve public image and increase product visibility. Using two donation types (donation-for-gift/charity sale) and two product types (hedonic/utilitarian), this research discusses how charities should frame product-for-money activities toward enhancing compliance and re-donation intentions upon receiving product donations. Two 2 (donation types) by 2 (product types) between-subject experiments are conducted in college campus cafeterias. The first study uses an inspiring cause while the second study provides a scenario designed to evoke sympathy. Results show that donation-for-gift garners higher donation intentions compared to charity sale, as explained by the dual-process model. It is also revealed that product type moderates the influence of donation type on donation intention only when a sympathetic appeal is used. The fitting issue between product type and cause appeal, along with the licensing effect are presented to explain this finding.
Purpose
Cause-related marketing (CrM) is one of the effective marketing concepts which draw high public exposure and make the cause and the organization known in the market. Further, it develops a higher inclination of the customers associating themselves with CrM-related campaigns. In this regard, CrM campaigns generally take hedonic products into consideration. The purpose of this paper (comprises two studies) is to: study 1, examine the attributes leading to successful CrM campaign and afterward when the results of Study 1 were found in line with the existing literature; and, Study 2, empirically examine the consumer preference for hedo-utilitarian products type in the CrM context.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 316 respondents participated in the survey. For selecting the appropriate research technique under the CrM study, the systematic review was conducted to arrive at a decision. Finally, conjoint analysis, a decompositional approach, was used for its ability to provide real-world setup to the respondents and keeping the social desirability bias at the minimum while assessing the consumer preference in the context of CrM.
Findings
Much literature is available in favor of using hedonic products for successful CrM activities. However, none has conceptualized the hedo-utilitarian products that have an equally fair chance to succeed under CrM strategy. The present study confirmed the relevance of hedo-utilitarian products (utilitarian products having hedonic features) for attracting the consumers having cognitive and affective responses altogether.
Practical implications
The novel concept of hedo-utilitarian product is introduced and empirically examined. The propositions and findings will facilitate the organizations in developing the products and marketing strategies in the context of CrM, giving them the option beyond the two product categories, i.e. hedonic and utilitarian. Accordingly, the companies may also focus and strategize for the “causmers,” i.e. the consumers who pay heed to the cause of the campaign during the purchase.
Originality/value
While several of the dimensions in marketing have been explored, CrM is the least explored area in the Asian region. The attributes that may affect CrM were taken all together as another product feature/attribute under conjoint analysis exploring the attributes affecting CrM most, eventually, leading to higher consumer preference. Further, the concept of hedo-utilitarian products was introduced, empirically examined and recommended to future researchers for bringing it forward.
The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of airlines service quality on word-ofmouth through corporate image. Survey data were collected from 298 passengers who have used the domestic airline service at Tan Son Nhat airport. Research results reveal that domestic airline service quality includes four components: convenience, reliability, passenger service, and in-flight service. The SEM analysis result, moreover, shows that there is no significantly direct impact of service quality on WOM, that only exerts an indirectly positive impact of service quality on WOM through the airline image. Finally, the implications for managers and directions for further research are discussed as well.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to construct a conceptual framework of the effects of customer engagement on cause-related marketing (CRM), with the goal of providing a solid scientific foundation for the development and stimulation of future research on the critical intersection of these two topics.
Design/methodology/approach
The research defines customer engagement in CRM campaigns as the conditions under which consumers are allowed to choose the cause that receives the donation, the cause proximity (geographical proximity) and the type of donation in a CRM campaign.
Findings
The paper conceptualizes the role of customer engagement in enhancing the effectiveness of a CRM campaign, in terms of coverage, customization and reduced consumer skepticism, as well as in triggering positive word-of-mouth (WOM) persuasion behaviors.
Practical implications
The conceptual framework provides several practicable directions toward effective control of CRM campaign outcomes, for both local and global firms.
Originality/value
The paper rests on established empirical foundations to develop a comprehensive preliminary multi- disciplinary framework on the subject, setting the path for further research in the fields of CRM, customer engagement and International Business Research , and reaching findings of both scholarly and executive worth.
Purpose
This paper aims to adopt the perspectives of cognition and emotions to investigate whether the interdependent self-construal of consumers in a Chinese collectivist culture, along with empathy and moral identity, evokes direct and indirect responses to corporate cause-related marketing (CRM).
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 901 valid questionnaires were retrieved, and PROCESS macro for SPSS was used to test the multiple mediation and serial mediation hypotheses. The structural equation modeling was also used to confirm the results.
Findings
The empirical results showed that consumer self-construal exerts a positive influence on consumer responses to corporate CRM through empathy. The results also suggest that CRM events provoke empathetic responses in consumers and trigger their moral identity, which in turn affects their evaluations on CRM corporations and their purchase intentions for CRM goods.
Research limitations/implications
The present study targeted the relatively affordable CRM events in convenience stores to investigate consumer responses; the results may not be applicable to CRM events in other industries. Besides that, as this study is focused on CRM activity, respondents may have more positive evaluation.
Practical implications
Corporations are advised to improve their corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication strategies. These should rely on factual, sincere, easy-to-understand and appropriate communication to trigger moral identity in consumers. Because empathy is regarded as the core of human moral and emotional systems, corporations are advised to associate their charitable events with social emotions to strengthen consumer perceptions, enhance moral identity and promote prosocial behaviors.
Originality/value
This study verified the serial multiple mediating effect of empathy and moral identity in the relationship between consumer self-construal and responses to corporate CRM. Corporations are advised to improve their CSR communication strategies and public expression of moral actions to raise consumer empathy and moral identity, so as to improve consumer responses to CRM.
Öz
İkinci Dünya Savaşı’ndan sonra ağızdan ağıza iletişim hem araştırmacıların hem de
akademisyenlerin ilgi odağı haline gelmiştir. Bu ilgi günümüze kadar süregelmiş,
halihazırda da artarak devam etmektedir. Tüketici satın alma karar sürecinin her
aşamasında önemli bir role sahip olan ağızdan ağıza iletişim, işletmeler açısından
da önemli role sahiptir. İşletmeler için diğer tanıtım ve tutundurma araçlarına göre
daha ekonomik olması, çoğunlukla kendiliğinden oluşması, tüketicileri gönüllü tanıtıcılar
haline getirmesi önemli üstünlükleridir. Mal ve hizmetlerin tanıtım ve duyurulmasında
da büyük önem taşımaktadır. İletişim teknolojilerindeki gelişmelere
bağlı olarak, ağızdan ağıza iletişimin de teknolojik gelişmelerden faydalanması, bu
gelişim sonucu çok büyük kitlelere kolayca ulaşma imkanı elde etmesi bu önemi
daha üst seviyelere taşımıştır. Bu çalışma ağızdan ağıza iletişim ile ilgili yapılmış
olan yerli ve yabancı çalışmaların amaç ve sonuçlarının derlenerek bir indeks oluşturulması
amacıyla yapılmıştır. Bu çalışmanın, ağızdan ağıza iletişim konusunda
araştırma yapacaklar için önemli bir kaynak olacağı beklenmektedir.
Anahtar kelimeler: Ağızdan ağıza iletişim, Viral WOMM, Fısıltı WOMM,
e-WOM
Research has shown that men and women respond differently to cause-related marketing (CRM) appeals with fictitious brands; however, few studies examine how CRM works for existing brands or measure long-term effects. To fill these gaps, we explore the influence of sponsor brand use and gender on responses to a CRM campaign at three points in time (premessage, postmessage exposure, and 2-week delay). We are the first study to identify the moderating effect of brand use on gendered responses to CRM messages. Nonbrand users increased their purchase intentions after CRM message exposure; this was especially true for men. Overall, our findings reinforce past research showing that CRM can positively influence short-term purchase intentions. We reveal new insights that show CRM can work especially well among nonbrand buyers; however, no significant long-term influence was found. Our results demonstrate the importance of segmenting the market by demographics and brand use as well as considering the long-term implications of CRM persuasion.
Cause-related marketing (CRM) is almost ubiquitous as brands of all price points participate in this marketing strategy in the United States and internationally, as well. The value that CRM brings to the firm, the consumer, and the nonprofit organization has made it a popular and valuable tool for marketers. Academic research on CRM has gained momentum in recent years as the strategy has matured. However, insights have occurred without a framework to provide structure and direction for this body of research. Given CRM's continued popularity, the purpose of this article is to (1) propose an evolutionary process model (EPM) of CRM to explain the iterative process (2) utilize this model as a framework for (a) organizing the systematic review of the empirical literature on CRM and (b) for identifying some gaps in the literature. Propositions based on these gaps are provided for future research.
Online consumer reviews have emerged in the last decade as a promising starting point for monitoring and analyzing individual opinions about products and services. Especially the corresponding “star” ratings are frequently used by marketing researchers to address various aspects of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). But there also exist several studies which raise doubts about the general reliability of posted ratings. Against this background, we introduce a new framework based on the Beta Binomial True Intentions Model suggested by Morrison (J Mark Res 43(2):65–74, 1979) to accommodate the possible uncertainty inherent in the ratings contained in online consumer reviews. We show that, under certain conditions, the suggested framework is suitable to estimate “true” ratings from posted ones which proves advantageous in the case of rating-based predictions, e.g. with respect to the willingness to recommend a product or service. The theoretical considerations are illustrated by means of synthetic and real data.
Nowadays because of strong competition in the service sector especially in the banking industry, just those organizations are successful that they can use the most innovative and successful ways for advertisement to attract their customers' attention to the products or services that they provide. One of the ways that banks can be distinguished from others and achieve competitive advantage is using positive word of mouth. There is a prerequisite for applying positive word of mouth and it is full understanding of factors influencing it. Therefore this research is contributed to the factors influencing positive word of mouth in the banking industry. To achieve the goals of this research, the data came from a convenience sample of bank customers in Rasht. The respondents provided the data by means of a self-completed questionnaire and for data analysis and testing the 14 hypotheses, structural equation modeling was used. The results of this research revealed that corporate image, relationship marketing, perceived quality, perceived value, customer expectations, satisfaction and loyalty are the factors influencing positive word of mouth.
Today many companies communicate their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities via huge advertising campaigns, demonstrating to be a “good company" to their stakeholder groups. For instance, Pepsi’s “Refresh Project" gained attention when the company passed up running a commercial during the Super Bowl 2010 and spend the millions saved to a CSR campaign. In grants every month they spend $ 1.3 million to fund public-selected ideas which will "refresh our world" (Forbes, 2010). Coca-Cola invests lots of money in CSR campaigns, for example they included on their iconic red cans a seasonal white polar bear in order to raise awareness and money for the World Wildlife Fond. Furthermore, they sponsored the so-called ’red dress campaign’ with Heidi Klum for women’s heart health (Diet Coke, 2012). Moreover, almost every automotive manufacturer invests in "blue efficiency” (e.g., Volkswagen’s ”Golf Blue-e-motion”). By doing so, companies hope to improve their corporate image and increase consumer purchase intentions as well as their willingness to pay more money for the company’s products.
The change in political leadership in the UK in 2010 has created financial uncertainty and instability for many third sector organisations. In a shifting funding landscape, it is clear that an over-reliance on Government funding is a risky strategy and that there is a need to diversify and seek out alternative sources of revenue. This article considers the impact of political change on the financial sustainability of community sports trusts associated with Premier League and Football League clubs in England. It explores sources of revenue through the analysis of financial statements, revealing that on average community sports trusts receive a significant proportion of income from grant funding whilst sponsorship income is relatively small. The article goes on to discuss the potential for community sports trusts to diversify revenue streams by developing social partnerships that address the corporate social responsibility (CSR) agendas of commercial organisations. It illustrates that although commercial sponsorship can provide benefits including the provision of additional funding that can enable financial stability, key issues include the balance of power, the impact on organisational flexibility, whether there is a need to restructure, and the development of long-term partnerships. Although the findings from this article are focused on a particular type of charity, given the importance of CSR partnership income for the charities sector they may also have broader implications for other charitable organisations.
Cause‐related marketing (CRM) partnerships between luxury firms and charitable organizations have grown in popularity, yet no study has examined such luxury CRM campaigns thus far. Using a fictitious campaign by the Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin and the Plan International Germany charity, the authors conducted an experimental CRM study among 281 actual luxury consumers. Realizing CRM campaigns in the luxury segment can be promising for luxury firms and charities. In particular, a CRM campaign works best when the donation magnitude is high (25% vs. 1%) and the price of the luxury service offering is moderate (€180 vs. €450). Furthermore, luxury campaigns enhance the attitudes of luxury customers toward charitable organizations, especially if they are unknown brands. Yet this study also offers a warning that luxury campaigns can be risky if consumers who have previously supported the charitable organization perceive the campaign as too high profile. Ultimately, this study reveals that CRM luxury campaigns play a major role for fundraising success.
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The authors describe commercial friendships that develop between service providers and clients as one important tvoe of marketing relationship. They report results of five studies that employ quantitative and qualitative data analysis They develop a measure of commercial friendship, identify important correlates, and illustrate how friendships form Context and tension between instrumental and expressive goals circumscribe commercial friendships but friendships are associated with satisfaction, strong service loyalty, and positive word of mouth. Qualitative data illustrate varied temporal ordering among satisfaction, loyalty, and friendship for both service providers and clients. The authors identify implications of their findings for an array of industries in which commercial friendships may form.
Stealth marketing techniques are being driven by a growing criticism of the advertising industry, and are based on the premise that word of mouth and peer group recommendation are the most effective promotional and marketing tools.This article discusses stealth marketing methods used by companies to reach consumers without their motives being obvious. The authors feel that brand managers need to consider the strengths and weaknesses of stealth marketing and traditional marketing before they decide on either.
Current thinking about Pavlovian conditioning differs substantially from that of 20 years ago. Yet the changes that have taken place remain poorly appreciated by psychologists generally. Traditional descriptions of conditioning as the acquired ability of one stimulus to evoke the original response to another because of their pairing are shown to be inadequate. They fail to characterize adequately the circumstances producing learning, the content of that learning, or the manner in which that learning influences performance. Instead, conditioning is now described as the learning of relations among events so as to allow the organism to represent its environment. Within this framework, the study of Pavlovian conditioning continues to be an intellectually active area, full of new discoveries and information relevant to other areas of psychology.
A series of three studies examines potential consumer confusion associated with the advertising copy used to describe cause-related marketing (CRM) campaigns, where money is donated to a charity each time a consumer makes a purchase. The first study assesses the relative frequency of various copy formats in CRM on the Internet. The authors find that the majority of the copy formats (69.9%) are abstract (e.g., a portion of the proceeds will be donated), 25.6% are estimable (e.g., X% of the profits will be donated), and 4.5% are calculable (e.g., X% of the price will be donated). Subsequent studies find that (1) slight variations in abstract wording in advertising copy leads to considerable differences in consumers' estimates of the amount being donated, (2) the amount of the donation estimate for each abstract copy format varies considerably across individuals, and (3) the donation amount can impact choice. Taken together, the three studies demonstrate that the vast majority of advertising copy used to describe CRM donations is abstract, that different but legally equivalent abstract copy formats result in large differences in mean perceived donation level, and that these donation levels can impact consumer choice. Implications for advertising strategy and public policy are discussed.
This study investigates the role of affect in attitude formation. Two experiments, using established conditioning procedures,
assessed the impact of affect on attitude formation. The results of Experiment 1 indicate that affect can influence attitudes
even in the absence of product beliefs. The results of Experiment 2 suggest that affect plays as important or more important
a role than the belief mechanism in attitude formation, depending on the number of repetitions. Implications of the results
for understanding the role of affect in advertising are discussed.
Relationship marketing-establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relational exchanges-constitutes a major shift in marketing theory and practice. After conceptualizing relationship marketing and discussing its ten forms, the authors (1) theorize that successful relationship marketing requires relationship commitment and trust, (2) model relationship commitment and trust as key mediating variables, (3) test this key mediating variable model using data from automobile tire retailers, and (4) compare their model with a rival that does not allow relationship commitment and trust to function as mediating variables. Given the favorable test results for the key mediating variable model, suggestions for further explicating and testing it are offered.
Suggests that the contributions of H. Ebbinghaus to the study of memory, in order of decreasing importance, are methodological, empirical, and theoretical. It is proposed that the course of subsequent development might have been different had he studied item or associative information rather than serial-order information. His chaining mechanism has been cause for much criticism, but the fault may have been in his conceptualization of associations rather than the chaining hypothesis per se. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Argues that people use systematic rules for assessing cause, both in science and everyday inference. By explicating the processes that underlie the judgment of causation, the authors review and integrate various theories of causality proposed by psychologists, philosophers, statisticians, and others. Because causal judgment involves inference and uncertainty, the literature on judgment under uncertainty is also considered. It is suggested that the idea of a "causal field" is central for determining causal relevance, differentiating causes from conditions, determining the salience of alternative explanations, and affecting molar versus molecular explanations. Various "cues-to-causality" such as covariation, temporal order, contiguity in time and space, and similarity of cause and effect are discussed, and it is shown how these cues can conflict with probabilistic ideas. A model for combining the cues and the causal field is outlined that explicates methodological issues such as spurious correlation, "causalation," and causal inference in case studies. The discounting of an explanation by specific alternatives is discussed as a special case of the sequential updating of beliefs. Conjunctive explanations in multiple causation are also considered. (120 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The formation of partnerships between firms is becoming an increasingly common way for firms to find and maintain competitive advantage. While the antecedents of partnership formation and the characteristics of the resulting cooperative working relationship have been explored in the literature, an understanding of characteristics associated with partnership success is lacking. Such an understanding is important in reconciling the prescriptions to form partnerships with the reality that a majority of such partnerships do not succeed. We hypothesize that partnership attributes, communication behavior, and conflict resolution techniques are related to indicators of partnership success (satisfaction and sales volume in the relationship). The hypotheses are tested with vertical partnerships between manufacturers and dealers. Results indicate that the primary characteristics of partnership success are: partnership attributes of commitment, coordination, and trust; communication quality and participation; and the conflict resolution technique of joint problem solving. The findings offer insight into how to better manage these relationships to ensure success.
This article reports the development and testing of a theoretical model of the initial stages of recommendation-based decision
making by consumers. Although consumers use a variety of recommendation sources, they have different motivations for the use
of different sources. The model focuses on the factors that influence the likelihood of consumers using strong-tie sources
(e.g., friends and family) and weak-tie sources (e.g., acquaintances or strangers) or recommendations. The factors used in
the model are the prior knowledge level of the consumer about the product being considered, the perceived decision task difficulty
level, and the type of evaluative cues sought by the consumer. Hypotheses are tested using data collected in an extensive
field study with consumers. Two paths or routes of influence on the use of recommendation sources are proposed and confirmed
in the study.
Partnering charitable causes with brands has become a common practice for many marketing programs referred to strategically as cause-related marketing. While there is the perception that both partners benefit from the alliance, research has focused primarily on the benefits to the brand. This experiment (n=463) evaluates changes in attitude for both the cause and the brand as a consequence of the cause–brand alliance (CBA) using familiarity of the cause as a moderator. The results show that allying a cause with a familiar brand improves attitude toward the cause when the cause is unfamiliar but has less impact on a familiar cause. The effect of the alliance on brand attitudes is positive regardless of the degree of cause familiarity. These results suggest that managers of unfamiliar causes rather than familiar causes may have a greater vested interest in forming a CBA, and brand managers are beneficiaries of the partnership either way.
Twenty-one experiments regarding the strength of attitudinal conditioning for various brands of cola were performed. The conditioned stimulus, brand familiarity (various unknown, moderately known, and well-known cola brands), and the embedding context In which conditioning trials occurred (other known or unknown brands) were manipulated. Effects are strongest for unknown and moderately known brands and for colas conditioned In a context of known versus unknown brands. Evidence is also provided showing that attitudes are conditioned only when subjects are aware of the contingency between conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. Copyright 1991 by the University of Chicago.
We conducted four experiments to test various properties of classical conditioning in an advertising/consumer behavior context. Experiment 1 demonstrates attitude conditioning at each of four levels of conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus pairing. In Experiment 2, latent inhibition due to subject preexposure to the conditioned stimulus is shown to retard conditioning for both 10-trial and 1-trial pairings of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli. Experiment 3 reveals that forward conditioning of attitudes is superior to backward conditioning. Experiment 4 extends the findings from the first three experiments and serves to counter some of their potential methodological problems. Collectively, these experiments provide an initial response to McSweeney and Bierley's (1984) call for more sophisticated classical conditioning research in consumer behavior.
The present paper examines the implications of recent developments in classical conditioning for consumer research. It discusses the finding that the conditioned response need not resemble the unconditioned response, and that the conditioned stimulus must predict but not necessarily precede the unconditioned stimulus for conditioning to occur. The paper also considers the implications of several situations in which classical conditioning may unexpectedly fail to occur, several of the characteristics of classically conditioned behavior, and the role of awareness in conditioning.
Cause-related marketing represents the confluence of perspectives from several specialized areas of inquiry such as marketing for nonprofit organizations, the promotion mix, corporate philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, fund-raising management, and public relations. The authors outline the concept of cause-related marketing, its characteristics, and how organizations, both for-profit and not-for-profit, can benefit from effective use of this promising marketing tool.
Although brand theorists suggest that what a person knows about a company (i.e., corporate associations) can influence perceptions of the company's products, little systematic research on these effects exists. The authors examine the effects of two general types of corporate associations on product responses: One focuses on the company's capabilities for producing products, that is, corporate ability (CA) associations, and the other focuses on the company's perceived social responsibility, that is, corporate social responsibility (CSR) associations. The results of three studies, including one that measures respondents’ CA and CSR associations for well-known companies and one that uses consumers recruited in a shopping mall, demonstrate that (1) what consumers know about a company can influence their beliefs about and attitudes toward new products manufactured by that company, (2) CA and CSR associations may have different effects on consumer responses to products, and (3) products of companies with negative associations are not always destined to receive negative responses. The authors conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for marketing managers and further research.
Suggests that the contributions of H. Ebbinghaus to the study of memory, in order of decreasing importance, are methodological, empirical, and theoretical. It is proposed that the course of subsequent development might have been different had he studied item or associative information rather than serial-order information. His chaining mechanism has been cause for much criticism, but the fault may have been in his conceptualization of associations rather than the chaining hypothesis per se. (22 ref)
The researchers investigated the long-term effects of classically conditioned attitudes toward a brand, in two experiments, subjects were exposed to classical conditioning procedures in which favorable images were paired with a fictitious brand of mouthwash. Study 1, a within-subjects design, examined attitudes of a single subject pool immediately after exposure, after a one-week delay, and after a three-week, delay. In study 2, the same methods and procedures were used to condition favorable responses to the test brand, but a between-subjects design was used to control for possible measurement effects. Measurements were taken immediately after exposure to conditioning trials for one group of subjects and three weeks after exposure to the trials for a second group. Results from both studies support the hypothesis that attitudes formulated through classical conditioning are enduring.
This paper explores "word-of-mouth" (WOM) communica-tion from the perspective that this type of communication is typically structured as a narrative or story. The first study provides empirical evidence that consumer WOM communications are often structured as a narrative. The second study extends findings from psychology research to the context of a WOM story by examining two factors of story memory that may affect brand attitudes: 1) biased memory for story details and 2) recall of story gist, defined as a summary abstraction of the story. We propose that a narrative perspective will enhance the field's understanding of WOM com-munication.
The author examines company advertising campaigns with social dimensions and compares them to matched standard, or nonsocial, campaigns. The author investigates the managers' objectives for the campaigns with social dimensions, examines the processes creating them, and develops a model for explaining success factors. Most campaigns have mixed objectives, both economic and social, which have many implications. Although these campaigns are not particularly effective in achieving traditional economic objectives, such as increasing sales, they are highly effective in achieving company-oriented objectives, such as motivating the work force or communicating the essence of the company's mission. Drawing on research and theory related to organizational identification, the author discusses causal mechanisms underlying social campaigns' effectiveness with company-oriented objectives and presents directions for further research. Ethical considerations and managerial implications are discussed, as well.
Cause-related marketing (CRM) has grown dramatically in the past decade. Consumers tend to have favorable attitudes toward businesses that support charities or causes. CRM is being employed by many sports leagues and teams as a way of “giving back” to communities and forging a bond between themselves and their target markets. However, very little is known about what consumers expect from sports teams and athletes in terms of cause support activities. This study examines consumers’ attitudes toward professional athletes and teams as cause marketers. Results of a telephone survey indicate that consumers have very high expectations of pro athletes and pro franchises to be involved in their local communities. Other findings suggest that even though CRM is beneficial for building an athlete’s image, and the influence of CRM on consumers’ purchase intention is less for sports franchises than for other types of businesses.
The authors report two studies investigating the effectiveness of a composite brand in a brand extension context. In composite brand extension, a combination of two existing brand names in different positions as header and modifier is used as the brand name for a new product (e.g., Slim-Fast chocolate cakemix by Godiva). The results of both studies reveal that by combining two brands with complementary attribute levels, a composite brand extension appears to have a better attribute profile than a direct extension of the header brand (Study 1) and has a better attribute profile when it consists of two complementary brands than when it consists of two highly favorable but not complementary brands (Study 2). The improved attribute profile seems to enhance a composite's effectiveness in influencing consumer choice and preference (Study 2). In addition, the positions of the constituent brand names in the composite brand name are found to be important in the formation of the composite's attribute profile and its feedback effects on the constituent brands. A composite brand extension has different attribute profiles and feedback effects, depending on the positions of the constituent brand names.
Although brand theorists suggest that what a person knows about a company (i. e., corporate associations) can influence perceptions of the company's products, little systematic research on these effects exists. The authors examine the effects of two general types of corporate associations on product responses: One focuses on the company's capabilities for producing products, that is, corporate ability (CA) associations, and the other focuses on the company's perceived social responsibility, that is, corporate social responsibility (CSR) associations. The results of three studies, including one that measures respondents' CA and CSR associations for well-known companies and one that uses consumers recruited in a shopping mall, demonstrate that (1) what consumers know about a company can influence their beliefs about and attitudes toward new products manufactured by that company, (2) CA and CSR associations may have different effects on consumer responses to products, and (3) products of companies with negative associations are not always destined to receive negative responses. The authors conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for marketing managers and further research.
Cause-related marketing represents the confluence of perspectives from several specialized areas of inquiry such as marketing for nonprofit organizations, the promotion mix, corporate philanthropy, corporate social responsibility, fund-raising management, and public relations. The authors outline the concept of cause-related marketing, its characteristics, and how organizations, both for-profit and not-for-profit, can benefit from effective use of this promising marketing tool.
In the face of marketp ace polls that attest to the increasing influence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumers' purchase behavior, this article examines when, how, and for whom specific CSR initiatives work. The findings implicate both company-specific factors, such as the CSR issues a company chooses to focus on and the quality of its products, and individual-specific factors, such as consumers' personal support for the CSR issues and their general beliefs about CSR, as key moderators of consumers' responses to CSR. The results also highlight the mediating role of consumers' perceptions of congruence between their own characters and that of the company in their reactions to its CSR initiatives. More specifically, the authors find that CSR initiatives can, under certain conditions, decrease consumers' intentions to buy a company's products.
Companies have become increasingly active in developing relationships between their brands and popular causes in such areas as the environment (e.g. nature conservancy) and health issues (e.g. breast cancer awareness crusade). As such alliances become a more important strategic component of the brand’s marketing mix, managers seek direction as to how to generate the most impact with these tie-ins. This article uses associative learning principles as a framework for understanding how to facilitate building connections between brands and causes so as to increase the value of this highly visible marketing activity. Specific associative learning principles are detailed and applied, improving the use of cause-related marketing alliances.
In Exp I, 244 undergraduates were exposed in a classical conditioning design to liked or disliked music (as determined in a pilot study with 10 Ss) as they viewed slides of the advertised product—blue or beige pens. Ss were asked to evaluate the music and were told they would receive a pen of their color choice. Results show that simple association between a product and another stimulus can affect product preferences/choices. Exp II with 122 undergraduates revealed that Ss in a decision-making mode were affected by the information contained in the commercial. Such information had less impact in nondecision-making situations where classical conditioning of the advertised product, through its pairing with the UCS in the commercial, accounted for subsequent choice behavior. (20 ref)
What is the secret to buzz marketing? Buzz marketing is defined as the amplification of initial marketing efforts by third parties through their passive or active influence. This powerful conceptual framework is illustrated in this paper with practical information on how to build the buzz.
This is the first text written at an undergraduate level to take a "neural-network" or "connectionist" approach to cognitive psychology. Most other texts take the traditional "computer/information-processing" approach. Martindale's book is intended as a basic, nontechnical, entry-level text covering the basic topics and findings of cognitive psychology; thus making it appropriate as a core text, especially for those interested in this new approach, understanding cognitive psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Data obtained by mail and through telephone interviews to "monitor the introduction of a new branded convenience food product" as to "awareness, preference, intentions and usage, recall of advertising, word of mouth exposure and sample receipt" confirm that "advertising . . . plays an essential role in the acceptance of a new and an established brand . . . " but that "ultimate success, in terms of creating and reinforcing favorable attitudes, rested with the ability of the brand to generate favorable word of mouth communications and to provide a satisfactory usage experience." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Consumers respond more positively to marketing efforts, like celebrity endorsements and sponsorships, when the image of the sponsoring company or brand is compatible with the celebrity or sponsored event.
The authors explore the concept of compatibility within a cause-related marketing context. The results of an experiment confirm the role of sponsor/cause compatibility for the creation of positive consumer perceptions of the donor, and highlight the importance of individual characteristics that affect perceptions of the cause and its compatibility with a donor. Theoretical and strategic implications and future research directions are discussed.
Copyright
This study tested the matchup hypothesis regarding choice of celebrity spokesperson by examining the fit or congruence between image type and the product advertised from an Identification and Internalization viewpoint (Kelman, 1961). Spokesperson type (celebrity versus noncelebrity) was varied, aong with congruence between spokesperson image and product (higher versus lower congruence) in a 2x2 factorial design. Results showed that increased congruence for the spokesperson/product combination resulted in the perception of higher believability and attractiveness of the spokesperson and a more favorable product attitude. The implications of these and other findings for advertising and marketing strategy are discussed. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
This study investigates gender and proximity effects in cause-related marketing (CRM). Attitudes of a cross-sectional sample
of adult consumers were analyzed Females were more favorably inclined than males toward firms that employ cause-related marketing.
The hypothesized proximity effect was nonsignificant.
A replication in New Zealand by Sunde and Brodie of one portion of the Aaker and Keller 1990 brand extension research supports some of the results of the latter. However, Aaker and Keller's finding that extension evaluations would be a function of (1) the interaction of the core brand perceived quality and extension fit and (2) perceptions of the difficulty of making the extension product does not emerge in the replication. This comment clarifies the quality fit interaction noting that it depends upon the amount of stretch that is involved in the extension. In addition, other possible explanations for the apparent discrepancy such as differences in procedure, stimuli, and culture are discussed.
As cause marketing promotions become more prevalent, retailers must develop an increasing understanding of how consumers evaluate such offers. Using attribution theory and the gift-giving literature, we derive four predictions about conditions that may lead cause-marketing efforts to be evaluated more positively. The conditions are donation situation (disaster vs. ongoing cause), congruency of donations with the firm’s core business, effort exerted by the firm, and commitment of the firm to the cause.We employed an experiment to test our expectations across two retail contexts: grocery and building supply stores. Across both stores, respondent evaluations were more positive for disaster-related as compared to ongoing causes, and for donations involving greater effort (i.e., product rather than cash contributions). There were no differences in evaluations related to the firm’s degree of commitment (i.e., the retailer matching vs. not matching consumers’ donations). This was surprising because the greater commitment condition doubled the contribution to the cause.Differences between stores were found for congruency of the donated product with the retailer’s core business. For grocery stores, there was no difference; however for the building supply store, consumers rated the incongruent product donation (i.e., food and cleaning supplies) more positively than the congruent donation (i.e., building supplies).
How might cause-related marketing affect attitudes toward the charity involved? Could charity attitudes be harmed? These questions were addressed in a controlled laboratory study. Positive/negative fit between the organizations was manipulated, and company attitude was measured. The results suggest that charity attitude may be negatively impacted if consumers’ attitudes toward the company are negative, or if the organizations have negative fit. Alternatively, CRM may improve charity attitude if company attitude is positive or the organizations share positive fit. The effect of fit is stronger than the effect of company attitude, so positive fit may compensate for pairing with a company toward which consumers’ attitudes are negative.
Current thinking about Pavlovian conditioning differs substantially from that of 20 years ago. Yet the changes that have taken place remain poorly appreciated by psychologists generally. Traditional descriptions of conditioning as the acquired ability of one stimulus to evoke the original response to another because of their pairing are shown to be inadequate. They fail to characterize adequately the circumstances producing learning, the content of that learning, or the manner in which that learning influences performance. Instead, conditioning is now described as the learning of relations among events so as to allow the organism to represent its environment. Within this framework, the study of Pavlovian conditioning continues to be an intellectually active area, full of new discoveries and information relevant to other areas of psychology.
Here's a familiar story. A nonprofit organization joins forces with a corporation in a caused-related marketing campaign. It seems like a win-win deal, but the nonprofit--and the media--find out several weeks into the campaign that the corporation's business practices are antithetical to the nonprofit's mission. The nonprofit's credibility is severely damaged. Is the moral of the story that nonprofits should steer clear of alliances with for-profit organizations? Not at all, Alan Andreasen says. Nonprofit managers can help their organizations avoid many of the risks and reap the rewards of cause-related marketing alliances by thinking of themselves not as charities but as partners in the marketing effort. More than ever, nonprofits need what many companies can offer: crucial new sources of revenue. But nonprofits offer corporate partners a great deal in return: the opportunity to enhance their image--and increase the bottom line--by supporting a worthy cause. Consider the fruitful partnership between American Express and Share Our Strength, a hunger-relief organization. Through the Charge Against Hunger program, now in its fourth year, American Express has helped contribute more than +16 million to SOS. In return, American Express has seen an increase in transactions with the card and in the number of merchants carrying the card. How can nonprofit managers build a successful partnership? They can assess their organization to see how it can add value to a corporate partner. They can identify those companies that stand to gain the most from a cause-related marketing alliance. And they can take an active role in shaping the partnership and monitoring its progress.
Prior research suggests that consumers evaluate firms more negatively if they attribute the firm’s business practices to firm-serving motivations rather than to motivations that serve the public good. The authors propose an alternative hypothesis: firm-serving attributions lower evaluation of the firm only when they are inconsistent with the firm’s expressed motive. As such, the negative effect of consumer skepticism regarding a firm’s motives can be inhibited by public acknowledgment of the strategic benefits to the firm. The power of this inhibition procedure was demonstrated in an experiment that manipulated the salience of firm-serving benefits and the firm’s publicly stated motive. Consumer evaluation of the sponsoring firm was lowest in conditions when firm-serving benefits were salient and the firm outwardly stated purely public-serving motives. This experiment also revealed that the potential negative effects of skepticism were the most pronounced when individuals engaged in causal attribution prior to company evaluation. Finally, this study measured the different effects on attribution and evaluation of two distinct forms of skepticism: situational skepticism—a momentary state of distrust of an actor’s motivations—and dispositional skepticism—an individual’s ongoing tendency to be suspicious of other people’s motives.
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