Increasing company-cause fit: the effects of a relational ad message and consumers’ cause involvement on attitude toward the CSR activity

Abstract

Although the company-cause fit has been considered the key to a successful corporate social responsibility (CSR) campaign, little is known about which communication strategies are effective in increasing the fit. Relying on the categorization theory, this research examines whether a relational communication strategy is effective in increasing company-cause fit when the functional similarity between a company and a cause is low. The findings of this study show that a relational ad message increases company-cause fit when the functional similarity is moderate, but not when the functional similarity is high or low. Also, based on the elaboration likelihood model, this research examines whether consumers’ cause involvement moderates the effect of company-cause fit on attitude toward the CSR activity. The results show that the effect of company-cause fit on attitude toward the CSR activity is enhanced only for low involvement consumers. These findings imply that a relational ad message might be more effective for low involvement consumers than for high involvement ones in increasing positive attitude toward the CSR activity.

Keywords:

• Corporate social responsibility
• relational ad message
• company-cause fit
• cause involvement
• attitude toward a CSR activity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chang-Won Choi

Chang-Won Choi is a Ph.D. student in the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina. His research interests include Corporate Social Responsibility, Emotions in Advertising, and Online Video Ad Sharing Behavior. Previous to his study, he had worked as an account planner at Innocean Worldwide, an in-house advertising agency of Hyundai Motor Group, and a brand manager at SK Telecom, the largest wireless telecommunications operator in South Korea.