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Abstract
Cause-related marketing (CRM) is a pervasive, global marketing tactic used to aid consumer persuasion. While considerable academic research has been directed to understanding this practice and its impact on consumers, virtually nothing is known about the effect on consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions when a sponsoring firm terminates a CRM partnership. To address this knowledge gap, two experiments with samples of adult North American consumers were conducted. Study 1’s findings suggest that the termination of a CRM partnership has a negative, direct effect on both brand perceptions and purchase intentions. Results also suggest that the impact is lessened (but not overcome) if the sponsoring firm switches its support to a new cause, regardless of the levels of fit between the brand and cause. In Study 2, when an altruistic reason was used to motivate the termination, consumers responded more positively when the decision was made solely by the sponsoring firm than when it was made mutually by the sponsoring firm and the cause. However, when the decision to terminate the partnership was motivated by an operational reason, consumers responded better when the decision was made mutually.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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Notes on contributors
H. Aghakhani
H. Aghakhani is an assistant professor of Marketing at the Rowe School of Business, Dalhousie University. He holds a PhD in Marketing from the University of Manitoba. His research program consists of three main streams of work: (1) cause related marketing and consumer's helping behaviour; (2) consumer reactions to situational cues in advertising and (3) how individual consumers are impacted by experiences of exclusion. His work has been presented at numerous conferences and published in a number of leading journals.
S. W. Carvalho
Dr. S. W. Carvalho is the F.C. Manning Chair in Economics and Business and a Professor of Marketing at the Rowe School of Business, Dalhousie University. Dr. Carvalho's research covers consumer behavior and international marketing. His research has been funded by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada. His has published articles in a number of leading journals in marketing and consumer behavior.
P. H. Cunningham
Dr. P. H. Cunningham is the R.A. Jodrey Chair within the Faculty of Management's Rowe School of Business at Dalhousie University. She previously served as the Dean of the Faculty. Her teaching, research and consulting expertise fall within the areas of cause-related marketing, ethics, corporate responsibility, strategy, and fast growth firms. Her research is published in a number of leading journals.