Research On Consumer Choice In Cause Related Marketing

AbstractWith the more and more fierce commercial competition in the market,and spurred by the consumer demand for companies to be socially responsible,cause related marketing(CRM),in which fund raising for a cause is tied to purchase of a firm’s product,has become popular in recent years.By using CRM campaigns,companies can achieve corporate social responsibility and better brand image,as well as increase their sales. Mean while, there are various kinds of new type for CRM.This study employs questionnaire survey method to find the relation between the type of CRM campaign and consumer responses.And whether the condition in which CRM campaigns that allow consumers to choose the cause that receive the donation lead to greater consumer responses than those in which the company determines the cause in advance.Meanwhile this study try to show how the fit between the company and the cause,and self-efficacy of consumers affect the positive effect resulted by allowing consumer to select the cause of the CRM campaign(vs. the company selecting the cause),and the possible interactive effect between the fit and self-efficacy of consumers under different type of CRM campaign.The result demonstrate that allow consumers to choose the cause that receive the donation do lead to greater consumer responses than those in which the company determines the cause in advance.However,the positive effect of allowing consumer to select the cause of the CRM campaign(vs. the company selecting the cause) on consumer response is greater when fit between the company and the cause is low.When fit is high,choice of cause does not have a significant effect on consumer response. What’s more,the positive effect of allowing consumer to select the cause of the CRM campaign(vs. the company selecting the cause) on consumer response is greater for those who have higher sense of self-efficacy than those who have lower sense of self-efficacy.This study not only analysis the positive effect of allowing consumer to select the cause of the CRM campaign on consumer response,also further demonstrate the moderating effect of fit and self-efficacy on the positice effect of the choice.The results of this study expand the study of the relation between the type of CRM campaign and consumer response,and other related subjects.