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

Anran Zhang, Pamela Saleme, Bo Pang, James Durl and Zhengliang Xu
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Anran Zhang: School of Management, Jilin University, Changchun 130022, China
Pamela Saleme: Social Marketing @ Griffith, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia
Bo Pang: Social Marketing @ Griffith, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia
James Durl: Social Marketing @ Griffith, Griffith University, Nathan, QLD 4111, Australia
Zhengliang Xu: School of Management, Jilin University, Changchun 130022, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 22, 1-23

Abstract: Cause-related marketing (CRM) is a globally popular marketing technique due to its value to multiple stakeholders such as the companies, the consumers, the non-profit organizations, and the society. The key to successful CRM is the consumer purchasing the cause-related product, and experimental methodology was adopted mostly during this process. Therefore, this paper systematically reviewed the CRM literature that measured consumers’ purchase intentions using the experimental methodology. A systematic literature research was undertaken examining five databases and 68 qualified articles were identified. The results showed that CRM in most qualified studies is manipulated as a tactical marketing program and the products are mainly low-cost and low involvement. Moreover, the CRM is more effective than the ordinary marketing or sales promotion strategy, such as discount and coupons. Furthermore, the specific characteristics of the CRM program (e.g., donation amount, cause type, message framing) have shown positive outcomes but mixed effects are persistent. Recommendations for implementing CRM programs and for future research were discussed.

Keywords: cause-related marketing; purchase intention; systematic review; determinants; effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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