The influence of cause-related marketing campaign structural elements on consumer intention, attitude and perception.

Date
2016-12
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
Abstract
ENGLISH SUMMARY : Cause-related marketing is a transaction-based approach characterised by an offer from a firm to make a contribution to a donation recipient when consumers purchase a particular cause-linked product. It is a technique that offers benefits to firms, non-profit organisations and consumers in an era where firms are held responsible for their societal actions, non-profit organisations are confronted with increasing social demands and decreasing funding, and consumers value the social identity and warm glow provided by charitable involvement. Cause-related marketing campaigns are constructed from various campaign structural elements. Such elements include the product featured in the campaign, the donation promised and the donation recipient. Research has indicated that consumers are generally positive toward cause-related marketing and that campaign structural elements influence consumer responses, both independently and interactively. Given the number of potential campaign structural elements, the multiplicity of their possible permutations, the simplicity of some previous studies and the contextual nature of cause-related marketing, further inquiry into the influence of these elements on consumer responses have been recommended. The current study responded to this call for research. The purpose of the research was to explore South African middle- to high income consumers’ knowledge and opinions about cause related marketing, and to investigate the independent and interactive influence of selected campaign structural elements on consumer responses. The research was conducted by means of qualitative focus groups and a quantitative 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 factorial experiment. The study adopted a communications approach and therefore focused on the campaign structural elements that are typically communicated to consumers as part of a cause-related marketing offer. The campaign structural elements that were investigated as independent variables in this study were product involvement (high; low), donation recipient specificity (specified; vague), donation magnitude (high; low) and donation expression format (actual amount; percentage-of-price). Product involvement and donation recipient specificity have received limited attention within the cause-related marketing research arena, whilst previous donation magnitude and donation expression format findings have been elusive and indicative that their influence often occur in interaction with other elements. As previous studies focused extensively on cause-related marketing outcomes derived from the campaign, the purpose of this research was to investigate those consumer responses pertaining to the communicated campaign itself. The consumer responses that exert the most determinant influence on cause-related marketing effectiveness are attitudes and behavioural intentions. Given this knowledge, purchase intention, participation intention, attitude toward the cause-related marketing advertisement, cognitive and affective attitude toward the communicated cause-related marketing offer and attitude toward the alliance featured in the offer were investigated as dependent variables along with perceived firm motives for participating in cause-related marketing. The qualitative research revealed that South African consumers are positive toward cause related marketing and that they prefer positive prosocial campaign messaging. The experiment confirmed that campaign structural elements exert significant independent and interactive influences on consumer intentions, attitudes and perception. A low involvement product, a specified donation recipient and a high magnitude actual amount donation were found to have the most positive impact on consumer responses.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Saakverwante reklame is ’n transaksiegebaseerde benadering wat gekenmerk word deur ’n aanbod van ’n firma om ’n bydrae te maak aan ’n donasiebegunstigde wanneer verbruikers ’n spesifieke saakgekoppelde produk koop. Dit is ’n tegniek wat voordele bied aan firmas, nie-winsorganisasies en verbruikers in ’n era waar firmas aanspreeklik gehou word vir hul sosiale aksies, nie-winsorganisasies gekonfronteer word met toenemende sosiale behoeftes en afnames in befondsing, en verbruikers waarde heg aan die sosiale identiteit en warm gevoel wat verkry word uit liefdadigheidsbetrokkenheid. Saakverwante reklame word gekonstrueer deur verskeie veldtogstruktuurelemente. Sulke elemente sluit in die produk wat in die veldtog verskyn, die donasie wat belowe word en die donasiebegunstigde. Navorsing dui daarop dat verbruikers oor die algemeen positief is teenoor saakverwante reklame en dat veldtogstruktuurelemente verbruikersreaksies beïnvloed, sowel onafhanklik as interaktief. Gegewe die aantal potensiële veldtogstruktuurelemente, die meervoudigheid van hul moontlike permutasies, die eenvoud van sommige vorige studies en die kontekstuele aard van saakverwante reklame, word verdere ondersoek oor die invloed van hierdie elemente op verbruikersreaksies aanbeveel. Hierdie studie is ’n reaksie op daardie oproep. Die doel van die navorsing was om Suid-Afrikaanse middel- tot hoëinkomsteverbruikers se kennis en opinies oor saakverwante reklame te verken, en om die onafhanklike en interaktiewe invloed van bepaalde veldtogstruktuurelemente op verbruikersreaksies te ondersoek. Die navorsing is uitgevoer aan die hand van kwalitatiewe fokusgroepe en ’n kwantitatiewe 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 faktoriale eksperiment. Die studie het ’n kommunikasiebenadering gevolg en daarom gefokus op die veldtogstruktuurelemente wat tipies aan verbruikers gekommunikeer word as deel van ’n saakverwante reklame-aanbod. Die veldtogstruktuurelemente wat in hierdie studie as onafhanklike veranderlikes ondersoek is, is produkbetrokkenheid (hoog; laag), donasiebegunstigde-spesifisiteit (spesifiek; vaag), donasiegrootte (hoog; laag) en donasieuitdrukkingsformaat (werklike bedrag; persentasie-van-prys). Produkbetrokkenheid en donasiebegunstigde-spesifisiteit het sover beperkte aandag ontvang in navorsing oor saakverwante reklame, terwyl vorige bevindinge oor donasiegrootte en donasie-uitdrukkingsformaat ontwykend was en daarop gedui het dat hierdie elemente se invloed dikwels in interaksie met ander elemente voorkom. Aangesien vorige studies breedvoerig gefokus het op saakverwante reklame se uitkomste wat uit die veldtog afgelei word, was die doel van hierdie navorsing om die verbruikerreaksies te ondersoek wat verband hou met die gekommunikeerde veldtog self. Die verbruikerreaksies wat die mees bepalende invloed op saakverwante reklame se effektiwiteit uitoefen, is houdings en gedragsvoornemens. Gegewe hierdie kennis is aankoopvoornemens, deelnamevoornemens, houding teenoor die saakverwante reklameadvertensie, kognitiewe en affektiewe houdings teenoor die gekommunkeerde saakverwante reklame-aanbod, en houding teenoor die alliansie wat in die aanbod verskyn, as afhanklike veranderlikes ondersoek tesame met die firma se waargenome motiewe vir deelname aan saakverwante reklame. Die kwalitatiewe navorsing het getoon dat Suid-Afrikaanse verbruikers positief is teenoor saakverwante reklame en dat hulle positiewe pro-sosiale veldtogboodskappe verkies. Die eksperiment het bevestig dat veldtogstruktuurelemente ’n beduidende onafhanklike en interaktiewe invloed uitoefen op voornemens, houdings en persepsie. Daar is bevind dat ’n laebetrokkenheid-produk, ’n gespesifiseerde donasiebegunstigde en ’n hoë werklike donasiebedrag die mees positiewe impak op verbruikerreaksies het.
Description
Thesis (DCom)--Stellenbosch University, 2016.
Keywords
Social marketing, Non-profit organisations, Advertising campaigns, Consumers -- Research, Social responsibility of business, UCTD
Citation