IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i9p3632-d352726.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cause-Related Marketing Influence on Consumer Loyalty in a Medium-Sized City

Author

Listed:
  • Sebastian Molinillo

    (Department of Business Management, University of Malaga, El Ejido Campus, 29071 Malaga, Spain)

  • Pere Mercadé-Melé

    (Department of Statistics and Econometrics, University of Malaga, El Ejido Campus, 29071 Malaga, Spain)

  • Teresa De Noronha

    (Faculty of Economics, Universidade do Algarve, Gambelas Campus, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of the performance of a cause-related marketing action on consumer loyalty by a company. In addition, the study explores the moderating effect of the publicizing medium. The proposed theoretical model was tested based on data gathered from a face-to-face questionnaire completed by 421 respondents living in a medium-sized city. The results validated the proposed model and showed that the functional and image fit between social actions and companies are key antecedents of perceived corporate ability (CA) and company credibility. It was shown that CA directly influences customer satisfaction, that credibility indirectly influences customer satisfaction through perceived corporate social responsibility, and that satisfaction directly and positively impacts customer loyalty. Moreover, the influence of functional and image fit in the model were shown to be moderated by the type of publicizing medium. Specifically, the effect of functional fit on corporate ability is greater for traditional media (TM) than for social media (SM). On the other hand, the effect of image fit on corporate ability is greater for SM than for TM. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Sebastian Molinillo & Pere Mercadé-Melé & Teresa De Noronha, 2020. "Cause-Related Marketing Influence on Consumer Loyalty in a Medium-Sized City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-16, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:9:p:3632-:d:352726
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3632/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3632/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. María del Mar García‐De los Salmones & Andrea Perez, 2018. "Effectiveness of CSR Advertising: The Role of Reputation, Consumer Attributions, and Emotions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 25(2), pages 194-208, March.
    2. Pere Mercade Mele & Jesus Molina Gomez & Lluis Garay, 2019. "To Green or Not to Green: The Influence of Green Marketing on Consumer Behaviour in the Hotel Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-17, August.
    3. Jarvis, Cheryl Burke & MacKenzie, Scott B & Podsakoff, Philip M, 2003. "A Critical Review of Construct Indicators and Measurement Model Misspecification in Marketing and Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(2), pages 199-218, September.
    4. Japutra, Arnold & Molinillo, Sebastian & Wang, Shasha, 2018. "Aesthetic or self-expressiveness? Linking brand logo benefits, brand stereotypes and relationship quality," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 191-200.
    5. Schreiner, Timo & Rese, Alexandra & Baier, Daniel, 2019. "Multichannel personalization: Identifying consumer preferences for product recommendations in advertisements across different media channels," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 87-99.
    6. Lafferty, Barbara A., 2007. "The relevance of fit in a cause-brand alliance when consumers evaluate corporate credibility," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(5), pages 447-453, May.
    7. Walsh, Gianfranco & Bartikowski, Boris, 2013. "Exploring corporate ability and social responsibility associations as antecedents of customer satisfaction cross-culturally," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 989-995.
    8. Saeidi, Sayedeh Parastoo & Sofian, Saudah & Saeidi, Parvaneh & Saeidi, Sayyedeh Parisa & Saaeidi, Seyyed Alireza, 2015. "How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 341-350.
    9. Fournier, Susan, 1998. "Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(4), pages 343-373, March.
    10. Ruiz, Salvador & Sicilia, Maria, 2004. "The impact of cognitive and/or affective processing styles on consumer response to advertising appeals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(6), pages 657-664, June.
    11. Marco Lerro & Maria Raimondo & Marcello Stanco & Concetta Nazzaro & Giuseppe Marotta, 2019. "Cause Related Marketing among Millennial Consumers: The Role of Trust and Loyalty in the Food Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-16, January.
    12. Andrea Stanaland & May Lwin & Patrick Murphy, 2011. "Consumer Perceptions of the Antecedents and Consequences of Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 47-55, August.
    13. Japutra, Arnold & Molinillo, Sebastian, 2019. "Responsible and active brand personality: On the relationships with brand experience and key relationship constructs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 464-471.
    14. Becker-Olsen, Karen L. & Cudmore, B. Andrew & Hill, Ronald Paul, 2006. "The impact of perceived corporate social responsibility on consumer behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(1), pages 46-53, January.
    15. José Andrés Domínguez & Teresa De Noronha & Eric Vaz, 2015. "Sustainability in the trans-border regions? The case of Andalusia - Algarve," International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 14(1/2), pages 151-163.
    16. Pere Mercadé Melé & Jesús Molina Gómez & Maria José Sousa, 2020. "Influence of Sustainability Practices and Green Image on the Re-Visit Intention of Small and Medium-Size Towns," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-11, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anran Zhang & Alex Scodellaro & Bo Pang & Hui-Yi Lo & Zhengliang Xu, 2020. "Attribution and Effectiveness of Cause-Related Marketing: The Interplay between Cause–Brand Fit and Corporate Reputation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-17, October.
    2. Athanasios Krystallis & Vlad Zaharia & Antonis Zairis, 2021. "“When” Does It Pay to Be Good? Attributions Mediate the Way CSR Elements Impact on Consumer Responses, and Are Controllable," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-16, May.
    3. van Rekom, Johan & Go, Frank M. & Calter, Dayenne M., 2014. "Communicating a company's positive impact on society—Can plausible explanations secure authenticity?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1831-1838.
    4. Bodur, H. Onur & Tezer, Ali & Grohmann, Bianca, 2023. "Execution novelty: Improving brand evaluations in cause sponsorship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    5. Tsungjen Shih & Shaojung Sharon Wang, 2021. "Cause-Related Marketing in the Telecom Sector: Understanding the Dynamics among Environmental Values, Cause-Brand Fit, and Product Type," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-16, May.
    6. Alexandra ZBUCHEA & Florina PÎNZARU, 2017. "Tailoring CSR Strategy to Company Size?," Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, College of Management, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, vol. 5(3), pages 415-437, September.
    7. Skarmeas, Dionysis & Leonidou, Constantinos N., 2013. "When consumers doubt, Watch out! The role of CSR skepticism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1831-1838.
    8. Rana Essam Shazly & Abeer A. Mahrous, 2020. "Capture the hearts to win the minds: cause-related marketing in Egypt," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 17(3), pages 255-276, September.
    9. Park, Eunil & Kim, Ki Joon & Kwon, Sang Jib, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility as a determinant of consumer loyalty: An examination of ethical standard, satisfaction, and trust," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 8-13.
    10. Frauke Sander & Ulrich Föhl & Nadine Walter & Vera Demmer, 2021. "Green or social? An analysis of environmental and social sustainability advertising and its impact on brand personality, credibility and attitude," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(4), pages 429-445, July.
    11. Abdelmoety, Ziad Hassan & Aboul-Dahab, Sameh & Agag, Gomaa, 2022. "A cross cultural investigation of retailers commitment to CSR and customer citizenship behaviour: The role of ethical standard and value relevance," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    12. Jose Benitez & Laura Ruiz & Ana Castillo & Javier Llorens, 2020. "How corporate social responsibility activities influence employer reputation: The role of social media capability," Post-Print hal-02462583, HAL.
    13. Lee, Kuo-Wei & Li, Chia-Ying, 2023. "It is not merely a chat: Transforming chatbot affordances into dual identification and loyalty," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    14. Magdalena Öberseder & Bodo Schlegelmilch & Patrick Murphy & Verena Gruber, 2014. "Consumers’ Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility: Scale Development and Validation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 101-115, September.
    15. M. Isabel Sánchez-Hernández & Tomás M. Bañegil-Palacios & Ramón Sanguino-Galván, 2017. "Competitive Success in Responsible Regional Ecosystems: An Empirical Approach in Spain Focused on the Firms’ Relationship with Stakeholders," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-18, March.
    16. Su‐Jung Nam & Hyesun Hwang, 2019. "What makes consumers respond to creating shared value strategy? Considering consumers as stakeholders in sustainable development," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 26(2), pages 388-395, March.
    17. Lee, Jaedeock & Ferreira, Mauricio, 2013. "A role of team and organizational identification in the success of cause-related sport marketing," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 161-172.
    18. Simon, Françoise, 2017. "Relationship norms and media gratification in relational brand communication," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 12-22.
    19. Dayuan Li & Linna Xin & Xiaohong Chen & Shenggang Ren, 2017. "Corporate social responsibility, media attention and firm value: empirical research on Chinese manufacturing firms," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1563-1577, July.
    20. Jung, Hyo Sun & Seo, Kyung Hwa & Lee, Soo Bum & Yoon, Hye Hyun, 2018. "Corporate association as antecedents of consumer behaviors: The dynamics of trust within and between industries," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 30-38.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:9:p:3632-:d:352726. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.