Abstract
Prior research suggests that communicating cause-related marketing success risks being perceived by consumers as bragging (i.e., caring more about the brand’s image than the cause). This research examines cause-related marketing messaging about making charitable donations. Across three studies, the findings show that brands can mitigate the perception that they are bragging by attributing their charitable donations to their customers (versus the brand). While this beneficial effect only holds true for brands perceived as having high integrity, such brands can use it to hedge against being perceived as braggarts, thereby fostering trust and increasing future donation intentions.
- Cause-related marketing
- charitable donations
- attribution theory
- perceived bragging
- brand integrity
- brand trust
- donation intention
- Received May 9, 2023.
- Received (in revised form) January 30, 2024.
- Accepted February 20, 2024.
- Copyright © 2024 ARF. All rights reserved.
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Vol 64 Issue 4
Jump to
- Article
- Abstract
- MANAGEMENT SLANT
- INTRODUCTION
- CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT
- STUDY 1: WHEN BRANDS BRAG ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMERS (VERSUS THEMSELVES)
- STUDY 2: CONCEPTUAL REPLICATION USING A DIFFERENT BRAND AND CATEGORY
- STUDY 3: BRAND INTEGRITY AS A BOUNDARY CONDITION
- GENERAL DISCUSSION
- ABOUT THE AUTHORS
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- APPENDIX
- REFERENCES
- Figures & Data
- Info