IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joamsc/v46y2018i2d10.1007_s11747-017-0571-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cause marketing and customer profitability

Author

Listed:
  • Michel Ballings

    (University of Tennessee)

  • Heath McCullough

    (University of Tennessee)

  • Neeraj Bharadwaj

    (University of Tennessee)

Abstract

This research marks the first attempt to investigate the cause marketing–customer profitability relationship, and to assess whether features can moderate the influence of cause marketing (CM) on customer profitability for a focal brand and its main rival. We obtain a panel dataset on 7257 customers to evaluate the Yoplait–Susan G. Komen partnership. On a propensity score matched sample, we estimate a multilevel model and find that Yoplait’s CM initiative positively influences Yoplait’s customer profitability (2.70%), along with a deleterious effect on Dannon’s customer profitability (−13.31%). These findings are theoretically meaningful and pragmatically useful as they: (1) provide behavioral evidence of CM’s profit impact, (2) establish CM as an “offensive” strategy that cultivates the rival’s customers, (3) suggest features can amplify the effect of CM on the focal brand’s customer profitability, and (4) support that managers can add CM to their strategic marketing arsenal as an instrument to strengthen brand equity.

Suggested Citation

  • Michel Ballings & Heath McCullough & Neeraj Bharadwaj, 2018. "Cause marketing and customer profitability," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(2), pages 234-251, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joamsc:v:46:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s11747-017-0571-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s11747-017-0571-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11747-017-0571-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11747-017-0571-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nedungadi, Prakash, 1990. "Recall and Consumer Consideration Sets: Influencing Choice without Altering Brand Evaluations," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 17(3), pages 263-276, December.
    2. Jie Zhang, 2006. "An Integrated Choice Model Incorporating Alternative Mechanisms for Consumers' Reactions to In-Store Display and Feature Advertising," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 25(3), pages 278-290, 05-06.
    3. Nicole Koschate-Fischer & Isabel V. Huber (née Stefan) & Wayne D. Hoyer, 2016. "When will price increases associated with company donations to charity be perceived as fair?," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(5), pages 608-626, September.
    4. Sungho Park & Sachin Gupta, 2011. "A Regime-Switching Model of Cyclical Category Buying," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 469-480, 05-06.
    5. Andreoni, James, 1990. "Impure Altruism and Donations to Public Goods: A Theory of Warm-Glow Giving?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(401), pages 464-477, June.
    6. Thorsten Hennig-Thurau & André Marchand & Barbara Hiller, 2012. "The relationship between reviewer judgments and motion picture success: re-analysis and extension," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 36(3), pages 249-283, August.
    7. Keller, Kevin Lane, 2003. "Brand Synthesis: The Multidimensionality of Brand Knowledge," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 29(4), pages 595-600, March.
    8. Joëlle Vanhamme & Adam Lindgreen & Jon Reast & Nathalie Popering, 2012. "To Do Well by Doing Good: Improving Corporate Image Through Cause-Related Marketing," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 109(3), pages 259-274, September.
    9. Inman, J Jeffrey & McAlister, Leigh & Hoyer, Wayne D, 1990. "Promotion Signal: Proxy for a Price Cut?," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 17(1), pages 74-81, June.
    10. David Roodman, 2011. "Fitting fully observed recursive mixed-process models with cmp," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 11(2), pages 159-206, June.
    11. Strahilevitz, Michal & Myers, John G, 1998. "Donations to Charity as Purchase Incentives: How Well They Work May Depend on What You Are Trying to Sell," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(4), pages 434-446, March.
    12. Ilona Szőcs & Bodo B. Schlegelmilch & Thomas Rusch & Hamed M. Shamma, 2016. "Linking cause assessment, corporate philanthropy, and corporate reputation," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 376-396, May.
    13. Ho, Daniel E. & Imai, Kosuke & King, Gary & Stuart, Elizabeth A., 2007. "Matching as Nonparametric Preprocessing for Reducing Model Dependence in Parametric Causal Inference," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 199-236, July.
    14. Neeraj Arora & Ty Henderson, 2007. "Embedded Premium Promotion: Why It Works and How to Make It More Effective," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 514-531, 07-08.
    15. Anna Sadovnikova & Ashish Pujari, 2017. "The effect of green partnerships on firm value," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 251-267, March.
    16. Pauwels, Koen & Erguncu, Selin & Yildirim, Gokhan, 2013. "Winning hearts, minds and sales: How marketing communication enters the purchase process in emerging and mature markets," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 57-68.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Youngtak M. Kim & Neil T. Bendle & John Hulland & Michael D. Pfarrer, 2024. "Corporate sustainability research in marketing: Mapping progress and broadening our perspective," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 52(5), pages 1495-1512, October.
    2. Parker J. Woodroof & George D. Deitz & Katharine M. Howie & Robert D. Evans, 2019. "The effect of cause-related marketing on firm value: a look at Fortune’s most admired all-stars," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(5), pages 899-918, September.
    3. Nguyen, Hang T. & Ross, William T. & Pancras, Joseph & Phan, Hieu V., 2020. "Market-based drivers of cobranding success," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 122-138.
    4. Panzone, Luca A. & Tocco, Barbara & Brečić, Ružica & Gorton, Matthew, 2024. "Healthy foods, healthy sales? Cross-category effects of a loyalty program promoting sales of fruit and vegetables," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 85-103.
    5. Omar. A. Alghamdi & Gomaa Agag, 2023. "Unlocking the Power of Reporting: Exploring the Link between Voluntary Sustainability Reporting, Customer Behavior, and Firm Value," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-18, November.
    6. Panzone, Luca A., 2022. "Conditional Promotion With A Costly Reward: An Evaluation Of A Campaign To Motivate Consumption Of Fruit And Vegetables," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322058, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Kohsuke Matsuoka, 2020. "Exploring the interface between management accounting and marketing: a literature review of customer accounting," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 157-208, September.
    8. Enrica N. Ruggs & Jennifer Ames Stuart & Linyun W. Yang, 2018. "The effect of traditionally marginalized groups in advertising on consumer response," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 319-335, September.
    9. Zhe Zhang & Siyu Peng, 2022. "Licensing Effect in Sustainable Charitable Behaviors," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-16, December.
    10. Tejaswi Patil & Zillur Rahman, 2023. "Mapping the Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) field: document co-citation and bibliographic coupling approach," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 20(2), pages 491-520, June.
    11. Wesley Friske & Seth A. Hoelscher & Atanas Nik Nikolov, 2023. "The impact of voluntary sustainability reporting on firm value: Insights from signaling theory," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 372-392, March.
    12. Xu, Lina & Roy, Abhijit, 2022. "Cashback as cash forward: The serial mediating effect of time/effort and money savings," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 30-37.
    13. Liyin Jin & Yanqun He, 2018. "How the frequency and amount of corporate donations affect consumer perception and behavioral responses," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(6), pages 1072-1088, November.

    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. Tejaswi Patil & Zillur Rahman, 2023. "Mapping the Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) field: document co-citation and bibliographic coupling approach," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 20(2), pages 491-520, June.
    2. Xiaojun Fan & Nianqi Deng & Yi Qian & Xuebing Dong, 2022. "Factors Affecting the Effectiveness of Cause-Related Marketing: A Meta-Analysis," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 175(2), pages 339-360, January.
    3. Neeraj Arora & Ty Henderson, 2007. "Embedded Premium Promotion: Why It Works and How to Make It More Effective," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(4), pages 514-531, 07-08.
    4. Fennell, Patrick B. & Coleman, Joshua T. & Kuo, Andrew, 2020. "The moderating role of donation quantifiers on price fairness judgments," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 464-473.
    5. Jasjit Singh & Nina Teng & Serguei Netessine, 2019. "Philanthropic Campaigns and Customer Behavior: Field Experiments on an Online Taxi Booking Platform," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(2), pages 913-932, February.
    6. Chun-Tuan Chang & Xing-Yu (Marcos) Chu, 2020. "The give and take of cause-related marketing: purchasing cause-related products licenses consumer indulgence," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(2), pages 203-221, March.
    7. Müller, Sarah S. & Fries, Anne J. & Gedenk, Karen, 2014. "How much to give? — The effect of donation size on tactical and strategic success in cause-related marketing," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 178-191.
    8. Christina Schamp & Mark Heitmann & Robin Katzenstein, 2019. "Consideration of ethical attributes along the consumer decision-making journey," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(2), pages 328-348, March.
    9. Arslanagic-Kalajdzic, Maja & Kadic-Maglajlic, Selma & Dlacic, Jasmina & Zabkar, Vesna, 2022. "“We Go Together”: Understanding social cause-related purchase intentions of young adults," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 130-142.
    10. Levens Michael, 2017. "The Influence of Organic Product Classification On Charitable Contributions Embedded in Retail Prices," Economics and Culture, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 31-40, June.
    11. Sarah S. Müller & Nina Mazar & Anne J. Fries, 2016. "The Cause Matters! How Cause Marketing Campaigns Can Increase the Demand for Conventional over Green Products," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(4), pages 540-554.
    12. De Vries, Eline L.E. & Duque, Lola C., 2018. "Small but Sincere: How Firm Size and Gratitude Determine the Effectiveness of Cause Marketing Campaigns," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 94(4), pages 352-363.
    13. Michele Fioretti, 2022. "Caring or Pretending to Care? Social Impact, Firms' Objectives, and Welfare (former title: Social Responsibility and Firm's Objectives)," SciencePo Working papers hal-03393065, HAL.
    14. Chang, Chia-Chi & Chen, Po-Yu, 2019. "Which maximizes donations: Charitable giving as an incentive or incentives for charitable giving?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 65-75.
    15. Owens, Mark F. & Rennhoff, Adam D. & Baum, Charles L., 2018. "Consumer demand for charitable purchases: Evidence from a field experiment on Girl Scout Cookie sales," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 47-63.
    16. 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.
    17. Allison, Thomas H. & Davis, Blakley C. & Webb, Justin W. & Short, Jeremy C., 2017. "Persuasion in crowdfunding: An elaboration likelihood model of crowdfunding performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 707-725.
    18. Anne Hamby & Niusha Jones & Guohong Yu, 2021. "Exploring the effects of for‐profit and nonprofit size congruency: An exchange perspective on cause‐related marketing," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 274-292, March.
    19. Widdecke, Kai A. & Keller, Wiebke I.Y. & Gedenk, Karen & Deleersnyder, Barbara, 2023. "Drivers of the synergy between price cuts and store flyer advertising at supermarkets and discounters," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 455-474.
    20. Julia Hartmann & Sebastian Forkmann & Sabine Benoit & Stephan C. Henneberg, 2022. "A consumer perspective on managing the consequences of chain liability," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 58(4), pages 58-89, October.

    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:spr:joamsc:v:46:y:2018:i:2:d:10.1007_s11747-017-0571-4. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.