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Consumer Participation in Cause-Related Marketing: An Examination of Effort Demands and Defensive Denial

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Abstract

This article presents two studies that examine cause-related marketing (CRM) promotions that require consumers’ active participation. Requiring a follow-up behavior has very valuable implications for maximizing marketing expenditures and customer relationship management. Theories related to ethical behavior, like motivated reasoning and defensive denial, are used to explain when and why consumers respond negatively to these effort demands. The first study finds that consumers rationalize not participating in CRM by devaluing the sponsored cause. The second study identifies a tactic marketers can utilize to neutralize consumers’ use of defensive denial. Allowing the consumer to choose the sponsored cause seems to effectively refocus their attention and increases consumers’ threshold for campaign requirements. Implications for nonprofits and marketing managers include a tendency for consumers to be more likely to perceive a firm as ethical and socially responsible when they are allowed to choose the specific cause that is supported.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, University of Mississippi, University, MS, 38677, USA

    Katharine M. Howie, Lifeng Yang, Victoria Bush & Doug Vorhies

  2. Department of Marketing, School of Business Administration, University of Mississippi, University, MS, 38677, USA

    Katharine M. Howie, Lifeng Yang, Scott J. Vitell, Victoria Bush & Doug Vorhies

Authors
  1. Katharine M. Howie
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  2. Lifeng Yang
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  3. Scott J. Vitell
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  4. Victoria Bush
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  5. Doug Vorhies
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Scott J. Vitell.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Scenarios for Different Effort Conditions

Low Effort Condition

Paul Mitchell’s Tea Tree line of hair products is sponsoring American Forests, an organization that promotes reforestation.

After you purchase the product, you can choose to either take a survey or fill out a form to mail in. Either option will take you about 5 min to complete. Once you are finished Paul Mitchell will make a donation.

Medium Effort Condition

Paul Mitchell’s Tea Tree line of hair products is sponsoring American Forests, an organization that promotes reforestation.

After you purchase the product, you can choose to either take a survey or fill out a form to mail in. Either option will take you about 10 min to complete. Once you are finished Paul Mitchell will make a donation.

High Effort Condition

Paul Mitchell’s Tea Tree line of hair products is sponsoring American Forests, an organization that promotes reforestation.

After you purchase the product, you can choose to either take a survey or fill out a form to mail in. Either option will take you about 20 min to complete. Once you are finished Paul Mitchell will make a donation.

Appendix 2

See Table 2.

Table 2 Dependent measures and psychometric properties for studies
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Howie, K.M., Yang, L., Vitell, S.J. et al. Consumer Participation in Cause-Related Marketing: An Examination of Effort Demands and Defensive Denial. J Bus Ethics 147, 679–692 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2961-1

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