Search results

This study investigates the effect of product quality and price fairness on consumer cause-related marketing (CRM) participation and also the moderating role of donation-related customer predispositions (i.e. empathy and cause importance) on this relationship.

Data for the study were obtained from 240 respondents. A structural equation modelling approach was used in analysing the data.

Results from the analysis indicate that fair pricing and product quality affect CRM participation. The findings also provide insights into the moderation role of empathy and cause importance.

Prior research studied the effect of promotion on CRM participation; however, this study examines the effect of product and price. The findings offer insight into issues of research and managerial interest, offering insightful implications to the academic and practitioner communities in developing countries, respectively.

This paper aims to examine how customer participation in new service development (NSD) and customer relationship management (CRM) technology can improve the NSD performance of manufacturing firms. Additionally, the paper examines CRM technology usage to understand how it impacts new service performance both individually and jointly with customer participation in NSD.

This study is a survey of 216 manufacturing managers who are overseeing the development of new services at their organizations. For the analysis, structural equation modeling is used with Amos 22.0. Measures of all latent variables in the analysis pass the traditional tests for reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity. Furthermore, the results of a common latent factor test for common method variance and Harman’s one-factor test indicate that common method bias is not a source of endogeneity in the model.

Customer participation has a positive effect on NSD performance. CRM technology usage also has a positive effect on NSD performance. The effect of customer participation on NSD performance is enhanced by CRM technology. The results of a post hoc analysis suggest that the usage of CRM technology has the most benefit for managing the technical aspects of customer participation.

This study has methodological limitations that may impact the generalizability of results. For instance, it is based on cross-sectional self-reported survey data, which is more subjective than longitudinal secondary data. Survey research lacks the depth and nuance of qualitative research designs, which are commonly employed to study NSD. In addition, this study focuses on large US manufacturing firms. The authors do not include small firms or international organizations in the sample. Despite these limitations, they believe the findings can provide significant contributions to the NSD literature.

Although prior research has shown that customer participation and CRM technology can individually influence new product development (NPD) performance, the results indicate they are equally effective factors in the development of new services. Furthermore, the authors show that customer participation can be enhanced via the use of CRM technologies. The interaction is more pronounced within the technical aspects of NSD.

This study contributes to the NSD literature, and it also has implications for managers leading NSD efforts in traditional tangible-product industries. The findings provide additional evidence that customer participation is an effective NSD strategy for manufacturing firms (Morgan et al., 2019). Furthermore, CRM technology is integral to NSD performance. CRM technology not only has a direct effect on NSD performance, but the interaction term of customer participation by CRM technology also has a positive effect on NSD performance.

With the rising concern for the planet and people dimensions of the triple-bottom-line, an increasing number of firms are using cause-related marketing (CRM) to create a win-win situation for all stakeholders. With growing internet and social media access the Indian consumer is being invited to participate in such campaigns through digital platforms. The purpose of the present study is to examine consumer perceptions about select digital CRM campaigns in terms of perceived fit between the brand and the cause being promoted and the extent of participation effort required by the campaign and further to investigate the relationship between these two variables and consumers’ intentions to participate in the campaign, engage in positive word-of-mouth about it and their brand purchase intentions.

Six online CRM campaigns in the consumer products space were taken up for study. Primary data was collected through a structured questionnaire in an online mode, which provided an advertisement snapshot and a brief description of each CRM campaign. Items to measure variables under examination were adapted from the extant literature. Three versions of the questionnaire were created, with each version involving two of the six campaigns. Thus, each respondent was responding to items pertaining to two campaigns only. A total of 242 responses were collected, using non-probability sampling.

The study indicates overall positive responses to the digital CRM campaigns included in the study. It finds that for the online CRM campaigns taken up for examination, respondents perceive a high extent of brand-cause fit. A fit between the cause being promoted and the brand’s sphere of activity is a factor that needs to be considered for its impact on consumer willingness to participate in the campaign and intention to engage in positive word-of-mouth about it. The study does not indicate a significant relationship between participation effort for online campaigns and consumer behavioural intentions. Consumer participation intentions and word-of-mouth intentions are found to be positively related to intentions to purchase the brand associated with the campaign.

In their efforts to design effective CRM campaigns, marketers should use creativity in looking for a common thread, which ties their business or brand with the cause being promoted. Consumers tend to perceive this congruence between the cause and the brand and this impacts their behavioural responses. It is possible that the fact that consumers are not required to make a purchase but are being invited to support a cause by performing a non-transaction-based activity, may also underlie their positive response to this genre of CRM activities. The study provides an understanding of factors that contribute to the effectiveness of non-purchase-based online CRM campaigns in garnering consumer engagement with the campaign and the brand.

The results provide important insights regarding non-transaction based digital CRM campaigns and the relationship between brand-cause fit, perceived participation effort and targeted changes in consumers’ behavioural intentions. Online CRM campaigns involving consumer participation in forms other than brand purchase are an emerging area of effort towards customer engagement and thus warrant further investigation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how cause-related marketing (CRM) messages with a global focus and a national focus influence perceived brand authenticity and participation intentions among consumers across two countries, USA and South Korea, based on the social identity perspective. In addition, the study examines how perceived altruism of the brand mediates these relationships.

Hypotheses were tested by 2×2 between-subject quasi-experiment among about 260 US and Korean consumers. Data were analyzed using multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCOVA) and a moderated mediation analysis.

Results indicated that, overall, US consumers perceive higher brand authenticity and participation intentions toward CRM in than Korean consumers. Korean consumers perceived higher brand authenticity and participation intentions from a CRM message with a national focus, while US consumers did not have a significant preference between message focuses. According to the result of moderated mediation analysis, consumers’ perceived altruism toward the brand mediated the effects of interaction between message focus and consumer nationality.

This study provides a unique perspective about what specific kind of CRM message could be more effective for consumers in different cultures, and proposes a theoretical explanation of why such difference is observed based on consumers’ social identities and in-group favoritism.

This study aims to test the effect of cause-related marketing (CRM), campaign-related marketing and consumer-related antecedents on consumers’ behavioral responses in a developing-country context.

A descriptive cross-sectional research design was used. An online questionnaire was distributed, and a sample of 738 Egyptians was obtained. Both the SPSS25 and Smart PLS software were used to report the results.

Results revealed that campaign-related antecedents had stronger effects on consumer attitudes than consumer-related antecedents. The most important campaign-related antecedents were brand function fit and hedonic product type. Extrinsic religiosity affected brand attitude and was also the most important predictor of purchase intention. Other predictors of purchase intention were brand attitude, hedonic product type and brand function fit. Furthermore, the effect of brand attitude on purchase intention was positive and significant. Cause involvement and others’ – centered attribution of corporate motives positively moderated the relationship between attitudes and purchase intention. Conversely, skepticism and self-centered attribution of corporate motives negatively moderated brand attitudes and purchase intention relationships. Research implications and suggestions for future research were also presented.

The study contributes to the existing academic literature by providing a better understanding of the effect of consumer and campaign-related variables on consumer attitudes and purchase intentions in a CRM context. It also helps understand the role of the two dimensions of religiosity in forming attitudes and purchase intentions for CRM campaigns. Furthermore, the research examines two possible moderators of the attitude–behavior gap through the lenses of signaling theory, prosocial behavior theory, theory of reasoned action and attribution theory.

The purpose of this paper is to study the usage of ethical business strategies, in particular those using the corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach, of Egyptian businesses. The authors primarily focus on one facet of CSR strategy – cause-related marketing (CRM) – which has been increasingly used by marketing practitioners in recent times.

In the context of Egyptian household goods business, the authors investigate the factors that motivate/hinder consumer participation in their CRM campaigns using a sample of 261 respondents in a mixed research design.

Results show that motivational attribution significantly predicts consumers’ responses toward CRM, with moral judgment playing a partial mediating role in such relationship. In addition, several variables such as altruism and religiosity among personality characteristics are found to arouse consumers’ positive motivational attribution, whereas skepticism was negatively associated with CRM responses.

The findings of this research have both practical and social implications for academics and practitioners alike. Successful campaigns should include the factors inducing motivational attribution, which, in turn, enhances consumers’ attitude toward a company and their purchase intentions. Personal characteristics also impact consumer responses and should be paid attention to.

In a world characterized by fast-changing pace of globalization, it has become critical to study an important phenomenon like CRM in the Middle East, and this original research provides insights into how effective CRM campaigns can be developed there. This will strengthen our cross-cultural understanding of the similarities and differences in consumer viewpoints between developed and developing countries.

This study aims to investigate the potential positive effects of cause-related marketing (CRM) campaigns that show evidence of commitment to espoused causes. It examines whether consumers respond positively when a CRM campaign promises to deliver proof of the espoused cause.

This study adopted the grounded theory approach to conceptualize the promised impact evidence construct. A promised impact evidence scale was developed and validated using robust qualitative and quantitative methods, including item response theory estimates.

The study provides evidence for promised impact evidence as a reflective second-order latent construct. The promised impact evidence scale demonstrates strong internal consistency, reliability and validity. In addition, this study posits that promised impact evidence is an antecedent of advertising trust, purchase intention, advertising credibility and persuasive and selling intent.

This study positioned the promised impact evidence scale against the theoretical underpinnings of the persuasion knowledge model. Specifically, this scale contributes to existing knowledge because it applies the persuasion knowledge model in CRM campaigns by adopting an acceptance focus, as opposed to the rejection focus used in developing persuasion knowledge model scales.

This study examines the influence of consumer skepticism on cause-related marketing (CRM) campaign participation intentions of Generation Z consumers from emerging market perspective. This study was undertaken due to the paucity of relevant literature in the public domain to directly investigate whether and how consumers' skepticism affects CRM participation intentions, specifically in the luxury retailing context.

A survey was conducted among 552 Generation Z consumers and path analysis was used to examine the direct and indirect effects of skepticism. The mediation and moderation analysis was used to explore and test the authors' hypotheses via partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS SEM).

The authors' findings provide empirical evidence that corporate social responsibility, religiosity and cause involvement positively affects consumer participation intentions, and this link is also established indirectly through skepticism toward the CRM campaign. These findings provide novel theoretical contributions by establishing skepticism's complex role in determining the CRM participation intention in the Generation Z consumers' context. This study further demonstrates the moderating effect of gender and luxury store format on consumer skepticism and CRM participation intentions.

The Generation z group will represent a quarter of the Asia–Pacific region's population by 2025. However, little is known about Generation z consumers' CRM participation intentions. This research would help practitioners, including luxury retailers, CRM managers and advertising professionals, to effectively design CRM campaigns. The paper contributes by highlighting the theoretical implications and managerial implications based on the current findings in the emerging market context.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated model of quality function deployment (QFD) and customer relationship management (CRM) for design and delivery processes.

After the literature review, the elements of a CRM business cycle were integrated with different phases in QFD. The proposed model was further developed, based on customer participation in the design and delivery of products/services, as a major stage in CRM in three cases: customer participation in design; delivery; and design and delivery. As a case study, the customer participation in delivery was studied in after‐sale services of the Iran Khodro Co., which is the second major carmaker company in Iran.

The results imply that QFD and CRM are complementary approaches and once they are combined, their capabilities are enhanced and managing customer relationship is empowered. According to the case study, personnel monitoring and human resources management (HRM) have been targeted as the first priorities in process parameters and process control characteristics, respectively.

Although the developed model involves considerable advantages, due to the different matrixes used for QFD, its use might become time consuming and complicated. Also, gathering information from customers and categorizing them respectively play major roles in effective and strategic CRM.

The proposed model provides a means of harnessing the power of the present research innovations and advancements in order to empower customer need assessment, acquisition, development, equity leverage, retention and referrals, as well as prioritization of the features of products/services, processes, and performance indicators, according to the voice of customers.

Cause-related marketing (CRM) campaigns have become common features of the marketplace. CRM often involves a for-profit business agreeing to contribute a specified amount to a cause when the business’s customers engage in revenue-generating exchanges. Despite the central role that price is likely to play in a consumer’s decision to purchase or not to purchase an offer associated with a CRM campaign, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, very few have examined price framing effects in a CRM context. This paper aims to explore the effect of rightmost digits manipulation in prices on participation intentions for CRM campaigns.

In Study 1, 241 college students participated in an online experiment for class credit. The experiment used a 3 (price level: low, medium and high) × 2 (price ending: 99 ending and no ending) between-subjects design. The dependent variable was participation intention, and several moderators and mediators were considered. PROCESS was used to test the moderated mediation. In Study 2, 351 subjects participated in an online experiment with a design similar to the earlier study. In Study 2, however, new mediators were added and the moderated mediation was tested using SPSS PROCESS macro.

This research shows that price ending impacts the effectiveness of CRM as a tactic on consumers’ purchase intentions. Consistent with the authors’ prediction, this study shows that consumers exposed to a 99-ending CRM offer are more likely to participate in the offer compared to consumers exposed to a no-ending priced offer. Offer attractiveness, elaboration and corporate social responsibility were also shown to have a strong effect on participation intentions.

This research indicates that for moderately priced products, 99-ending prices led to an increased influence on consumer purchase intentions; on the other hand, no-ending/even-ending prices were more effective for high-priced products. Thus, the use of the right digit effect by managers in a CRM context as way of increasing consumers’ participation likelihood is likely to be more successful for moderately priced offers.

This research extends previous work on CRM and right digit effect in pricing. This study’s findings, in both Studies 1 and 2, demonstrate that the effectiveness of CRM campaigns on consumer choice is dependent on the offer price ending. Consumers exposed to the no-ending priced CRM offers tend to be affected less by CRM campaigns compared to consumers exposed to 99-ending offers, who perceive the offer as more attractive.