Containing Cause-Related Marketing Skepticism: A Comparison across Donation Frame Types

Abstract

This study examines how companies can better manage consumer attributions (i.e. perceived company underlying motives) to corporate social responsibility (CSR) through CSR-related communications. Specifically, the article focuses on cause-related marketing (CRM) initiatives and investigates how different types of CRM donation frames influence consumers’ perceptions of a company’s motivation to support a social cause. Drawing from the psychology of money and CSR literature, the article finds that the in-kind CRM donation frame works best at reducing consumers’ causal attributions of companies’ self-centered motives.

Keywords: Cause-Related Marketing Quantifiers, CSR Communications, Attributions, Other-Centered Motives, Self-Centered Motives

JEL Classification: M31