Cause branding attitude: An assessment of the role of cause immediacy and customers’ psychographic characteristics

In this highly competitive market, brands struggle to differentiate themselves to increasingly conscious customers. Seeing the brands as social constructs, customers expect them to take a stance towards social and environmental issues; this expectation has given rise to “cause branding”, a strategy in which the customers are offered the opportunity to support a social/environmental cause by purchasing from a cause-branded company. Nevertheless, cause branding alone does not give a company a competitive advantage, as the immediacy of the cause and customers’ characteristics play a crucial role in its success. Although the existing literature on donation behaviors suggested that people tend to respond more positively to a disaster cause, as it is more immediate compared with an ongoing cause, this relationship has never been examined in a business-related field. Thus, the present study aimed to contribute to the existing literature on cause branding by examining the potential effect of cause immediacy on customer’s attitude towards cause branding and the brand that employs it. In addition, the moderation role of customers’ psychographic characteristics on the relationship between cause immediacy and attitude towards cause branding was investigated. Hence, the research questions developed were: “How are customers’ attitudes towards cause branding and the brand that employs it influenced by the immediacy of the cause? What is the role of costumers’ psychographic characteristics?” To answer this research question, a quantitative approach was applied, and an online experimental survey was used to collect data from the Netherlands’ residents (N = 150). To test the hypotheses, the participants were randomly assigned to two different conditions, in which they were provided with an ongoing cause or a disaster one. The results show a significant positive relationship between neither cause immediacy and attitude towards cause branding nor cause immediacy and brand reputation. In addition, the customers’ psychographic characteristics failed to be a significant moderator for the relationship between cause immediacy and attitude towards cause branding. The results do indicate a significant positive relationship between cause/brand fit with attitude towards cause branding and brand reputation. This finding provides insight for brands that want to opt for cause branding into how choosing a cause that is congruent with their values and identity can positively influence the customers’ attitudes towards them. Finally, as the failure in manipulation is predicted to be the main reason breeding the insignificant results, further research will be necessary to fully explore the relationship between cause immediacy, attitude towards cause branding, and brand reputation.