Debbie Human
Lecturer, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.The Influence of Consumer Attitude in Cause-
Related Marketing: A Structural Equation Model
Cause-related marketing, defined as the process of “formulating
and implementing marketing activities that are characterized by an
offer from the firm to contribute a specific amount to a designated cause
when customers engage in revenue providing exchanges that satisfy
organizational and individual objectives”^1 , is growing continuously^2.
Research suggests that campaign structural elements^3 (e.g. donation
magnitude^4 , expression format^5 and recipient^6 , etc.) and consumer
characteristics^7 influence consumer intentions to participate in
campaigns. The theory of reasoned action^8 and later the theory of
planned behavior^9 suggest that behavioural intent is partially influence
by attitudes toward the behavior^10. Previous research^11 explored the
influence of attitudes on behavior within a donation context. Similarly,
this study uses reliable scales to assess the influence of consumer
attitudes (toward helping others^12 ; toward the offer^13 ; toward the
alliance^14 in the campaign) on consumer intention to participate^15 in
cause-related marketing. Data was collected with a questionnaire from
a convenient sample of 184 South African students (42% male, 58%
female; 17 to 25 years of age, mean age=20) and analysed with LISREL.
A sample size of 100-150 can be considered as adequate for structural
equation models (SEM) with five or fewer constructs and item
communalities of 0.6 or higher^16. As this study included four constructs,
the sample size can be viewed as acceptable. The SEM model results
show that the model fit was good (X2df84=105.42; p=0.05699;
NNFI=0.991; CFI=0.993; IFI=0.993; RMSEA=0.037; RMR=0.0570). The
results indicate that the independent variables explain approximately
59% of the variance in the dependent variable of participation intention.
Approximately 65% of the variance in attitude toward the offer is
explained by attitude toward helping others and toward the alliance.
Attitude toward helping others in turn explain 3.8% of the variance in
attitude toward the alliance. The hypothesised linkages among the
constructs are statistically significant, except for the link between
attitude toward helping others and attitude toward the offer, and
between attitude toward the alliance and participation intent (Figure 1).