The influence of cause-related marketing on consumer choice: Does one goodturn deserve another?

Are consumers more likely to select brands offered by companies that engage in cause-related marketing (CRM)? Somewhat surprisingly, little evidence e xists that directly addresses this issue. Accordingly, the present examinat ion investigates whether and when CRM efforts influence consumer choice. Th e results from several studies indicate that information regarding a compan y's support of social causes can affect choice. However CRM's influence on choice is found to depend on the perceived motivation underlying the compan y's CRM efforts as well as whether consumers must trade off company sponsor ship of causes for lower performance or higher price. The results also indi cate that CRM cues affect choice primarily through compensatory strategies involving trade-offs rather than through noncompensatory strategies. Implic ations of the current findings for existing theory are discussed along with directions for future research.