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Moral Self-Signaling Benefits of Effortful Cause Marketing Campaigns

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Abstract

A popular form of cause marketing (CM) that has recently emerged is one requiring the consumer to perform a prescribed behavior—such as providing a product review or uploading a picture on social media alongside a hashtag—to trigger a donation from the firm to the charitable cause. While this approach may be engaging, its effectiveness in eliciting positive consumer responses toward the brand remains uncertain when compared to conventional forms of CM. The current research uses a moral self-signaling framework to examine the role of effort in CM on consumer attitudes toward the brand, consumer choice, and purchase and participation intentions. Five studies reveal that consumers who are concerned about their moral self-image prefer effort-based CM over no-effort CM. This effect emerges because consumers anticipate greater moral self-signaling utility from effort-based CM than from no-effort CM. However, this effect only occurs for CM campaigns where the consumer’s effort is private. Despite the prevalence of CM campaigns requiring public performance of effort (e.g., selfie campaigns), consumers seeking to reinforce their moral self-image view such campaigns unfavorably. Important implications of effort-based CM for firms, non-profits, and consumers are discussed.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Bianca Grohmann and François Bellevance for their comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.

Funding

This research is partially supported by SSHRC Funds.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, 55 Laurier Ave. E, Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada

    Argiro Kliamenakis

  2. Marketing Department, John Molson School of Business, 1455 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W, Montreal, QC, H3G 1M8, Canada

    H. Onur Bodur

Authors
  1. Argiro Kliamenakis
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Correspondence to H. Onur Bodur.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Ethical Approval

Approval was obtained from the ethics committees of Concordia University and the University of Ottawa.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Appendices

Appendix A

Study 1 Materials

figure a

Effort

figure b

No Effort

figure c

Appendix B

Study 2 Materials

figure d

Example of No-Effort CM*

figure e

Example of Effort-Based CM*

figure f

*Brands were rotated between control, effort-based, and no-effort CM conditions. The control condition presented the chocolate brand with no CM information.

Appendix C

Study 3 Materials

Moral Self-Concept Manipulation

In the past year, please indicate how often you have performed each behavior below.

(1 = Never, 2 = Once, 3 = 2–4 times, 3 = 5–7 times, 4 = 8 or more times).

Volunteer to tutor or help children catch up with school work.

Collect clothes and blankets to be donated to hospitals.

Volunteer at a non-profit charity organization.

Help organize and sort donations at a homeless shelter.

Run an errand for an elderly neighbor.

Help senior citizens with yard work (e.g., rake leaves, shovel snow, mow the lawn).

Participate in the cleanup of a local river, pond, or lake.

Prepare a home-cooked meal for the residents of a homeless shelter.

Donate non-perishable food to a food bank.

Donate blankets to a homeless shelter.

Foster animals that shelters don’t have space for.

Donate used books to your local library.

Plant a tree at a local or community park.

Clean up a local park.

Deliver groceries and meals to elderly neighbors.

Teach computer skills to the elderly.

Take care of cats and dogs at an animal shelter.

Organize online and offline games and activities for children in hospitals.

Read to residents at a nursing home.

Organize or participate in a community blood drive.

Read books or letters to a person who is visually impaired.

Organize or participate in a car wash and donate the profits to charity.

Help deliver meals and gifts to patients at a local hospital.

Donate stuffed animals to children in hospitals.

Volunteer to clean up trash at a community event.

figure g
figure h

Direct Donation

figure i

Purchase with No Effort

figure j

Purchase with Effort

figure k

Appendix D

Study 4 Materials

figure l

No Effort

figure m

Effort

figure n

Appendix E

Study 4 Follow-up Materials

No-Effort CM

figure o

Firm-benefiting effort

figure p

Cause-benefiting effort

figure q

SPCA denotes the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a Canadian animal welfare organization. This organization was chosen as the study was conducted at a Canadian university.

Appendix F

Study 5 Materials

figure r

Private Effort

figure s

Public Effort

figure t

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Kliamenakis, A., Bodur, H.O. Moral Self-Signaling Benefits of Effortful Cause Marketing Campaigns. J Bus Ethics 190, 371–398 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-023-05443-8

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