Corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives have become prominent and increasingly popular in recent years. Previous studies find that consumers are more favorable toward new products from companies that are perceived to be socially responsible (Brown & Dacin, 1997) and evaluate those companies more positively (Sen & Bhattacharya, 2001) As a result, an increasing number of companies have developed CSR programs and tied CSR activities closely to their operations in pursuit of building a positive corporate image and enhancing sales (Maignan & Ralston, 2002). By the growth of dedicated CSR organizations worldwide, socially responsible corporate activities may represent an important source of competitive advantage as it can enhance and raise the overall reputation of a company.
As a variety of socially responsible business activities have emerged, corporations are
reconsidering how community involvement and CSR can be tied to achieve their business objectives. Under this circumstance, corporations start to partner with non-profit organizations in creative ways to achieve their goals. Therefore, CRM is progressive outgrowth of this trend as an increasingly common form of CSR initiatives. With regard to CRM, it involves a company’s promise to donate a certain amount of money to a nonprofit organization or a social cause each time a customer makes a purchase for its products or service (Xiaoli & Kwangjun, 2007). Moreover, currently managers are facing increasing pressure to their philanthropic activities to take strategies to improve bottom-line performance and enhance their competitive advantage (Andreasen, 1996; Varadarajan & Menon, 1988). CRM has become a major corporate philanthropic activity based on the rationale of profit-motivated giving that can be viewed as a manifestation of the alignment of corporate philanthropy and benefit business (Varadarajan & Menon, 1988).
As CRM becomes more important and common form of marketing strategy in the marketplace, researchers have begun to investigate the potential factors that might influence the effectiveness of CRM. One important variable that has been identified to increase the success of CRM is the fit between the product and the cause (Benezra, 1996; Olsen &
Pracejus & Olsen, 2004; Strahilevitz & Myers, 1998). In Pracejus and Olsen studies, they find that consumers are willing to pay more for products or services when the relationship of product-cause is perceived as a high fit than the one is perceived as a low fit. Although there are an amount of discussion about fit and researchers agree that choosing the “fit” cause is important to facilitate CRM successful, little is known about what constitutes a good fit and how the nature of fit can be used to increase CRM effectiveness.
In particular, there are many different products characterized in the marketplace. Some of the products in regard to material, contains or the process of producing might cause the negative influence on environment or human health. For example, fast food usually contains high in cholesterol, fat, salt and sugar. According to a large multi-center study funded by the
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), after 15 years those who ate at fast-food restaurants more than twice each week had gained an extra ten pounds and a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease, which could be viewed as one of the harmful products to cause obesity and detrimental health. On the other hand, people are becoming increasingly aware of links between environmental problems of water and air pollution, land degradation, chemical contamination, and over-consumption (e.g., clothing, food, housing, and transport) (Esther &
Ricky, 1998). Those products result in creating environmental problems through their distribution cycle and package material, which could be seen as some of harmful products.
Deciding upon the best fit to employ is especially important in situations where consumers already have negative perceptions toward these harmful products. In terms of CRM activities, McDonald’s launched a campaign for giving children a chance at happier and healthier lives in 2007. From November 9th to 11th McDonald’s donated $1 to Ronald McDonald House Charities, Inc. (RMHC) from the sales of any Chicken McNuggets Extra Value Meal and Beef and Chicken sandwich Extra Value Meal to create, find and support programs that directly improve the health and well being of children. Meanwhile, McDonald’s support charities not only about choosing children initiatives but also about sponsoring some human health foundation like American Heart Association (AHA). In 2005 McDonald's donated $7 million to the AHA to be used for public education regarding health effects of trans-fat and encouraging substitutions, which could be interpreted that McDonald's attempt to do something good through a compensation act for the harm from their products.
Based on these real examples in the marketplace, both the relationship between McDonald’s and children initiatives, and that between McDonald’s and health issues could be viewed as different types of high fit.
Research to date has also indicated product types could be viewed as the other important factor to influence the effectiveness of CRM. Different types of products may evoke different emotional states in regards to consumption. These emotional states determine the
effectiveness that a charity incentive will have in promoting a product (Ahtola, 1985; Babbin, Darden & Griffin, 1994; Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982; Strahilevitz, 1999; Strahilevitz &
Myers, 1998). However, when promoting the different product types with harmful nature, researchers have not fully addressed how to associate with the appropriate cause to be a good fit link for improving the company’s negative image and increasing the sales revenue. This study tries to identify these two factors that are worth considering in the course of such a CRM process.
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