Creating successful cause-brand alliances: The role of cause involvement, perceived brand motivations and cause-brand alliance attitude

Under increasing pressure from consumers to be socially responsible, more brands than ever are engaging in cause-brand alliances. Two challenges facing brands are how to choose a nonprofit partner for the alliance and the impact of the brand's perceived motivations for engaging in the alliance on consumers' responses to the alliance. Using a theoretical framework based on the congruity theory and the theory of reasoned action, this study examines the influence of consumer cause involvement, perceived brand motivations and cause-brand alliance attitude on consumers' intentions to purchase the product associated with a cause-brand alliance. Hypotheses were tested in the context of mock cause-brand alliance press releases in an online survey administered to 742 US college students. Findings indicate that perceived brand motivations partially mediate the relationship between cause involvement and cause-brand alliance attitude, and that cause-brand alliance attitude positively influences purchase intentions. Managerial implications are discussed.