Exploring The Moderating Role Of Brand Familiarity In The Evaluation Of Cause-brand Alliance: An Evidence From Pakistan And China

Since the end of twentieth century,the focus of business organizations is shifting from a narrow view of “creating profits for owners” to a broad view of “sustainable development for all stakeholders.” Marketing and advertising practitioners are currently matching up a brand with a charitable cause and broadcasting the association to consumers in a practice called cause-related marketing(CRM).The CRM has been evolved into a long-term partnership between cause and brand referred as the cause-brand alliance(CBA).Involvement in a CBA can not only benefit a brand by fostering more favorable attitudes toward the brand but also increase purchase intentions and brand equity.In the current era of information technology,the focus is being shifted towards long-run sustainable relationships with customers,and research on CBA has attracted the researchers' attention in this context.Research has suggested several factors such as gender,donation amount,proximity,and cause attributes(e.g.,local vs.national)that can potentially influence consumers' attitude towards CBA evaluation.It has also examined the role of the nature of the product,perceived fit between the product and the cause,and effect of the cause familiarity.There is sufficient evidence that causefamiliarity plays a vital role in the effectiveness of a social alliance.However,so for the effect of brand familiarity is concerned,there is no clear consensus regarding its role in the evaluation of CBA.Hence,a research gap exists to explore the role of brand familiarity in the evaluation of CBA;the present study addresses that gap.Moreover,the CBA practices have been emerged as well as dominated in the developed countries such as Western European and North American countries.However,it is unclear whether such CBA programs can generate similar benefits in developing and non-Western countries? The first gap exists to study the role of brand familiarity in evaluation of CBA.The second gap,is to investigate the role of brand familiarity in consumer' attitude formation of two different nations(i.e.,Chinese and Pakistani)during CBA.This thesis empirically tests a model to evaluate the influence of cause brand alliance on subsequent attitudes toward both cause and brand.The theoretical framework of the study shows three independent variables,i.e.,pre-attitude towards the brand,pre-attitude towards the cause and cause brand fit affect CBA and two dependent variables,i.e.,post-attitude towards brand and postattitude towards the cause.The independent variables have direct as well as spillover effect on dependent variable through attitude formation of CBA.Additionally,this thesis explores the role of brand familiarity as well as the difference of Chinese and Pakistani consumers,in CBA model.Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesis.The model was tested separately for each familiarity group(high/low)to determine the influence of brand familiarity as a moderator.The coefficients were analyzed and compared with the relationship between sets of variables(preattitude of brand and CBA,pre-attitude of the brand and post-attitude of the brand,CBA and postattitude of the cause and brand).A population sample of 940(495 from China and 445 from Pakistan)actual product users were surveyed through a questionnaire.The sample was selected through simple random sampling technique and questionnaire sent through emails.All the respondents participated voluntarily.The questionnaire items were adapted from the previous studies.The participants rated there response on 7 point bipolar scale.The questionnaire consisted of three parts,i.e.,Part I,Part II and Part III measured on Time 1,Time 2 and Time 3 respectively.Respondents were asked to complete the survey measuring their perception regarding cause and brand attitude(at two times,i.e.,pre and post),level of fit,brand familiarity and attitude toward alliance.The research findings show the presence of positive effects in all relationships of the model i.e.positive effect of cause brand fit and pre-attitude of cause and brand on CBA,positive effect of CBA on post-attitude towards cause and brand.Additionally positive effect of pre-attitude of cause on post-attitude towards cause,and positive effect of pre-attitude of brand on post-attitudes towards brand.Largely the thesis results supported the hypothesis.” Positive evaluation of social alliance enhances the consumer's attitude toward both partner,a cause and a brand”.The study supports the notions that the fit between partners and their prior attitude plays a pivotal role in consumer acceptance of the alliance.Thesis findings demonstrate notable differences in term of cause-related marketing programs in Pakistan and China.“The results found that the brand familiarity moderated the relationship of brand pre-attitude and CBA evaluation.Also,it moderated the relationship of brand pre-attitude and brand post-attitude”.Furthermore there is moderating effect of brand familiarity on relationship of CBA and post attitude of cause and brand.It shows that level of brand familiarity moderate the effectiveness of alliance in case of Chinese perspective,while there is no moderation effect of level of brand familiarity for Pakistani consumers.Compared to this,Pakistani consumers perceived cause-related marketing campaigns more novel compared to their Chinese counterparts.Pakistani consumers are positive irrespective of the level of brand familiarity while Chinese consumers are more positive when the level of brand familiarity is high.These results have important implications for marketers in both countries to effectively invest in the right marketing efforts in building brand image.Marketing activities are linked to the future success of brand and thus it is important for brand managers to well-design their marketing activities in order to build,maintain and strengthen their brand.This study provide suggestion how brand managers could differentiate their marketing strategy as compared to their competitors.On the other side,this thesis also provides suggestions to the cause mangers.The findings of this thesis provide clear criteria for selection of suitable partners for them.In China,a positive attitude towards a CRM campaign depends on the level of brand familiarity.In contrast,a positive attitude towards a CRM campaign in Pakistan depends on simply highlighting the CRM program in their advertising efforts.Therefore Chinese marketers need to focus on the level of brand familiarity while Pakistani marketers need to concentrate on establishing and communicating cause brand alliances campaign.Overall the current research provides a range of profound insights,which might be beneficial for Chinese and Pakistani cause/brand managers.