Investigating the consumers attitude toward brand and purchase intention within the context of cause-related marketing campaign for a pharmacy product

Cause-related marketing (CRM) has developed into a prominent marketing strategy adopted by many Indian organizations since last two decades. There are range of Indian organizations, especially pharmaceutical sector, which have been utilizing CRM as a versatile tool to achieve the long term objectives. The cut throat competition requires the businesses to differentiate their brands and CRM has proved to be one of the successful way of brand positioning and differentiation in the market. The CRM literature has concentrated only in certain products such as FMCG and there is dearth of research with respect to attitude and behavioral intention pertaining to CRM campaigns associated with pharmacy products/brands. This study by adopting the theory of reasoned action investigates consumers attitude toward brand and CRM purchase intention within the context of CRM campaign for a pharmacy product. Furthermore, this study investigates the influence of cause involvement, donation magnitude and firm motive on attitude toward brand and its resultant impact on CRM purchase intention. The findings of this study reveal positive impact of attitude toward brand on CRM purchase intention. The findings of this study could be utilized by marketers as well as guide pharmacy retailers to design effective CRM promotional strategies for specific pharmacy products. Future scope of the study and managerial implications are elaborated further in this study.