Effects of consumer–cause fit and consumer–product fit of cause‐related marketing on product purchase intention

While many studies have shown that cause‐related marketing (CRM) is more effective when product‐cause fit (PCF) is high than when it is low, some research has found otherwise. Furthermore, although a few studies demonstrated that high‐PCF CRM is more effective when consumer–cause fit (CCF) or consumer–product fit (CPF) is also high, others have found that the moderating effect of CCF on high‐PCF CRM is insignificant. Given the inevitable co‐occurrence of CCF and CPF in CRM, CPF may moderate the effect of CCF on the effectiveness of high‐PCF CRM. Hence, this research examined the interaction effect between the CCF and CPF on the effect of high‐PCF CRM on consumers' product purchase intention (PPI). The results of an experiment showed that a high‐PCF CRM enhanced the PPI regardless of the CCF when the CPF was low. However, when the CPF was high, high‐PCF CRM enhanced the PPI when the CCF was also high but lowered the PPI when the CCF was low. The findings indicate that, for high‐PCF CRM to affect PPI positively, CCF must be high when CPF is high, whereas high‐PCF CRM may enhance PPI even if CCF is low when CPF is low.