제목: Investigating passengers' involvement in cause related marketing for sustainable management in the airline industry

저자: 김인신

요약
Airline companies have implemented Cause Related Marketing (CRM) to contribute to sustainable development and to gain competitive advantage in the market providing identical services and products. This study aims to understand customers’ perception of airline charity sponsorship. This study identifies the differences of airline passengers’ CRM involvement according to demographic characteristics, investigates the structural relationships between CRM involvement, brand attitude, and customer citizenship behavior (CCB), and verifies the moderating effect of brand consciousness. To accomplish these aims, empirical research was conducted on data collected from 443 travelers on US-based full service airlines that participate in charitable donations and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results revealed differences in CRM involvement according to passengers’ age and education level, and confirmed that CRM involvement creates favorable brand attitude, which in turn generates CCB that ultimately benefits the brand. This study suggests that airlines become involved in CRM in order to benefit both the nonprofit organizations and the brand itself through CCB.