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Millennial Consumers’ Cause-Related Product Purchase Decision-Making Process and the Influence of Social Media

Park, Boram
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406211481

Abstract Details

2014, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Human Ecology.
Cause-related marketing has rapidly gained popularity among consumers. Especially, millennial consumers (born 1977-1994) are characterized as being enthusiastic about supporting social causes, compared to other generations. However, current understanding of how millennial consumers develop purchase intention for cause-related products and how much influence they perceive from social media peers in purchase decision-making is limited. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the millennial consumers’ decision-making process in the context of cause-related products by integrating an attitude theory approach, a norms approach, and a social identity approach. Using an online survey, data from 561 millennial consumers in the U.S. were collected. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that positive anticipated emotions and attitudes were important predictors of intention to purchase cause-related products. Results also demonstrated that desire partially mediated the effects of antecedents (i.e., attitudes, positive anticipated emotions, personal moral norms, group norms) of purchase intention. Personal moral norms significantly influenced desire and purchase intention. Overall, moderation effects of social identity were not evidenced. This study finds that individual-level variables (i.e., personal moral norms, attitudes, positive anticipated emotions, frequency of past behavior) are critical drivers of purchasing cause-related products. It may be that the nature of purchase behavior of a cause-related product should be understood as individualistic and voluntary. The findings showing weak predictability of social group-level variables (i.e., the minor role of social identity, marginal influence of descriptive social norms, and insignificance of subjective norms) complement this interpretation. Limitations and future research directions are also provided.
Leslie Stoel (Advisor)
Catherine Montalto (Committee Member)
Sharon Seiling (Committee Member)
235 p.
Marketing
Cause-related marketing, Social Media

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Park, B. (2014). Millennial Consumers’ Cause-Related Product Purchase Decision-Making Process and the Influence of Social Media [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406211481

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Park, Boram. Millennial Consumers’ Cause-Related Product Purchase Decision-Making Process and the Influence of Social Media . 2014. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406211481.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Park, Boram. "Millennial Consumers’ Cause-Related Product Purchase Decision-Making Process and the Influence of Social Media ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1406211481

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1406211481
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© 2014, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.