CONSUMER ATTITUDES TOWARD CAUSE-RELATED PRODUCTS: A STUDY OF JAPANESE CUSTOMERS AND BENEFICIARY-MADE ITEMS

Much research has been done on cause-related marketing activities implemented by for-profit businesses. However, researchers seem to neglect that the beneficiaries make specific products used in cause-related campaigns, and for-beneficiaries organizations also run specific campaigns. Further research, thus, needs to be done to understand and support these self-help efforts. This study investigated customer attitudes toward products made by people with disabilities – the direct beneficiaries of the generated incomes. By interviewing fifteen female customers in Japan, this study found that the participants had a somewhat positive attitude. They wanted to buy or had bought these kinds of products. The customers’ perceptions of product quality were good. However, their perception of product types and production scale was not. The women’s perceptions and behaviours, or their attitudes, were affected by several personal and environmental factors. A recent factor, the COVID-19 pandemic, seemed to add some situational impacts. Implications for expanding cause-related marketing theory and improving cause-related marketing activities from the beneficiary perspective were discussed based on these findings.