1 Introduction

Enterprises evolve in a highly competitive environment where products are of similar quality and price, hence the need to stand out from the competition and differentiate themselves through consumers. This is why companies are urged to design innovative strategies by integrating social responsibility practices, not only to attract new customers, but also to retain existing ones (Shabbir et al. 2010). In this context, cause-related marketing represents one of the modern marketing strategies used by most companies in the Western world (Kumar and Bansal 2017).

Cause-related marketing is defined by Nelson and Vilela (2017), as a marketing tool linking a company to a social cause within a promotional initiative with the aim of obtaining mutual benefit. Thus, it simultaneously highlights the social responsibility and the marketing strategy of a firm in order to achieve economic and social objectives, thus promoting social progress, the quality of human life, well-being, security, etc. (Kumar and Bansal 2017).

More specifically, cause-related marketing represents an alliance between a private company and a social cause with the objective of integrating the marketing activities of a lucrative company with the promotion of a charitable work. The effective example of a successful cause-related marketing campaign in 1983 was that of American Express bank which, in partnership with the Elis Island Foundation, raised more than $ 1.7 million for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty (Natarajan et al. 2016).

This practice has been increasingly used by businesses since this time, as a practical and realistic marketing tool of for-profit businesses seeking to assist charities. Today, most companies use cause-related marketing as a strategic tool to create a positive brand image in the minds of consumers; which improves business sales and profits (Kumar and Bansal 2017).

The development of this practice over the past few years has prompted researchers to look into different facets of this subject in order to understand its different effects on consumers. For example, special attention has been paid to the effect of cause-related marketing campaigns on business in developed countries in the form of increased sales and profits and in building a brand image (He et al. 2019; Woodroof et al. 2019; Müller et al. 2014; Vanhamme et al. 2012; Shabbir et al. 2010). While other researchers have examined the effect of cause-related marketing on consumers, more particularly their attitudes, intentions and purchasing decisions (Lee and Johnson 2019; Santoso et al. 2015; Patel et al. 2016; Melero and Montaner 2016). This research aims to develop the know-how about this subject by introducing into this study the concepts of warm glow and scepticism.

Lee and Johnson (2019); Santoso et al. (2015); Patel et al. (2016); Melero and Montaner (2016) and Howie et al. (2018) defend cause-related marketing tactics by claiming that these campaigns are intended to make people forget certain negative effects related to business activities. They have shown that cause-related marketing campaigns are generally favorably perceived by consumers and offer ultimately benefits to the brand, including more favorable attitudes, increased purchase intention and a positive feeling towards the brand (warm glow). While other researchers (Bigné-Alcañiz et al. 2012; Human and Terblanche 2012) claim that cause-related marketing campaigns are carried out with the objective of diverting or preventing negative advertising from affecting a business. Drumwright (1996) indicates the irrelevance of cause-related marketing campaigns with the sole objective of imitating an avant-garde competitor in this field. It generally leads to a negative feeling of scepticism.

Currently, consumers have become more suspicious of the business and the commercial (Kim and Lee 2009). According to opinion polls, De Pechpeyrou and Odou (2012) conclude that the majority of consumers think that advertising is often misleading, as it seeks to persuade people to buy things they do not need. On the one hand, there is a paradox in the fact that the consumers are sceptical and on the other hand, they attribute a utility value to advertising (Elving 2013; Huh et al. 2012). This observation suggests the interest of studying scepticism in the cause-related marketing context.

Although scepticism has been studied in various areas of marketing (De Pechpeyrou and Odou 2012; Elving 2013; Huh et al. 2012), the literature about it in the specific context of cause-related marketing is limited (Kim and Lee 2009; De Pechpeyrou and Odou 2012; Müller et al. 2014); and to our knowledge, only did the study by Mimouni Chaabane and Parguel (2016) deal with the impact of the size of the donation on the purchase intention vis-à-vis the associated marketing cause while simultaneously taking into account positive reactions (warm glow) and negative reactions (scepticism).

In fact, the effect of investing in a donation is unclear. Sinčić et al. (2011) argue that the size of the donation does not affect consumers’ purchasing intentions toward the cause-related marketing campaign. Dahl and Lavack (1995) and Strahilevitz (1999) state that consumers who make large donations, will be able to provide more favorable evaluations towards the cause-related marketing campaign, which should make them more likely to purchase. Moosmayer and Fuljahn (2010) support this idea by stating that higher donations are generally valued more positively than smaller ones, since small donations give the impression of exploitation by the company. On the other hand, consumers who face a cause-related marketing offer with a substantial donation may not believe that the company will really make a donation as much as promised. Thus, the size of the donations could have a negative effect on sales and can especially provoke a behavior of scepticism. Mimouni Chaabane and Parguel (2016) conclude that large donations affect consumer scepticism which in its turn reduces the effect on the warm glow and attitude towards the retailer. Tsiros and Irmak (2020) deduce that consumers often react more favorably to the relatively low donation amount rather than a high donation amount despite the importance of the latter for the cause.

Despite of its attractivity as a research topic, cause-related has been studied from the perspective of Western countries (Hammad et al. 2014). Indeed, cause-related marketing campaigns have been launched for more than 20 years in the United States and since 2002 in Germany (Moosmayer and Fuljahn 2010). Such research is sporadic and unavailable in the research cultures of the Arab world. In addition, the status of Tunisia (North Africa and a place that needs corporate social responsibility practices) makes it an ideal context for understanding the influence of cause-related marketing campaigns on consumers’ responses in terms of purchase intentions.

Tunisia was selected within the framework of this research as an African developing country. It ranks 8th according to the index of the emergence in Africa (2017). Companies in Tunisia have recently started to get involved in charitable actions such as “Délice”, which launched in 2016 a charitable action, linking the donation to the act of purchase which consists of buying yogurt in order to contribute (with a determined percentage) to the restoration of schools located in the poorest areas of the country.

This research tries to answer this question: what is the impact of the size of the donation on the purchase intentions of the products of a firm that is involved in actions of cause-related marketing? Thus, this study examines the impact of the size of the donation on consumers’ purchase intentions, while introducing two diametrically opposed emotions, namely scepticism and warm glow.

Thus, this research work deeply focuses on the cause-related marketing through the following three aspects. First, the size of the donation has been recognized as an important trigger for consumer participation in cause-related marketing campaigns. While previous studies (e.g., Müller et al. 2014; Sinčić et al. 2011; Garretson Folse et al. 2010) have concentrated on their positive effects, a large donation size can create a risk of doubts regarding the commitment of companies and their motivations to carry out social actions thus raising a negative feeling. Research works (Mimouni Chaabane and Parguel 2016; Heidarian 2019; Tsiros and Irmak 2020) have rarely studied scepticism despite its importance in studying consumer responses to cause-related marketing. Large donations are expected to increase consumer scepticism and decrease the feeling of warm glow. Second, we change the independent variable, donation size as part of an experimental survey and then we assess the degree of scepticism based on the variation in the size of donations. This experiment has sometimes been dealt with in literature (Tsiros and Irmak 2020). Third, we deepen research on scepticism in the areas of Corporate Social Responsibility activities (Marhana and Osman 2012; Singh et al. 2009), more particularly situational scepticism which is specific to the context and content of the advertisement. Theoretical and empirical evidence on the importance of scepticism as a sine qua non in cause-related marketing research has been provided because consumers use scepticism as a defensive mechanism to protect themselves from deceptive marketing practices. We will demonstrate that scepticism can backfire and induce a weak response that can outweigh the positive effect of the warm glow.

This study first proposes a theoretical background in which deals with the donation size in cause-related marketing campaigns and the conceptual framework in section 1. Next, section 2 provides details of the quantitative research to 300 Internet users. Then section 3 presents results and section 4 discusses the impact of donation size, in relation to cause-related marketing practices, on purchase intention. Finally, conclusion explores theoretical, methodological and managerial implications of this study and suggests directions for future research.

2 Theoretical background

2.1 Donation size in cause-related marketing campaigns

Cause-related marketing has become the most popular form of corporate social responsibility. It is the idea that a company has a duty to serve not only the financial interests of its shareholders but also of society in general (Pearce and Robinson 2003). Varadarajan and Menon (1988) were among the first to define cause-related marketing as the process of formulating and implementing marketing activities which is characterized by the offer of a firm the goal of which is to support a specific cause through the repayment of a sum of money. This is only due when consumers get involved in generating incomes which include exchanges that will meet both organizational and individual objectives.

Hartmann et al. (2015) define cause-related marketing as the meeting of a non-profit charity with a commercial company for the purpose of raising funds and developing sales while raising awareness of the for-profit partner. There is no big difference between the two definitions, but the last definition makes it clear that cause-related marketing involves financial as well as social and ethical benefits. In a broader context, Bergkvist and Taylor (2016) classify cause-related marketing as a form of leveraged marketing communication, i.e. marketing communication aimed at ensuring that the brand benefits from positively associating consumers with another object (for example, a cause).

Despite the wide range of definitions, the central element is the beneficial relationship between a business and a cause for both parties. The main purpose of cause-related marketing is, therefore, to help increase the company’s revenue and promote credible causes by paying a specific amount of donation (Kim 2014).

Recent research works have studied the consequences of donation size (Table 1) by demonstrating positive (e.g. Garretson Folse et al. 2010; Sinčić Ćorić et al. 2011; Koschate-Fischer et al. 2012), negative (Mimouni Chaabane and Parguel 2016; Tsiros and Irmak 2020) or insignificant (Fries et al. 2010; Human and Terblanche 2012) effects. Although several studies incorporate moderating and / or mediating effects, they cannot precisely explain the contradictory results.

Table 1 Research on donation size in the last ten years
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Previous research often mentions the positive effect of donation size, Müller et al. (2014) show that large donations improve on the one hand, the brand choice when consumers do not face any financial trade-offs and on the other hand, the brand image when the framing is nonmonetary. Sinčić Ćorić et al. (2011) demonstrate the positive influence of personal relation to a cause and donation size on consumers’ purchasing intention. In their study 1, Garretson Folse et al. (2010) show that firm donation amount positively effected on participation intention that was fully mediated by consumer inferences about the company. Koschate-Fischer et al. 2012state that a big donation increases the willingness to pay among consumers, who show strong warm glow motives and predispositions when it comes to the support of others. But a large donation size is not always beneficial, since it can raise ambiguity about the motivations of the company thus leading to the reduction of the effectiveness of cause-related marketing actions (Tsiros and Irmak 2020). We complete this research by demonstrating that consumers’ reactions to cause-related marketing initiatives are more negative when the size of the donation is large and when they feel a sense of scepticism.

Table 1 summarizes recent research on the effects of donation size.

2.2 Proposal of the conceptual framework

This study attempts to contribute to the existing body of research to introduce both concepts simultaneously: warm glow and scepticism following the use of cause-related marketing practices in Tunisia as an Arab and developing country where studies are relatively scarce until today. In the following, the conceptual model will be presented.

2.2.1 Effect of the size of the donation on scepticism

The size of the donation can be defined as the sum paid by a company to support an ethical cause by buying the products of the company involved in cause-related marketing actions (Varadarajan and Menon 1988).

The amount of the donation has been presented as a percentage (a% of the price); nevertheless, a real specification in dollars (a cents given for each sold unit) becomes more common. In 2009 for example, for each sold pink lipstick, Mirabella Beauty donated $ 1 to Research and Treatment Center of the City of Hope (Koschate-Fischer et al. 2012). According to Koschate-Fischer et al. (2012) donation sizes are changeable and range from 1% of the price of the product in the P&G example to 50% of the price in the Tommy Hilfiger campaign.

The size of the donation sparked scepticism and prompted consumers to doubt and ask questions about the real motivations for the company’s commitment to this philanthropic action (Mimouni Chaabane and Parguel 2016). Skarmeas and Leonidou (2013) define scepticism as the tendency of a person to doubt, not to believe, and to ask questions. Tsfati and Cappella (2003) find that scepticism consists of a feeling that the announcement or the commercial is neither credible nor reliable.

Consumers have become increasingly sceptical of the messages leaked by cause-related marketing (Zhang and Hanks 2017; Singh et al. 2009). This is mainly due to the big size of donations sometimes considered as financial scandals (Du et al. 2010; Zhang and Hanks 2017). In fact, advertisements are based on facts; but messages sometimes lose their credibility, causing consumers to be wary of advertising arguments; which will end up having a negative impression on advertisers (Bae 2016). According to Mimouni Chaabane and Parguel (2016), a significant reduction or increase in the price leads to a feeling of doubt. Thus, the size of the donation can be a trigger for scepticism. Hence, the following hypothesis:

  1. H 1:

    The donation size positively influences the scepticism.

2.2.2 Effect of scepticism on warm glow

Consumer mistrust of sales practices may be desired to some extent. Scepticism assists consumers defend themselves from fraud (Hammad et al. 2014). In addition, consumer scepticism can help prevent traders from proceeding in misleading practices (De Pechpeyrou and Odou 2012). Nevertheless, consumer scepticism can harm consumers’ positive emotions toward cause-related campaigns, when deepened and over generalized. As a result, consumers will derive less utility and no pride to the act of donation (Kim and Lee 2009).

Although it offers consumers a solution to a problem by making a donation with a regular purchase, consumers tend to perceive a cause-related marketing practice as a beneficial cause (supporting a cause with altruistic business motives) or an exploitative cause (abusing a cause with selfish business motives) (Heidarian 2019). This positive mood among consumers when helping a cause is known as “warm glow”.

Kahneman and Knetsch (1992) defined warm glow as a kind of moral and pure internal satisfaction due to the act of donation. It is the soft warmth that follows the accomplishment of acts of kindness (Harbaugh 1998). It stems from people’s desire to participate in prosocial activities. Mimouni Chaabane and Parguel (2016) attest that the success of a shared promotion lies in its ability to create a soft and warm feeling in the consumer. These authors also study the role of scepticism towards the products. They affirm that the feelings of warm glow are influenced by scepticism. Certainly, the increase in scepticism leads to a decrease in feelings of warm glow and vice versa. Hence, the following hypothesis:

  1. H 2:

    The Scepticism negatively influences the warm glow.

2.2.3 Effect of the warm glow on purchase intention

With reference to the probabilistic approach, the intention to buy was defined as the subjective probability of purchasing a given product or a given brand (Dussart 1983). In 1997, Darpy defined purchase intention, based on the work of O'Shaughnessy (1992) and Belk (1985), as being the result of a desire, or indeed a need, processed cognitively which leads to the planning of purchase.

In cause-related marketing, the intention to buy is often stimulated by social desirability and the need for self-esteem and moral satisfaction (Shabbir et al. 2010). According to Qamar (2013), the contribution to the common public good triggers the warm glow among consumers. Indeed, the warm glow generates positive emotions which act on their attitude and influence their intention to help others.

Cause-related marketing is seen as a positive act by most consumers and induces a positive attitude towards it and intentions to buy non-profit products (Qamar 2013; Lee and Johnson 2019; Santoso et al. 2015; Patel et al. 2016). On the one hand, it is meant to support the cause and provide help and on the other hand, to feel good and to have moral satisfaction. The individual has an interest in buying the products of a firm involved in actions of cause-related marketing.

Heidarian (2019) also finds that customers can profit from warm glow feelings through their cause-related purchase. The warm glow turns out to be the most important underlying process for cause-related marketing purchases. It is the good feeling of consumers that helps and contributes to the public good and responds positively to charitable actions. Hence, the following hypothesis:

  1. H 3:

    The warm glow positively influences the purchase intention.

2.2.4 Effect of the donation size on the purchase intention

Hajjat (2003) and Moosmayer and Fuljahn (2010) state that the majority of consumers have a favorable attitude and intention to purchase in regard to cause-related marketing practices. They point out that the size of the donation produces a positive attitude and triggers an intention to buy. Hence the following hypothesis:

  1. H 4:

    The donation size positively influences the purchase intention.

Figure 1 summarizes these hypotheses and presents the research model.

Fig. 1
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Research model

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3 Research methodology

3.1 Data collection

In order to test the hypotheses of this research, two data collection tools have been used namely the experimentation and the questionnaire. Experimentation is one of the major tools for collecting primary data in marketing (Evrard et al. 2009). It mobilizes both marketing constructs and cognitive psychology concepts (Droulers and Roullet 2004). Its objective is to identify cause relationships between phenomena (Dépelteau 2000). As a result, the experimental method is used to validate formal models, when proofs are necessary to support causal inferences, or when other research techniques prove to be unable to measure the phenomenon under observation (McDermott 2002). In the context of this research, it would not be relevant to use any other technique since the hypotheses studied in this work require the use of an active method making it possible to dynamically collect the responses of subjects due to the variation of certain conditions.

Before looking into the course of the experiment, it is essential to determine the conditions of the experimental manipulation by defining on the one hand, the implementation plan and testing on the other hand, the tool to be used in the process. The main objective of this research is to shed light on the influence of the size of the donation on the intention to buy non-profit products. The independent variable is the size of the donation (low, medium, high). This variable, therefore, constitutes the main factor which itself is made up of three levels of factors. Three different versions at the level of the donation size of societal communication are then created. In addition, the dependent variable is the intention to purchase non-profit products. The design of three treatments is appeared in Table 2.

Table 2 Design of different treatments
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These different treatments have been attributed to the advertising posters which form the experimental units of this design. The choice of posters as an advertising means has basically been made by relying on the work of Gnepa (1993) who justifies this choice by the fact that the printed advertisements give the respondent the possibility of allocating more time to process the amount of information than television and radio.

The steps for choosing an advertising material are as follows:

Choice of organizations

For-profit organization: the STIAL company and more specifically “Délice Danone” brand and Non-profit organization, the association “a child is hope”. The two organizations are two real entities where each has a weight in its field. The choice of the STIAL Company is justified by the fact that it is involved in the front line of charitable actions. Thus, the company has just proposed the threshold of 1.5 million Tunisian dinars (equivalent to €500,000) as donations to support the state to face of the corona virus pandemic (http://kapitalis.com/tunisie/2020/04/01/).

Creation of posters:

  • To expose the framework of the questionnaire of three posters launched on the web.

  • The size of the donation is the variable to use in the poster.

  • To create posters contain images with a text.

The first poster contains this text: « Help us offer school bags and supplies to deprived children. By buying “Délice Danone” products, 5% of your purchases will be donated to “a child is hope” association ».

The second poster contains this text: « Help us offer school bags and supplies to deprived children. By buying “Délice Danone” products, 30% of your purchases will be donated to “a child is hope” association ».

The third poster contains this text: « Help us offer school bags and supplies to deprived children. By buying “Délice Danone” products, 50% of your purchases will be donated to “a child is hope” association ».

We displayed three posters with the same image in different conditions in the body of the questionnaire. The size of the donation is the variable to use in the poster.

The purpose of adding images is to get the audience emotionally involved. However, the textual material keeps them in a more rational and more logical way of thinking. The two organizations are two real entities, where each has an influence in its domain. Before inserting the image in the questionnaire, a sample of professionals (5 persons) and academicians (5 persons) was consulted to pretest the questionnaire; they approved the use of the medium have been consulted; given the clarity of the messages and their usefulness for the course of the survey.

In the framework of this research, the small donation is 10 cents corresponding to 5% of the price when purchasing a Délice product. In case of a large donation, the charity promotion carries a donation of € 1 corresponding to 50% of the price of the Délice product.

Figure 2 shows an example of the advertising poster (low donation).

Fig. 2
figure 2

Example of the advertising poster (Low donation)

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3.2 Choice of the sample

The questionnaire was distributed to 300 Internet users, 61% of whom are women and 39% are men. 59% are aged between 15 and 25 years old; 25% are aged between 36 and 50 years old; and 16% are aged between 51 and 70 years old.

The authors used an online survey using Facebook social network. They chose to send the questionnaire online because it is easy to collect quantitative data (Galan and Vernette 2000; Hoonakker and Carayon 2009). The questionnaire has been addressed to members of branded virtual communities created by the STIAL Company on Facebook, these are «Yaourt Délice Tunisie », « délice danone » «OIKOS by Délice Danone ».

3.3 Content of the questionnaire

Three versions of the questionnaire were written and distributed. Each version has three parts. In the first part, the field of research followed by a fictional mise-en-scène was presented. In a second part, the relationships between these concepts: donation size, scepticism, warm glow and purchase intention were dealt with. In a third part, the data sheet (gender, age and occupation) has been indicated.

The questionnaires were identical as far as the three parts cited above are concerned. The only difference was in the size of the donation mentioned in each poster.

3.4 Measurement development

Variables were all measured on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Table 3 presents the items of the variables; these are the scepticism, the warm glow and purchase intention.

Table 3 Items/Scales of the model variables
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4 Results

4.1 Results of the Exploratory Study

Exploratory factor analysis was used to purify the measurement scales using SPSS 18.0 software. For this, two types of analysis have been adopted, namely Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Reliability Analysis (Cronbach’s alpha). Table 4 presents the results of these analyses. Indeed, the PCA results show that the KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin) test presents good factorial solutions and that the Bartlett test is significant at the level of 5% (Significance of Bartlett = 0.000 < 0.005). In addition, Cronbach’s alpha has high values and shows that the variables are reliable at the exploratory results.

Table 4 Results of exploratory studies
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4.2 Results of the confirmatory study

The methods of structural equations are used to test the causal links of the conceptual model, more precisely the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method. This method is considered relevant, since the model is exploratory and predictive. Smart PLS 3.0 software developed by Ringle et al. (2012) has been used. The analysis procedures take place in two stages: the first consists of evaluating the measurement quality of the model with regard to commonly accepted psychometric standards (exploratory phase), followed by a second phase which aims to examine the structure of the model, and therefore to test the research hypotheses (confirmatory phase).

The approach of Hair et al. (2014) has been adopted, it aims first to specify and validate the measurement model and then to verify the structural model. In this sense, the conceptual model includes four reflective variables, namely, the donation size, the scepticism, the warm glow and the purchase intention. The validation criteria for the reflective variables proposed by Hair et al. (2014), namely reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity, have been adopted.

Table 5 contains the indicators for measuring reliability and convergent validity.

Table 5 Results of reliability and convergent validity
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As indicated in Table 5, the variables without exception, have recorded Cronbach’s alpha as strictly greater than 0.7 and which vary between 0.81 and 0.92. The obtained composite reliability indexes CR vary between 0.86 and 0.95. The reliability of these constructions is therefore proved. Concerning the convergent validity, the AVE (Average Variance Extracted) vary between 0.63 and 0.87, which exceeds for the first ones the required threshold of 0.7 (Chin 1998); and for the second (AVE), the threshold is 0.5 (Fornell and Larcker 1981) for all the variables. The convergent validity of the model is therefore ensured.

The discriminant validity is also evaluated according to Fornell and Larcker (1981), by checking that the square root of the AVE for each construct exceeds the inter-construct correlations. The results in Table 6 show that the square root of the AVE for each construct is greater than the inter-construct correlations concerning it. Discriminant validity is therefore guaranteed.

Table 6 Results of discriminant validity
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According to previous analyses and using this same software, the psychometric specificities of the model are satisfactory. So, it is currently possible to estimate the structural relationships between the constructs and therefore the verification of research hypotheses. The correlations between the constructs are estimated by examining the standardized correlation coefficients (path-coefficients) and the statistical values T-values (obtained following Bootstrapping analyses which express the degree of significance of the correlations).

A correlation relationship is significant, only if the value T is greater than the threshold of 1.96. Positive correlation coefficients which are close to 1 assume a strong correlation link between the constructs.

Figure 3 presents the results from the confirmatory analysis following the use of the smart PLS 3 software.

Fig. 3
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Structural model

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Before proceeding with the presentation and analysis of the results, it should be noted that the various statistics available at the level of this structural model represent the T values of the Student test. Also, these statistics make it possible to verify a priori the significance of the relationships provided that they meet certain conditions.

Thus, according to Table 7, hypothesis 1 is confirmed at the 5% threshold: a t value strictly greater than 1.96 and a p value less than 0.05. In this sense, the correlation relationship between the size of the donation and scepticism is ensured with a correlation coefficient between −1 and 1. Then, hypothesis 2 is confirmed at the 5% threshold: a value t strictly greater than 1.96 and a p value less than 0.05. Indeed, the negative correlation relationship between scepticism and warm glow is ensured with a correlation coefficient between −1 and 1. Third, hypothesis 3 is confirmed at the threshold of 1%: a value t greater than 2.58 and a p value less than 0.01. The correlation relationship between the warm glow and the purchase intention is ensured with a correlation coefficient between −1 and 1. Finally, hypothesis 4 is invalidated: a value t strictly less than 1.96 and a value p largely greater than 0.05. So, the size of the donation does not directly influence the purchase intention.

Table 7 Statistical tests of hypotheses
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In order to verify the quality of adjustment of the structural model, the authors opted for the determination coefficient R2. This indicator allows measuring the quality of the prediction of a linear regression. According to the results from PLS, 46.1% of the variation in the intention to purchase is explained by the variation in the size of the donation. To add support to the results, a one-factor analysis of variance was made, which led to the results presented in Table 8.

Table 8 Results of the analysis of variance
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In the context of this research, the one-factor ANOVA was used to support and further explain the results of hypothesis 1 which are interested in studying the impact of the size of the donation on scepticism. In other words, we are concerned with the size of the donation that generates a high degree of scepticism. According to the results mentioned in Table 8 (the p value of F = 0.29 < 0.05), it should be noted that the differences between the averages are significant and that the size of the large donation leads to a high level of scepticism (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4
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The line of averages

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Based on the line of averages, it can be noted that a large donation size leads to a high degree of scepticism unlike a small or medium-sized one.

5 Discussion

The results of this research made it possible to identify the links between the different components of the model. First, the results of the structural analysis validated hypothesis 1. This leads to the conclusion that the size of the donation triggers scepticism in consumers. This direct effect has also been tested by Mimouni Chaabane and Parguel (2016) and Bigné-Alcañiz et al. (2012), indeed, a large donation stimulates scepticism in the consumers; which will trigger in them doubts and questions related to the real motivations which pushed the for-profit organization to engage itself in this charitable action.

We suggest that the size of the donation is a critical factor in understanding the effectiveness of cause-related marketing in modifying consumer behavior towards the offer. Previous research demonstrates negative or positive effects of the donation size (large, medium, small) in a cause-related marketing campaign based on different factors.

As for the negative effect of the donation size on consumer behavior. Heidarian (2019) has shown that a large donation has a negative impact on consumers’ response to cause-related marketing campaigns. This is manifested when cause-related marketing advertising is perceived as selfish and socially irresponsible, rather than selfless and responsible or when the information available in the cause-related marketing advertisement is not sufficient; Müller et al. (2014) have deduced that many questions and doubts are revealed because of the size of the donation if the framework of the donation is monetary (for example, the campaign indicates the amount in Euros) rather than nonmonetary (for example, the campaign promises the supply of vaccines). Moosmayer and Fuljahn (2010) have deduced that by targeting men, more donations slightly increase the impact of the campaign, and therefore small donations may be sufficient for campaigns directed for men. They concluded that the donation amount is particularly pertinent for women and those cause-related marketing campaigns would be more effective when they target women by promising a substantial donation.

As for the positive impact of the size of the donation on consumer behavior, Chang and Liu (2012) argued that the effect of a high donation on the consumer attitudes towards cause-related marketing depends on the types of product-cause fit in cause-related marketing. In fact, they argue that this effect is enhanced when consumers are more likely to choose a hedonic product that gives a donation with a complementary-fit cause than consumers who would rather prefer a utilitarian product with a consistent-fit cause. Singh et al. (2009) have also emphasized on the fit between the cause and the company to strengthen the relationship between the size of the donation and the consumers ‘perceptions of the CRM campaign validity. The positive effect of size on the purchasing decision depends, according to Neel et al. (2016) on the purchase-type (planned or impulse purchase contexts), while Kim and Lee (2009) specified in this context that the consumers rather trust the cause-related marketing ad claim when the donation size was expressed objectively than subjectively. Haruvy and Popkowski Leszczyc (2009) emphasized that the donation amount must be well known to bidders in order to improve willingness to pay during charity auctions. As for Mimouni Chaabane and Parguel (2016), they found that large donations can be more effective among selfless consumers and those less familiar with cause-related marketing campaigns. Thus, these results which assume that the large donation size has an important role in the success of cause-related marketing practices and the customers tend to develop a positive attitude towards campaigns that have received large donations; are somewhat contradictory with our results which suggest that large donation sizes seem to increase client scepticism to a significant extent.

Second, this research has clearly confirmed the negative impact of scepticism on the warm glow. In fact, when the consumers are exposed to a large donation size, they develop an unfavorable attitude (high scepticism) thus reducing their feeling of pride (low warm glow). On the other hand when the consumers are exposed to a small size of donation, they develop a kind of moral satisfaction and a tendency of pride and usefulness (high warm glow), since their general tendencies to doubt and not to believe in what is said is weak (weak scepticism).

In other words, when consumers suspect the perceived usefulness of the act of donating, moral satisfaction will decrease as a result. Therefore, the consumers participate in achieving the public good only in case they will profit from this contribution (usefulness, pride, moral satisfaction). Indeed, if the consumer is going to suspect the real motivations for the commitment of the company and the destination of the funds collected; s/he will become more and more sceptical, which will have a negative impact on the utility derived from the contribution to the common public good.

Third, the impact of the warm glow on the purchase intention is confirmed. In this sense, the feelings of the warm glow have a positive effect on the intention to help. Indeed, by purchasing non-profit products, the consumers will not only participate in a charitable action, but also, will satisfy their need for self-esteem, feel proud of what they have achieved and above all, they are going to have moral satisfaction. Also, at this level it will be relevant to remember that no one contributes only to the public good (purchase of non-profit products to support a cause), they must necessarily benefit from it. And so, the consumers are going to help only in case they are going to benefit from it and use it.

Fourth, the impact of the size of the donation does not directly influence the intention to purchase. The authors then assume that the ethical intention to purchase does not depend directly on the size of the donation, but largely depends on two feelings: scepticism and warm glow.

6 Conclusion

The aim of this research work is to study the impact of the size of the donation (low, medium, high) on the level of scepticism and warm-glow, as well as the repercussions of the latter on the purchase intention.

The results of the survey have enabled us to identify the links between the different components of the model. First, it has been confirmed that large donation size provokes scepticism. Second, the current research has made it possible to clearly affirm the negative impact of scepticism on the warm glow. Certainly the sceptical behaviour of the consumers manifests itself through the doubts that come in their minds, the questions that they ask themselves all the time which negatively act on the usefulness of participation in charitable action. Third, the positive impact of the warm-glow on the purchase intention is confirmed. In fact, buying a non-profit product will allow the consumer to participate in charity and show support for their events, which allows them to feel proud, useful and satisfied with what they have done. However, this research has invalidated the last hypothesis which assumes that the size of the donation has a direct and positive impact on the purchase intention. Therefore, the authors can conclude that the consumer is sensitive to the size of the donation, which can upset their entire strategy and arouse in them negative feelings which also act on their behaviour in a negative way.

This work contributes to the research about cause-related marketing, at the theoretical, methodological and managerial levels. It offers answers to a recent field of research.

On a theoretical level, this study presents a contribution compared to previous research, like that of Sinčić Ćorić et al. (2011) who showed that the intention to purchase does not depend on the size of the donation. In this research, the authors were able to show the opposite hypothesis, by introducing two variables rarely used in marketing, namely scepticism and warm glow. This research constitutes a theoretical support allowing grouping and clarifying the different meanings not only of warm glow, a variable abundantly studied and used in economics but rarely in marketing, but also of scepticism. This research allowed the extension of previous results on the effect of large donations by regionally expanding research in the context of North Africa, particularly Tunisia, a country in development and potentially a place that needs corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Methodologically, this research contributes in guaranteeing the external validation of the research. Indeed, we have created our own real posters (image and text) with two organizations, one for profit and the other for non-profit to be as close as possible to real conditions. These posters have been validated by professionals and academicians.

From a managerial point of view, this research helps advertisers to transmit positive, but not exaggerated, advertising messages (the size of the donation must not be very large) in order to avoid sceptical feelings that trigger doubts and questions about the motives behind the campaign; which will negatively influence the purchase intention. Therefore, the size of the donation must be clearly mentioned in the advertising campaign so as not to disturb the consumers and activate their doubts and disbelief.

Despite these contributions, this work has some limitations. First, the use of an online investigation and the absence of control in the experimental context. The online process probably establishes noise because the candidates tend to be less implicated in the survey and would not pay the same degree of attention as they would in a real experience (face-to-face). Second, the use of the scale of Ajzen (2002) to measure purchase intention seems to be a limit to this research, given that there are slight variations and the three different items tackle the same problem from different angles. Third, mistrust can be generated by the advertisers who’s deciding how the cause-related marketing campaign is promoted (exaggerated or not) as well as the size of the donation.

Future research can explore the issues. First, this research work may be supported by qualitative research in order to identify, in depth, the motivations and obstacles linked to the purchase of non-profit products on the one hand; and to examine, on the other hand, the nature of scepticism (predisposed or situational) to find out whether the size of the donation alone generates scepticism in consumers, or there are consumers who are sceptical by nature. Second, it can investigate the impact of the cultural characteristics of the different economies along with the people experiences in each market share on cause-related marketing campaigns. In this way, cultural characteristics which can provide valuable explanations on consumer behaviour and their attitude towards charitable actions to better understand the contradictory results between the different works. Finally, it would be interesting to study the effect of control variables or demographic data and the moderating effect of certain variables such as the nature of the product and the advertising framework that can further enhance and grow relationships.