Cause-related marketing in pandemic context—The effects of cause-brand fit and cause-brand alliance on customer-based legitimacy and reputation

Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has represented an intense period of stress and anxiety for individuals, it has also been an opportunity for firms to engage in cause-related marketing initiatives as a means of providing support and helping them cope with this global pandemic. This study analyzes the influence of cause–brand fit and cause–brand alliance on customer-based legitimacy and reputation. This study also examines the mediating and moderating roles of trust and betrayal, respectively. Data were collected from 455 participants during the first wave of the pandemic, especially during the first lockdown. The results contribute to unveiling the economic and societal outcomes of cause-related marketing. The findings also enrich the antecedents of the legitimacy and reputation conferred by customers. © 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

How death anxiety influences coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic: investigating the role of spirituality, national identity, lockdown and trust

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a highly stressful environment in which reminders of death are constant. This context of permanent mortality salience is likely to arouse death anxiety in individuals around the world that they must manage. This study investigates the effects of death anxiety on the adoption of different coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic in five different countries (N = 721, mean age = 32.83). The results show that higher levels of death anxiety mainly lead to the adoption of avoidance coping strategies and that spirituality and national identity moderate this effect, whereas lockdown does not. Moreover, trust in institutions is a mediator in the relationship between death anxiety and avoidance strategies.