Firm-Determined or Consumer-Determined Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? Examining the Effects of Choice-of-Cause in Cause-Related Marketing

As a widely practiced form of corporate social responsibility (CSR), cause-related marketing (CRM) programs have been considered effective in generating reputational, relational, and financial returns for companies. This study examines a new form of CRM: choice-of-cause programs, in which companies empower consumers to determine which social causes to support. Based on self-determination theory, reputation management literature, and CSR research, this study proposes a conceptual framework that theorizes the effectiveness of the choice program, mapping out consumers’ psychological experiences and consequential attitudinal and behavioral intention responses toward companies and their nonprofit partners. Results of an online experiment offer partial support to the framework. They showed the relative advantage of the choice program over traditional cause-without-choice practice and highlighted the importance of creating an autonomy-supportive CSR program environment where consumers can exercise self-determination. Furthermore, results demonstrated the crucial role of corporate reputation in influencing consumer responses in CSR programs.

A Clinical Informatics Program Directors' Proposal to the American Board of Preventive Medicine

In 2013, the American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM) and the American Board of Pathology (ABPath) offered the first board certification examination in Clinical Informatics to eligible physicians in the United States. In 2022, the Practice Pathway will expire and in 2023 only candidates eligible through the Fellowship Pathway will be eligible for the board certification. To date, Clinical Informatics as a specialty has not had a regular match process and used a controlled offer-acceptance process that does not meet candidates' or programs' needs. Fellows may not be offered a position with their top choice program initially, and they may accept offers from other programs to avoid risk by ensuring that they have a fellowship position. Programs have to consider losing an applicant in the first round in the ranking of applicants. The process is open to manipulation including early agreements between program directors and candidates. In this open letter to the ABPM, program directors make the case for a third-party match and are calling on the ABPM to leverage its status as the Clinical Informatics certifying body and its existing infrastructure to implement a Clinical Informatics match.