Bibliometric analysis and literature review of cause-related marketing

Cause-related marketing is an attractive way for companies to gain a competitive advantage, where it evokes a sense of altruism and benevolence in customers. Companies and organizations use this method to achieve their business goals and respond to corporate social responsibility. However, research in cause-related marketing has been sparse, and there is a need for a comprehensive study of past research and current trends. This study is a bibliometric analysis using Vosviewer and Gephi software, which was selected to review this area using 454 articles conducted in Q1 and Q2 journals between 1987 and 2022; it has explored the field of cause-related marketing studies. First, the number of articles, citations, bibliographic coupling, co-word analysis, and Prestige analysis were examined for this study. Then, co-authorship analysis, co-citation analysis, and dynamic co-citation analysis were used for network analysis. Finally, according to the analysis, four main thematic areas were identified, which include planning and how benevolent marketing performs well, attitudes and views on cause-related marketing, the role of a cause-related marketing brand, and promotion interaction with cause-related marketing; The two areas of attitudes and views on cause-related marketing and promotion interaction with cause-related marketing according to the trend of their articles can be expected to attract more attention in the coming years.