Background and aim: With the increase of global awareness and rapid expansion of various markets, cause-related marketing (CRM) has been considered as an important marketing tool by various companies to promote the brand image and sell products through cause-related advertising. Therefore, in this research, we tried to examine the factors related to participation in cause-related marketing and the role of sport consumers' attitudes in developing cause-related marketing. Methods: The present study was an applied study in terms of purpose and was descriptive-correlative in terms of methodology. 420 of sport product consumers in Sanandaj were randomly selected as a sample according to Krejcie and Morgan table. A structured questionnaire was sent to them through social networks. SPSS 16 and Amos 24 softwares were used for data analysis. Results: Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses and to evaluate the overall fit of the research model. According to the research results, familiarity with cause-related marketing (CRM), the amount of donation proximity and cause proximity, message format in CRM and cause-brand fit all had significant effect on the attitude towards participation in CRM campaigns and also the attitude towards CRM campaigns had a positive effect on purchase intention in CRM programs. Conclusion: According to the results, all the factors had positive and significant effect on the attitude towards CRM and also the attitude towards CRM campaigns had a positive effect on purchase intention in CRM programs. The reason for this can be explained by the presence of an element called skepticism in people. Skepticism means that consumers are skeptical of the cause and mission of CRM and are not sure whether the desired benevolence will reach the people in question or not. Therefore, by increasing familiarity and paying more attention to factors such as donation proximity, cause proximity, cause-brand fit and message format in CRM, the amount of skepticism towards CRM will be reduced.
