TITLE:
Cause Related Marketing and Customer Skepticism: A Study of Situational and Psychological Skepticism
AUTHORS:
Vibhas Amawate, Madhurima Deb
KEYWORDS:
Cause Related Marketing (CRM), Skepticism, Situational Skepticism, Psychological Skepticism, Image, NPO
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.9 No.4,
April
12,
2019
ABSTRACT: Objective: The primary objective of the present study is to understand the
antecedents to Skepticism towards brands involved in Cause Related Marketing
and its outcomes. Methodology: To attain the above objective,
quantitative research method was used to test the cleanliness of the
measurement items using CFA and to test the conceptual model using SEM. Findings: It was found that two psychological variables, Utilitarianism and Hedonism,
moderate the relationship between different Situational variables leading to
Skepticism. Skepticism in turn was found to impact customer’s future Buying and
Patronage Intention. The findings of the study would help academicians and
marketers. Implications: Academicians will be enriched by the knowledge
of various antecedents and moderating variables and their differential impacts
on Skepticism. Marketers will be benefited as the insights will help them
develop segment-wise positioning strategies for customer’s with different
orientations for optimum benefits from CRM activities. Originality: The
contribution of the present work is, studying the integrated impact of
situational variables and pre-dispositional variables (due to one’s own
psychology) on Skepticism and its impact on patronage intention. To the best of
our knowledge, no such study is being undertaken so far.