Cause Related Marketing and Customer Skepticism: A Study of Situational and Psychological Skepticism

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.