Theoretical Economics Letters, 2019, 9, 834-851 http://www.scirp.org/journal/tel ISSN Online: 2162-2086 ISSN Print: 2162-2078 DOI: 10.4236/tel.2019.94055 Apr. 12, 2019 834 Theoretical Economics Letters Cause Related Marketing and Customer Skepticism: A Study of Situational and Psychological Skepticism Vibhas Amawate, Madhurima Deb Indian Institute of Management Kashipur, Kashipur, India Abstract Objective: The primary objective of the present study is to understand the antecedents to Skepticism towards brands involved in Cause Related Market- ing and its outcomes. Methodology: To attain the above objective, quantita- tive 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 know- ledge 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 differ- ent orientations for optimum benefits from CRM activities. Originality: The contribution of the present work is, studying the integrated impact of situa- tional 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. Keywords Cause Related Marketing (CRM), Skepticism, Situational Skepticism, Psychological Skepticism, Image, NPO 1. Introduction Intensified competition in the marketplace had compelled the marketers to de- vise more appropriate and novel differential positioning strategies to help brands How to cite this paper: Amawate, V. and Deb, M. (2019) Cause Related Marketing and Customer Skepticism: A Study of Situ- ational and Psychological Skepticism. Theo- retical Economics Letters, 9, 834-851. https://doi.org/10.4236/tel.2019.94055 Received: January 29, 2019 Accepted: April 9, 2019 Published: April 12, 2019 Copyright © 2019 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Open Access