Youth in war ravaged regions often face with scant access to capital generally supplied by traditional banking institutions, which in turn restricts their entrepreneurial activities. Microcredit provides loan access to those excluded from formal financial services. Also, it is widely made available to rural communities in several Asian countries. Hence the main aim of this study is to determine factors influencing youth’s purchase intentions of microcredit in the post-war era, thus implying that findings of this study may be possibly useful to promote microcredit among youth in war affected regions. The Theory of Planned Behaviour has been generally applied to predict purchase intentions, nevertheless we modified this theory to derive hypotheses for this study. The study sample comprised 2500 youth selected from the war affected areas of Sri Lanka. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were employed for data analysis. The results showed that Positive Affect enhanced Purchase Intentions, whereas Perceived Deterrents and Default Risk Perceptions significantly reduced them. Also, Positive Affect reduced Default Risk Perceptions of microcredit, whilst Perceived Deterrents of microcredit increased them. Drawing from these findings, we then recommended how microcredit can be marketed to youth in war affected regions. Keywords: Microcredit, War Affected Youth, Purchase Intentions, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Default Risk Perceptions.

The main aim of this study is to propose a conceptual model for marketers’ contributions to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs. Thus, this study could possibly reveal synergies between Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility Programs (CSR). Customers have expectations that firms need to carry out CSR activities and hence customers have various responses towards companies’ CSR actions. This implies that marketers’ contributions seem necessary in the development and implementation of CSR programs. This research provides a conceptual model to examine possible synergies between marketing and CSR. Based on the resource based theory of firms, it can be argued that marketers need to contribute to CSR initiatives. From the perspective of return on investments on CSR activities, CSR programs can be viewed as being philanthropic or strategic in nature. Customers tend to respond to both of these CSR types. Hence we propose that contribution of marketers seems important to both kinds of CSR, which in turn would increase customer satisfaction about CSR programs. Consequently, companies’ performance can be enhanced. A mix method is proposed for this study. It is envisaged that in near future, this conceptual model would be empirically tested by collecting data from customers and marketing managers of the Sri Lankan financial institutions. This research concludes with practical implications.

The main aim of this research study is to compare the Relationship Marketing Orientation (RMO) between public and private commercial banks in Sri Lanka. Thus, the findings of this study can possibly be useful to promote application of Relationship Marketing Orientation in both public and private banks in Sri Lanka. The theory of social exchange provides a theoretical base for this study. Trust, bonding, communication, shared value, empathy and reciprocity were considered as dimensions of the RMO. The data obtained from 1002 customers of Sri Lankan commercial banks were analyzed to test relevant hypotheses. The findings revealed that Relationship Marketing Orientation of private banks is significantly higher than that of public banks. In particular, in terms of individual dimensions of the RMO, Bonding, Shared Value and Empathy of the private banks seemed to be significantly higher than those of the public banks. Nevertheless, public banks were more trustworthy than private banks. Based on these findings, we have provided interesting implications and recommendations to the both private and public banks.