Journal of Islamic Marketing

Journal of Islamic Marketing Emerald Article: The constructs mediating religions' influence on buyers and consumers Nazlida Muhamad, Dick Mizerski

Article information: To cite this document: Nazlida Muhamad, Dick Mizerski, (2010),"The constructs mediating religions' influence on buyers and consumers", Journal of Islamic Marketing, Vol. 1 Iss: 2 pp. 124 - 135 Permanent link to this document: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17590831011055860 Downloaded on: 02-10-2012 References: This document contains references to 28 other documents Citations: This document has been cited by 1 other documents To copy this document: [email protected] This document has been downloaded 962 times since 2010. *

Users who downloaded this Article also downloaded: * Syed Shah Alam, Rohani Mohd, Badrul Hisham, (2011),"Is religiosity an important determinant on Muslim consumer behaviour in Malaysia?", Journal of Islamic Marketing, Vol. 2 Iss: 1 pp. 83 - 96 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17590831111115268 Jonathan A.J. Wilson, Jonathan Liu, (2011),"The challenges of Islamic branding: navigating emotions and halal", Journal of Islamic Marketing, Vol. 2 Iss: 1 pp. 28 - 42 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17590831111115222 Özlem Sandikci, (2011),"Researching Islamic marketing: past and future perspectives", Journal of Islamic Marketing, Vol. 2 Iss: 3 pp. 246 - 258 http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/17590831111164778

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The constructs mediating religions’ influence on buyers and consumers Nazlida Muhamad College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Kedah, Malaysia, and

Dick Mizerski Business School, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia Abstract Purpose – There is limited conceptual and theoretical knowledge among marketers and practitioners regarding the measurement of religious influences in consumer market-place behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to review religious factors that appear to influence buyer and consumer behaviour in the light of findings from marketing and religious psychology. Design/methodology/approach – The paper utilises academic databases to search for marketing and religious psychology papers that deal with influences of religion and constructs that have been suggested to mediate them. Findings from religious psychology are utilised as the backbone for understanding religious influence. The paper also compares and groups terminologies and concepts used in marketing studies, suggesting a holistic view of religion and factors that may mediate religious influences on consumers’ market-place behaviours. Findings – Five factors of religious influence have been identified. These are commitment, motivation, affiliation, knowledge about a religion and awareness of the social consequences of following a religion. The characteristics, importance and applications of these factors are discussed. Originality/value – The paper applies knowledge from the area of religious psychology to offer a holistic view in understanding factors that tend to mediate religious influences on consumer behaviours. Keywords Religion, Marketing, Consumer behaviour Paper type Conceptual paper

Journal of Islamic Marketing Vol. 1 No. 2, 2010 pp. 124-135 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 1759-0833 DOI 10.1108/17590831011055860

1. Introduction Recent trends show that scholars and marketing practitioners have embrace religion as a significant cultural influence in modern day’s consumer behaviours. Religion is stressed as an important cultural influence in the marketplace that needs to be recognized and researched in marketing area (Mittelstaedt, 2002), while practitioners begin to utilize religious teachings and events in marketing their products and services (Story, 2007). Nonetheless, understanding and measuring the influence of religion on consumer behaviours can be challenging tasks for both. Although religion has always been a cultural element in consumer behaviour framework, religion and its influences has long been perceived as a taboo subject matter for investigation in marketing areas (Hirschman, 1983). There is not much known about the influence of religion on consumer and buyer decision making and marketplace behaviours in marketing areas. In fact, there is little common understanding among previous marketing studies in measuring the effects of religion. Conceptualization of religion’s influences available in marketing

areas seems to be inconsistence with religious psychology’s findings, which is the domain area for religious influences study on human behaviour. Clear framework of religion’s influences factors is urgently needed in marketing areas to assist understanding of the concept to consumers’ marketplace behaviours. Based on previous findings from the main discipline studying religious influences (i.e. religious psychology) and marketing areas, this paper attempts to bridge the knowledge gap between the areas and offer an alternative view of how religion influences consumers and buyers in the marketplace. This effort could assist marketers and future researchers in investigating religious influences in the marketplace. This study utilises academic databases to search for papers on marketing and religious psychology that deal with influences of religion and constructs that have been suggested to mediate them. Findings from religious psychology are utilised as the backbone for understanding religious influence. Findings and views on religious influence from marketing studies are compared with the views of religious psychologists. This study also compares and groups terminologies and concepts used in marketing studies, suggesting a holistic view of religion and factors that may mediate religious influences on consumers’ market-place behaviours. 2. Understanding religion’s influence on buyers and consumers Religion is an abstract concept that challenges scholars in defining the term (Guthrie, 1996). Nonetheless, many scholars would agree that a religion represents, “[. . .] a unified systems of beliefs and practices relative to the sacred things”, while religiosity is viewed as, “[. . .] the degree to which beliefs in specific religious values and ideal are held and practiced by an individual” (Delener, 1990). Understanding the influence of religion on human behaviour is complicated. Earlier religious psychology studies tended to focus on one’s commitment to his or her religion as the main indicator for a religion’s influence. Almost all factors related to religion are aggregated to form a religious commitment concept, thus complicating efforts to unravel the components of religion’s influences (Himmelfarb, 1975). The fact that studies found independent variables to religious commitment factors suggests that religious influences can be measured not only through religious commitment but several other dimensions. Attempts to conceptualize religious influences in the marketing area are even more limited. Early attempts to conceptualize religious influence including one’s motivation in approaching his or her religion as part of one’s commitment to his or her religion (McDaniel and Burnett, 1990). However, the concepts of ones motivation and commitment to their religion were strongly claimed to be two distinct concepts by religious psychology studies (Himmelfarb, 1975). Scant study investigating religious influences in marketing areas at the time offer limited information on religious influences concept may have lead to the misconception. Limited knowledge of religion’s influences factors in marketing area also reflected in the dominant adoption of consumer commitment to their religion and consumers affiliation to in studying religion influences. While these factors arguably useful and easy to administered among consumers in understanding religion influences on marketplace behaviours, apparently they are not the most established measure for measuring religion influences in human behaviour as argued later. Unfortunately, other

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potential factors mediating religion influences tend to be largely ignored or simply undiscovered in marketing areas. Based on religious psychology literatures and marketing studies, the influence of religion on consumer behaviour is found to be mediated through five factors; including an individual’s religious affiliation, his or her commitment to religious beliefs and practices, the extent of his or her religious knowledge in his or her views and perceptions on societal issues, and his or her motivation in following his or her religion (Figure 1). Religious affiliation and commitment are the two most used constructs in marketing to explain religion influences in the marketplace. In contrast, the utility of one’s religious knowledge and appreciating consequences of following religion on societal consequences (e.g. eradication of poverty) has not been studied in marketing. All dimensions are shown in Figure 1, because they appear to be independent dimensions of religious influence factors (De Jong et al., 1976; Himmelfarb, 1975). Nonetheless, it is reasonable to expect significant relationships or interactions between the dimensions of religious influences shown in Figure 1. For example, individuals who tend to be intrinsically motivated in following their religion may have higher appreciation on societal consequences of following religious principles and values. Religious orientation represents one’s motivation in following his or her religion. Donahue (1985) claims this construct may be the best measure in studying religions’ influences on human behaviour. Religious orientation captures an individual’s motivation in following their religion and classifies them as either intrinsically motivated or extrinsically motivated (Allport and Ross, 1967). This concept uses a motivational approach to understanding the influence of religion (Himmelfarb, 1975; King and Hunt, 1969), and argues for this as the antecedent to one’s commitment to a religion (Himmelfarb, 1975). 2.1 Religious affiliation Religious affiliation is a categorical measure of the religion to which one is affiliated such as Christianity or Hinduism, as well as different sects or schools of thought within a religion such as Shiah and Sunni for the Islamic religion. Many studies have reported a significant effect of consumers’ affiliation with religion in various consumer behaviours. For example, consumers affiliated with different religions tend to show different ways of solving consumption problems including choosing weekend entertainment, pets, residence and transportation (Hirschman, 1983), have different shopping styles

Religious affiliation One's affiliation religion

Religious commitment

Figure 1. The components of religious influences based on previous studies

The degree to which beliefs in specific values and ideas are held and practiced by the individual Source: Developed for this study

Religion Unified systems of beliefs and practices relative to the sacred things

Religious knowledge The extent of religious knowledge one has

Religious orientation Intrinsic and extrinsic motivational approach towards religion

Consequences Societal consequences

(Bailey and Sood, 1993; Essoo and Dibb, 2004), different patterns of ethical beliefs (Babakus et al., 2004), and have attitudes towards advertising of what are perceived to be controversial/offensive products (Fam et al., 2004). Nonetheless, these earlier findings provide limited insight into religious influences in consumers’ responses. Other factors such as culture, ethnicity, or lifestyle could have contributed to the differences between consumers from different religious affiliation. For example, the suggested tendency among the Jewish to prefer skate boarding as a main transportation mode (Hirschman, 1983) may be related to their proximity to facilities or work places, and may not related to the teaching of the Jewish religion. In fact, religious affiliation did not have a significant effect in several areas of buyer behaviours. For example, being Christian, Muslim, or Jewish did not explain the consumers’ choice of types of unprocessed food (i.e. fresh vs frozen chicken) (Heiman et al., 2004). Also, being Protestant, Catholic, or Jewish did not explain consumers’ evaluations of retail stores (McDaniel and Burnett, 1990). These findings may suggest the ineffectiveness of religious affiliation in explaining a broad range of religious influences in consumer behaviours (Heiman et al., 2004). 2.2 Religious commitment Religious commitment has been the second most tested construct used to see how following a religion has an effect in consumer responses. In marketing studies, religious commitment is widely termed “religiosity” and is said to represent an individual’s adherence to his or her religion’s beliefs and practices (Delener, 1990). However, there seems to be no convention among marketing studies in measuring one’s commitment to his or her religion. Various measures of commitment to religion can be summarized into composite and single item measures (Appendix 1, Table AI). The composite measures include general commitment and cognitive and behavioural measures. The single item measures consist of self-perceived religiosity, religious identity and religious importance measures. The most popular measure is the general measure of commitment. Using these measures, a study found that the more committed ones to a religion tend to report being an opinion leader and being conservative in sex role orientations (Wilkes et al., 1986). The finding appears in line with religious teachings that tend to prescribe a more traditional gender role (Petersen and Donnenwerth, 1998), but there is no obvious religious influence for the more committed consumers being reported as opinion leaders. Another study claims the greater considerations of price, more willing to buy foreign brands, being less convinced by advertising messages among the devout Protestants consumers, is related to the Protestant religious beliefs that promote values such as to be excellent, honest and rational in their manner at work (Sood and Nasu, 1995). Although there may be Protestant Catholic teachings’ influence on the sample’s responses in the study, there is no clear evidence to suggest that the sample’s being less convinced by the advertising messages, is related to a specific the Protestant teachings. In fact, one of the drawbacks of the general measure of religious commitment is that it did not allow investigation on specific religious teachings. This is in line with the argument in religious psychology that suggests measuring religious commitment needs to be measured based on a particular religious framework to better assess one’s commitment to his or her religion (Himmelfarb, 1975). For example, Protestant consumers’ and Muslim consumers’ commitment to their religion, need to be measured


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base on Protestant’s and Islamic religion’s perception of religious commitment, respectively, instead of using a generic measure of religious commitment. Thus, the existing general measures for religious commitment, in overall, may be less efficient in measuring religious influences in consumer behaviours. Religious commitment measures that use cognitive (e.g. beliefs in religious teachings) and behavioural (e.g. church attendance) commitment dimensions, found some effects in the retail choices of religious believers. The more cognitively religious consumers tend to prefer stores offering quality products (McDaniel and Burnett, 1990). Consumers’ behavioural, rather than cognitive commitment to religion, was found to be more predictive in explaining consumer and buyer behaviours (Himmelfarb, 1975; Siguaw and Simpson, 1997). These findings show that the consumers’ commitment in performing religious activities, rather than their beliefs in religious doctrines, have an effect in their responses in regards to their behaviours in the marketplace. The cognitive and behavioural dimensions approach is a generic measure that can be suited to any religion in measuring consumers’ commitment to their religion. Nonetheless, this approach has not been widely applied so its efficacy in explaining religious influences has not been validated. The most problematic measure for religious commitment would be a single item measure. Consumers who rated themselves as being more devout followers tended to report being more offended by the advertising of perceived “controversial” products such as liquor among Muslim consumers (Fam et al., 2004); and, the more devout Jews tend to prefer whole fresh chicken (than frozen) as compared to less-devout Jews (Heiman et al., 2004). It is not clear on the effect of Jewish religion in the choice of poultry products, while the explicit prohibition of alcohol consumption in the Islamic religion may explain Muslims’ sensitiveness towards the product’s advertisement messages (Fam et al., 2004). Those who rated religion as the most important part of their life tend to put more importance on social values, reported higher life satisfaction, and are less likely to visit a karaoke lounge (Kahle et al., 2005). However, consumers who highly identify themselves with their religion tend to report lower life satisfaction (Kahle et al., 2005). It appears that consumers’ responses on the importance of religion in their life and their identification to their religion explain different consumer behaviours. While there are probably explanations for the unique effect of the measures in consumer responses, it is quite a challenge to justify the reasons behind the findings due to only one item used to measure the construct. In fact, the efficiency of single item measures of religious commitment is questionable due to the widely accepted view that the construct is multidimensional (Wilkes et al., 1986; Himmelfard, 1975). 2.3 Religious orientation Religious orientation refers to ones’ approach in following their religion, and usually is based on the intrinsic and extrinsic perspectives of motivation (Allport and Ross, 1967; Hunt and King, 1971). Individuals who are intrinsically motivated towards their religion are characterized as having a greater tendency to fully integrate their religion into their life, and adhere to the religion because it is perceived to be their prime objective in their life (Allport and Ross, 1967). The extrinsically religious individual tends to selectively adopt religious teachings to suit their goals in life such as to overcome a serious illness, enhancing one’s status among his or her reference group, or overcoming the loss of

a loved one (Allport and Ross, 1967). To illustrate the concept of being intrinsically or extrinsically religious, note the responses to the statement: “Although I am a religious person, I refuse to let religious considerations influence my everyday affairs”. The extrinsic will strongly agree with this statement while the intrinsic will strongly disagree (refer Appendix 2 for item measures). This concept is reported to be the most useful approach in understanding the influence of a religion’s influences on human behaviour and have been used in more than a 100 studies (Donahue, 1985). However, this approach has had only one use in the marketing area. Compared to the intrinsically religious, Essoo and Dibb (2004) found that the extrinsically religious consumers were trendier (put more importance on brand names and stores with well-known brands); innovative (trying new products), and more demanding (attach more importance to product quality). On the other hand, the intrinsically religious followers were more conservative, traditional (more trusting of advertisings and looks for bargains), insightful and mature (less innovative and trendy). Muslim consumers’ tendency to buy products with inadequate information, and buy new products before others, were suggested to be related to Islamic teachings predestined in life (Essoo and Dibb, 2004). However, the findings overall did not offer a clear understanding of how ones’ motivation in following their religion explain the effects of religion in their behaviour in the marketplace. While it is possible that Islamic influences can have an effect in explaining Muslim consumers’ shopping style, using products or behaviours directly subjected to Islamic teachings may provide a clearer effect of religion on consumer behaviours in the marketplace. 2.4 Interactions, personal and demographic factors There is evidence that the factors of religious influences can also interact in their influence on the consumer or buyer. For example, the interaction between religious affiliation and religious commitment was found to provide an improved explanation of unprocessed food choices (Heiman et al., 2004) and shopping styles (Bailey and Sood, 1993), than with only religious affiliation. Demographic variables such as age, gender, education and income have also been found to explain differences in consumers’ behavior with religious affiliation and commitment. For example, while Muslim men tend to be less-informed shoppers, the more educated Muslims, Buddhists and Jewish consumers tend to be less-risky shoppers (Bailey and Sood, 1993). Muhamad (2008) found that gender and motivation interacted on several products subject to fatwa prohibition. 3. Conclusion and discussion This paper attempts to fill the knowledge gap in marketing areas on factors mediating religious influences on consumer and buyer behaviours. The paper offers an alternative perspective on viewing religious influence factors that could perform as a guide to selecting measures of religious influences. Religion may influence consumer and buyer behaviour through the five factors of affiliation, commitment, motivation, knowledge and social consequences. The nature of religious affiliation as an identification factor explains little about religious influences on buyer behaviours. Although consumers may identify themselves as followers of a particular religion such as Islam, it does not reflect their understanding


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of the concept of being a Muslim. Moreover, to consume or purchase products as prescribed by the Islamic religion. Nonetheless, observations on our modern lifestyles tend to suggest that one’s affiliation to a religion does matter in particular areas such as celebrating religious festivals. A Christian consumer, for example, may celebrate Christmas and Easter although he or she may not observe other aspects of the Christian faith, a Muslim consumer may celebrate Eid, a festival celebrating the end of fasting and performance of religious rituals in the month of Ramadan, although he or she may not have performed the religious practices in the first place. This is possibly related, however, to the intensity of one’s identification with a religion, as suggested by previous findings (Kahle et al., 2005), instead of mere affiliation. Apart from celebration of the festivals, consumers’ purchase and consumption behaviours may not be largely influenced by religious beliefs, rules and regulations. Consumers’ religious commitment measures appear to be less credible in explaining religious influences in buyer behaviours, as believers are reported still to hold beliefs that may clash with their faith (Banerjee, 2008). This is probably because of the complexity of the religious commitment concept as in its multidimensionality. One may cognitively commit to a religion’s fundamental beliefs, and at the same time may not commit to its other teachings, rules and regulations. Therefore, one’s beliefs and attitudes in terms of certain behaviour or consumption may not be in alignment with one’s basic commitment to a religion or faith. Religious motivation appears to be the most credible factor in describing religious influences on consumer behaviours in the market-place. In fact, the religious motivation factor is the most established construct and measure of religious influences on human behaviours (Donahue, 1985). In contrast with measures of religious commitment, the universality of motivation constructs may tend to present fewer complications in application of the measure across world religions. Recent findings suggest that religious motivation constructs manage to differentiate consumers’ cognitive processing of performing behaviours that are subjected to religious rulings (Muhamad, 2008). The universality and importance of the motivational element in social science studies has proved to be a useful indicator in describing religious influences in consumer behaviours. Given the poor utilisation of this construct in marketing areas, future marketing studies may want to test the utility of this factor in investigating the role of religion in consumer and buyer behaviours. Empirical studies testing the efficacy of each of the religious influence factors on market-place behaviours across religious groups would also be beneficial. References Allport, G.W. and Ross, M. (1967), “Personal religious orientation and prejudice”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 5, pp. 432-43. Babakus, E., Cornwell, T.B., Mitchell, V. and Schlegelmilch, B. (2004), “Reactions to unethical consumer behavior across six countries”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 21, pp. 254-63. Bailey, J.M. and Sood, J. (1993), “The effects of religious affiliation on consumer behavior: a preliminary investigation”, Journal of Managerial Issues, Vol. 5, pp. 328-52. Banerjee, N. (2008), “Poll finds a fluid religious life in US”, The New York Times, 26 February, available at: www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/us/26religion.html?scp¼1&

sq¼Polls%20Finds%20a%20Fluid%20Religious%20Life%20in%20US&st¼cse (accessed 28 February 2008). De Jong, G.F., Faulkener, J.E. and Warland, R.H. (1976), “Dimensions of religiosity reconsideres: evidence from a cross-cultural study”, Social Forces, Vol. 54, pp. 866-89. Delener, N. (1990), “The effects of religious factors on perceived risk in durable goods purchase decision”, The Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 7, pp. 27-38. Delener, N. (1994), “Religious contrasts in consumer decision behavior patterns: their dimension and marketing implications”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 28 No. 5, pp. 36-53. Donahue, M.J. (1985), “Intrinsic and extrinsic religiousness: the empirical research”, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 24, pp. 418-23. Essoo, N. and Dibb, S. (2004), “Religious influences on shopping behavior: an exploratory study”, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 20, pp. 683-713. Fam, K.S., Waller, D.S. and Erdogan, B.Z. (2004), “The influence of religion on attitudes towards the advertising of controversial products”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 38, pp. 537-55. Guthrie, S.E. (1996), “Religion: what is it?”, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 35, pp. 412-9. Heiman, A., McWilliams, B. and Zilberman, D. (2004), “Religious, religiosity, life style and the food consumptions”, Journal of Food Quality and Preferences, Vol. 8, pp. 9-11. Himmelfarb, H.S. (1975), “Measuring religious involvement”, Social Forces, Vol. 53, pp. 606-18. Hirschman, E.C. (1983), “Religious affiliation and consumption processes: an initial paradigm”, Research in Marketing, Vol. 6, pp. 131-70. Hunt, R.A. and King, M. (1971), “The intrinsic-extrinsic concept: a review and evaluation”, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 339-56. Kahle, L.R., Kau, A., Tambyah, S., Tan, S. and Jung, K. (2005), “Religion, religiosity, and values: implications for consumer behavior”, in Haugtvedt, C.P., Merunka, D. and Warlop, L. (Eds), The La Londe Seminar, 32nd International Research Seminar in Marketing, La Londe-les-Maures, pp. 249-59. King, M. and Hunt, R.A. (1969), “Measuring the religious variable: amended findings”, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 8, pp. 321-3. McDaniel, S.W. and Burnett, J.J. (1990), “Consumer religiosity and retail store evaluative criteria”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 18, pp. 101-12. Michell, P. and Al-Mossawi, M. (1999), “Religious commitment related to message contentiousness”, International Journal of Advertising, Vol. 18, pp. 427-43. Mittelstaedt, J.D. (2002), “A framework for understanding the relationship between religions and markets”, Journal of Macromarketing, Vol. 22, pp. 6-18. Muhamad, N. (2008), “Muslim consumers’ motivation towards Islam and their cognitive processing of performing taboo behaviors”, unpublished dissertation, Faculty of Economics and Commerce, The University of Western Australia, Perth. Petersen, L.R. and Donnenwerth, G.V. (1998), “Religion and declining support for traditional beliefs about gender roles and homosexual rights”, Sociology of Religion, Vol. 59, pp. 353-71. Siguaw, J.A. and Simpson, P.M. (1997), “Effects of religiousness on sunday shopping and outshopping behaviors: a study of shopper attitudes and behaviors in the American South”, The International Review of Retail, Distribution & Consumer Research, Vol. 7, pp. 23-40.


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Sood, J. and Nasu, Y. (1995), “Religiosity and nationality an exploratory study of their effect on consumer behavior in Japan and United States”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 34, pp. 1-9. Story, L. (2007), “Rewriting the ad rules for Muslim-Americans”, The New York Times, 28 April, available at: www.nytimes.com/2007/04/28/business/28muslim.html?_r¼1&scp¼1& sq¼Rewriting%20the%20Ad%20Rules%20for%20Muslim-Americans&st¼cse(accessed 26 February 2008). Vitell, J.S. and Paolillo, J.G.P. (2003), “Consumer ethics: the role of religiosity”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 46, pp. 151-62. Vitell, J.S., Singhapakdi, A. and Thomas, J. (2001), “Consumer ethics: an application and empirical testing of the Hunt-Vitell theory of ethics”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 18, pp. 153-78. Wilkes, R.E., Burnett, J.J. and Howell, R.D. (1986), “On the meaning and measurement of religiosity in consumer research”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 14 No. 1, pp. 47-56.

1. Measure from Wilkes et al.(1986): church attendance, importance end confidence in religious value, self-perceived religiousness

Measures

Consumer behaviour /author(s)

Results

Lifestyle dimensions, e.g. role orientation, 1. Higher commitment associated opinion leadership, usage of credit and with more traditional sex role, preference for domestic brands (Wilkes higher life satisfaction more likely et al. 1986) to be opinion leader, even after Behavioural interaction regarding ethical controlling for age, sex and income issues (Vitell, et al., 2001) 2. Not related to credit usage and store (private) brand orientation. Evidence of moderating affect on ethical norms and behavioural intention regarding ethical issues 2. Adapted religiosity scale from Consumer ethical beliefs (Vitell and Indirectly affect consumer ethical Francis (1985), 19 items related to Paolillo, 2003) beliefs (through personal factors: religion Recall of advertising and attitudes towards idealism relativism) message contentiousness (Michell and Al- Negatively related to recall of end Mossawi, 1999) attitudes towards contentious advertising messages 3. Religious commitment scale from Shopping styles (Sood and Nasu, 1995) 1. Shopping styles of Protestants, but Sood and Nasu (1995) not followers of Japanese religion, Nine items regarding personal relate to religious commitment religious activity, perceived 2. More committed tend to be more importance and confidence in economic shoppers (e.g buy religious values self-perceived products on sale, visit lowest price religiosity, beliefs in basic tenets stores) Cognitive and behavioural Measure from McDaniel and Burnett Importance of retail store evaluative Out of seven criteria, “cognitive” dimensions (1990) criteria (McDaniel and Burnett, 1990) related to product quality and Cognitive – self-perceived monetary giving related to credit religiosity, belief in God, importance availability of religion Behavioural – church attendance, giving money to religious institution (continued)

Scale type General commitment

Dimensions

Appendix 1


Table AI. Religious commitment: dimensions, measures and the results of consumer behavior studies

Table AI. How strongly do you identify yourself with your religious affiliation? (Kahle et al., 2005)

Source: Developed for this research based on previous finding

Religious identity

Religious importance

Results

Consumer values (Kahle et al., 2005)

Positively related to offensiveness towards controversial products Not related to marital roles in the purchase decision Positively related to importance of social values, life satisfaction, life aspirations measures (e.g friendships), less likely to visit karaoke lounge Negatively related to the importance of social values, life satisfaction, life aspiration measures, less likely going to movies, pubs, coffee shops and karaoke lounge

Positively related to compliance with religious norms regarding food preparation

Weekend shopping (Siguaw and Simpson, 1. Cognitive negatively related to 1997) shop on Sunday 2. Commitment in general negatively related to shopping out of town (prefer local stores)

Consumer behaviour /author(s)

How would you rate the strength of Choice of unprocessed food (fresh vs your religious affiliation? (1 – not a frozen, cut vs whole chicken) devout 5 – very devout) (Delener, (Heiman et al., 2004) 1994) Attitudes towards advertising of controversial products (Fam et al., 2004) Marital roles in decision to purchase a car (Delener, 1994) “Religion is important part of my Consumer values (Kahle et al., 2005) life” (Kahle et al., 2005)

Measures

134

Single item indicator Self-perceived religiosity

Dimensions

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Appendix 2. Items of religious orientation scale Intrinsic items (1) I read literature about faith. (2) Religion is especially important to me because it answers many questions about the meaning of life. (3) If I were to join a Masjid group ( jama’ah), I would prefer to join Qur’an group study than other social fellowship. (4) The prayers that I say when I am alone carry as much meaning and personal emotion as those said by me during services. (5) I try hard to carry my religion over into all my other dealings in life. (6) If not prevented by unavoidable circumstances in life, I attend mosque. (7) It is important to me to spend periods of time in private religious thought and meditation. (8) Quite often, I have been keenly aware of the presence of Allah. (9) My religious beliefs are what really lie behind my whole approach to life. Extrinsic items (1) The purpose of prayer is to secure a happy and peaceful life. (2) I pray chiefly because I have been taught to pray. (3) A primary reason for my interest in religion is that my mosque is a congenial social activity. (4) One reason for my being a Masjid member is that such membership helps to establish a person in a community. (5) Occasionally, I find it necessary to compromise my religious beliefs in order to protect my social and economic well being. (6) Although I am a religious person, I refuse to let religious considerations influence my everyday affairs. (7) What religion offers me the most is comfort when sorrow and misfortune strike. (8) The Mosque is most important as a place to formulate good social relationships. (9) The primary purpose of prayer is to gain relief and protection. (10) Although I believe in my religion, I feel there are many more important things in my life. (11) It does not matter so much what I believe so long as I lead a moral life. Note: The scale used five-point Likert scales: 1 – strongly disagree and 5 – strongly agree Source: Adapted from Essoo and Dibb (2004) About the authors Nazlida Muhamad lectures in marketing and consumer behavior at the Universiti Utara Malaysia. Her research interests center on the effect of religion on consumer behavior and consumption. Nazlida Muhamad is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected] Dick Mizerski’s research focuses on the effects of culture, religion and demographics on buyer and consumer responses to the marketing of taboo products and legal consumer vices.

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