Religiosity and Consumer Ethics

This article presents the results of an exploratory study that investigated the role that religiosity plays in determining consumer attitudes/beliefs in various situations regarding questionable consumer practices. Two dimensions of religiosity – intrinsic and extrinsic religiousness – were studied. Results indicated that an intrinsic religiousness was a significant determinant of consumer ethical beliefs, but extrinsic religiousness was not related to those beliefs.Scott J. Vitell is Phil B. Hardin Professor of Marketing at the University of Mississippi. He received his Ph.D. in Marketing from Texas Tech University. His recent publications have appeared in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Retailing, the Journal of Business Ethics and the Journal of Consumer Marketing, among others. E-mail: svitell@bus.olemiss.edu Joseph G.P. Paolillo is a Professor of Management in the School of Business at the University of Mississippi. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon, Eugene in Organization and Management. His publications have appeared in the Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, Human Relations, Group and Organization Studies, The Accounting Review, Journal of Advertising and Journal of Business Ethics, among several others. E-mail: jpaolillo@bus. olemiss.edu Jatinder J. Singh is a Ph.D. student in marketing at the University of Mississippi. He received his masters from Punjab Technical University, India. He has coauthored a paper published for the American Marketing Associations winter Educators Conference, 2004.     

人口老龄化与劳动力发展规划

随着人口老龄化程度的提高和劳动力短缺问题的加重,越来越多的发达国家开始研究劳动力发展与规划问题.中国目前虽然从总体来看还没有出现劳动力短缺的问题,但是随着人口老龄化高峰的到来,劳动力规模缩小和一些劳动技能出现短缺却是必然的趋势.为了应对未来人口老龄化所带来的劳动力问题,做到未雨绸缪,有必要从现在开始启动适合中国国情的劳动力发展与规划的研究,分析在人口老龄化较高程度下劳动力在宏观和微观层面上的供求格局和变化趋势,寻求未来合理有效利用劳动力的最佳途径.     

人口老龄化与劳动力发展规划

随着人口老龄化程度的提高和劳动力短缺问题的加重,越来越多的发达国家开始研究劳动力发展与规划问题。中国目前虽然从总体来看还没有出现劳动力短缺的问题,但是随着人口老龄化高峰的到来,劳动力规模缩小和一些劳动技能出现短缺却是必然的趋势。为了应对未来人口老龄化所带来的劳动力问题,做到未雨绸缪,有必要从现在开始启动适合中国国情的劳动力发展与规划的研究,分析在人口老龄化较高程度下劳动力在宏观和微观层面上的供求格局和变化趋势,寻求未来合理有效利用劳动力的最佳途径。     

The Effects of Religiosity on Ethical Judgments

The relationship between religiosity and ethical behavior at work has remained elusive. In fact, inconsistent results in observed magnitudes and direction led Hood et al. (The psychology of religion: An empirical approach, 1996) to describe the relationship between religiosity and ethics as “something of a roller coaster ride.” Weaver and Agle (Acad Manage Rev 27(1):77–97, 2002) utilizing social structural versions of symbolic interactionism theory reasoned that we should not expect religion to affect ethical outcomes for all religious individuals; rather, such a relationship likely depends on specific religious attitudes including religious motivation orientation (intrinsic RMO vs. extrinsic RMO), perceived sacred qualities of work (job sanctification), and views of God (VOG, loving vs. punishing). We examined the effects of these three religious attitudes on participants’ judgments of 29 ethically questionable vignettes. Consistent with symbolic interactionism theory, intrinsic RMO and having a loving view of God were both negatively related to endorsing ethically questionable vignettes, whereas extrinsic RMO was positively related to endorsing the vignettes. Unexpectedly, job sanctification was positively related to endorsing the vignettes. However, both intrinsic and extrinsic RMO moderated this relationship such that sanctifying one’s job was related to ethical judgments only for those who were: (a) low in intrinsic RMO or (b) high in extrinsic RMO. We reasoned based on symbolic interactionism theory that intrinsically motivated participants, in contrast to extrinsically motivated participants, may have utilized their religious beliefs as a guiding framework in making ethical judgments.     

Consumer Ethics: The Role of Religiosity

This article presents the results of a study that investigated the role that religiosity plays in determining consumer attitudes/beliefs regarding various questionable consumer practices. Additionally, other personal factors were examined including idealism, relativism, consumer alienation and selected demographics such as income and age. All of these constructs were examined as antecedents of consumer ethical beliefs. The results of a post hoc analysis indicated that religiosity was a significant determinate of both idealism and relativism, and since idealism and relativism determine consumer ethical beliefs, religiosity is a significant indirect determinate of consumer ethical beliefs.     

Religiosity and Moral Identity: The Mediating Role of Self-Control

The ethics literature has identified moral motivation as a factor in ethical decision-making. Furthermore, moral identity has been identified as a source of moral motivation. In the current study, we examine religiosity as an antecedent to moral identity and examine the mediating role of self-control in this relationship. We find that intrinsic and extrinsic dimensions of religiosity have different direct and indirect effects on the internalization and symbolization dimensions of moral identity. Specifically, intrinsic religiosity plays a role in counterbalancing the negative impact of extrinsic religiosity on the internalization of moral identity. Further, intrinsic religiosity also counterbalances the negative and indirect impact of extrinsic religiosity on symbolization of moral identity via self-control. Lastly, self-control does not play a mediating role in the impact of religiosity on the internalization dimension of moral identity. We conclude that this study presents important findings that advance our understanding of the antecedents of moral identity, and that these results may have implications for the understanding of ethical decision-making.     

Materialism and Life Satisfaction: The Role of Stress and Religiosity

Materialism has been a topic of interest to consumer researchers for decades. This article explores the effect of materialism on individuals' life satisfaction using a large sample from Malaysia, a country with cultural diversity within a collectivist mainstream culture. The results suggest that the effects of materialism on life satisfaction could be indirect, mediated by stress and moderated by religiosity. The study helps to explain the mechanisms that account for the negative relationship between materialism and life satisfaction reported in previous studies conducted in many countries; it provides a blueprint and directions for further research.     

Religiosity and Voluntary Simplicity: The Mediating Role of Spiritual Well-Being

Although there has been considerable theoretical support outlining a positive relationship between religiosity and voluntary simplicity, there is limited empirical evidence validating this relationship. This study examines the relationships among religious orientations (Allport and Ross in J Pers Soc Psychol 5(4):432–443, 1967) and voluntary simplicity in a sample of Australian consumers. The results demonstrate that intrinsic religiosity is positively related to voluntary simplicity; however, there is no relationship between extrinsic religiosity and voluntary simplicity. Furthermore, this research investigates the processes through which intrinsic religiosity affects voluntary simplicity. The relationship between intrinsic religiosity and voluntary simplicity is sequentially mediated by communal/personal well-being and environmental well-being. The findings not only identify a prosocial role of intrinsic religiosity in motivating voluntary simplicity, but also indicate that secular pursuits that enhance communal/personal well-being and environmental well-being may also motivate voluntary simplicity.     

Effects of Nationality,Gender, and Religiosity on Business-Related Ethicality

Cross-national studies of business-related ethicality frequently have concluded that Americans possess higher ethical standards than non-Americans. These conclusions have generally been based on survey responses of relatively small convenience samples of individuals in a very limited number of countries. This article reports a study of the relationship between nationality and business-related ethicality based on survey responses from more than 6300 business students attending 120 colleges and universities in 36 countries. Two well-documented determinants of business ethics (gender and religiosity) were investigated as moderators of the nationality–business ethicality relationship. The major research finding is that, while statistically significant differences were found between the business-related ethicality of American survey participants and the business-related ethicality of the non-American survey participants, the magnitudes of the differences were not substantial. The results of the study suggest that (i) more empirical cross-cultural/national research is required on business-related ethicality and (ii) previous explanations for cross-cultural/national differences in ethics need to be reconsidered before further generalizations are warranted.     

Investigating Moral Links Between Religiosity,Altruism, and Green Consumption

Religious practice and green consumption seem inherently related, as each activity purportedly benefits society. Despite this, few studies have explored the possibility that religion influences green purchase intentions. Further, individuals often struggle to reconcile their religious and nonreligious motives in their day-to-day activities. Toward this end, the current study investigates the roles that religion, price, and social motives may play as factors that influence green consumption. The study also examines the possible intervention of other altruistic motives such as attitude toward charitable institutions in determining green consumption. The study develops a new perspective on how green products should be marketed while delivering actionable theoretical and managerial implications.     

新环境下发展国际劳务合作扩大就业问题的思考

就业已成为中国经济社会发展过程中的一个重要问题.在经济日益全球化的今天,丰富廉价且素质较高的劳动力资源是我国参与国际分工的比较优势.尤其是入世之后,为中国从世界范围内解决就业问题提供了新的机遇.正是基于这种思考,本文试图通过在新环境下对国际劳务合作问题的探讨,寻找解决我国就业问题的出路.     

Workforce age and technology adoption in small and medium-sized service firms

This paper provides empirical evidence on the relationship between the age structure of the workforce and the adoption of new or significantly improved technologies. Moreover, it attempts to identify the role of teamwork in this relationship. The econometric analysis is based on data of 356 small and medium-sized German firms from the knowledge-intensive services and ICT services sectors. The results show that, compared to employees younger than 30 years, an older workforce is negatively related to the probability of technology adoption. On the contrary, the dispersion of the employees’ age within the workforce seems not to be connected with the probability of technology adoption. However, in firms with intensive use of teamwork a homogenous workforce in terms of age is positively related to the probability of technology adoption.     

Religiosity,ethical ideology,and intentions to report a peer's wrongdoing

Peer reporting is a specific form of whistelblowing in which an individual discloses the wrongdoing of a peer. Previous studies have examined situational variables thought to influence a person's decision to report the wrongdoing of a peer. The present study looked at peer reporting from the individual level. Five hypotheses were developed concerning the relationships between (1) religiosity and ethical ideology, (2) ethical ideology and ethical judgments about peer reporting, and (3) ethical judgments and intentions to report peer wrongdoing.Subjects read a vignette concerning academic cheating, and were asked to respond to a question-naire concerning the vignette. Data were analyzed using structural equation methodology.Results indicated that religiosity was positively associated with an ethical ideology of non-relativism. Individuals whose ethical ideologies could be described as idealistic and non-relativistic were more likely to state that reporting a peer's cheating was ethical. In turn, individuals who believed reporting a peer's cheating was ethical were more likely to say that they would report a peer's cheating. Tim Barnett is Assistant Professor of Management at Louisiana Tech University. He has authored or coauthored articles appearing in Human Relations, Personnel Psychology, the Journal of Business Research, and the Journal of Business Ethics, among others. His current research interests include whistle-blowing and the ethical decision making process. Ken Bass is Assistant Professor of Management at East Carolina University. He has published articles in journals including the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management and the Journal of Business Ethics. His research interests include ethical decision making, ethical strategy, and methodology. Gene Brown is Professor of Marketing at Louisiana Tech University, and received the Ph.D. from the University of Alabama. He has published in a variety of journals including the Journal of Marketing Research, the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. His research intersts include personal selling, retailing, ethics, and methodology.     

Auditee Religiosity,External Monitoring,and the Pricing of Audit Services

This paper demonstrates the political perspective of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures and, drawing on Weber’s notion of traditionalism, seeks to explain what motivates companies to make such disclosures in a traditional setting. Annual reports of 23 banking companies in Bangladesh are analysed over the period 2009–2012. This is supplemented by a review of documentary evidence on the political and social activities of corporations and reports published in national and international newspapers. We found that, in the banking companies over the period of study, apparently neutral, corporate, philanthropic activities disclosed and promoted in CSR reports are inextricably linked to powerful leaders’ personal projects and the ruling party’s agendas. We have demonstrated elements of traditional societies, including personal loyalty and the public display of loyalty, the master–servant relationship, and obedience to personal rather than formal authority, provide an understanding of why banks (with or without explicit political linkages with the ruling party) have employed politically charged CSR disclosure strategies. The paper contributes to disclosure studies where political motivations of corporate disclosure rarely discussed. The paper extends the debate on political CSR by demonstrating that the role of family and familial values at the organisational and national levels may be much more important when it comes to CSR disclosure and activities.