Sacred Attributions: Implications for Marketplace Behavior

Prior research in marketing has extensively examined attribution theory and how this influences product evaluations; however, such research has only examined secular attributions to a company, employees, other consumers, or one's self. Thus, through a series of three studies, the research herein examines a new category of attributions—sacred attributions—to determine when consumers make secular versus sacred attributions and how this influences product evaluations. Study 1 shows that religiosity is positively correlated with sacred attributions. Additionally, Study 1 finds that sacred attributions to God are more likely in positive consumption situations, while sacred attributions to Satan are more likely in negative consumption situations. Study 2 finds that God (Satan) attributions lead to positive (negative) product evaluations, and these effects are pervasive, regardless of religious priming. Study 3 increases external validity by using real businesses to show that sacred attributions are greatest for businesses with a sacred value system, although these effects differ based on situational affect. Findings build upon the literature on attribution theory and priming.     

From Preaching to Investing: Attitudes of Religious Organisations Towards Responsible Investment

Religious organisations are major investors with sometimes substantial investment volumes. An important question for them is how to make investments in, and to earn returns from, companies and activities that are consistent with their religious beliefs or that even support these beliefs. Religious organisations have pioneered responsible investment. Yet little is known about their investment attitudes. This article addresses this gap by studying faith consistent investing. Based on a survey complemented by interviews, we investigate religious organisations?? attitudes towards responsible investment including opinions, practices and the impediments for implementing faith consistent investing. Although our results cannot be generalised because of the non-random character of our sample, six main characteristics of faith consistent investing are drawn: investing is not perceived as being in contradiction with religious values, religious values are important drivers, there is a strong community around faith consistent investing, religious investors are pioneering impact investing, implementing faith consistent investing is not without difficulties, and practices vary across regions. The survey also reveals that faith consistent investing has many commonalities with secular responsible investors.     

Commercial mythmaking at the Holy Land Experience

Commercial mythmaking, where firms create, appropriate, and cultivate myths, plays an important role in creating and disseminating ideologies that help consumers manage tensions in the marketplace. Commercial mythmaking remains under-researched. In response we explore commercial mythmaking at the nexus of consumption, markets, and religion, where firms create myths that negotiate between market and religious logics. Some evangelical Christians hold beliefs that create tension with consumer culture, which they perceive to be secular and amoral. A religious theme park in the United States that appeals to this sub-segment serves as the empirical context. We identify three prominent politico-religious themes re-cast at the park as commercial myths. They are: redemption, authentic connection to the sacred, and American exceptionalism. These commercial myths aid consumers in resolving ideological tensions by infusing a politically conservative religious ideology into the brand's basic value proposition.     

Spirits in the marketplace

ABSTRACT

Good research demands that researchers are reflexive, understanding that all findings are socially constructed and susceptible to the unacknowledged interests of the researcher. When studying the consumption of religion and spirituality, how does a researcher mitigate a potential secularist worldview to consider consumers’ alternative metaphysical assumptions? And when these alternative worldviews posit divine and occult forces, how should the researcher study and theorise these forces? Based on our research of Pentecostalism in Ghana, we offer four suggestions. First, we demonstrate the importance of delineating the socio-historical context of our informants’ worldview. Second, we encourage exploring the potential of indigenous methods that may be more culturally sensitive; in this case, we show how religious testimony offers new insights as a way of knowing that is consistent with our informants’ worldview. Third, we advocate theorising within the frame of the indigenous metaphysical worldviews, such as understanding the religious testimonies as affective performances. Finally, we reflect on the benefits of moving beyond reflexivity to paths of action that seek rapprochement among differing worldviews.     

Trust, Faith, and Betrayal: Insights from Management for the Wise Believer

Trust within a secular or organizational context is much like the concept of faith within a religious framework. The purpose of this article is to identify parallels between trust and faith, particularly from the individual perspective of the person who perceives a duty owed to him or her. Betrayal is often a subjectively derived construct based upon each individual’s subjective mediating lens. We analyze the nature of trust and betrayal and offer insights that a wise believer might use in understanding his or her relationship with the divine. We suggest that the parallels between trust and faith involve a willingness to relinquish one’s power or control in the expectant hope that our needs will be met. Betrayal, however, is often profoundly misunderstood.     

‘Jesus,take the wheel’: the appeal of spiritual products in satiating concerns about randomness

ABSTRACT

Why are consumers drawn to spiritual products? Leveraging theorising regarding the psychological need to perceive the world as orderly and non-random, we posit that products imbued with religious/spiritual significance help manage concerns about randomness and uncontrollability (e.g. when a product is unreliable or exposes the consumer to random uncontrollable processes). When randomness concerns were salient, religious consumers showed increased desire to attach religious significance to secular objects (e.g. having item blessed, physically attaching a religious symbol). For spiritual consumers, spiritual products (vs. non-spiritual physically equivalent products) were seen as having (i) non-material efficacy (i.e. efficacy not bound to the purely material world) and (ii) unfalsifiable efficacy (i.e. efficacy that is immune to contrary evidence). Evidence is found across a variety of religious and spiritual contexts.     

Transformation of Islamic Work Ethic and Social Networks: The Role of Religious Social Embeddedness in Organizational Networks

The aim of this study is to explore the influence of religious beliefs on social or work-related ties of managers who are member of organizational networks representing two different ideologies (religious and secular) in Turkey. In this research, the emergence of secular and devout entrepreneurs is considered as a phenomenon, and special attention is paid to religious transformation and secularism in Turkey. Social network analysis method is used to define the nature of communication links among 80 chairmen who are the members of two conflicting and dominant groups in Turkish business system. The findings show that Protestant work ethic suggested by Weber with regard to Christianity have attained a similar place over the past decade in Islamic organizational networks. The concern of political power in religion leads to organizational networks being nourished by religious norms and creeds in many developing countries. Especially in societies like Turkey where the state is dominant in the business life, organizations and managers prefer to be included in religious networks to make close contacts with the state. Another significant finding is that efforts of the members of religious networks—in spite of their relatively closed characteristics—in terms of being at the center of a network and taking the brokerage role, are highly developed on the contrary to the literature.     

The Role of Religiosity in Stress, Job Attitudes, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior

Religion and faith are often central aspects of an individual’s self-concept, and yet they are typically avoided in the workplace. The current study seeks to replicate the findings about the role of religious beliefs and practices in shaping an employee’s reactions to stress/burnout and job attitudes. Second, we extend the literature on faith in the workplace by investigating possible relationships between religious beliefs and practices and citizenship behaviors at work. Third, we attempted to study how one’s perceived freedom to express his/her religious identity at work was related to workplace attitudes and behaviors. Mixed results suggest that religiosity can be related to stress and burnout, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and Organizational Citizenship Behavior. More research is needed to further qualify the results and explore the effects of one’s perceived freedom to express his/her religious identity in the workplace.     

Exposure to workplace bullying and negative gossip behaviors: Buffering roles of personal and contextual resources

This study adds to business ethics research by investigating how employees' exposure to workplace bullying might spur their negative gossip behaviors, as well as how this effect might be buffered by their access to two personal resources (religiosity and innovation propensity) and two contextual resources (work meaningfulness and trust in top management). Survey data collected among Canadian-based employees who work in the religious sector reveal that workplace bullying increases the likelihood that they spread negative rumors about other organizational members, but this effect is weaker when employees (1) can draw from their religious faith, (2) are motivated to generate innovative ideas, (3) derive meaning from their work, and (4) have confidence in the trustworthiness of top management. For management scholars and practitioners, this study thus pinpoints different resources that diminish the risk that workplace bullying infuses work environments with even more negative energy, as might occur if bullying spills over into additional, negative gossip behaviors.     

Whistle Blowers: Saints of Secular Culture

Neither the corporate view of whistle blowers as tattle-tales and traitors, nor the more sympathethic understanding of them as tragic heroes battling corrupt or abused systems captures what is at stake in whistle blowing at its most distinctive. The courage, determination and sacrifice of the most ardent whistle blowers suggests that they only begin to be appreciated when they are seen as the saints of secular culture. Although some whistle blowers may be attempting to deflect attention from their own deficiencies and others may be disgruntled employees, the most serious instances involve a level of moral sensitivity that approaches religious proportions that are baffling for a culture that has dispensed with sainthood.     

Thou shalt not covet: Role of family religiosity in anti‐consumption

Anti‐consumption movements, as resistance or rejection of consumption, are opposed in nature to the values of materialism or the idea that possessions are essential to happiness. This article links one anti‐consumption practice, voluntary simplicity, to family religiosity by exploring whether parents' religiosity induces reduced levels of materialism in their children. Children aged 6–14 years and their parents in three secular and one religious school were surveyed, and data were analysed using structural equation modelling. Materialism was divided in four factors: money desire, shopping pleasure, possession pleasure and non‐generosity. Results show that parents with strong religious behaviours have children who exhibit less desire for money and less non‐generosity, but experience a higher shopping pleasure. The effects of parents' religious behaviours on children's materialism are both direct and partially mediated by school type (religious or secular). Religious values in the family environment may contribute to increased anti‐consumption lifestyles in following generations.     

神秘文化与精神疗法：评徐小斌小说的救赎意识

在当代女作家徐小斌的小说中,逃离是女主人公在现实社会受挫后最重要的行为方式,而那些蒙着神秘文化面纱的宗教神话世界、未被现代文明污染的＂化外之境＂和摆脱了历史束缚的自然爱欲世界,则成为对主人公进行精神救赎的皈依之地。从心理学的意义看,这种奇特的逃离方式具有对病态现代人进行精神疗救的形而上色彩。然而,拨去神秘的面纱后我们发现,现代人始终无法抵达真正的灵魂栖息地,获得心的归属与庇护。     

When open-mindedness lowers product evaluations: Influencers to consumers’ response to religious cues in advertising

Prior research has examined response to Christian religious cues used in secular marketing messages but has inadequately explored the underlying reasons for such response as well as why religious cues may negatively influence product evaluations. These limitations are addressed in this research work through three studies utilizing religious cues. In Studies 1a and 1b, ads with a Christian or Muslim religious cue (no religious cue) were found to produce lower (higher) product evaluations. Studies 2–3 then examined why religious cues in ads can produce lower product evaluations to show that open-mindedness moderated this effect (Study 2), and priming open-mindedness also influenced this effect (Study 3). Most interestingly, open-minded consumers were more negative toward religious cues in marketing communications than close-minded consumers, and priming open-mindedness magnified this effect. These novel effects are discussed in relation to the literature on open-mindedness and value-based consumption. Additionally, implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Does Religion Matter? A Comparison Study of the Ethical Beliefs of Marketing Students of Religious and Secular Universities in Japan

This study was designed to examine the determinants of and differences between the ethical beliefs of two groups of Japanese students in religious and secular universities. Multiple regression analysis revealed that students of the Japanese religious university perceived that young, male, relativistic, and opportunistic students tended to behave less ethically than did older, female, and idealistic students. Students of the Japanese secular university perceived that male, achievement-oriented, and opportunistic students tended to behave less ethically than did female and experience-oriented students. Opportunism was found to be one of the most important determinants in explaining misconduct. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) revealed that students of the Japanese secular university tended to score higher on achievement and humanism, and lower on theism and positivism than did students of the Japanese religious university. In addition, students of the Japanese secular university were somewhat more sensitive to academic dishonesty practices than were students of the Japanese religious university.     

Acknowledging religious diversity: Opportunities and challenges

Because federal law protects an employee's right to religious accommodation, managers cannot ignore the issue of religious diversity. The matter is far broader than simple legal compliance, though. Certainly, managers need to better understand the laws protecting employees’ rights for accommodation and prohibiting disparate treatment, religious harassment, and retaliation. However, they also need to understand the various opportunities and challenges associated with acknowledging religious diversity. Concerning opportunities, research suggests that allowing employees to express aspects of their religion can enhance their work lives and, thus, the value they place on the organization. Furthermore, respect for religious diversity can encourage a useful mindset for communicating with other stakeholders in areas from advertising to the sports interests of salespeople. Since learning more about a range of faiths can lead to greater skills in working with diverse groups, we offer information on Prothero's God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World—and Why Their Differences Matter and on different religions’ practices associated with death-related issues. In conclusion, we provide insight regarding the benefits of acknowledging religious diversity while respecting those who identify with no religion, and we do so without opening the door to proselytizing.     

From scarcity to abundance: reflections on using African values to combat fraud

By trying to see how one can use African values to fight against fraud, the paper attempts to bring out the structural dimension of this moral cancer by showing how it is linked to the ethical and economic/business systems where it thrives. I start by making some theoretical remarks about how values are to be placed in each socio-cultural setting. An analysis of how the free market economy as a system creates conditions where fraud becomes possible then follows. This is contrasted with an analysis of the African worldview and economic system where the starting point is that material and human resources abound, provided they are shared. The paper ends by suggesting ways in which African ethical values can be merged with the dominant economic system.     

Usury and Just Compensation: Religious and Financial Ethics in Historical Perspective

Usury is a concept often associated more with religiously based financial ethics, whether Christian or Islamic, than with the secular world of contemporary finance. The problem is compounded by a tendency to interpret riba, prohibited within Islam, as both usury and interest, without adequately distinguishing these concepts. This paper argues that in Christian tradition usury has always evoked the notion of money demanded in excess of what is owed on a loan, disrupting a relationship of equality between people, whereas interest was seen as referring to just compensation to the lender. Although it is often claimed that hostility towards ‘usury’ has been in retreat in the West since the protestant Reformation, we would argue that the crucial break came not with Calvin, but with Jeremy Bentham, whose critique of the arguments of Adam Smith, upholding the reasonableness of the laws against usury, led to the abolition of the usury laws in England in 1854. There has to be a role for law, whether Islamic or secular, in regulating financial relationships. We argue that by retrieving the necessary distinction between demanding usury as illegitimate predatory lending and interest as legitimate compensation, we can discover common ground behind the driving principles of financial ethics within both Islamic and Christian tradition that may still be of relevance today. By re-examining past ethical discussions of the distinction between usury and just compensation, we argue that the world’s religious traditions can make significant contributions to contemporary debate. Constant Mews is Director of the Centre for Studies in Religion and Theology at Monash University. He holds PhD and Masters degrees in medieval history, and pursues research in medieval religion, thought and ethics. Ibrahim Abraham is a PhD student in the School of Political and Social Inquiry, Monash University, with degrees in religion studies as well as law. His research interests include religion and culture, fair trade, and human rights.     

Aligning employees through “line of sight”

Aligning employees with the firm's larger strategic goals is critical if organizations hope to manage their human capital effectively and ultimately attain strategic success. An important component of attaining and sustaining this alignment is for employees to have a “line of sight” (LOS) with their organization's strategic objectives. In this article, we illustrate how the translation of calculated firm goals into tangible results requires that employees not only understand the organization's strategy, but also accurately appreciate what actions are aligned with realizing that strategy. Using recent empirical evidence, theoretical insights, and tangible examples of exemplary firm practices, we provide thought-leaders with a comprehensive view of LOS by showing how it can be created, how it can be enhanced or stifled, and how it can be effectively managed. Further, we integrate LOS with current thinking on employee alignment to help managers more effectively benefit from understanding human capital potential.     

Teaching Business Ethics: The Role of Ethics in Business and in Business Education

The paper begins with an examination of traditional attitudes towards business ethics. I suggest that these attitudes fail to recognize that a principal function of ethics is to facilitate cooperation. Further that despite the emphasis on competition in modern market economies, business like all other forms of social activity is possible only where people are prepared to respect rules in the absence of which cooperation is rendered difficult or impossible. Rules or what I call the ethics of doing, however, constitute just one dimension of ethics. A second has to do with what we see and how we see it; a third with who we or what I describe as the ethics of being. Of these three dimensions, the first and the third have been most carefully explored by philosophers and are most frequently the focus of attention when teaching business ethics is being discussed. I argue that this focus is unfortunate in as much as it is the second dimension which falls most naturally into the ambit of modern secular educational institutions. It is here that moral education is most obviously unavoidable, and most clearly justifiable in modern secular teaching environments. I conclude by describing the importance of this second dimension for the modern world of business.