Entrepreneurial Religion in the Age of Neoliberal Urbanism

The introduction to this symposium on entrepreneurial religion and neoliberal urbanism discusses leading scholarly approaches to religion and urban theory, arguing that, despite their merits, these approaches are in need of refinement. Theories on religion and urban theory too often describe religion as a reactionary phenomenon. Religious movements and spaces are generally defined as pockets of resistance and shelter against retreating or failing states under neoliberal restructuring programmes in the shadow of consumption dreams. Although religious actors and ideologies unquestionably form part of urban groups that are denied access to public and private means to wealth and security, the contributors to this symposium argue that within a global, comparative perspective, the entwinement of religion, state and market reveal more complicated configurations. Through a comparison of Islamic gated communities in Istanbul, Pentecostal prayer camps in Lagos and Pentecostal grassroots movements in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, this symposium demonstrates that urban religion should also be regarded as a constitutive force of contemporary capitalism and should therefore be placed at the heart of the neoliberal construction of urban space instead of at its margins.     

Loving my local business as my neighbor: Religiosity's influence on local business support during a crisis

Many local businesses have and are continuing to struggle as a result of the pandemic crisis due in part to reduced consumer spending. However, the motives behind why some consumers are more supportive than others toward local businesses in such a crisis are not adequately understood. We address this gap in the literature through three experimental studies where we examine how the core consumer value of religiosity explains consumer response to the crisis as consumers seek to act in ways that align with their value system. Study 1 (257 adults from MTurk) shows a positive relationship between religiosity and support for local businesses but only during a pandemic. Study 2 (307 adults from MTurk) shows that this relationship is greatest for local (vs. non-local) businesses, and caring for one's neighbors mediates this effect. Finally, Study 3 (200 adults from MTurk) uses advertising to prime focus on one's neighbors, revealing that a neighbors-focused ad increases local business support to similar levels for consumers of all religiosity levels. Findings build on belief congruence theory with implications for marketing practitioners in the current pandemic crisis and other crises of medical, environmental, and other origins.     

The Macroeconomic Consequences of Mixing Sunnis and Shias: A Bayesian Errors-in-Variables Approach

How damaging is the Sunni/Shia split to the economies of Islamic countries? Is it better to be one or the other? Or is it better to have an even balance between the two? Answering these questions is complicated by the fact that the data are often missing or imprecisely measured. We employ the technique of Bayesian data augmentation to circumvent these two problems, and find that properly controlling for these features in the data leads to drastically different conclusions than what is found using ordinary least squares. We find that there is nothing in the differential nature of Sunni or Shia Islam to make one more economically prosperous than the other. Nor do we find any support for the popular hypothesis that Sunnis and Shias cannot mix.     

The Industry Council Plan as an Instrument of Reconstruction

This paper looks at the doctrines of ‘Wicca’, or what might be termed as pagan or white magic by its adherents, in terms of the economics of religion. The primary focus of the paper is the issue of the degree of product differentiation involved from established religion in terms of two things: the concept of God (or deities) and the ideas of sin. The main contribution of the paper is that it presents (for the first time ever, so far as the author is aware) an economic analysis of the doctrine of a ‘rebound’ effect of any attempts to do harm to other people through the practice of magic. Some basic microeconomic concepts suggest that the moral force of this rebound law is a difficult one to sustain except under very unreasonable assumptions.     

Foreign direct investment: the role of institutional and cultural determinants

Using panel data for 29 source and 65 host countries in the period 1995–2009, we examine the determinants of bilateral FDI stocks, focusing on institutional and cultural factors. The results reveal that institutional and cultural distance is important and that FDI has a predominantly regional aspect. FDI to developing countries is positively affected by better institutions in the host country, while foreign investors prefer to invest in developed countries that are more corrupt and politically unstable compared to home. The results indicate that foreign investors prefer to invest in countries with less diverse societies than their own.     

INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISION,POLITICS AND RELIGION: INSIGHTS FROM TUNISIA'S NEW DEMOCRACY

This paper analyzes the relationship between access to infrastructure services and support for religious parties based on the evidence produced by a recent democratic experience in Tunisia in which a religious political party, Ennahdha, governed from 2011 to 2014. The experience points to a complex relationship. In the 2011 election, areas with higher access are associated with higher support for Ennahdha than areas with lower access. In the 2014 election, however, infrastructure access is positively correlated with support for the party in areas where access had improved but negatively correlated with support for the party in areas that already had high access. A possible pragmatic general implication is that, to be politically competitive, religious parties, cannot bet solely on their religious commitment to provide basic services, including infrastructure, to the poor. They need to recognize the multiplicity of voter's concerns and their evolving agenda.     

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.     

The explosive combination of religious decentralization and autocracy

The relationship between religion and politics is explored from a theoretical standpoint. Religious clerics can be seduced by an autocrat and political stability is at stake. The autocrat's decisions consist of two measures both capable of antagonizing religious clerics: adopting secular reforms and unduly appropriating part of the national wealth, which generally are complements. Compared to centralized religions, decentralized religions, such as Islam, tend to discourage secular reforms and corruption but those effects are not guaranteed if the autocrat accepts political instability. The main hypotheses and the central results of the theory are illustrated with regime case studies that refer to contemporary times.     

The Israeli teacher-guide: The emergence and perpetuation of a role

The Israeli teacher-guide performs functions associated with tiyulim—special walks in Israel aimed at the promotion of getting to know one's native country, which are organized by public, non-commercial agencies. The Israeli teacher-guide is socially defined as an agent of education and culture rather than of leisure and entertainment. Most of his role performances are carried out during walks with various groups of casual participants. During these walks he is both the navigator and interpreter of the scenes and their meanings. On the background of the history of tourism in the Holy Land, both the emergence of the Israeli teacher-guide role and the persistence of the public demand for tiyulim and for the organizational and interpretational products of the teacher-guide, associated with tiyulim, are described in this paper. These phenomena are explained by the special peculiarities of the “Israeli condition,” which cause many to seek a sense of belonging to the Israeli land and soil and by the idea prevailing among the Israeli educational elite that tiyulim and the contents delivered during them by the teacher-guides, are appropriate means for arousing this feeling. It is hypothesized that the tiyulim may be looked upon as components of the Israeli civil religion and thus the teacher-guide is a kind of civil religion mentor.     

The Role of Religious and Nationalist Ethics in Strategic Leadership: The Case of J. N. Tata

This paper examines the role that religious ethics, complemented by a nationalist principle, can play in a sustained exercise of strategic leadership, hypothesizing a positive association with a societal reputation for credibility or integrity. The key to this relation is the constraining effect on strategic or financial pressures, even if there is coherence in the long-term. J. N. Tata, the founder of Tata Industries who lived in British India, was a Parsee priest and an advocate for Indian national self-reliance and ultimately independence. Even as Tata's two ethics dovetailed with his business interests in the long-term, they conflicted sufficiently with the business calculus of some of his immediate and intermediate strategic interests such that he could enjoy a sterling societal reputation in India, his credibility transcending that of a businessman.