Conceptualising the relationship between shopper religiosity, perceived risk and the role of moral potency

Abstract

The primary aim of this paper is to conceptualise the influence of shopper religiosity on perceived risk and the moderating role of moral potency when purchasing religiously questionable products from retailers. An extensive review of extant literature was undertaken, drawing together the General Theory of Marketing Ethics and the concept of moral potency, in a retail context. A conceptual model is developed that provide the basis for future inquiry. The model elucidates the complex relationships between the dimensions of religiosity and social and psychological risk and then explains the moderating role of moral potency. The model offers a strong psychological explanation of how a shoppers' religion may increase their perceptions of risk in a purchase situation. The model also argues that risk perceptions may be heightened (or lessened) as a result of the shoppers' personal responsibility, confidence and courage. Retail managers may choose to implement this model in order to better predict shopper adoption behaviour of new religiously questionable products. The model allows for future empirical examinations across multiple shopping contexts and may be employed to estimate levels' demand for new products based on the extent of religiosity, moral potency and risk. The role of religion within retailing and shopping behaviour is emergent. Extant retailing literature has previously overlooked the role of religion as an antecedent to risk and the role of moral potency in moderating that relationship. This is the first paper to highlight these gaps and propose a testable model. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Is buying counterfeit sinful? Investigation of consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions of counterfeit products in a Muslim country

“…Furnham and Valgeirsson () report that one of the predictors of purchase of counterfeit products is a person's value system. The literature shows that religion or religiosity (a personal value) remains one of the major predictors of choices and preferences for many consumers (Baazeem et al, ), including their ethical beliefs and ethical decisions (Pace, ). This study confirms the effects of religiosity on purchase of counterfeit products.…”

“…Since religion is a stable, enduring, and fundamental facet of culture (Heiens et al, ), it remains one of the major foundations of judgments, norms, attitudes, and actions (Baazeem et al, ). According to Vitell and Paolillo (), individuals who are more religious are expected to be more ethical in terms of their attitudes and beliefs.…”

“…It also supports the influence of religion (or religiosity) on consumers’ attitudes and behaviors, including their ethical beliefs and ethical decisions (Pace, ). However, the role of religiosity in the consumer behavior literature and counterfeits’ purchase has received scant attention (Heiens, Pleshko, & Aldousari, ) and is only now emerging (Baazeem, Mortimer, & Neale, ).…”

Religious heterogeneity of food consumers: The impact of global markets upon methods of production

“…Religiosity has been used to investigate a diverse range of subjects including consumer behaviour (Bazeem & Mortimer, ; Ghorbani, Watson, Ghramaleki, Morris, & Hood, ; McGuire, Thomas, & Sharp, ; Parameshwaran & Srivastava, ; Samanta, Pleskov, & Zadeh, ). Some research has made comparative analyses of the behaviours of individuals of different faiths.…”

Global personal spirituality: Concept, measurement, and correlates across cultures

“…More recently, a new phenomenon has emerged—the practice of spirituality without, or independent of, religion. However, there has been very little research on spirituality without involving religiosity (Ananthram & Chan, ; Baazeem, Mortimer, & Neale, ; Cappellen et al, ). In addition, most of the research has been conducted in Western countries with some exceptions and it has mostly focused on religiosity (Arli & Pekerti, ; Pace, ; Rahman, Albait, & Maruf, ).…”