Religion’s influence on consumer response to moral vs. justice message appeals

Abstract

Building from past research on religion and self‐construal, this research is the first known research to explore the relationships among religion (Western vs. Eastern vs. nonreligious), moral vs. justice message appeals, and ethical consumption. In two studies utilizing the context of Fair Trade products, we show differences in the effectiveness of moral and justice message appeals to encourage ethical consumption based on one’s religious or nonreligious affiliation. Study 1 uses an Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) sample of 197 adults, finding through MANOVAs that moral (justice) appeals are the most effective at increasing purchase intentions for ethical goods among Western (nonreligious) consumers. Study 2 extends these questions to Western and Eastern religious consumers using a Qualtrics panel sample of 279 adults, finding through MANOVAs that moral (justice) appeals are more effective for Western (Eastern) religious consumers. Equally important, Study 2 results show that these effects occur regardless of religiosity level, emphasizing the need to understand consumers’ religious affiliation more so than religiosity level. Results from both studies also show that change efficacy positively influences Fair Trade purchase intentions which, surprisingly, encourages ethical disengagement. Results also examine the purchase motives of customers, finding nonreligious and Eastern religious consumers to be motivated by concern for others, while Western religious consumers are motivated out of concern for self. In sum, marketing practitioners desiring to encourage ethical consumption should use self‐based moral appeals (e.g., “do this because it is the right thing to do for yourself”) when targeting Western religious consumers or countries with predominantly Western religious followers, while using others‐based justice appeals (e.g., “do this because it is the fair thing to do for others”) when targeting Eastern or nonreligious consumers or countries mostly representing these affiliates.

The Influence of Religion on Sustainable Consumption: A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda

“…The perceived ability to successfully complete an action [90] or the understanding that one could make a difference on environmental and social injustices is an important variable influencing SC behavior. In the sample, only one study examined the relationship between religion and self-efficacy, finding that self-considered religious individuals have self-efficacy beliefs; these, in turn, affect the intention to purchase products that contained a message of socio-ecological justice [91].…”

The interaction among religiosity, moral intensity and moral certainty in predicting ethical consumption: A study of Muslim consumers

“…The slow progress in the ethical consumption movement has motivated a series of studies examining ethical purchasing behaviour from the perspective of an evolving cognitive process (Carrington et al., 2010; ElHaffar et al., 2020; Hassan et al., 2016; Minton et al., 2018). In particular, religiosity has been examined as a cognitive process that explains consumers' ethical purchasing patterns (Alsaad et al., 2021; Andersch et al., 2019; Arli, Septianto, et al, 2020; Graafland, 2017; Wenli & Chan, 2019), although conflicting empirical evidence has yet to be explained.…”

Holiday advertising versus gift cards: Influence of religiosity on retailer evaluations

“…While prior research has considered how consumer behaviour is influenced by religious cues in advertising (Alhouti et al, 2015;Minton, Bret, et al, 2018;Taylor et al, 2010), the current research is the only research that we are aware of to consider the impact of religiosity on the processing of message vehicles. The findings from this research reveal that consumers' religious values influence responses to passively and actively viewed marketing communications and show different mediating emotions in play depending on the message vehicle and consumers' religiosity level.…”