Religious Cognition in Social Marketing Campaigns: Savior or Pariah?

Abstract

Religious cognition is regarded as a major influencing factor in popular culture, helping shape individual attitudes and decisions regarding food choice, personal associations and social interactions. Social marketing campaigns derive from marketing and social science and are used to influence positive behaviour change through different types of communication methods. A substantial body of literature exists on both religious cognition and social marketing campaigns, yet the literature on where the two phenomena intersect is limited. Religious cognition is empirically proven as a predictor of positive healthy behavior. However, these elements receive minimal attention from social marketing researchers and practitioners. A review of the existing literature is provided with compelling evidence that religious cognition would positively influence behavior change when more congruent with social marketing campaigns. Knowledge gaps are identified and four propositions recommended for future research.

Religiosity, idealism, and ethical consumption: the mediating effect of perceived customer effectiveness and moral obligation

“…It is evident from the social marketing literature that campaign messages often use the values and beliefs (particularly religious and idealistic ones) of the dominant culture as an appeal to achieve the desired goals (Chowdhury, 2018;Van Esch et al, 2016;Frank and Kendall, 2001). Nevertheless, the mechanisms through which religiosity and idealism might affect consumers' likelihood of consuming ethically has received little attention in prior research (Arli et al, 2020;Van Esch et al, 2016;Graafland, 2017;Mortimer et al, 2020). The main aim of this study is to shed light on these mechanisms by examining the nexus between religiosity, idealism, moral obligation, PCE and EPI.…”

“…Contemporary social marketing scholarship is increasingly focusing on the importance of religiosity and moral philosophy (i.e. idealism) in shaping consumers' attitudes and decisions regarding ethical consumption, as both offer behavioural guidelines when consumers encounter situations with ethical content (Andersch et al, 2019;Arli et al, 2020;Van Esch et al, 2016;Graafland, 2017;Wenli and Chan, 2019). Even so, empirical research has produced contradictory results about their effects.…”

“…For instance, Galen (2012), after synthesizing existing evidence of the association between pro-social acts and religiosity, claimed that the effect of religiosity is just a myth and does not exist at all. Meanwhile, other researchers have established a solid empirical connection between religiosity and pro-social acts (Graafland, 2017;McCullough, 2009), and thus, religiosity has many implications for social marketing campaigns (Van Esch et al, 2016). Many scholars have called for more research to elucidate the connection between religiosity or idealism and ethical consumerism (Arli et al, 2020;Van Esch et al, 2016;Graafland, 2017;Mortimer et al, 2020).…”

Increasing Parental Leave Uptake: A Systems Social Marketing Approach

“…Low uptake of parental leave by fathers is a complex issue that involves social, economic, and historical factors, making it difficult for contemporary societies to address by means of individualistic social marketing approaches (Truong et al, 2019; Van Esch, 2015; Van Esch et al, 2017). SSM is able to deal with this problem, since it considers the need for change at the micro level (individuals), the meso level (organisations), and the macro level (policy makers) (Levy and Zaltman, 1975; Truong et al, 2019; see also Fig.…”

Who Cares More About the Environment, Those with an Intrinsic, an Extrinsic, a Quest, or an Atheistic Religious Orientation?: Investigating the Effect of Religious Ad Appeals on Attitudes Toward the Environment

“…These areas are often reinforced throughout the lives of religious followers and promote a set of beliefs (Oh et al, 2020 ). Marketing scholars have established the importance of religion as a cultural force and social institution (Arli et al, 2019 ; Casidy et al, 2016 ; Dávila et al, 2018 ; Hwang, 2018 ; Taylor & Mintoo, 2019 ; van Esch et al, 2017 ). Environmental concern can be defined as a “concern about environmental problems and support for environmental protection” (Dunlap & York, 2008 , p. 531).…”