IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v171y2021i2d10.1007_s10551-019-04414-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Religious But Not Ethical: The Effects of Extrinsic Religiosity, Ethnocentrism and Self-righteousness on Consumers’ Ethical Judgments

Author

Listed:
  • Denni Arli

    (University of Minnesota Duluth)

  • Felix Septianto

    (University of Auckland)

  • Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury

    (Bond University)

Abstract

The current research investigates how religiosity can influence unethicality in a consumption context. In particular, considering the link between extrinsic religious orientations and unethicality, this research clarifies why and when extrinsic religiosity leads to unethical decisions. Across two studies, findings show that ethnocentrism is both a mediator (Study 1) and a moderator (Studies 1 and 2) of the effects of extrinsic religiosity on consumers’ ethical judgments. This is because extrinsic religiosity leads to ethnocentrism, and in-group loyalty manifested through ethnocentrism increases support for unethical consumer actions, thus establishing ethnocentrism as a mediator. At the same time, different levels of ethnocentrism can also influence how extrinsic religiosity leads to supporting unethical consumption via self-righteousness, thus establishing ethnocentrism as a moderator. The findings from this research have significant implications for diverse stakeholders who have an interest in religiosity and consumer behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Denni Arli & Felix Septianto & Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury, 2021. "Religious But Not Ethical: The Effects of Extrinsic Religiosity, Ethnocentrism and Self-righteousness on Consumers’ Ethical Judgments," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(2), pages 295-316, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:171:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-019-04414-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-019-04414-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-019-04414-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-019-04414-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rafi Chowdhury & Mario Fernando, 2014. "The Relationships of Empathy, Moral Identity and Cynicism with Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: The Mediating Role of Moral Disengagement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(4), pages 677-694, November.
    2. Jeffery Bray & Nick Johns & David Kilburn, 2011. "An Exploratory Study into the Factors Impeding Ethical Consumption," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 98(4), pages 597-608, February.
    3. Helmut Schneider & John Krieger & Azra Bayraktar, 2011. "The Impact of Intrinsic Religiosity on Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: Does It Depend on the Type of Religion? A Comparison of Christian and Moslem Consumers in Germany and Turkey," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 319-332, August.
    4. Peixu He & Zhenglong Peng & Hongdan Zhao & Christophe Estay, 2019. "How and When Compulsory Citizenship Behavior Leads to Employee Silence: A Moderated Mediation Model Based on Moral Disengagement and Supervisor–Subordinate Guanxi Views," Post-Print hal-02054246, HAL.
    5. Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury, 2019. "The Moral Foundations of Consumer Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 585-601, September.
    6. Peixu He & Zhenglong Peng & Hongdan Zhao & Christophe Estay, 2019. "How and When Compulsory Citizenship Behavior Leads to Employee Silence: A Moderated Mediation Model Based on Moral Disengagement and Supervisor–Subordinate Guanxi Views," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 259-274, March.
    7. Joseph K. Goodman & Gabriele Paolacci, 2017. "Crowdsourcing Consumer Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(1), pages 196-210.
    8. Denni Arli & Fandy Tjiptono, 2014. "The End of Religion? Examining the Role of Religiousness, Materialism, and Long-Term Orientation on Consumer Ethics in Indonesia," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 385-400, September.
    9. Caroline Doran & Samuel Natale, 2011. "ἐμπάθɛια (Empatheia) and Caritas: The Role of Religion in Fair Trade Consumption," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 98(1), pages 1-15, January.
    10. Denni Arli & Andre Pekerti, 2016. "Investigating the influence of religion, ethical ideologies and generational cohorts toward consumer ethics: which one matters?," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(4), pages 770-785, October.
    11. Necla Kapikiran, 2012. "Positive and Negative Affectivity as Mediator and Moderator of the Relationship between Optimism and Life Satisfaction in Turkish University Students," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 106(2), pages 333-345, April.
    12. Scott Vitell, 2015. "A Case for Consumer Social Responsibility (CnSR): Including a Selected Review of Consumer Ethics/Social Responsibility Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(4), pages 767-774, September.
    13. Scott Vitell & Jatinder Singh & Joseph Paolillo, 2007. "Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: The Roles of Money, Religiosity and Attitude toward Business," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 73(4), pages 369-379, July.
    14. Muncy, James A. & Vitell, Scott J., 1992. "Consumer ethics: An investigation of the ethical beliefs of the final consumer," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 297-311, June.
    15. Katharina Petra Zeugner-Roth & Vesna Žabkar & Adamantios Diamantopoulos, 2015. "Consumer Ethnocentrism, National Identity, and Consumer Cosmopolitanism as Drivers of Consumer Behavior: A Social Identity Theory Perspective," Post-Print hal-01563043, HAL.
    16. Long-Zeng Wu & Ho Kwan & Frederick Yim & Randy Chiu & Xiaogang He, 2015. "CEO Ethical Leadership and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Moderated Mediation Model," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(4), pages 819-831, September.
    17. M. Sirgy & Grace Yu & Dong-Jin Lee & Shuqin Wei & Ming-Wei Huang, 2012. "Does Marketing Activity Contribute to a Society’s Well-Being? The Role of Economic Efficiency," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 107(2), pages 91-102, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Landisoa Rabeson & Corina Paraschiv & Laurent Bertrandias & Régis Chenavaz, 2022. "Couple Ethical Purchase Behavior and Joint Decision Making: Understanding the Interaction Process and the Dynamics of Influence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-19, July.
    2. Denni Arli & Patrick Esch & Yuanyuan Cui, 2023. "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 E," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(2), pages 427-448, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury, 2017. "Emotional Intelligence and Consumer Ethics: The Mediating Role of Personal Moral Philosophies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 142(3), pages 527-548, May.
    2. Kutaula, Smirti & Gillani, Alvina & Leonidou, Leonidas C. & Christodoulides, Paul, 2022. "Integrating fair trade with circular economy: Personality traits, consumer engagement, and ethically-minded behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1087-1102.
    3. Nazia Adeel & Chris Patel & Nonna Martinov-Bennie & Sammy Xiaoyan Ying, 2022. "Islamic Religiosity and Auditors’ Judgements: Evidence from Pakistan," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(2), pages 551-572, August.
    4. Barbara Culiberg, 2015. "The Role of Moral Philosophies and Value Orientations in Consumer Ethics: a Post-Transitional European Country Perspective," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 211-228, September.
    5. Elodie Gentina & L. J. Shrum & Tina M. Lowrey & Scott J. Vitell & Gregory M. Rose, 2018. "An Integrative Model of the Influence of Parental and Peer Support on Consumer Ethical Beliefs: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem, Power, and Materialism," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 150(4), pages 1173-1186, July.
    6. Denni Arli & Fandy Tjiptono, 2014. "The End of Religion? Examining the Role of Religiousness, Materialism, and Long-Term Orientation on Consumer Ethics in Indonesia," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 123(3), pages 385-400, September.
    7. Rafi M. M. I. Chowdhury, 2019. "The Moral Foundations of Consumer Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 585-601, September.
    8. Juelin Yin & Lixian Qian & Anusorn Singhapakdi, 2018. "Sharing Sustainability: How Values and Ethics Matter in Consumers’ Adoption of Public Bicycle-Sharing Scheme," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 313-332, May.
    9. Oylum Korkut Altuna & F. Müge Arslan & A. Ercan Gegez & Özge Sýðýrcý, 2016. "Development of a Scale on e-Consumers’ Attitudes towards Ethically Questionable Online Behaviors," Bogazici Journal, Review of Social, Economic and Administrative Studies, Bogazici University, Department of Economics, vol. 30(1), pages 99-134.
    10. Elodie Gentina & Carole Daniel & Thomas Li-Ping Tang, 2021. "Mindfulness Reduces Avaricious Monetary Attitudes and Enhances Ethical Consumer Beliefs: Mindfulness Training, Timing, and Practicing Matter," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(2), pages 301-323, October.
    11. Rafi Chowdhury & Mario Fernando, 2013. "The Role of Spiritual Well-Being and Materialism in Determining Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: An Empirical Study with Australian Consumers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(1), pages 61-79, March.
    12. Hsiu-Hua Chang & Long-Chuan Lu, 2019. "Actively Persuading Consumers to Enact Ethical Behaviors in Retailing: The Influence of Relational Benefits and Corporate Associates," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(2), pages 399-416, May.
    13. Alvina Gillani & Smirti Kutaula & Leonidas C. Leonidou & Paul Christodoulides, 2021. "The Impact of Proximity on Consumer Fair Trade Engagement and Purchasing Behavior: The Moderating Role of Empathic Concern and Hypocrisy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 557-577, March.
    14. Abhijit Patwardhan & Megan Keith & Scott Vitell, 2012. "Religiosity, Attitude Toward Business, and Ethical Beliefs: Hispanic Consumers in the United States," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 110(1), pages 61-70, September.
    15. Chun-Chen Huang & Long-Chuan Lu, 2017. "Examining the Roles of Collectivism, Attitude Toward Business, and Religious Beliefs on Consumer Ethics in China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 146(3), pages 505-514, December.
    16. Sudbury-Riley, Lynn & Kohlbacher, Florian, 2016. "Ethically minded consumer behavior: Scale review, development, and validation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(8), pages 2697-2710.
    17. Kwangho Jung & Seung-Hee Lee & Jane Workman, 2018. "Purchasing Counterfeits and Citizenship: Public Service Motivation Matters," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, December.
    18. Tine Bock & Iris Vermeir & Patrick Kenhove, 2013. "“What’s the Harm in Being Unethical? These Strangers are Rich Anyway!” Exploring Underlying Factors of Double Standards," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 112(2), pages 225-240, January.
    19. Helmut Schneider & John Krieger & Azra Bayraktar, 2011. "The Impact of Intrinsic Religiosity on Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: Does It Depend on the Type of Religion? A Comparison of Christian and Moslem Consumers in Germany and Turkey," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 319-332, August.
    20. Percy Marquina & Vincent Charles, 2021. "A Bayesian resampling approach to estimate the difference in effect sizes in consumer social responses to CSR initiatives versus corporate abilities," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(6), pages 1680-1699, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:171:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s10551-019-04414-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.