The Role of Religiosity in Socially Responsible Consumption

Present environmental problems can be associated with consumers’ conspicuous consumption and materialistic lifestyle. Environment can be sustained if consumer considers the impact of their consumption on the environment by practicing socially responsible consumption. This study is exploratory in nature and it tries to investigate the role of values in socially responsible consumption. Values have been suggested to affect various aspects of consumption attitudes and behavior. A value-attitude-behavior model was applied in order to investigate the roles of religiosity in socially responsible behavior. The socially responsible behavior was examined using intention to purchase cause-related products. Surveys were conducted on consumers from several big malls in three cities of Malaysia. The data were analyzed using an independent sample T-test and a simple regression. The results demonstrated that there is a significant relationship between religiosity and socially responsible consumption. More specifically, the findings indicate that highly religious consumers have higher intention to purchase cause-related products.