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Religions
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Spirituality, Religion and Consumer Behavior
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Spirituality, Religion and Consumer Behavior

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Health/Psychology/Social Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 June 2022) | Viewed by 14147

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Manuel Recio-Menéndez

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economy and Business, University of Almería, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, 04120 Almería, Spain
Interests: religion; spirituality; consumer behavior; innovation; marketing
Prof. Dr. María Victoria Román-González

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Economy and Business, University of Almería, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, 04120 Almería, Spain
Interests: religion; spirituality; consumer behavior; innovation; marketing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on the relationship between religion, spirituality, and consumer behavior. Religion affects markets through political, institutional, social, and competitive means (Drenten and McManus, 2016). Several studies depict how religion is one of the cultural factors that most affect consumption (Cornwell et al., 2005; Lindridge, 2005). Presently , the world is immersed in what has been called the spiritual supermarket (Kotler, 2019). Many people are looking for a spiritually transforming experience that influences many facets of their consumer behavior. In other words, daily consuming acts are influenced by religious beliefs and/or broadly conceived spiritual values that report ‘spiritual utility’ (Husemann & Eckhardt, 2019).

Once the envisioned, disenchanted, and secularized world is not present (Pew Research Center Religion and Public Life, 2015), there is an increasing interest in how the role of spirituality and religion affects consumption. As pointed out by Mathras, Cohen, Mandel, and Mick (2016), much more research is needed on this topic.

This Special Issue welcomes papers that deal with and which bring new evidence to bear on topics such as:

  • Food consumption and religion/spirituality;
  • Brand choice and religion/spirituality;
  • Religion/spirituality and tourism/travel behavior;
  • Marketing of religious institutions;
  • Religion and communication;
  • Measurement of consumer religiosity;
  • Religion and consumer attitude to advertising;
  • Consumer ethics and religion;
  • Religion and innovation;
  • Marketing channels and religion;
  • Religious holidays marketing and consumer behavior;
  • Religion-led consumption and gender;
  • Sport-brands and religion;
  • Music-brands and religion;
  • Luxury goods and religion;
  • Religion and Marketing 4.0;
  • Global consumer and religion;
  • Immigrants’ consuming behavior and religion;
  • Religion and consumer behavior from a historical perspective.

Finally, we are open to works in the areas of marketing, management, economics, psychology, sociology, history, political science, theology, anthropology, geography or any other related field of knowledge that studies, qualitatively or quantitatively, the relationship between spirituality, religion, and consumer behavior.

References

Cornwell, B., Cui, C. C., Mitchell, V., Schlegelmilch, B., Dzulkiflee, A., & Chan, J. (2005). A cross-cultural study of the role of religion in consumers’ ethical positions. International Marketing Review. https://doi.org/10.1108/02651330510624372

Drenten, J., & McManus, K. (2016). Religion-Related Research in the Journal of Macromarketing, 1981-2014. Journal of Macromarketing, 36(4), 377–387. https://doi.org/10.1177/0276146715623051

Husemann, K. C., & Eckhardt, G. M. (2019). Consumer spirituality. Journal of Marketing Management, 35(5–6), 391–406. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2019.1588558

Kotler, P. (2019). The market for transformation. Journal of Marketing Management, 35(5–6), 407–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2019.1585713

Lindridge, A. (2005). Religiosity and the construction of a cultural-consumption identity. Journal of Consumer Marketing. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760510595968

Mathras, D., Cohen, A. B., Mandel, N., & Mick, D. G. (2016). The effects of religion on consumer behavior: A conceptual framework and research agenda. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 26(2), 298–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2015.08.001

Pew Research Center Religion & Public Life. (2015). The Future of World Religions: Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050 | Pew Research Center, 2010–2050. Retrieved from http://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/religious-projections-2010-2050/

Prof. Dr. Manuel Recio-Menéndez
Prof. Dr. María Victoria Román-González
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • religion
  • spirituality
  • consumer behavior
  • marketing
  • tourism
  • brand management

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 894 KiB  
Article
The Path of ‘No’ Resistance to Temptation: Lessons Learned from Active Buddhist Consumers in Thailand
by Apiradee Wongkitrungrueng and Panitharn Juntongjin
Religions 2022, 13(8), 742; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13080742 - 15 Aug 2022
Viewed by 2953
Abstract
Mindfulness practice and mindful consumption have increasingly attracted the interests of academics and the general public worldwide. Despite the fact that mindfulness meditation has its roots in Buddhism, little empirical research has studied mindfulness and mindful consumption from the Buddhist principles and from [...] Read more.
Mindfulness practice and mindful consumption have increasingly attracted the interests of academics and the general public worldwide. Despite the fact that mindfulness meditation has its roots in Buddhism, little empirical research has studied mindfulness and mindful consumption from the Buddhist principles and from the perspective of active Buddhists who regularly dedicate themselves to Buddhist practice with the goal of achieving liberation from suffering. This study builds on and extends previous research that established a research agenda regarding how mindfulness could transform consumer behavior and lead to higher levels of well-being. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of the ways in which active Buddhist consumers living in the city have disengaged from the consumerist culture and altered their lifestyle and consumption behaviors. To grasp the subtle complexity of the experience, fifteen active Buddhist practitioners were interviewed in depth. As a result of this, a Buddhist-based behavioral change model with seven stages is developed. Drawing on behavioral change models, such as the transtheoretical model (TTM) and the stepwise model of behavior change (SMBC), this model aims to demonstrate how active Buddhist consumers have transformed their consumption behavior patterns and overcome temptation without resistance. The transformative mechanism and consumer strategies were also extracted to provide lessons learned and management implications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spirituality, Religion and Consumer Behavior)
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16 pages, 2170 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Eatmarna Application Usability on Improving Performance Expectancy, Facilitating the Practice of Rituals and Improving Spirituality Feelings during Umrah Amid the COVID-19 Outbreak
by Thowayeb H. Hassan, Amany E. Salem and Sameh A. Refaat
Religions 2022, 13(3), 268; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13030268 - 21 Mar 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2682
Abstract
The electronic tourism era has rapidly emerged during the explosive spread of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. The role of information technology was also evident in the religious tourism sector, and this facilitated the organization of religious events for Muslims, such as Hajj and [...] Read more.
The electronic tourism era has rapidly emerged during the explosive spread of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. The role of information technology was also evident in the religious tourism sector, and this facilitated the organization of religious events for Muslims, such as Hajj and Umrah. In the present study, we assessed the usability of a mobile application (Eatmarna) which provides permits to perform Umrah and other religious practices in Makkah and Madina in Saudi Arabia. We sought also to assess the impact of usability on the app effectiveness in improving Umrah experience. Pilgrims were asked to fill out an electronic survey distributed by the coordinators of Umrah service providers. Results showed that the perceived effectiveness was predicted by two domains of usability, namely system information arrangement (β = 0.27, 95% CI, 0.09 to 0.46, p = 0.004) and app usefulness (β = 0.52, 95% CI, 0.34 to 0.69, p < 0.0001). Both the usability domains were independently associated with all the subdomains of app effectiveness, including performance expectancy, facilitating the practice of rituals, and feelings of spirituality. The Eatmarna application was effective in providing a safe environment for pilgrims, which was accounted for by the app usability, and this facilitated the improvement of Umrah experience. National authorities can further integrate additional services in the app to improve pilgrims’ perceptions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spirituality, Religion and Consumer Behavior)
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12 pages, 1914 KiB  
Article
Symbol Matters: A Sequential Mediation Model in Examining the Impact of Product Design with Buddhist Symbols on Charitable Donation Intentions
by Zhenzhen Qin and Yao Song
Religions 2022, 13(2), 151; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13020151 - 09 Feb 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2165
Abstract
Though religion-informed charitable behavior has gained much academic attention recently, there is an ambiguous relationship between individual donation intention and Buddhist determinants. Drawing on the theories of reasoned action and product semantics, this study tries to examine the effects of product design with [...] Read more.
Though religion-informed charitable behavior has gained much academic attention recently, there is an ambiguous relationship between individual donation intention and Buddhist determinants. Drawing on the theories of reasoned action and product semantics, this study tries to examine the effects of product design with Buddhist symbols on individual charitable donation behavior and the underlying mechanism. Some studies have argued for the positive effects of religious symbols on people’s behavioral reactions; however, limited prior research has addressed the impact of a touchable product, such as a donation box, on people’s charitable donation intentions from the perspective of Buddhism. The current study statistically shows that donation boxes with Buddhist symbols could significantly improve people’s charitable donation intention through two sequential mediators, namely, their perceived religiosity and product attitude. The study provides both theoretical contributions and practical implications for future research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spirituality, Religion and Consumer Behavior)
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14 pages, 1174 KiB  
Article
Taking Lacquer as a Mirror, Expressing Morality via Implements: A Study of Confucian Ritual Spirituality and the Concept of Consumption in the Ming and Qing Dynasties
by Kuo-Kuang Fan and Xue-Hui Li
Religions 2020, 11(9), 447; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11090447 - 01 Sep 2020
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 4612
Abstract
The periods of the Ming and Qing dynasties featured prosperous socioeconomic development; the development of industrial, commercial, and manufacturing production; and active urban consumer behavior with great advocacy for the doctrines of Confucius and Mencius in the imperial court, and extensive promotion of [...] Read more.
The periods of the Ming and Qing dynasties featured prosperous socioeconomic development; the development of industrial, commercial, and manufacturing production; and active urban consumer behavior with great advocacy for the doctrines of Confucius and Mencius in the imperial court, and extensive promotion of refined elegance of benevolence, righteousness, ritual, and wisdom among the public. Under the influence of such an objective environment, lacquerware, as China’s most ancient traditional form of artwork, also functioned as significant historical evidence for the development of the urban handicraft industry. Assuming a social role between ritual items and daily items, the development of lacquer arts was closely bound up with Confucian ritual spirituality. Based on relevant cultural relic data and documents in the literature, this study takes lacquer as a mirror with regard to the progress of the trend of lacquer culture and lacquer art during the Ming and Qing dynasties as the clue, and analyzes the embodied features of lacquer art design function, modeling, and themes to discuss the influence of Confucian ritual spirituality on social consumption. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Spirituality, Religion and Consumer Behavior)
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