Religion and consumer behavior: Marketing implications of consumers’ God conceptualizations

Religion is an integral part of consumer identity. Most of the world’s population (84%) is affiliated with a religious group (Guardian 2018). Although the number of people affiliated with a religion might have been declining in the past few decades, individuals’ personal beliefs about higher power (e.g., God) have been relatively stable. For example, in 2017, over 90% of Americans believe in some kind of higher power, which is slightly lower than 96% in 1945 (Gallup 2022; Pew Research Center 2018). The prevalence of such personal beliefs about God may have critical consequences for consumer behavior as well as firm performance. Indeed, marketers and organizations have been trying to incorporate religious cues (e.g., Bible quotes and God symbols) in their marketing campaigns to influence consumer choices. Given the importance of religion and God in the marketplace, surprisingly few numbers of marketing articles have examined the role of religion in consumer behavior (Arsel, Crockett, and Scott 2022; Mathras et al. 2016). Even among these limited number of articles, the predominant focus has been on a single dimension of religious beliefs about God, namely the benevolent aspect of God as associated with love, protection, and forgiveness (see Appendix A for review). In this dissertation, I argue and demonstrate that a two-dimensional model of beliefs about God, namely benevolent and punitive beliefs, may extend our current understanding of religion and God in the marketing literature, as well as open several new directions for the investigation of the role of religion in consumer behavior. In what follows are two chapters examining marketing implications of God conceptualizations in consumer behaviors. The first chapter investigates the divergent consequences of the two different conceptualizations of God (i.e., benevolent and punitive) on consumer health-related decisions. In the second chapter, I examined how individuals’ conceptualizations of God vary as a function of political ideology and influence consumers’ charitable behaviors. The dissertation is organized as follows. The first chapter of my dissertation focuses on the divergent consequences of two different types of beliefs about God, benevolent and punitive beliefs, for health-related behaviors. The findings on the effects of religion on health-related behaviors are mixed. Some research shows that holding religious beliefs increases the utilization of preventive healthcare services, while other research argues for the opposite effect. To clarify the relationship between religion and preventive healthcare behavior, I focus on religious individuals’ differing beliefs about God, namely the benevolent and punitive beliefs, and examine how health marketing communications can be more or less persuasive according to the beliefs about God endorsed by consumers. The findings from one secondary dataset on COVID-related preventive health behaviors and four experimental studies show that the matching between the motivational strategy of health communication (i.e., prevention or promotion framing) and religious individuals’ salient God beliefs are critical in influencing consumer engagement in preventive health behaviors. This chapter thus demonstrates the importance of identifying the type of God that individuals are more likely to believe in the situation, and how policymakers and marketers can utilize these salient God-related cues to promote preventive healthcare behaviors among religious consumers. The second chapter of my dissertation examines consumers’ prosocial behavior at the intersection of religious and political identities--another important consumer identity. Although prior literature primarily focuses on the religion-conservatism overlap (i.e., somewhat ignoring the religious beliefs of liberals), I theorize and demonstrate that religious conservatives and religious liberals differ in their conceptualizations of God. Specifically, due to conservatives’ greater desire for control and order, religious conservatives tend to believe more in a punitive God than religious liberals. I further argue that greater belief in a punitive God may lead to a fear-driven form of prosociality, thereby limiting people’s donations to distant causes where the perceived risk of punishment is low. The findings from one secondary dataset on average household donations and five lab studies yield converging evidence for these predictions. This research not only provides a nuanced understanding of the relationship between religion and prosociality but also offers practical implications on how to promote donations toward distant recipients for international nonprofit organizations.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Business Administration

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Guo, Yafei

Contributors dc:contributor

• Torelli, Carlos J.
• Albarracín, Dolores
• Mehta, Ravi
• Lim, Sarah

• Religion
• Benevolent God Beliefs
• Punitive God Beliefs
• Healthcare
• Charitable Behavior

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © 2024 by Yafei Guo All rights reserved. This work, including any accompanying materials, is protected by copyright laws and international treaties. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this work, or any portion thereof, may result in severe civil and criminal penalties, and will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible under the law.

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124523

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F124523