Abstract
Ethical behavior among businesses has gained significant prominence in recent years. Survey evidence shows that Asian consumers demand for greater social responsibility among businesses. Thus, a deeper understanding of the factors that contribute to such a demand is useful. This study examines the influence of religiosity and values on corporate social responsibility (CSR) support among consumers in Hong Kong and Singapore. Primary data collected among consumers in these cities point to a significant direct relationship between religiosity and CSR support. In Hong Kong, this attitude is due both to altruistic as well as for egotistical (or face saving) reasons. In Singapore, this is mainly due to the latter. The results imply that different motivations should guide CSR strategies in these two cities.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agle, B. R. and Van Buren, H. (1999), “God and Mammon: The Modern Relationship.” Business Ethics Quarterly, 9: 563-582.
Allport, G. W. and Ross, J.M. (1967), “Personal Religious Orientation and Prejudice”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 5, 432-443.
Anderson, S. and J. Cavanagh: 2000, ‘Report on the Top 200 Corporations’, http://www.corporations.org/system/top100.html.
Angelidis, J. and Ibrahim, N. (2004), “An Exploratory Study of the Impact of Degree of Religiousness upon an Individual’s Corporate Social Responsiveness Orientation”, Journal of Business Ethics, 51(2), 119-128.
Appiah-Adu, K. (1998), “Market orientation and performance: empirical test in a transition economy”, Journal of Strategic Marketing, 6, pp. 25-45.
Archer, R. L., Diaz-Loving, R., Gollwitzer, P. M., Davis, M. H. and Foushee, H. C., (1981), “The Roll of Dispositional Empathy and Social Evaluation in Empathic Mediation of Helping”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 40, 786-796.
Basil, D. Z. and Weber, D. (2006), “Values Motivation and Concern for Appearances: The Effect of Personality Traits on Responses to Corporate Social Responsibility”, International Journal of Non Profit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, 11, 61-72.
Calkins, M. (2000), “Recovering Religion’s Prophetic Voice for Business Ethics”, Journal of Business Ethics, 23, 339–352.
Carroll, A.B. (1979), “A Three-dimensional Model of Corporate Performance.” Academy of Management Review, 44, 497-505.
Chinese Culture Connection. (1987), “Chinese Values and the Search for Culture-free Dimensions of Culture”, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 18(2): 143-64.
Clark, J.W. and Dawson, L.E. (1996), “Personal Religiousness and Ethical Judgments: An Empirical Analysis”, Journal of Business Ethics, 15 (3), 359-372.
Clary, E. G., M. Snyder, R. G. Ridge and J. Copeland: 1998, ‘Understanding and Assessing the Motivation of Volunteers: A Functional Approach’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 74(6): 1516–1530.
Epstein, E. M. (2002), “Religion and Business – The Critical Role of Religious Traditions in Management Education”, Journal of Business Ethics, 38, 91–96.
Gallup International: 2005, ‘The Voice of the People Survey’, www.gallup-international.com.
Golden, B. (1992), “SBU strategy and performance: the moderating effects of the corporate-SBU relationship”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 13, pp. 145-58.
Graafland, J., Kaptein, M. and Mazereeuw, C. (2007), “Conceptions of God, Normative Convictions, and Socially Responsible Business Conduct: An Explorative Study Among Executives “, Business and Society, 46, 331-369.
Hair, J.F., Anderson, R.E., Tatham, R.L. and Black, W.C. (1998) Multivariate Data Analysis 5th Edition, London: Pearson.
Hemingway, C. A. and Maclagan, P. W. (2004), “Managers’ Personal Values as Drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility”, Journal of Business Ethics, 50, 33-45.
Huffman, T. E.: 1988, ‘In the World but not of the World: Religious, Alienation, and Philosophy of Human Nature among Bible College and Liberal Arts College Students’, Dissertation, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.
Johnston, J. (1972) Econometrics Method 5th Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill.
Lam, K.C. and Shi, G. (2008), “Factors Affecting Ethical Attitudes in Mainland China and Hong Kong”, Journal of Business Ethics, 77, 463-479.
Leung, T. K. P. and R. Y. Chan: 2003, ‘Face, Favour and Positioning – A Chinese Power Game’, European Journal of Marketing, 37 (11/12): 1575-1598.
Magill, G. (1992), “Theology in Business Ethics: Appealing to the Religious Imagination”, Journal of Business Ethics, 11, 129-135.
Mahtani, S. and Leo, K. (2007), Corporate Social Responsibility in Kong Kong: A Survey of Good Practice 2007, Community Business Limited, Hong Kong.
Maignan, I. (2001), “Consumers’ Perception of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Cross Cultural Perception”, Journal of Business Ethics, 30 (1), 57-72.
Mascarenhas, O.A.J. (1995), “Exonerating Unethical Marketing Executive Behaviours: A Diagnostic Framework”, Journal of Marketing, 59 (April): 43-57.
McDaniel, S.W. and Burnett, J.J. (1990), “Consumer Religiousness and Retail Store Evaluative Criteria”, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, 18, 101-112.
McNichols, C. W. and Zimmerer, T. W., (1985), “Situational Ethics: An Empirical Study of Differentiators of Student Attitudes’, Journal of Business Ethics, 4, 175-180.
Moon, J. (2001), “Business Social Responsibility: A Source of Social Capital?”, Reason in Practice, 1(3), 35-45.
Munson, M.J., and McQuarrie, E.F. (1988), ‘Shortening the Rokeach Value for Use in Consumer Research’, Advances in Consumer Research, 5(1), 381-386.
Pava, M. L. (2003), “Searching for Spirituality in All the Wrong Places” Journal of Business Ethics, 48, 393-400.
Pew Research Centre: 2007, ‘The Pew Global Attitudes Survey’, www.pewresearch.org.
Phau, I. and Kea, G. (2007), “Attitudes if Students towards Business Ethics: A Cross National Investigation of Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong”, Journal of Business Ethics, 72 (1), 61-75.
Ramasamy, B. and M. Yeung: 2008, ‘Chinese Consumers’ Perception of Corporate Social Responsibility’, Journal of Business Ethics. doi:10.1007/s10551-008-9825-x.
Ramasamy, B., Goh, K.W., and Yeung, M. (2006). Is Guanxi a Bridge to Knowledge Transfer? Journal of Business Research, Vol. 59 (1), 130-139.
Rokeach, M. (1969), “Value Systems and Religion”, Review of Religious Research, 11, 2–23.
Rollinson, D. (2002), “Organisational Behaviour: An Integrated Approach, Harlow: Pearson Education.
Saroglou, V., Delpierre, V. and Dernelle, R. (2004), “Values and Religiosity: a Meta-analysis of Studies Using Schwartz’s Model”, Personality and Individual Differences, 37: 721-734.
Schwartz, S. H. (1992), ‘Universals in the Content and Structure of Values: Theoretical Advances and Empirical Tests in 20 Countries’, in M. P. Zanna (ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Academic Press, San Diego), 1-65.
Schwartz, S. H. and Huismans, S. (1995), “Value Priorities and Religiosity in Four Western Religions”, Social Psychology Quarterly, 58, 88-107.
Singhapakdi, A., Marta, J.K., Rallapalli, K.C. and Rao, C.P. (2000), “Towards an Understanding of Religiousness and Marketing Ethics: An Empirical Study”, Journal of Business Ethics, 27 (4), 305-319.
Siu, N.Y.M., Dickinson, J.R. and Lee, B.Y.Y. (2000), “Ethical Evaluation of Business Activities and Personal Religiousness”, Teaching Business Ethics, 4, 239 – 249.
Tan, E.K.R. (2008), “Keeping God in Place: The Management of Religion in Singapore”, in A.E. Lai (ed.), Religious Diversity in Singapore, Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore.
Tarakeshwar, N., Swank, A. B., Pargament, K. I., and Mahoney, A. (2001). “The Sanctification of Nature and Theological Conservatism: A Study of Opposing Religious Correlates of Environmentalism”. Review of Religious Research, 42, 387–404.
Tsang, E. (1998), “A Longitudinal Study of Corporate Social Reporting in Singapore: The Case of the Banking, Food and Beverages and Hotel Industries”. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 11 (5): 624–635.
Verbeek, M. (2004) A Guide to Modern Econometrics 2nd Edition, John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.
Vitell, S.J., Bing, M.N., Davison, H.K., Ammeter, A.P., Garner, B.L. and Novicevis, M.M. (2008), “Religiosity and Moral Identify: The Mediating Role of Self Control”, Journal of Business Ethics, 18, 601-613.
Vitell, S. J., Paolillo, J. and Singh, J. J. (2005), “Religiosity and Consumer Ethics”, Journal of Business Ethics, 57, 175-181.
Vitell, S. J., Singh, J. J. and Paolillo, J. (2007), “Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: The Roles of Money, Religiosity and Attitude Towards Business”, Journal of Business Ethics, 73, 369-379.
Vogelvang, B. (2005) Econometrics: Theory and Applications with Eviews, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Weaver, G.R. and Agle, B.R. (2002), “Religiosity and Ethical Behavior in Organizations: A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective”, Academy of Management Review, 27 (1), 77-97.
Welzel, C.: 2007, ‘A Human Development View on Value Change’, World Value Survey. http://margaux.grandvinum.se/SebTest/wvs/articles/folder_published/article_base_83.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ramasamy, B., Yeung, M.C.H. & Au, A.K.M. Consumer Support for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): The Role of Religion and Values. J Bus Ethics 91 (Suppl 1), 61–72 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0568-0
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0568-0