Abstract
The role of religiousness as a variable in models of consumer behavior is not well-established. Research findings in this area tend to be sparse and conflicting, and measurement issues have yet to be addressed. This article reports on an empirical investigation of religiosity in a causal modeling framework. The results suggest that religiosity is a viable consumer behavior construct in that it (1) did correlate with the life-style variables selected; (2) contributed directly to the model along with sex, age, and income; and (3) was successfully operationalized through multiple measures.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adorno, T.W., E. Frenkel-Brunswick, D.J. Levineson, and R.N. Sanford. 1950.The Authoritarian Personality. New York: Harper and Row.
Allport, Gordon. 1954.The Nature of Prejudice New York: Doubleday.
— 1956.The Individual and His Religion. New York: MacMillan & Co.
Alston, Jon P. and William Alex McIntosh. 1979. “An Assessment of the Determinants of Religious Participation”,The Sociological Quarterly. 20 (Winter) 49–62.
Barton, K. and G. Vaughan. 1976. “Church Membership and Personality”.Social Behavior and Personality. 4, 11–16.
Benson, John M. 1981. “The Polls: A Rebirth of Religion”.Public Opinion Quarterly. 45, 576–585.
Bonney, M.E. 1949. “A Study of Friendship Choices in College in Relation to Church Affiliation, In-church Preference, Family Size and Length of Enrollment in College”,Journal of Social Psychology. 29, 153–166.
Bowker, J.W. 1976. “Information Process, Systems Behavior and the Study of Religion”, Zygon 2, 361–379.
Chatterji, S., M. Mukherji, S.N. Chakraborty and M.K. Hassan. 1972. “Some Correlates of Social Prejudices Among the Hindu Females”.Technical Report No. Psychology. 2, 72, Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta.
Cowen, E.L. 1954. “The Negative Concept as a Personality Measure”.Journal of Consulting Psychology. 18, 138–142.
DeJong, Gordon F., Joseph E. Faulkner and Rex H. Warland. 1976. “Dimensions of Religiosity Reconsidered; Evidence From a Cross-Cultural Study”,Social Forces. 54 (June) 866–889.
Demerath, N.J. III. 1965.Social Class in American Protestantism. Chicago: Rand McNally.
—. and K. J. Letterman. 1969. “The Student Parishioner: Radical Rhetoric and Traditional Reality”, inThe Church, The University and Social Policy. Kenneth Underwood, ed., Middletown: Wesleyan University Press.
Dreger, R.M. 1952. “Some Personality Correlates of Religious Attitudes as Determined by Projective Techniques”,Psychological Monographs 66, 335.
Durkheim, Emile. 1976.The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life. London: Allen and Unwin.
Dutta, N.K. 1965. “Attitudes of University Students Towards Religion.”Journal of Psychological Research. 9, 127–30.
Eister, Alan. 1974.Changing Perspectives in the Scientific Study of Religion. New York: Wiley.
Engel, James F. and Roger D. Blackwell. 1982.Consumer Behavior. Chicago: Dryden Press.
Eysenck, H.J. 1970.The Structure of the Human Personality. London: Methuen.
Fichter, Joseph. 1954.Social Relations in the Urban Parish. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Fukuyama, Y. 1961. “The Major Dimensions of Church Membership.”Review of Religious Research. 2 (Summer) 154–161.
Garlow, L. and H. Schroeder. 1968. “Motives for Participating in the Religious Experience.”Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 7 (Fall) 241–251.
Geertz, Clifford. 1966. “Religion as a Cultural System.” inAnthropological Approaches to the Study of Religion. Michael Banton, ed., London: Tavistock, 1–46.
Glenn, Norval P. and Ruth Hyland. 1967. “Religious Preferences and Wordly Success: Some Evidence from National Surveys.”American Sociological Review. 32 (February) 73–85.
Glock, C. and R. Stark. 1965.Religion and Society in Tension. Chicago: Rand McNally.
— 1966.Christian Belief and Anti-Semitism. New York: Harper and Row.
Gockel, Galen L. 1969. “Income and Religious Affiliation: A Regression Analysis.”American Journal of Sociology. 74 (May) 632–649.
Guthrie, Steward. 1980. “A Cognitive Theory of Religion.”Current Anthropology. 21, 181–203.
Hamby, J. 1973. “Some Personality Correlates of Religious Orientation.”Dissertation Abstract International. 34, 1127–1128.
Hawkins, Del I., Kenneth A. Coney and Roger J. Best. 1980.Consumer Behavior: Implications for Marketing Strategy. Dallas, Texas: Business Publications.
Hirschman, Elizabeth C. 1981. “American Jewish Ethnicity: Its Relationship to Some Selected Aspects of Consumer Behavior.”Journal of Marketing. 45 (Summer) 102–110.
— 1982. “Religious Affiliation and Consumption Processes: A Preliminary Paradigm.” inResearch in Marketing. J. Sheth, ed., Chicago: JAI Press.
Joreskog, Karl G. and Dag Sorbom. 1983.Lisrel VI Supplement to the Lisrel V Manual. Chicago: International Education Service.
Keene, J. 1967. “Religious Behavior and Neuroticism, Spontaneity, and World-Mindness.”Sociometry. 30, 137–157.
King, M. and R. Hunt. 1972. “Measuring the Religious Variables: Replication.”Journal of Scientific Study of Religion. 6 (Fall) 173–190.
Lehman, E. and D. Shriver. 1968. “Academic Discipline as Predictive of Faculty Religiosity.”Social Forces. 47 (September) 171–182.
Mayer, Albert J. and Harry Sharp. 1962. “Religious Preference and Worldly Success.”American Sociological Review. 27 (April) 218–227.
McClain, Edwin W. 1979. “Religious Orientation the Key to Psychodynamic Differences Between Feminists and Non-Feminists.”Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 18, 40–45.
Neal, A.G. and S. Rettig. 1967. “On the Multidimensionality of Alienation,”American Sociological Review. 32 (February)54–65.
Orbach, Harold L. 1961. “Aging and Religion: Church Attendance in the Detroit Metropolitan Area.”Geriatrics. 16, 530–540.
Paul, S.K. 1966. “World Minded Attitude of Punjab University Students.”Journal of Social Psychology. 69, 33–37.
Pressey, Sidney L. and Raymond G. Kuhlen. 1957.Psychological Development Through the Life Span. New York: Harper and Brothers.
Prothro, E.T. and J.A. Jensen. 1950. “Interrelations of Religious and Ethnic Attitudes in Selected Southern Populations.”Journal of Social Psychology. 22, 45–49.
Ranck, J. G. 1961. “Religious Conservatism-Liberalism and Mental Health.”Pastoral Psychology. 12, 34–40.
Schiffman, Leon G. and Leslie Lazar Kanuk. 1983.Consumer Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall.
Schuman, Howard. 1971. “The Religious Factor in Detroit: Review, Replication, and Reanalysis.”American Sociological Review. 36 (February) 30–48.
Smith, Christopher B., Andrew J. Weigert and Darwin L. Thomas. 1979. “Self-Esteem and Religiosity: An Analysis of Catholic Adolescents from Five Cultures.”Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 18, 51–60.
Stark, Rodney and Charles Glock. 1968.American Piety: The Nature of Religious Commitment. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Steinitz, Lucy Y. 1980. “Religiosity, Well-Being, and Weltanschauung Among the Elderly.”Journal for Scientific Study of Religion. 19, 60–67.
Taylor, Edward B. 1979. “Animism.” inReader in Comparative Religion. William A. Lessa and Evnon Z. Vogt, eds. New York: Harper and Row, 9–19.
Welch, Kevin J.W. 1981. “An Interpersonal Influence Model of Traditional Religious Commitment.”The Sociological Quarterly. 22 (Winter) 81–92.
Wells, William D. 1981. “AIO Item Inventory.” Unpublished paper, University of Chicago.
Wiebe, Ken F. and J. Roland Fleck. 1980. “Personality Correlates of Intrinsic, Extrinsic and Non-Religious Orientations.”Journal of Psychology. 105, 181–187.
Yinger, J. Milton. 1969. “A Structural Examination of Religion.”Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. 8 (Spring) 88–99.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wilkes, R.E., Burnett, J.J. & Howell, R.D. On the meaning and measurement of religiosity in consumer research. JAMS 14, 47–56 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02722112
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02722112