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Faith and Fair Trade: The Moderating Role of Contextual Religious Salience

Alexander, Elizabeth A.; Salvador, Rommel O.; Merchant, Altaf

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Authors

Elizabeth A. Alexander

Rommel O. Salvador

Altaf Merchant



Abstract

Normative and historical arguments support the idea that religion potentially shapes decisions to support fair trade products. That said, the question of how religion influences organizational decision-makers to purchase fair trade products in a business-to-business context has remained largely unaddressed. This research examines the interactive effect of individual religious commitment and contextual religious salience on an individual's willingness to pay a price premium for a fair trade product, when buying on behalf of an organization. Findings from two experimental studies (involving 75 and 87 working individuals, respectively) reveal that the effect of a decision-maker's religious commitment on his or her willingness to pay a price premium, for the purchase of a fair trade product on behalf of an organization, is moderated by the contextual salience of religion. Specifically, when religion is highly salient in the organizational context, religious commitment is positively related to the decision-maker's willingness to pay a premium for the fair trade product; when contextual religious salience is low, religious commitment and willingness to pay a premium are unrelated. Implications for theory and practice are presented. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.

Citation

Alexander, E. A., Salvador, R. O., & Merchant, A. (2014). Faith and Fair Trade: The Moderating Role of Contextual Religious Salience. Journal of Business Ethics, 121(3), 353-371. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1728-9

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jan 1, 2014
Publicly Available Date Jun 6, 2019
Journal Journal of Business Ethics
Print ISSN 0167-4544
Electronic ISSN 1573-0697
Publisher Springer Verlag
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 121
Issue 3
Pages 353-371
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1728-9
Keywords religion, fair trade, business-to-business, contextual religious salience, prosocial behavior, ethical decision-making, religious commitment, price premium
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/818462
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-013-1728-9
Additional Information Additional Information : Published online: 23 April 2013

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