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A deeper knowledge of culture and subculture is becoming increasingly critical to understanding the behavior of consumers. Religion is an important cultural factor and as one of the most universal and social institutions, it has significant influence on people's attitudes, values and behaviors at both the individual and societal level. In spite of the fact that religion does have a significant impact upon our purchase and consumption behavior, very little research has been done in this area by marketing scholars. . This study is an attempt to study the impact of religion on the purchase and consumption behavior of consumers in India. This study examines the influence of religion on consumer choice and is based on the proposition that adherence to a particular religious faith significantly influences shopping behavior. The objectives of the research are to investigate whether membership of a religious faith has an influence on how consumers shop. This is a quantitative study exploring the consumer behavior of Hindus and Muslims.
Keywords: Consumer choice, Shopping behavior, Religious affiliation, Religiosity, Religion.
Introduction
As the world is increasingly becoming a global marketplace, there is a felt need to urgently understand the habits of consumers in every part of the world. Consequently, the study of understanding of culture and subculture is becoming increasingly critical and central to consumer behavior. Previous studies in the area of culture and consumption (Schouten&McAlexander, 1995; Shaw & Clarke, 1998; Thompson &Tambyah, 1998) have largely identified cultural values as important factors in determining the consumption behaviors of individuals. Culture has been defined variously as values, norms, rituals, beliefs and symbols shared by members of a group or society. It includes patterns of behavior, learned responses, basic assumptions, habits and traditional ways of thinking, feeling and reacting (Schweder, 1991). There is considerable amount of literature focused on culture and its influence on various aspects of consumer behavior. Consumer behavior can be defined as the study of human behavior within the consumer role. According to Engel et al (1995), consumer behavior encompasses all the activities leading upto the acquisition, consumption and disposition of a product or service. Internal factors such as motive, personality traits, emotions or attitudes influence the behavior of consumers, apart from external or environmental factors such as cultural norms and...