The Effect of Religiosity on Shopping Behavior: An Exploratory Study during the Transitional Period in China

Religion has long been playing an important role in influencing human behavior, however, its marketing value as a predictor of consumer behavior has not been adequately examined even though studies in the marketing literature argue that religion influence both behavior and purchasing decisions. This paper examines the effect of religiosity on consumer choice and is based on the proposition that religiosity significantly influences shopping behavior. Using the purchase of a mobile phone as the basis, the research tests the shopping behavior of Christians in China. The results indicate that a kind of shopper, namely trend shopper is consistently related to religiosity, suggesting that religiosity should be considered as a possible determinant of shopping behavior in the future.