Religion and Attitudes to Corporate Social Responsibility in a Large Cross-Country Sample

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This paper starts by suggesting that there is a relationship between religion and business ethics that has been the subject of significant recent conceptual and empirical work. According to empirical research, more religiously inclined individuals tend to exhibit better decision-making in ethical contexts. However, in the absence of an involvement with religion, individuals are likely to hold what Agle and van Buren (1999) refer to as a ‘‘narrow’’ view of the business. According to arguments cited on the article, individuals with a religious orientation are likely to have different attitudes concerning the company (business ethics) than those without such an orientation. In particular, religious individuals are likely to hold a broader conception of the responsibilities of corporations than the nonreligious.

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Monash Library Details

 * Authors:
 * Brammer, S.1 Williams, Geoffrey1 Zinkin, John1


 * Source:
 * Journal of Business Ethics. Mar2007, Vol. 71 Issue 3, p229-243. 15p. 5 Charts.


 * Document Type:
 * Article


 * Author-Supplied Keywords:
 * corporate social responsibility religion


 * Abstract:
 * This paper explores the relationship between religious denomination and individual attitudes to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within the context of a large sample of over 17,000 individuals drawn from 20 countries. We address two general questions: do members of religious denominations have different attitudes concerning CSR than people of no denomination? And do members of different religions have different attitudes to CSR that conform to general priors about the teachings of different religions? Our evidence suggests that, broadly, religious individuals do not prioritise the responsibilities of the firm differently, but do tend to hold broader conceptions of the social responsibilities of businesses than non-religious individuals. However, we show that this neither true for all religious groups, nor for all areas of CSR.


 * Author Affiliations:
 * 1Centre for Business Organisations and Society, School of Management, University of Bath , Claverton Down Bath BA2 7AY U.K.


 * ISSN:
 * 0167-4544


 * DOI:
 * 10.1007/s10551-006-9136-z


 * Accession Number:
 * 24100413