A Sampling of CIBER-Funded Research

Fall 2004

Religious Values and Brand Loyalty

Aric Rindfleisch, assistant professor of marketing, UW-Madison

The purpose of this project is to provide an examination of the relationship between religion and brand loyalty. In contrast to prior research, which is characterized by a focus on the impact of religious affiliation (e.g., Christianity, Judaism) among U.S. consumers, this study will explore the impact of religious values (i.e., the importance placed on religion) across an international sample in the United States and Singapore. Singapore provides a particularly appropriate setting for testing the boundaries of our theory, as its diverse population is comprised of large number of Buddhists, Christians and Muslims. Based on prior research in the values literature, we believe that religious values have a dynamic impact on brand loyalty, as the orthodox (i.e., focus on tradition over change) dimension of religion should enhance brand loyalty (manifest as increased behavioral commitment), while the spiritual (i.e., focus on spiritual over worldly things) should weaken brand loyalty (due to diminished psychologic