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This paper aims to advance understanding regarding a particular religious belief and buying behavior.

Two online experiments were conducted among diverse respondents. Study 1 used a one-way, between-subjects design with three conditions: afterlife salience, control and mortality salience. The dependent measure was built on the notion of first-price sealed-bid auction. Study 2 used a similar procedure with two conditions: afterlife salience and control. Mortality was made salient in both conditions.

Making afterlife salient boosted the willingness to pay. This effect did not result from mortality salience, which suggests that this research is a unique contribution beyond works rooted in Terror Management Theory. This effect was mediated through positive product thoughts.

There has long been an imbalance between theoretical speculation concerning religion and cognition and actual empirical documentation. The present research adds to the emerging body of empirical investigations into this relation. It contributes to the conceptual richness of the stream of literature by examining one aspect of religiosity that has rarely been studied: the belief in afterlife. In addition, the findings go beyond correlational patterns toward discovering nonobvious cause and effect. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is one of the few works that experimentally manipulate the notion of afterlife belief. This research also extends the understanding of pricing and willingness to pay by identifying a subtle environmental influence not recognized before.

Risk preference theory posits that females are more religious than males because they are more risk averse and are thus more motivated by the threat of afterlife punishment. We evaluate the theory formally and empirically. Formally, we show that the rational choice reasoning implied by the theory leads to unexpected conclusions if one considers belief in eternal rewards as well as eternal punishment. Empirically, we examine cross-cultural data and find that, across many populations, sex differences in religiosity are no smaller among those who do not believe in hell. We conclude by arguing that psychological characteristics are almost certainly crucial to understanding the difference, just not risk preference.

While the influence of individual beliefs on decision-making has been widely acknowledged, the interaction of different types of beliefs remains an under-researched topic. This study analyses how the simultaneous influence of religious beliefs and nonreligious beliefs shapes individual decision-making. This study aims to contribute to inform organizational decisions on topics potentially associated with these two types of beliefs, including corporate social responsibility matters. This study also aims to provide insights to ethical decision-making in situations of absence of social consensus, a subject that is relevant for individuals, organizations and policymakers.

This study uses fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis to identify how different configurational groupings of Christian beliefs and humanistic beliefs lead to the acceptance or nonacceptance of euthanasia in a sample of individuals who identify as Catholic.

Among individuals sharing a Catholic religious affiliation, the authors identify three different configurations of beliefs – Cultural Catholics (religious beliefs are absent and humanistic beliefs are present), Observant Catholics (religious beliefs are present and humanistic beliefs are irrelevant) and Secular Catholics (both religious beliefs and humanistic beliefs are present).

Previous research has put forward the role of religion-related variables, such as religious affiliation and level of religiosity, for views on euthanasia. This study provides a more detailed analysis of the role of belief systems, identifying how different configurational groupings of beliefs lead to a decision grounded in moral and ethical considerations but for which there is an absence of social consensus.

Research on death and dying in Western culture holds that individuals engage in a denial and repression of thoughts about death. However, this paper aims to propose that some individuals actively make attempts to exercise control over their eventual demise by engaging in decision-making to achieve an “appropriate death.” A framework is introduced that provides the basis for exploring aspects of decision-making for end of life.

Depth interviews were conducted with 18 consumers about their dispositions toward death and their decision-making regarding their own funerals.

An analysis of the consumer narratives suggests that individuals make efforts to prepare for end of life by reducing conflict and finishing business, enlisting identity management strategies and coming to terms with death itself. Unique consumption experiences and decisions accompany each of these efforts.

This research provides understanding regarding how individuals cope with death by attempting to enlist control over a situation in which they have very little control. In doing so, these individuals make efforts to achieve an “appropriate death” by making explicit decisions for end of life.

Instead of actively engaging in defense mechanisms to deny and repress thoughts of death, this research demonstrates that individuals may recognize the inevitability of death as fulfillment of life. In doing so, they may subscribe to positive illusions regarding end of life and make attempts to exercise control over the event.

This paper aims to discuss how religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals may view the three core workplace spiritual values: transcendence, existence of a higher power and interconnectedness. Additionally, this paper studies how the contrasts between the views of religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals about the three core spiritual values affect their performance of social responsibility initiatives.

A conceptual analysis was used.

This paper suggests that religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals view the three core spiritual values differently. Drawing upon the three core spiritual values viewed by religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals, this paper proposes the following. First, religiously affiliated individuals will focus on implementing social responsibility initiatives for a longer time orientation compared to non-religiously affiliated individuals. Second, when engaging in social responsibility, religiously affiliated individuals will focus on implementing a smaller scope of social responsibility initiatives than non-religiously affiliated individuals. Finally, religiously affiliated individuals will focus on implementing a larger scale of social responsibility initiatives than non-religiously affiliated individuals.

This paper is one of the very first studies addressing how religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals view core values of spirituality. Additionally, this paper advances the literature by contrasting how religiously and non-religiously affiliated individuals engage in socially responsible initiatives in accordance with how they view spirituality.

This paper aims to understand the position of science and faith on questions of meaning in existence.

This paper reviews the literature to enhance mutual understanding of original views of both science and religion camps on existential questions.

Science is dedicated to identifying natural cause and effect relationships. This paper shows that faith does not frustrate that purpose. Science should be universal and its established knowledge through evidence should benefit all mankind and should be developed by people from diverse backgrounds. On the other hand, no religious text is a pure science book and no religion claims as such. Nonetheless, understanding and explaining the deeper meaning of life is beyond the domain of science. Science cannot be an arbiter in philosophical, moral, social and political matters.

This paper clarifies the epistemological boundaries of science and religion on existential questions. It makes a case for mutual co-existence of both empirical knowledge and values in the future of society, as co-existence of both empirical knowledge and values is necessary in a healthy, progressive and spiritual society.

Religion and spirituality are well-researched concepts within the field of psychology and mental health yet they have rarely been researched in high-secure services within the UK. Research in mental health and prison contexts suggests benefits of religion/spirituality to coping, social support, self-worth, symptoms of depression and anxiety and behavioural infractions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of religion/spirituality in high-secure service users’ personal recovery.

Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 13 male patients in a high-secure hospital, with primary diagnoses of mental illness (n=11) or personality disorder (n=2). Participants were from a range of religious/spiritual backgrounds and were asked about how their beliefs impact their recovery and care pathways within the hospital. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Three superordinate themes were identified: “religion and spirituality as providing a framework for recovery”; “religion and spirituality as offering key ingredients in the recovery process”; and “barriers to recovery through religion/spirituality”. The first two themes highlight some of the positive aspects that aid participants’ recovery. The third theme reported hindrances in participants’ religious/spiritual practices and beliefs. Each theme is discussed with reference to sub-themes and illustrative excerpts.

Religion/spirituality might support therapeutic engagement for some service users and staff could be more active in their enquiry of the value that patients place on the personal meaning of this for their life.

For the participants in this study, religion/spirituality supported the principles of recovery, in having an identity separate from illness or offender, promoting hope, agency and personal meaning.