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This study examines the relation between voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure and the local religious norms of firms’ stakeholders. Little is known about how these local norms (measured at the county level) affect firms’ disclosure practices and firm value, especially voluntary disclosure on climate change and environmental and social responsibility.

Poisson regression models test for a significant relation between firms’ voluntary CSR disclosure intensity and the local religious norms of firms’ stakeholders. Also, an event study tests whether the local religious norms affect investment returns. The data analyzed are extracted from the archive of CSRwire, a prominent news organization that distributes CSR news to investors and the public worldwide.

The study finds that firms in high adherence (high churchgoer) locations disclose CSR activities less frequently, and firms in high affiliation (a high proportion of non-evangelical Christian churchgoers) locations disclose CSR activities more frequently. The study also finds that managers make firm-value-increasing CSR disclosure decisions that cater to the religious and social norms of the local community.

The results imply that managers self-identify with the local religious norms of stakeholders and appropriately disclose less about CSR activities when religious adherence is high and when religious affiliation (the ratio of non-evangelicals to evangelical Christians) is low. The authors find this noteworthy because religious bodies often call for greater CSR involvement and disclosure. Yet, at the firm level, it would appear that local community religious norms also prevail, as it is shown that they significantly explain firms’ CSR disclosure behavior, implying that managers cater to local religious norms in their disclosure decisions.

The findings suggest that managers vary the timing and intensity of voluntary CSR disclosure consistent with stakeholders’ local religious and social norms and that it would be costly and inefficient if the firms were to expand CSR disclosure without considering the religious norms of their local community.

This is the first large-sample study to show that local religious norms affect CSR disclosure behavior. The study makes use of a unique and novel data set obtained exclusively from CSRwire.

This paper aims to examine the assumption used in previous studies that all Muslims adopt and believe the same law on the prohibition of bank interest and to investigate the indirect effect of religiosity on customers’ decision for using Islamic banking services.

This study uses an exploratory approach and the natural experimental design with seemingly causal models. A total of 363 questionnaires were distributed to three groups of bank customers, i.e. Islamic banks customers, conventional banks customers and customers of both banks (121 respondents in each group).

The results show that the role of religiosity in the customers’ decision for using the Islamic banking services depends on religious norms variable. Religiosity affects the decision of customers in the traditional group, but it does not have any effect for the contemporary group. Other findings suggest that religiosity indirectly affects the decision for using the Islamic banks through intervening variables of trust and information source.

This is the first paper to investigate the relationship between religiosity and customers’ decision for using the Islamic banking services by considering the religious norm variable. This paper also examines indirect affects of religiosity to the Islamic banks’ choice through intervening variables of trust and information source.

This paper aims to analyze the relationship between religious differences (i.e. religious diversity and tolerance diversity), on the one hand, and dysfunctional intergroup conflicts, on the other.

A quantitative research design is used, through which the paper examines 47 public schools in India.

Religious diversity, that is, the distribution of heterogeneous religious affiliations in an organization, is unrelated to dysfunctional intergroup conflicts. By contrast, tolerance diversity, that is, the heterogeneity of organizational members' beliefs regarding the question of how strictly religious commandments should be followed, is positively related to dysfunctional conflicts.

The results of this study are limited to public organizations in the Indian context.

Since religious diversity is not connected to intergroup conflicts, fostering religious diversity in organizations could render the societal norm “unity in diversity” more authentic and attractive. This in turn would enhance the ability of different religions to cooperate in Indian organizations. In contrast with religious diversity, the heterogeneity of religious tolerance is significantly related to intergroup conflicts; a possible remedy could be the use of a transformational leadership style.

This study is the first to investigate both religious diversity and tolerance diversity in their effects on the emergence of intergroup conflicts, that is, apparent emotional tensions between organizational subgroups.

The purpose of this corporate social responsibility (CSR) paper is to investigate specific social roles of multinational corporations (MNCs) in a developing economy, and how these MNCs’ CSR marketing activities are legitimized, from the institutional perspective.

Anchoring this study in institutional theory, the authors explore how formal and informal institutions affect the legitimacy of MNCs’ CSR marketing practices in the host country of Pakistan. The authors conducted interviews with top managers from 15 local MNCs undertaking CSR programs in various sectors, such as automotive, banking, consumer products, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, and telecommunications.

The authors find that MNCs show commitment to CSR programs despite underdeveloped and very weak formal institutions, and that lots of these initiatives such as education, health, environmental protection, and civil society/religious organizations are oriented toward norms-based social CSR marketing, i.e. charitable and philanthropic work, civil society-led social media and religious groups also force MNCs to spend more on CSR marketing initiatives. MNCs follow headquarters’ global CSR marketing strategies and adapt their CSR programs to the host country’s norms, focussing on their product brand value related CSR marketing. However, the MNCs have not taken an integrated approach to CSR marketing, considering the overall institutional environment of the host country.

On the basis of very weak regulatory constraints on CSR marketing activities, MNCs have the propensity to develop normatively acceptable CSR marketing under very weak formal institutional pressures. The findings suggest the need for developing an integrative approach to the CSR strategies of MNCs, comprehensively incorporating regulatory, economic, and socio-cultural as well as various stakeholders’ perspectives.

The authors take the institution-based approach to MNCs’ CSR marketing in the context of the developing economy, which extends the extant MNC and international marketing literature. Particularly, MNCs’ CSR marketing legitimacy depends highly on the adaptation to local norms, leading to the importance of the normative pillar of institutionalization in developing economies.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a theoretical framework for the analysis of the eventual implications of Greek Orthodoxy for business and entrepreneurial activities in general.

The paper examines the basic concepts, tenets and principles – in particular, those being of interest to business and entrepreneurship – of a specific religious worldview, Greek Orthodoxy. It then applies these religious norms to value‐based entrepreneurial pursuits and assesses their potential impact on entrepreneurial motivation and action. Particular emphasis is given to the societal relevance of this comprehensive worldview. In this respect, it is argued that Greek Orthodoxy's binding principles should also be examined in their relationship with ethno‐religious communities underlying the formation of entrepreneurial networks beneficial to economic prosperity and overall welfare.

The paper conceptualises the potential benefits derived from a specific religious worldview, as well as its capacity to enrich entrepreneurial discourses. While these benefits are primarily situated at the individual level (at least to the degree to which religious beliefs can inform decisions), there is a rationale in viewing religious truth claims as constituent of ethno‐religious identities of both local and immigrant communities. Propositions exemplifying the behaviour of entrepreneurs who draw from such important ethic and religious resources are also offered. Limitations of the present study, as well as areas of prospective research, are equally taken into consideration.

The paper attempts to offer a tentative framework epitomising the significance of Greek Orthodoxy for the world of business and entrepreneurship. It further provides the theoretical foundations of future empirical research on religious‐based entrepreneurial attitudes in the wider context of Eastern Orthodoxy.

This paper aims to investigate the moderating influence of religiosity on the effect of taxpaying attitudes on the tax compliance behaviour of entrepreneurial firms in Nigeria.

Using a cross-sectional survey design, we collected primary data from 368 owner managers of entrepreneurial firms in Southwest Nigeria using structured questionnaires. Respondents were purposefully selected based on the purposive sampling technique. The data collected with the structured questionnaires were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Two linear regression models were compared.

Estimations in Models 1 and 2 suggest that taxpayers’ attitudes and religiosity (intra- and interreligiosity) have significant effects on the tax compliance behaviour of firms, but the influence of intrareligiosity is insignificant. Estimations in Model 3 suggest that taxpaying attitudes without the moderating influence of religiosity exerted a significant effect on tax compliance behaviour by 13%, while taxpaying attitudes with the moderating influence of religiosity exerted 17%. Estimations in Model 4 suggest that taxpaying attitudes with the moderating influence of the interreligiosity dimension had a more significant contribution to the changes in tax compliance behaviour than the intrareligious dimension.

From the findings, the following policy implications can be deduced: (i) if taxpayers’ attitudes improved and religiosity was leveraged by the tax authorities, tax compliance behaviour of entrepreneurial firms would be induced in Nigeria; (ii) the consistent positive influence is a strong indication that religious values are critical elements of tax compliance interventions that should be considered by policymakers when designing public policies on tax evasion and avoidance in developing countries.

We bridge the gaps in the literature because our study affirmed that taxes are religiously driven. In addition, the study validates the applicability of theory of planned behaviour in investigating the moderating influence of religiosity on the causality between taxpaying attitude and tax compliance in the developing context.

While several facets of credit extension by banks have been extensively studied, one aspect which has largely bypassed the attention of researchers is the intrinsic attitude towards risk. To investigate this in detail the purpose of this paper is to employ data on India for an extended time period to understand whether religious diversity affects bank credit and other (flow) outcome variables, such as profitability, costs and returns.

Given the longitudinal nature of the data, the author’s employ fixed effects regression methodology which enables us to control for unobserved characteristics that might affect the dependent variable.

The analysis indicates that religious diversity lowers credit off-take by lowering the number of accounts, although the number of deposit accounts improves. The behaviour however, differs across high- and low-income states and during the pre- and post-crisis periods. In addition, the evidence supports the fact that the overall negative credit response arises from the behaviour of national banks.

The analysis explores an important and hitherto unidentified aspect driving banking outcomes in the Indian context. This would suggest that any policy intervention that seeks to influence bank behaviour would need to take on board the intrinsic risk-appetite of key stakeholders.

To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is one of the earliest studies for India to carefully examine the interface between religious diversity and bank behaviour.

Sexual and reproductive health (SRH) incorporates prevention of unplanned pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The sourcing, understanding and application of related information are important for health and this defines sexual and reproductive health literacy (SRHL). Health care utilization rates among Asylum Seekers and Refugees (ASRs) may not be high and they are unlikely to seek sufficient SRH information and care in their host countries, leaving some needs unmet. No SRHL research related to Scotland’s Asylum Seeking and Refugee Women (ASRW) exists. In this qualitative study, the purpose of this paper is to explore the SRHL-related views and experiences of adult ASRW living in Glasgow and their views on assistance required to improve their SRHL.

In total, 14 semi-structured interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed and qualitative thematic analysis employed.

Five themes and 13 sub-themes with four key findings highlighted: experience of unmet SRHL needs, similarities and differences in the source of SRH information, SRH views and behaviours influenced by cultural and religious factors, barriers and facilitators to accessing SRH information/care and developing SRHL.

This was a small scale qualitative study affording limited transferability. The work addressed a highly sensitive topic among women from conservative home country cultures.

Routine collection of sexual and reproductive health data by the NHS should be explored for this group. NHS staff should be aware of the rights of asylum seekers, Refugees and failed asylum seekers, to NHS healthcare free at the point of delivery in Scotland (National Health Service, 2019; Scottish Government, 2018), and be well trained in the likely religious and cultural norms of these groups. Host communities should consider improving access to SRH information and care in ASRWs first languages.

The study identified weaknesses in the opportunities for social integration afforded this group and the coordination of existing social opportunities. The stigmatization of immigrants in the UK is well understood and has repercussions for many individuals and societal organizations implicated in the promotion of this.

This paper addresses a very sensitive topic with women from conservative cultures. With few publications in this area, and none pertaining to Scotland, the paper makes a small but original contribution that might be considered a starting point for researchers and relevant services in Scotland.

This research systematically reviewed studies on tax compliance based on five determinants consisting of tax services, trust in government, personal norm, social norm and religiosity.

The research used a vote-counting method to synthesize 279 studies consisting of 160 empirical studies and 119 non-empirical studies conducted from 1946 until 2017.

The research has made a relatively robust conclusion related to the impacts of determinant factors on tax compliance. Tax service and trust in government are the most critical factors to increase tax compliance. Personal norm, social norm and religiosity encourage tax compliance, yet the influence is not as strong as expected.

This research suggests that improving tax service and government trust are more effective and relatively easier to implement than developing the taxpayers' positive behaviors.

Several studies conducted to synthesize the impacts of determinant factors on tax compliance were only limited to the empirical research which provided sufficient statistical data. On the other hand, there were many substantial research types discussing tax compliance without involving statistical numbers. The facts have distorted the complete picture of tax compliance. Recently, no synthesis studies have comprehensively combined and compared the empirical with non-empirical research based on the related theories. Thus, the synthesis studies that discuss tax compliance based on non-deterrence approach are still limited.

The purpose of this study is to explore the acculturation caused by the Korean wave among Indonesian Muslim consumers, especially in the food and cosmetic sectors, based on religious grounds.

Data were collected through focus group interviews with 20 Muslim respondents in Indonesia.

The findings specifically highlighted that Muslim consumers’ acceptance of Korean products varied. Muslim consumers’ acceptance was influenced by similarities and differences in values between Islamic and Korean cultures. Consumers categorised into each acculturation mode (assimilation, separation, integration and marginalisation) showed different behavioural patterns in Korean product acceptance. This study proposes that global products can be optimised through specific and targeted marketing campaigns for different types of Muslim consumers with products that comply with their religious values.

Few studies have explored the importance of religious values (e.g. righteousness, compassion and respect for others) with respect to the acceptance of foreign products in the acculturation context. Additionally, how values from other cultures reconcile with the Indonesian Muslims’ affinity for Korean culture has been limitedly studied. This study aims to fill these gaps by identifying the role of religious factors in the acceptance of global products by taking the example of Indonesian Muslim consumers and Korean products.