Religion, Humanism, Marketing
Introduction
Religion, Humanism, Marketing and Consumption of Socially Responsible Products, Services, and Ideas, Special Issue of Journal of Business Research, Edited by Brian T. Engelland; Deadline 15 Aug 2011
As society changes, marketers must continually address questions of social responsibility in the products, services and ideas they offer, such as the following issues. How should a company respond to local/national/international attitudinal differences regarding sexual orientation, euthanasia, and abortion? What priority should firms place on recycling, product safety, warranty protection and sustainability initiatives? Should companies give price breaks to low income customers while charging premium prices to loyal customers? When should advertisers take advantage of buyer weaknesses (as in the use of sexually explicit advertising images)?
A majority of the world’s population belongs to one of the major world religions (e.g., Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism) and many embrace Confucianism and humanism, non-religious systems of thought centering on human values, capacities, and self-worth. These religious and non-religious worldviews differ in substantive ways and, accordingly, adherents of one system often have difficulty understanding adherents of others. This communication problem is especially apparent when marketing various green, healthful, safe, or other socially-responsible products, services, and ideas. Yet, some agreement among groups with distinctly different views is necessary if society is to achieve useful objectives. This special issue will focus attention on the causes, blockages, and example solutions relating to such communication problems. The special issue is to consider how leaders among such groups can work together to collect and use evidence relevant for achieving socially responsible objectives.
Topics for the special issue focus on, but are not limited to, the following:
?? How do differing religious and non-religious world views affect consumer attitudes and influence the priority and acceptance of socially-responsible product-service marketing?
?? What are the areas of commonality that can be used to reduce conflict, attain some degree of cooperation and promote favorable outcomes?
?? How can marketing managers achieve rapprochement among conflicting viewpoints so that winning new product strategies can be devised?
?? What is the role of public policy in sorting through the conflicts and establishing priorities?
?? How will religious and humanistic views influence the ongoing development of marketing thought?
Scholars seeking consideration of their papers for publication in this special JBR issue should communicate such intention to Brian Engelland, JBR Special Issue Guest Editor. Authors should submit papers by the deadline to Brian Engelland, Department of Business and Economics, The Catholic University of America, 620 Michigan Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20064, telephone/fax: (202) 319-6729 /4426; submissions should be in an MS-WORD attachment to engellab@cua.edu.