Impact of religiosity on ethical judgement: a study on preference of retail stores among consumers

Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of ethical judgements, depending on religiosity level of consumers, on decisions of buying or not buying products from supermarkets selling alcoholic beverages. Design/methodology/approach The scope of this study covers consumers from province of Mus in Turkey who indicate they go shopping at supermarkets. Accordingly, data are collected from 362 consumers via face-to-face survey and the results are evaluated through regression analysis. Findings According to analysis, it was found that the internal and external religiosity of the consumers positively affected their ethical judgement towards the markets selling alcoholic beverages. Besides, it is concluded that the ethical judgements of consumers have a positive impact on boycott decisions against supermarkets selling alcoholic beverages. Originality/value The survey contributes to relevant literature by putting forth the impact of ethical judgements of consumers, associated with their level of religiosity, on their decisions as to preference of supermarkets. Moreover, this study is consistent with the previous studies and supports the conclusion that the ethical decisions are affected by the extrinsic and intrinsic levels of religiosity; however, they are more affected by the intrinsic levels of religiosity.