Are religious consumers more ethical and less Machiavellian? A segmentation study of Millennials

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Author(s)
Arli, Denni
Tkaczynski, Aaron
Anandya, Dudi
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2019
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Show full item recordAbstract
Millennial consumers are increasingly becoming important actors in business that account for sufficient purchasing power. However, Millennials are infamously narcissistic and their views of ethics are more relaxed than previous generations (i.e., Baby Boomers, Generation X). Millennials remain poorly understood in general, especially in the context of developing countries. Hence, the purpose of this study was to profile this generation by segmenting Millennials in Indonesia and investigating differences between these segments on their ethical beliefs and Machiavellianism, an important personality characteristic. This study ...
View more >Millennial consumers are increasingly becoming important actors in business that account for sufficient purchasing power. However, Millennials are infamously narcissistic and their views of ethics are more relaxed than previous generations (i.e., Baby Boomers, Generation X). Millennials remain poorly understood in general, especially in the context of developing countries. Hence, the purpose of this study was to profile this generation by segmenting Millennials in Indonesia and investigating differences between these segments on their ethical beliefs and Machiavellianism, an important personality characteristic. This study used a convenience sample from a university in Indonesia (N = 540). The TwoStep cluster analysis produced three segments, namely, “The Religious Millennials”, “The Lukewarm Religious Millennials” and “The Least Religious Millennials”. Consumers who are highly religious are less likely to engage in various unethical behaviours. Interestingly, no significant differences were found between The Lukewarm Millennials and The Least Religious Millennials on their ethical beliefs. This research makes several research contributions. First, this study extended the Hunt–Vitell theory of ethics, where an individual (i.e., Millennials) confronts a problem perceived as having ethical content. Second, the study examined consumer ethics in the context of developing countries where religion plays a significant role in people’s daily life. Third, through understanding different segments, the results assist educators, social marketers and public policy makers in creating an effective campaign to reduce unethical behaviour among Millennials.
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View more >Millennial consumers are increasingly becoming important actors in business that account for sufficient purchasing power. However, Millennials are infamously narcissistic and their views of ethics are more relaxed than previous generations (i.e., Baby Boomers, Generation X). Millennials remain poorly understood in general, especially in the context of developing countries. Hence, the purpose of this study was to profile this generation by segmenting Millennials in Indonesia and investigating differences between these segments on their ethical beliefs and Machiavellianism, an important personality characteristic. This study used a convenience sample from a university in Indonesia (N = 540). The TwoStep cluster analysis produced three segments, namely, “The Religious Millennials”, “The Lukewarm Religious Millennials” and “The Least Religious Millennials”. Consumers who are highly religious are less likely to engage in various unethical behaviours. Interestingly, no significant differences were found between The Lukewarm Millennials and The Least Religious Millennials on their ethical beliefs. This research makes several research contributions. First, this study extended the Hunt–Vitell theory of ethics, where an individual (i.e., Millennials) confronts a problem perceived as having ethical content. Second, the study examined consumer ethics in the context of developing countries where religion plays a significant role in people’s daily life. Third, through understanding different segments, the results assist educators, social marketers and public policy makers in creating an effective campaign to reduce unethical behaviour among Millennials.
View less >
Journal Title
International Journal of Consumer Studies
Volume
43
Issue
3
Copyright Statement
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Are religious consumers more ethical and less Machiavellian? A segmentation study of Millennials, International Journal of Consumer Studies, Volume 43, Issue 3, Pages 263-276, which has been published in final form at 10.1111/ijcs.12507. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving (http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-828039.html)
Subject
Marketing