Zeynep Gürhan Canli from Koc University in Istanbul held a talk on differential impacts of god and religion on prosocial consumer intentions as part of our Department’s Research Seminar Series. The presented research suggests that the two most prevalent religious constructs – God and religion – differentially impact cognition and donation behavior. Specifically, the studies show that activating thoughts about God (vs. religion) triggers a relatively more abstract (vs. concrete) thinking. Consequently, consumers comply more with donation requests that are abstractly (vs. concretely) framed or that involve higher (vs. lower) psychological distance when thoughts of God (vs. Religion) are activated. Overall, this work significantly contributes to our understanding of the role of religion in consumer behavior by developing a construal-based model of the psychological impacts of religion and God and offers valuable practical implications that inform charitable giving and non-profit marketing.

We thank Zeynep for her visit, and the inspiring talk and discussions. For information on the upcoming guest speakers at the Research Seminar Series, please check the agenda.