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The Relationship between Religiousness and Corporate Social Responsibility Orientation: Are there Differences Between Business Managers and Students?

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether there is a relationship between a person’s degree of religiousness and corporate social responsibility orientation. A total of 411 managers and 506 students from seven universities were surveyed. The statistical analysis showed that religiousness does influence students’ orientation toward the economic, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities of business. It does not, however, have a significant impact upon the managers’ attitudes. When the “low religiousness” students and managers were compared, differences were found with respect to the economic, ethical, and philanthropic components of corporate social responsibility. Similar results were obtained when the “high religiousness” students and managers were compared. The implications of these findings are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business Administration, Augusta State University, Augusta, GA, 30904-2200, USA

    Nabil A. Ibrahim & Donald P. Howard

  2. Department of Management, St. John’s University, Grand Central and Utopia Parkways, Jamaica, NY, 11439, USA

    John P. Angelidis

Authors
  1. Nabil A. Ibrahim
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  2. Donald P. Howard
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  3. John P. Angelidis
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nabil A. Ibrahim.

Additional information

Nabil Ibrahim is the Grover Maxwell Professor of Business Administration at Augusta State University, Augusta, Georgia. He teaches courses in Strategic Management and Applied Statistics. Dr. Ibrahim’s articles have appeared in the Journal of Business Ethics, Health Care Management Review, the Journal of Applied Business Research, as well as many other journals and proceedings.

Donald P. Howard is an Associate Professor of Management at Augusta State University, Augusta, Georgia. He teaches courses in Strategic Management and Entrepreneurship. His articles have appeared in a number of journals such as the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Applied Case Research, and Health Care Management Review, as well as many proceedings.

John Angelidis is Professor and Chair, Department of Management, St. John’s University, New York, NY. He teaches courses in Strategic Management and International Business. Dr. Angelidis has published articles in the Journal of Business Ethics, Review of Business, Journal of Commerce and Management, as well as many other journals and proceedings.

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Ibrahim, N.A., Howard, D.P. & Angelidis, J.P. The Relationship between Religiousness and Corporate Social Responsibility Orientation: Are there Differences Between Business Managers and Students?. J Bus Ethics 78, 165–174 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9321-0

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