Title: Impact of religious commitment on the consumer's decision-making styles

Authors: Swati Saini; Rajiv Kumar

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, Manipal University Jaipur, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India ' Haryana School of Business, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar-125001, Haryana, India

Abstract: The study aims to understand the role played by religious commitment in consumers' decision-making styles. The research focuses on two types of decision-making styles: confused by over-choice consumers (abundance of options) and recreational consumers (who enjoy shopping). A moderated mediation path model is analysed in the study. The mediation effect of recreational consumers is studied in the direct relationship between religious commitment and confused by over-choice consumers, with gender as a moderator. Religiously committed consumers are recreational shoppers and get confused by over-choice. Recreational consumers partially mediate the path between religious commitment and confused by over-choice consumers. Gender moderates the path between religious commitment and recreational consumers. Religiously committed consumers are recreational, but they get confused by over-choice. Commitment to religion shapes the consumer's lifestyle and leads to their religiously oriented decisions. The study will add a new decision path to the literature on consumer decision-making. It can be used by companies to understand Hindu consumers' decision-making styles.

Keywords: Hindu consumer; religious commitment; decision-making styles; recreational consumers; confused consumers; gender.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEM.2026.154812

International Journal of Business and Emerging Markets, 2026 Vol.18 No.3, pp.349 - 368

Accepted: 02 Jun 2023
Published online: 15 Jul 2026 *

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