The Influence of Christian Religiosity on Managerial Decisions Concerning the Environment

• Published in: Journal of business ethics Vol. 132; no. 1; pp. 203 - 231
• Main Authors: Cui, Jinhua, Jo, Hoje, Velasquez, Manuel G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer 01-11-2015; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Attitudes; Business and Management; Business Ethics; Christianity; Decision making; Econometrics; Economic models; Economic statistics; Economic theory; Education; Environmental attitudes; Environmental economics; Environmental management; Environmental stewardship; Ethics; Management; Managers; Natural environment; Philosophy; Quality of Life Research; Religion; Religiosity; Resource management; Social responsibility; Studies; United States > US; Stewardship; Environment; Christianity; Lynn White; Religiosity; Dominion
• ISSN: 0167-4544; 1573-0697
• DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2306-5

The issue of management's relations to the environment has received a significant amount of attention in the literature on corporate social responsibility. Yet the influence of religion on managers' environmental decisions has until now remained unexamined despite its known importance. In this article, we examine the empirical association between religion—primarily Christianity—and the environmental practices a firm's management undertakes by investigating their OLS, principal component, simultaneous, and endogenous effects. Employing a large and extensive U.S. sample, we find a negative association between the environmental practices initiated by a firm's managers and the religiosity of the surrounding community, after controlling for various firm and demographic characteristics. In addition, after mitigating endogeneity with the dynamic system generalized method of moment, we still find an inverse association between religiosity and environmental-friendly decisions of management. We interpret these results as providing some support for the "dominion hypothesis" that claims Christian beliefs discourage environmental concern, but not for the "stewardship hypothesis" that implies that Christianity encourages people to "exercise a responsible stewardship over nature." Nevertheless, additional analysis shows Christian groups differ significantly in how each influences managers' environmental decisions.