Impact of religious orientation on alcohol purchase intention: with reference to Sri Lankan male alcohol consumers

It is evident that the alcohol consumption continues to increase at both global and domestic levels. According to the Excise Department of Sri Lanka, the total liquor consumption of Sri Lanka in 2016 was approximately 73 million litres. Depicting that the alcohol consumption among Sri Lankans has increased, from 2008 to 2014, the prevalence of alcohol use by males (age between17-64) has been grown from 26% to 39.6%. Further, it is notable that such consumption of alcohol causes many health as well as social issues, and to this end, it is vital to examine antecedents of alcohol usage. Among various factors, religious orientation has been less examined as such an antecedent. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of religious orientation on purchase intention of alcohol with special reference to Sri Lankan male alcohol consumers. The study was quantitative in nature whereas the study design was single cross-sectional survey. The unit of analysis was male alcohol consumers in Sri Lanka. The study adopted judgmental sampling technique and the sample size was 250. Data collection instrument was a self-administrative questionnaire which was distributed using both online and offline. Upon ensuring the validity and reliability, a regression analysis was performed to analyse data. Findings revealed that only intrinsic and extrinsic (social) religious orientations have a significant impact on alcohol purchase intention. It was interesting to observe that the intrinsic religiosity has a negative impact on alcohol purchase intention whereas the extrinsic (social) religiosity has a negative impact, which is in compliance with extant literature. Findings of this study shed lights on policy makers in using religious orientations to restrain alcohol consumption. The education system and religious organizations are urged to adopt well-designed communication campaigns to promote intrinsic religiosity among individuals as a mean of reducing the alcohol consumption.