Framing Effect and Decision-Making in the Market: A Research on Profit-Seeking and Religiousness in Turkey

Abstract

How do people tend to behave and make decisions in certain situations encountered in the market? Are they likely to behave and make decisions according to their moral values or religious beliefs? This study aims to reveal the university students’ points of view to explain the concept of fairness in terms of the Muslim devotees and nonreligious Muslims. The participants are requested to assess whether or not the disparities in prices of the goods determined by the firms and traders in various situations are fair. Moreover, they are asked to respond to several questions in terms of the increases and decreases in the workers’ wages determined by employers and to assert whether or not they are equally fair. In other words, the tendency of Muslims’ fairness in accordance with their religiousness status as well as their cognitive biases are examined through their decisions made upon presentation of the options either positively or negatively. Along with this study, it would be revealed whether or not the religiousness status of individuals triggers fairness on profit-seeking and how rational those individuals behave. It is tried to determine whether or not the Muslims, who consider themselves religious or not, tend to behave more fairly and the extent to which they behave.