Understanding Consumers' Determinant Attributes in Church Selection

Abstract

Abstract Since the 1960s, religious participation and membership in the United States has experienced dramatic change with mainline Protestant and Catholic churches facing declines and Protestant evangelicalism, fundamentalism, and neo-Pentecostalism denominations growing. Due to increased competition and the desire for growth and survival, churches and religious organizations have acquired an interest in using marketing techniques. This manuscript proposes that market segmentation or positioning could be usefully employed by religious organizations to identify market niches on which to focus market strategy efforts. An empirical study was conducted to examine consumers' importance ratings of fifteen church attributes. Several demographic variables and self-report religiosity variables were utilized to explore differences between various market segments and their importance ratings.