Pentecostalism and Social Cooperation: The Big Gods Hypothesis in Action

Policy Context

This research is motivated by three observations about Nigeria and Sub-Saharan Africa. First, religion is incredibly important throughout the region. In particular, Pentecostalism is spreading rapidly throughout Sub-Saharan Africa; the share of Pentecostals in the total Christian population grew from 13% to 36% in a few decades. Pentecostalism is a stream of Christianity, particularly emphasizing a personal relationship with God, divine interventions and the prosperity gospel. Second, researchers know from many lab studies that invoking a sense of religion or God can affect people’s behavior, particularly pro-sociality. Study subjects frequently displayed higher pro-sociality and lower propensity to cheat. Third, many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa suffer from weak institutions and limited contract enforcement. This can affect social cooperation and the willingness to engage in business relationships with other people. For example, surveying workers in Lagos, Nigeria, researchers have found that the fear of not being paid is a primary concern for people when considering whether to take up employment because workers are effectively unable to enforce their work contract. Combining these three observations, the research team would like to investigate if invoking God can substitute aspects of a well-functioning state in Nigeria. Mainly, they are interested in individuals who would be more likely to honor a contract governing a sales transaction if they are made explicitly aware that God knows about the contract. Moreover, researchers want to evaluate further whether, through this mechanism, exposure to religious messaging in a Pentecostal church can foster market cooperation.

Study Design

To study this question, researchers propose to pilot a field experiment in which they create a market for a homogeneous good, create the possibility for buyers to default on the payment and randomly vary the salience of religious messages and God’s involvement in the transaction. Resembling the design in de la Sierra (2021), researchers propose a study design in which sales representatives sell a homogeneous product to people on their way to or from attending a Pentecostal megachurch in the larger Lagos area. The fact that they can conduct the field experiment at the church campus ensures that we know the religious affiliation of the people the salespeople interact with. Moreover, selling goods around large churches is common, so this setting will not be unnatural. Specifically, the research team would recruit several salespeople. The salespeople will offer a 1,000 Naira recharge card for pre-paid mobile phones. This is a homogeneous good that is frequently sold in Nigeria. Thus, being presented with this product by a salesperson will feel natural for people who are approached as potential customers. People will have the opportunity to buy the product before or after attending the service, which provides researchers with a source of variation on the presence of religious messages in peoples’ minds. The mega-church holds several services each Sunday, so to keep the time-of-day constant, the salesperson will approach participants leaving the two-hour service that started at 8:00 am and those heading to the 10:00 am service. Finally, researchers will offer two sales transactions per participant. The first would require immediate payment and the second transaction will give the participant the opportunity to pay later via mobile transfer, creating the opportunity to default and not cooperate in the transaction agreement. 

Results and Policy Lessons

This pilot is ongoing and findings are forthcoming.