Religious Beliefs and Domestic Investors’ Attitude towards Alcoholic and Tobacco Companies’ Shares in Lagos, Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria is a secular state, but religion plays pivotal role in the socio-political wellbeing of her citizenry. This study explored the influence of religious beliefs and domestic investors’ attitude towards alcoholic and tobacco companies’ shares in Lagos, Nigeria. The theory of planned behaviour was adopted as theoretical framework, whereas exploratory design was employed. The study utilized purposive and snowballing sampling techniques, using purely qualitative research instruments with a sample size of forty-eight (48) interviewees. Thirty-five (35) domestic investors were selected for in-depth interviews (IDI) using snowballing technique, four (4) Case Studies (domestic investors) and nine (9) key informants (KII) were purposively selected among Stockbrokers, staff of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Nigerian Exchange Ltd (NGX). Qualitative data were content analyzed. Majority of the respondents affirmed that they have no religious inhibition investing in shares of alcoholic and tobacco companies. The result of the study showed that religious beliefs do not influence domestic investors’ investment attitudes. Investment attitudes of domestic investors were rather influenced by their beliefs towards profit maximization as highlighted in the planned behaviour theory. Government should formulate polices that will stimulate the attitude of people with strong religious beliefs against investment in stock market, through investments that align with their own religious values called values-based investment.