Aleksandr N. Nepp

Growing tension around Russia in the global economy, the need to reorient foreign trade flows to countries that differ from Russia in cultural and religious aspects, as well as a growing number of publications aimed at studying economic effects of culture, religion and trust, makes it necessary to conduct a comprehensive analysis of scientific literature on the influence of culture and religion on foreign trade activities. Based on the analysis of religious literature and scientific empirical research and using the methods of systematization, generalization, meta-analysis, conceptual approaches of socio-cultural anthropology and cross-cultural psychology, the paper proposes a theoretical justification for the mechanism of the influence of religion and culture on foreign trade. Two approaches to the influence of culture on foreign trade activity are theoretically substantiated. Within the framework of the first approach, the proximity of cultural values contributes to the growth of foreign trade activity. Within the second framework, cultural openness and tolerance for foreign cultures have limited potential to increase mutual trade. Based on the analysis of scientific and religious literature, three groups of channels of the mechanism of the influence of religion on foreign trade are substantiated. The first group of channels, which are based on a person's psychological perception of God and His deeds, includes: influence through the perception of entrepreneurial risk as God's providence and impact through the fear of trading partners before God's punishment for non-fulfillment of obligations. The second group of channels, the mechanism of influence of which is based on the similarity and difference of religious dogmas, includes: influence based on different religious dogmas, influence through the trust of trading partners due to the similarity of religious values and influence through religious openness and tolerance towards other faiths. The third group of channels, the mechanism of which is based on institutional theories, includes: influence through the development of religious competition, the influence of religious institutions as an alternative to weak state institutions and the influence of religion as the basis of trust between trading partners.