Measuring religiosity among Muslim consumers: observations and recommendations

Abstract

Purpose

Research on Muslim consumers has increasingly highlighted the significance of measuring religiosity. However, there is an apparent lack of uniformity in measuring religiosity across literature on Muslim consumer research. This paper aims to critically review the approaches used to measure religiosity in existing research on Muslim consumers.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reviewed 39 studies selected from the Journal of Islamic Marketing from 2010 to 2017. Based on critical reviews of these studies on Muslim consumers, a number of observations and recommendations were made on approaches to measure religiosity.

Findings

Evident influence of religiosity on Muslim consumers was observed across the spectrum of the reviewed studies. The main issues in selecting the measures of religiosity include limited discussion on rationalizing the choice of a particular measure of religiosity and little consideration of the Islamic context.

Research limitations/implications

Based on the review, it is recommended that the process of searching, selecting and adopting a particular religiosity construct should be rationalized based on Islamic context. Adoption of Western scales should be done carefully with expert reviews. Also, researchers may consider using Islamic religiosity constructs and alternative measures such as qualitative measures of religiosity and spirituality-based constructs.

Originality/value

As Muslim consumer research is gaining momentum, this paper presents a critical review of the important aspect of measuring religiosity among Muslim consumers. The critical review and recommendations in this paper offer a much-needed theoretical clarity on selecting and using religiosity measures.

Citation

Salam, M.T., Muhamad, N. and Leong, V.S. (2019), "Measuring religiosity among Muslim consumers: observations and recommendations", Journal of Islamic Marketing, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 633-652. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIMA-02-2018-0038