Search results

Marketing ethics and social responsibility are inherently controversial, and years of research continue to present conflicts and challenges for marketers on the value of a socially responsible approach to marketing activities. This article examines whether or not consumers care about ethical behaviour, and investigates the effect of good and bad ethical conduct on consumer purchase behaviour. Through focus group discussions it becomes clear that although we are more sophisticated as consumers today, this does not necessarily translate into behaviour which favours ethical companies and punishes unethical firms. The article concludes by some thoughts on how marketers might encourage consumers to engage in positive purchase behaviour in favour of ethical marketing.

The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to examine the effects of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) on service quality, satisfaction and repurchase intention; second, to investigate the mediating (unique and serial) effects of service quality and satisfaction; and third, to determine the moderating effects of consumer rights awareness (CRA) on the relationship between perceived CSR and consumer responses.

Survey data was collected from a sample of 604 customers of the 4 major mobile telecommunications companies in Nigeria. The partial least squares structural equation modeling approach was used to test the hypothesized model.

Research findings indicate that perceived CSR has direct and positive effects on service quality, satisfaction and repurchase intention. Also, service quality and satisfaction mediates (uniquely and in sequence) the effect of perceived CSR on repurchase intention. In addition, CRA moderates perceived CSR’s effect on service quality perceptions and repurchase intention.

The findings confirm the complementary relationships between CSR, service quality and satisfaction in influencing consumers’ repurchase intention. Managers should imbibe CSR as an intangible attribute that complements high-quality services, leading to enhanced customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions. The findings also suggest that CRA enhances perceived CSR’s effect on service quality perceptions and repurchase intentions. Thus, managers should take proactive steps to inform consumers of their rights, and also show efforts at protecting the same.

This study has overcome the limitation observed in previous studies by testing the sequential mediating effects of service quality and customer satisfaction in the perceived CSR–consumer response relationships. Also, this study represents a pioneering effort at empirically confirming the role of CRA in enhancing perceived CSR’s influence on consumer responses. In addition, the findings also provide insights on the impact of CSR on consumer behavior from a developing country’s perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to take the case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a starting point for the analysis of the blend between the notions of halal and luxury in the Arab region because the UAE presents an interesting multicultural yet Islamic blend, which has yet not been investigated. Scholarly calls for the assessment of the relationship between consumption and wellbeing have raised interest in conspicuous consumption research. The global phenomenon of luxury consumption has drawn researcher interest at recent times. Despite consumer affluence in the oil-rich Arabian Gulf, research into this phenomenon at this emerging region to-date is still lacking. As the Arabian Gulf is also particularly Islamic, a significant body of literature has addressed halal purchasing yet had failed to examine the intersections between luxury and halal consumption.

The research takes a qualitative methodological approach utilizing unstructured observation and content analysis of 138 visuals collected from prominent shopping malls in Dubai and Abu-Dhabi during the occasion of the minor Islamic Eid following Ramadan.

The results show that the UAE consumer culture combines authenticity with modernity portraying highly savvy cosmopolitan consumers sharing the global values of urbanization within the halal parameters.

The limitations relate to the utilization of the qualitative methodological approach; hence, the research findings need to be generalized with caution to relevant contexts. This research should be regarded as a critical starting point in analyzing the syllogisms between the notions of halal and affluence.

The findings are relevant to consumer culture research which looks at the implications of modern consumption within the boundaries of halal. The research presents a critical approach and questioning of the overlaps between halal consumption, responsible consumption and luxury consumption in a unique multicultural and affluent setting which is the UAE.

The present paper invites academics and practitioners to introspect into the dimensions of responsible consumption, luxury consumption and halal consumption. It asks the critical metaphorical question of whether halal and luxury consumption are two faces of the same coin.

The research concludes with raising critical questions around the boundaries of luxury consumption from an Islamic perspective, thereby combining elements of religion and cultural approaches to Islamic marketing.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of green trust (GT), environmental quality awareness (EQA), green self-efficacy (GSE) and environmental attitude (EA) towards green purchase behaviour (GPB). The mediating effect of EA is also investigated.

Attribution theory and the attitude-behaviour gap model were used to develop the research model. Data were collected through an online survey, which yielded 321 complete and usable responses. The partial least square-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM; SmartPLS, Version 3) technique was used to test the study hypotheses.

The analysis revealed that GT, GSE and EA affect GPB positively. It was also found that EA mediates the relationship between “environmental quality awareness and green purchase behaviour” and “green self-efficacy and green purchase behaviour”. However, EA did not mediate the link between “green trust and green purchase behaviour”.

The findings of this study provide insightful implications for social and green marketers, including an understanding of the complex customer behaviour in purchasing green products, which will eventually enable them to formulate better green marketing strategies.

This study is amongst the pioneers in investigating the effect of EQA in relation to GPB. Furthermore, the mediating effect of EA in the link between “environmental quality awareness and green purchase behaviour”, “green trust and green purchase behaviour” and “green self-efficacy and green purchase behaviour” is also a new contribution to the literature. Finally, this study explains the drivers of consumers’ GPB, thereby providing a novel understanding of the field.

This study aims to explore how the use of mobile instant messaging (MIM) in an organization has led to the decentralization of authority.

To achieve this aim, a study was conducted on a case site that had used MIM extensively to manage an event.

This study found that communication technology such as MIM can shift more authority to the lower-level committees through the processes of formation, delegation, control and dissolution.

The role of information systems and technology in affecting a decentralization process has been largely understudied. Additionally, the effect of communication technologies such as MIM on a decentralization process has been largely ignored. Therefore, this study theorizes the role of MIM in managing an event and how the technology has decentralized more authority from the top management to the lower-level committees.

Drawing on social identity theory, the purpose of this paper is to propose and test a conceptual framework of the mechanism of customer response toward corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives of Islamic banks.

A survey was completed by 203 customers of Islamic banks in Bahrain. Structural equation modeling, was used to test the hypotheses.

Islamic ethics fit partially mediates the relationship between CSR initiatives and consumer-bank identification (CBI) which in turn contributes positively to customer advocacy. These findings emphasize the importance of CSR practices compliance with Islamic ethics principles for customers to identify with and advocate Islamic bank.

Understanding the mechanism of customers’ responses toward CSR initiatives of Islamic banks provides insights into the complexities of Islamic bank customers’ perceptions of CSR initiatives. The successful introduction of a mediating variable, namely, Islamic ethics fit suggests future research opportunities.

Much of the value of the present work is because of the findings regarding the relationship between CSR and customer responses. The originality of this study lies in being the first research examining the mediating role of Islamic ethics fit to the relationship between CSR initiatives and CBI which in turn enhances Islamic banks’ advocacy.

The current paper aims to explore how brand coolness can mediate the relationship between tactical green marketing orientation (GMO) and willingness to pay (WTP), by exploring the differences between two global brands with opposite green marketing perceptions.

Based on the stimuli-organism-response (S-O-R) framework, the relation between tactical GMO, brand coolness and consumer's WTP is examined through a survey with 272 participants, who gave their perceptions about two different brands regarding their green orientations: British Petroleum (BP) and L'Oréal. The variable set was adapted and validated through focus group sessions.

Brand coolness is found to mediate the impact GMO on WTP and, for both brands, green marketing does affect the extent to which brands are perceived as cool by consumers. More importantly, evidence shows that only in the case of the “green brand” (e.g. L'Oréal), the impact on WTP is significant, which offers new implications regarding the outcomes of companies' pro-environmental policies.

This study is the first to investigate the outcomes of GMO over consumer's intentions (WTP) and the role of brand perceptions (coolness). The effects are compared between two global brands, with significantly different perceptions on their environmental sustainability.

This paper aims to address the green purchasing gap by: exploring environmentally conscious consumers’ mental representation of the barriers responsible for the green purchasing gap; assessing which barriers are perceived as the most relevant in hampering the purchase of green products for environmentally conscious consumers; and investigating the relationships among these barriers. Although consumers are increasingly concerned about environmental deterioration, the current market share of green products remains fairly low.

An introspective qualitative study is conducted; 51 environmentally conscious consumers showing a green purchasing gap are interviewed, and the data are analysed with a cognitive mapping technique (Decision Explorer software) and Freeman’ structural indices (UCINET software).

Higher price and scarce availability of green products are the main barriers to green purchasing. However, consumers’ perceptions of price and availability may vary by changing other barriers (e.g. green products displacement inside the store and in-store communication).

This work reconstructs the decisional premises of environmentally conscious consumers’ choices to not purchase green products, identifies the most relevant barriers to green purchasing behaviour and the relationships between these barriers. With this knowledge, marketers of green products can focus on the most important barriers so that interventions in these barriers may change environmentally conscious consumers’ perceptions of other related barriers.

Today, the global market for “clean” vehicles is generating double-digit growth annually. However, in most emerging or Islamic countries, sales of such cars remain at a very low level and green consumption patterns are poorly explored. This paper aims to expand the understanding of factors influencing attitudes and behaviors toward electric vehicle in an emerging Islamic country, namely, Saudi Arabia. It investigates whether the willingness of Saudis to purchase electric vehicles depends on religious and ethical considerations. The effects of environmental concern, Islamic and some personal values (self-transcendence and conservation) on green vehicle purchase intention were considered.

The literature review is predominantly of studies on emerging or Islamic countries. A convenience sampling method was used, and a total of 354 valid questionnaires were collected. An exploratory factor analysis under the principal component analysis was used to reveal the factor structure underlying the items in the questionnaire. A confirmatory factor analysis on Lisrel helped to assess the validity of the measurement models. The causal relationships of the research framework were measured using simultaneous equation modeling.

The results suggest that Islamic Values (IsV) and Conservation (Cv) values do not influence environmental concern (EC) or Electric Vehicle Purchase Intention (EVPI). On the contrary, self-transcendence values (ST) exerted a significant influence on EVPI and the mediation of EC in this relationship was supported.

The theoretical framework provides a better understanding of how customers evaluate electric vehicles and the factors underlying their attitudes and behaviors toward such products in an Islamic and emerging market. The results suggest that consumers’ intentions to purchase electric vehicles are not driven by Islam or conservation values (conformity, tradition and security). Nevertheless, subjects for whom self-transcendence is an important value that guides their lives showed a higher willingness to purchase electric vehicles. This research also confirmed that EC is predictive of EVPI.

Marketers should focus on values of self-transcendence, which are benevolence and universalism, to influence electric vehicle purchase intention in Saudi Arabia. Neither Islamic nor conservation values are useful in this regard. However, managers and authorities are advised to establish a link between Islam and environmental awareness and behavior. Marketing communication and religious preachers should point out the commandments of Islam which stand for the preservation of nature. The authors concluded that much more should be done on the part of scholars to obtain a satisfactory understanding of green behavior in the Islamic world. Although green vehicles are rarely used there, these markets hold great sales potential for such products.

Little is known about consumer attitudes and behavior toward green products in Islamic countries. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first study to investigate whether Islamic and some personal values are related to environmental concern and electric vehicle purchase intention. The results showed that EC and EVPI depend on ST. The causal model indices for IsV and Cv were not significant.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the overall heat transfer performance and the temperature uniformity of the heat sink and to explore the effects of the jet Reynolds number and the nanoparticle volume fraction of the nanofluids on the flow and heat transfer performance.

A heat sink with discontinuous arc protrusions in the wall jet region is proposed for confined slot jet impingement. A sloping upper cover plate is added to improve the heat transfer effect in this area. An Al₂O₃–water nanofluid is selected as the working fluid of the jet for better heat transfer. The Standard k-e turbulence model is used for numerical calculation. The key structural parameters of the heat sink are optimized by the response surface method and a genetic algorithm. The effects of the jet Reynolds number (Re) and the nanofluid concentration (ϕ) on the flow and heat transfer performance of the optimized heat sink are investigated.

The average Nusselt number of the optimal heat sink is 8.2% higher and the friction resistance is 5.9% lower than that of the initial flat plate heat sink when ϕ = 0.02 and Re = 8,000. The discontinuous arc protrusions and the sloping upper cover plate substantially enhance the heat transfer in the later stage of jet development, improving the temperature uniformity of the heat sink. The maximum temperature difference of the optimal heat sink is 28.1% lower than that of the flat plate heat sink at the same nozzle height. As the jet Reynolds number and the nanofluid particle concentration increase, the Nusselt number of the optimized heat sink and the friction coefficients increase, resulting in a decrease in the evaluation coefficient. However, the overall temperature uniformity of the heat sink is improved under all conditions.

The novel heat sink structure provides a new way to enhance the heat transfer and temperature uniformity of confined slot jet impingement. The flow and heat transfer performance of the heat sink impinged by confined slot jet of nanofluids are obtained. The combination of response surface method and genetic algorithm can be applied to the multi-objective optimization of heat resistance and flow resistance of heat sink.