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This paper aims to examine the variation in Arab/Muslim consumers’ willingness to buy (WTB) from product’s origins (POs) involved in the Arab/Muslim-Israeli animosity case despite their common nationality and religious affiliation.

Qualitative research methodology is used. A total of 30 Arab and Muslim individuals were interviewed, and web documents were analysed. A grounded theory approach is adopted to analyse the data collected.

The results reveal that the variation in WTB from offending PO among Arab/Muslim consumers is influenced by the intensity of animosity (IOA) as perceived by the individual consumer towards the PO. IOA is a variable affected by the antagonistic emotional impact which is evoked by the egregiousness of the PO’s actions (PO involvement) and consumer connection with the political issue (consumer involvement) and is moderated by the time of the PO’s egregious actions.

Politically favourable POs in the Arab/Muslim world need to target consumers who perceive greater connection with the political issue, whereas politically unfavourable POs need to target consumers who perceive weaker connection with the political conflict, in addition to distancing themselves from it.

This is an original attempt to gain insight into the different levels of willingness of fellow nationals to buy a product from an offending nation in the context of Arab/Muslim-Israeli animosity which is explained through the IOA model of foreign product purchase.

As the Arab/Muslim-Israeli animosity case is attracting international attention, citizens of non-Arab and non-Muslim countries around the world, referred to as third-country nationals (TCNs), are increasingly joining the boycott against Israel. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of empathy for the citizens of the countries offended by Israel, namely Palestine and Lebanon, as a potential factor affecting TCNs decision to boycott Israeli products.

In total, 20 in-depth interviews were conducted with non-Arab, non-Muslim, and non-Israeli informants from different national and religious backgrounds, supported by secondary data sources. The qualitative grounded theory approach was employed to analyse data in order to answer the research questions.

TCNs decision to boycott Israeli products is affected by their empathic concern for the citizens of Palestine and Lebanon rather than by animosity towards Israel. Such concern is evoked by their awareness of the animosity case and further strengthened by their self-transcendence/universalism values and interaction with the case which activate their altruism towards the citizens of the offended countries, and consequently motivates them to relieve or reduce the suffering of these citizens by avoiding Israeli products. Greater emphasis is given to the Arab/Muslim-Israeli animosity case as a result of the greater empathic emotional impact it generates compared to other cases.

This is an original attempt to distinguish empathy from animosity as a factor which can affect TCNs decision to buy from a country engaged in hostile actions against another country other than their own. As the boycott campaign against the country under examination is growing internationally, this study can help international marketers in setting strategies to either exploit or combat the boycott campaign.

The purpose of this study is to propose a conceptual model of Islamic branding. Based on the theory of self-congruity and existing literature, the conceptual model proposes three antecedents that can form the building blocks of Islamic branding.

The authors have developed a conceptual model to propose the antecedents of the Islamic branding construct based on the theory of self-congruity. The antecedents are adapted from existing literature and customized according to the Muslim consumer market. Three hypotheses are formulated on the basis of the proposed model and justified from existing literature.

The proposed Islamic branding model can be applied to both local and multinational brands in both Muslim majority and minority markets. Religiosity, Islamic brand knowledge and Islamic corporate social responsibility are proposed as the antecedents of Islamic branding. Muslim consumers are attracted to brands that portray congruity with their religious values. The proposed antecedents of Islamic branding can result in the subsequent formation of an emotional attachment between the Muslim consumer and the respective Islamic brand, and thereby a stronger Islamic brand.

The proposed Islamic branding model has not been empirically tested in this study.

Islamic branding is in the infancy stage of conceptual development. Currently, limited research exists on the operationalization of this construct. A gap exists in the literature regarding models and instruments for the operationalization and development of Islamic branding. The proposed model attempts to fill the conceptual gaps while taking into account the heterogeneity of the Muslim consumer market. Up until now, religiosity, Islamic brand knowledge and corporate social responsibility have not been studied as antecedents of Islamic branding. This study offers new insights by proposing customized brand-building blocks for an organization’s Islamic branding strategy based on theoretical grounds.