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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.

This paper examines factors that lead consumers to engage in unethical consumer behaviour (UECB) to develop a framework for understanding this phenomenon.

The study data were collected using the qualitative approach by conducting personal interviews with 27 marketers in two Arab countries, Libya and Syria.

The findings indicate that previous models of UECB are applicable to Arab consumers. However, the effects of the examined factors on UECB adoption are influenced by the local environment. Also, the paper explored some newly factors that clearly affect UECB.

This study provides a model of UECB for Arab consumers to help companies to understand Arab consumers’ behaviour. This model determines the influencing factors on this behaviour that companies can use to build their marketing strategies directed at the Libyan and Syrian markets during the reconstruction phase. Moreover, the research results help companies avoid and control UECB.

Almost all studies of UECB have been conducted in Western countries; the present study attempts to address this gap in the ethical decision-making literature, as well as marketing literature, and examine the UECB in Arab countries. Furthermore, previous studies of UECB mostly look at one typical form of UECB; this study provides a broader contribution to the literature on UECB by using a set of scenarios; shoplifting, software piracy and pilfering from hotel rooms.

This paper aims to examine the causes and consequences of animosity that Sunni Arabs may harbor against Iran and Turkey – two regional powers and key players in the Middle East.

Using Jordanians as proxy for Sunni Arab consumers, data were collected from 218 respondents by means of an intercept survey. A systematic random sampling was used in selecting the respondents. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the role of religious/sectarian commitment (Sunni Islamic), ethnic identification (Arab), nationalism, patriotism and internationalism as potential sources of animosity of Sunni Arabs toward Iran and Turkey.

The findings show integrative/multiplicative impact of various social attributes on Sunni Arabs’ animosity toward Iran and Turkey and indicate a higher prevalence of animosity toward Iran than toward Turkey among the respondents. The findings also show how animosity decreases the likelihood of buying Iranian and Turkish products by Jordanian consumers.

This paper, while unearthing interesting relationships among five antecedent variables, consumer animosity and purchase intentions, calls for further research to examine how the relationships between feelings of animosity and willingness to purchase products could be moderated by variables such as world-mindedness and foreign travel. Future researchers should also study how consumer animosity can be reduced.

The findings provide insights as to how foreign marketers can adjust their marketing strategies in the lucrative Arab market.

The findings call for a more nuanced understanding of the role of religious/sectarian commitment, ethnicity, nationalism, patriotism and internationalism in causing and/or exacerbating animosity and consequently affecting purchase decisions of consumers.

The study contributes to the existing literature by measuring the hitherto unexamined role of intra-religious sectarian feelings in consumer animosity and purchase decisions and by analyzing the mediating role of consumer animosity between the five antecedent variables and willingness to purchase products from “enemy” countries.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of perceived satisfaction with mobile payment applications based on use experience, and subsequent stated expectations on brand loyalty and future use behavior using a theory-based research integrative model of factors that influence Arabs’ intentions to use mobile payment application(s).

A conceptual model was developed using the mixed research method approach. The focus group approach was used for the qualitative study and structural equation modeling for the quantitative study. Primary data were collected online. Participants were 305 Arab consumers from nine countries in the Middle East.

Satisfaction with the quality of mobile payment application(s) increased use experience and enhanced consumers’ expectations, which in turn positively affected loyalty and purchase intentions.

The study encompassed mobile payment application(s) in nine countries rather than focusing on one market, or on one product type and business. The paper did not perform a comparative study between sampled Arab countries, but rather it sees all countries and respondents just as Arabs.

Service providers should build mobile application(s) based on the features of usability, availability, reliability, adaptability, accessibility, responsiveness and security.

This study is one of the first studies that empirically examines mobile payment consumer’s usage behavior from nine countries of the Arab world where there is scarce research on the topic in the region.

The purpose of this exploratory paper is to investigate and understand the most important factors that influence Arab-origin brands to go global and to appear in brand valuation studies.

Initially, content analysis on current literature has been conducted followed by qualitative research in the form of in-depth interviews with marketing experts that own or work for successful Arab-origin brands in Muslim countries. Data has been collected related to brands from Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. A total of 20 in-depth interviews have been conducted by using face-to-face/online voice recorded method. Interviews have been transcribed, coded and analyzed.

Findings revealed that the main factors affecting the global branding process for Arab-origin brands are internal as compared to external factors. Some of the factors are common with factors in current literature such as dealing with local competition, however, many new factors as well have been identified like brand essence/meaning, internal marketing, top management support and entering mature markets. Cultural heritage plays a significant role in the strategy, creativity and leadership related to building global brands in Arab/Islamic countries. A preliminary model has been proposed based on the findings.

This study is just a starting point for further research. The interaction and relationship between internal and external factors could be further investigated. For example, top management support can moderate the influence of local competition in global markets (Carpenter and Fredrickson, 2001). The proposed framework should be quantitatively measured across different brands for further analyzing the main factors that influence Arab/Islamic-origin brands to go global and generalizing findings. Furthermore, the role of each factor may differ from one industry to another. For example in service organizations, frontline employees are crucial to the success of the organization and challenging to standardize across global markets. Investigating the different combinations of strategy, creativity and leadership from one global market to another opens doors for further scholarly work in this area.

This is a pioneer study in attempting to understand the most relevant factors influencing Arab-origin brands to go global as compared to Western brands that are commonly researched in the literature. This study opens doors to further research related to Arab-origin brands globalization process as well as provides interesting insights to marketers and brand owners about the real reasons that may hinder and genuinely influence Arab-origin brands from taking their locally successful brands fully global.

Many researchers have addressed students as consumers and considered their online searches to choose a university as typical buying behaviour. The myriad features of digital information enable universities to conveniently and quickly reach educational markets at a relatively low cost. Consumers’ market choices can usefully be interpreted in terms of their cultural perceptions. To encourage Web viewers to make repeat visits to, and remain longer on, their websites, it is critical for international universities to understand local and regional viewers’ perceptions and preferences regarding non-text Web messages through the lens of culture. The purpose of the current study is to address the need for, and the challenge presented by, glocalising the text and non-text aspects of university websites by investigating Arab consumers’ perceptions of these websites.

The sampling frame comprised 200 residents from the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, including 100 high school students and 100 stakeholders, with equal proportions of Arabs and non-Arabs. Illustrations and images were used in the questionnaire to collect respondents’ perceptions about university websites from a cultural perspective.

This study identifies a need to glocalise the non-text and website messages of international universities that are aiming to penetrate educational markets in the Emirates.

This study clearly identifies the segment that is most receptive to a “glocalised” website communication strategy of international universities: Arab students, aged 16 or above, and educated stakeholders, expect to view academic information on websites, as do viewers everywhere, but prefer this information to reflect the values and traditions of Arab culture.

The increasing inflow of students from the Gulf region to the United Arab Emirates, instead of their usual choice of European or Western educational destinations, has motivated international universities to envisage the Emirates as a location for their campus expansions. An understanding of the approaches of Arab viewers to the websites of international universities through the lens of culture is essential for bridging the literature gaps that currently persist in the area of digital promotion and social marketing.

The aim of this paper is to address intertype cross-shopping behavior – that is, the behavior that characterizes consumers who divide their grocery shopping between two or more different food formats. In particular, the study attempts to shed light on the cross-shopping phenomenon by employing a new research approach that examines format-selective use. Thus, the study examines how various factors, especially way of life aspects typically associated with food consumption, drive consumers to cross-shop between different food formats.

The study employs data collected from two surveys involving 637 Israeli Jewish and Arab consumers. The conceptual framework and hypothesis are tested using multiple regression analyses.

The empirical results support our claim that the research approach applied in this study better explains the cross-shopping phenomenon. Specifically, the analysis provides strong support for the effect of consumers' way of life on cross-shopping behavior.

The paper provides managerial and planning implications to modern retailers and managers of international retail firms that operate in or plan to enter non-Western markets.

This paper contributes to the available literature in several ways. In particular, the paper suggests a systematic and comprehensive conceptual framework that identifies the key determinants of cross-shopping decisions and the relations between these and supermarkets' market share growth.

This paper aims to explore and analyze the various consumer socialization agents for the young Omani Arab children, who play a key role in the family purchase process.

A mixed method research approach was adopted in the form of a survey and short interviews for the study. The study was performed on the children in the age group of 7-14 years, enrolled in Omani schools. The socialization factors were grouped through the exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analysis was conducted to assess the impact of the factors on the purchase of various product categories. Finally, short personal interviews with the children were made to validate the results.

A model was proposed incorporating the four different socialization patterns of Omani children involving parents, friends, television and internet. The model was tested with the purchase of different product categories through multiple regression analysis. The results supported the parents, television and friends while rejected the internet as a means of socialization of Omani children. The qualitative analysis also revealed the same results, further incorporating the role of other family members in the socialization of the children.

A research gap exists in the consumer literature related to the Arab child socialization as the previous scholars had contributed mainly in the developed Western context, hence, demanding further research studies in the young Arab consumers’ perspective.

Being the first of its type in the regional context, the research is important for the researchers who wish to understand the socialization process and its agents for the Omani Arab children. The research provides insights about the psychology of Omani children towards the products, which can aid the marketers to design appropriate marketing programmes targeting the growing child segment in the Arab world.

A significant research gap exists and suggests a research study on the patterns of socialization of the Arab children as no similar research had been previously conducted related to this context on child socialization. This research will serve as a base for future research studies in the socialization and purchase behavior of the Arab children.

This paper aims to extend Wallström et al.’s (2010) six-nation study on brand use and notions of self-expression to Arab women in the UAE. Additionally, it extends the scope of investigation to include an extensive qualitative data corpus to inform and explain the consumption practices of this large, very wealthy and under-researched sector of the global marketplace.

The paper uses mixed methodology emphasizing qualitative research as a means of building on the results of Wallström et al.’s (2010) quantitative study.

Results reveal that Arab women are less committed to the idea that beauty care products are a locus of self-expression, and their purchase choices are based on perceived quality of care products, scene of use and their lack of value in the culture as vehicles of conspicuous consumption cues.

The paper offers valuable insights to researchers and practitioners into the use of beauty care products as a means of self-expression, and emphasizes the value of word-of-mouth communication in enhancing reach in this category. The authors recommend the investigation of relationships between expressing self through brands and variables revealed in this study such as respondents’ relationships to religiosity and health concerns. An extension of this research is also recommended to produce a cross-cultural body of literature on women’s self-expression through brands and how the variable of self-expression can be an important driver of consumer preferences and choices in this population.

This study aims to investigate and compare the propensity of both Arab and Western customers to bargain in marketing exchange situations in the United Arab Emirates.

The Bargaining Propensity Scale (BPS) developed by Schneider et al. was administered, as part of a self‐administered questionnaire, to a sample of 100 Arab customers and 100 Western customers and their responses to the BPS items were analyzed.

Data analysis shows that both segments – Arab and Western customers – display an overall tendency to engage in bargaining activities, although with slightly different PBS distributions.

The sample contained only 15 Arab women as it was very awkward for the male research assistant to talk to women in public places; very few women would risk being seen in public with strangers.

This study addresses an important marketing issue – the comparative behavior of customers. It is the first to do so in the region.