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The religious-based brands are increasing daily, and different organizations target religious consumers. However, a scarcity of research in developing nations makes it difficult to determine how customers evaluate religious brands. This study aims to develop a model based on Ajzen’s (1985) theory of planned behaviour (TPB). It incorporates the three mediating factors of religious brand attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control.

A total of 499 (232 Malay and 267 Thai Muslim) respondents were surveyed systematically by adopting the purposive non-probability sampling technique. Empirically three studies with the extended model were tested in a cross-cultural context.

The results illustrate that the religious brand attitude affects the buying behavioural intentions of Muslims. The analysis found the significant role of Islamic brand attitude and mediating variables. Islamic brand by the customer is the second most significant component after Islamic brand by country of origin. The research provides a theoretical model for the research foundation and a model to analyse religious brands in diverse backgrounds.

Only three different religious brand views were considered independent factors in this study, together with the development of TPB behavioural expectations. The research looked at three different regions in Malaysia as well as Thailand. The research also provides a model that can be used to analyse how various customers view well-known companies and religious brands.

Researchers, teachers and practitioners in the domains of advertising, marketing communications, consumer behaviour and sociology will find this study useful.

The authors develop a novel dual religiosity conceptual model to delineate the sequential nature of religious opinion formation, behaviour and consumption of religious brands. In addition, the authors provide an example using the PLS model analysis as a supporting example.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the different segments of consumers in the Islamic financial services industry (IFSI) and their relationship with product/brand positioning for Islamic financial services (IFS).

In‐depth interviews were conducted with individuals in managerial positions among the key market players in the IFSI to explore the segmentation of consumers and their buying motives.

Four segments of IFS consumers emerged, namely, Religious conviction group; Religious conviction and economic rationality group; Ethical observant group; and Economic rationality group. These segmentation groups were appropriately categorized through a psychographic (value)‐based approach.

The empirical findings of this study pave the way for embarking on promising and relevant future research, which is needed to substantiate and enrich the academic understanding and managerial practice of linking market segmentation and brand positioning for IFS in the global market. Future research should focus on analysing these issues from the perspective of consumers of IFS to identify the purchase trend.

The study provides empirical evidence of the bases or initial dimensions of consumer segmentation for IFS. The findings are useful in guiding the management of institutions offering IFS in making decisions relating to the marketing communication and promotion strategy as well as product and brand positioning strategy.

For both academia and the IFSI, this study provides useful knowledge in strategically using market segmentation to position IFS in the global market.

This paper aims to theorize counterfeit luxury consumption among millennials from a generational identity perspective.

The paper proposes and tests a model of counterfeit buying behavior using an online survey of 467 millennial respondents. The study uses multi-item measures from the extant literature and uses the structural equation modeling technique to test the proposed hypotheses.

The findings reveal when millennials have a self-defining relationship with their generation, they tend to internalize the generational norm pertaining to counterfeit luxury consumption. Millennials’ counterfeit related values: market mavenism, postmodernism, schadenfreude and public self-consciousness contribute to their generational identity. Moreover, market mavenism, cool consumption and public self-consciousness establish counterfeit luxury consumption as a generational norm.

The findings of this paper suggest that the expertise and influence of market mavens can be used to deter counterfeit consumption. Moreover, luxury brands must communicate a cool image to offset the rebellious image of counterfeits. Further, from a standardization versus adaption standpoint, the generational perspective allows for the standardization of anti-counterfeiting campaigns.

The paper makes a novel contribution to the counterfeiting literature by demonstrating that millennials pursue counterfeit luxury brands when they pledge cognitive allegiance to their generation. The paper, thus, extends the identity perspective of counterfeit luxury consumption to group contexts. The authors also test and validate the role of descriptive norms in group contexts by introducing the construct generational norm to counterfeiting literature.

This paper aims to investigate the effects of eliminating Riba in foreign currency transactions. Riba or interest arises when foreign currencies are bought and sold at different rates. From the Islamic perspective, the difference between the buying and selling rates of foreign exchange will constitute Riba. Also, this paper examines the effects of eliminating such Riba on major macroeconomic variables.

This study is based on the hadith which imply that if buying and selling rates of currencies or foreign exchanges are same, i.e. if one sells BD1 = Dh10 and Dh10 = BD1 on spot, there will be no Riba. This can be guaranteed if the Islamic banking system introduces the technology, often known as FinTech interest-free foreign exchange bank machines (IFfexBM), which will automatically dispense BD10 for Dh100 and vice-versa, both locally and globally, and it will have tremendous positive effects in the economy. Furthermore, the effects of introducing FinTech for eliminating Riba will be analyzed on economic and international trade activities by using aggregate expenditure (AE) and aggregate output model within the tenets of Islamic principles.

If Islamic banks (IBs) can introduce FinTech global network system where any client can buy or sell foreign currency at the same rate without any markup, it will increase the market share for IBs by increasing the number of customers and number of branches, and it will increase the inflow of funds and volumes of transactions, especially in international trade, global financial transactions and cross-border shopping. Such an increase in transactions will increase AE and AE will continuously shift up. Such an upward shift will have positive effects on equilibrium output, employment and prosperity.

This is, perhaps, one of the latest attempts to eliminate Riba from foreign exchange transactions by introducing FinTech IFfexBM in each and every locality. Such elimination of Riba will not only reduce the cost of cross-border transactions but it will also reduce cost in international trade and financial transactions among nations, and therefore, it will have expansionary effects on equilibrium output, employment and global prosperity.

This study aims to explore the presumed relationship between religion and purchase behavior of consumers in the context of Bangladesh.

This research is divided into two main parts. In the first one, the authors reviewed some of the most important studies relative to religion and marketing and those specifically relative to Islamic marketing. In the second part, this research shows the findings of a structured questionnaire administered to a sample of Muslim consumers currently residing in the capital city of Bangladesh – Dhaka. The questionnaire also sought to find out the respondents’ attitude towards the modern marketing tactics, in terms of the physical and visual appearance of local products, their perception of religious principles in the purchase decision and their attitude towards imported products of non-Muslim countries.

Results of this study highlight that religion often represents an essential reference point in influencing the perception and purchase behavior of consumers in the context of Bangladesh. This implies that marketing strategies based on Islamic ethics is going to be quite instrumental in order to reach out to the consumers in Muslim countries. As such, there is largely a strong positive relationship between religion and the purchase behavior of Muslim consumers.

The lack of research on Islamic marketing limits the intensity of arguments in this study. For this reason, the literature review is not completely exhaustive. A small sample size has also been used due to time and resource constraints. Future research can be done on a bigger sample size of Bangladesh or other Islamic countries across the world. Other research avenues may include the study of Islamic marketing mix and exploring the factors that can influence non-Muslim consumers to select products and services based on Islamic ethics.

It is very important for businesses to introduce healthy practices in countries like Bangladesh and this can be rightly achieved through the use of Islamic marketing. Furthermore, the use of Islamic ethics in marketing strategies can eventually influence the religious perception of consumers and make them loyal towards any brands, products, and services in the context of Bangladesh.

The chapter draws attention to Bangladesh as one of the potential markets where the concept of Islamic market mechanism can be established. It also highlights the challenges that global marketers can face with Islamic marketing in Muslim countries like Bangladesh. Besides, it is the only study to date that focuses upon the relationship of religion, marketing, and consumer behavior for consumer products of the manufacturing industry.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of religion on the effectiveness of product packages in attracting customers’ attention, and forming their attitudes, preferences, and buying decisions. In other words, the study aims at finding out how do Muslims respond to product packages including elements believed to disagree with the Islamic values, in this study referred to as “contentious packages.”

To test the five hypotheses, the study recruited 300 young Muslims in Bahrain, chosen from the population of 14,000 students of the University of Bahrain aged between 20 and 25, 26 percent male and 74 percent female. The primary data were collected through personal interviews with the selected sample, using a specially designed questionnaire. The questionnaire included ten questions covering two personal questions for age and gender and eight other questions attempting to find out Muslims’ responses to contentious packages in terms of attention, attitudes, buying intention, company image, and word-of-mouth.

Findings indicate that use of contentious packaging runs a high risk of tarnishing a company’s reputation and appeal. Muslims who live by Shari’a and the dictates of the Kuran will consider such companies to be promoters of fornication, and will therefore boycott such companies in order to prevent them from corrupting the purity and piety of the community. If advertising firms continue to fail in recognizing the profundity of these beliefs within Muslim communities, both their fiscal success and reputation run the risk of suffering substantial damage.

The findings of this study send six important messages to multinational companies doing business in Islamic countries. First, Islam governs all aspects of Muslim life, including consumer behavior. Second, to prosper in Islamic countries, choose packaging that does not contradict or offend the principles and values of Islam. Third, recognize that much packaging that has proven to be effective in Western countries will not be successful in Islamic countries due to vastly different cultural environments. Fourth, a contentious package may result in a steep drop in the sales. Fifth, using contentious packages may damage the reputation. Sixth, you can attract more Muslims by using non-contentious packages.

This paper is of great value to companies who wish to expand their practice in Muslim countries. Its findings promise to improve advertising standards and to increase both company profits and customer satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to apply technical analysis to some leading Islamic indices and explore if these indices are amenable to the same kind of analysis as applied to conventional indices and whether technical analysis, in contrast with fundamental analysis, produces distinct or superior return.

In this paper, some basic tools of TA to Dow Jones Islamic Market US Index (IMUS) is applied in comparison with the three major market indices: Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 Index and NASDAQ 100. For TA, we apply moving averages, MACD and Stochastics as indicators. The paper is written particularly for those with interest in Islamic finance, but not necessarily familiar with TA. This paper thus also explores some Shariah-related issues in effectively applying TA.

The comparative analysis shows that the performance based on IMUS can be improved, when TA is applied.

Robust tools of TA play an important role in market research. This paper probably is the first to apply TA in the context of Islamic finance. Because the scope of this paper is limited (only Dow Jones Islamic USA Index and comparison with three leading market indices), more in-depth research is needed and possible, which it is hoped this paper will encourage.

The successful application of the basic TA tools to Islamic index will encourage the practitioners of Islamic finance to research and explore further uses and effectiveness of TA on other Islamic products.

This paper is probably the first application of TA to Islamic finance markets, written especially for those who take active interest in the financial market from Islamic perspective.

In general, Muslims consider Islamic consumption to be a religious obligation. Previous research, however, suggests that various socio-psychological factors may influence Islamic consumption. Failure to comprehend the true motivations for purchasing Islamic products may lead to marketing myopia. This research investigates the less explored motivational factors of religious compensatory consumption, namely religious hypocrisy, religious social control and religious guilt.

This research relied on an online questionnaire. Purposive sampling yielded a total of 238 Muslim respondents. The authors employed PLS-SEM analysis with the ADANCO software to test the hypotheses.

The results reveal the following: (1) Higher religious hypocrisy leads to higher religious social control. (2) Higher religious hypocrisy leads to higher religious guilt. (3) Higher religious social control leads to higher religious guilt. (4) Higher religious hypocrisy leads to higher religious compensatory consumption. (5) Higher religious social control leads to higher religious compensatory consumption. (6) Religious social control partially mediates the relationship between religious hypocrisy and religious compensatory consumption. (7) Higher religious guilt leads to higher religious compensatory consumption. (8) Religious guilt partially mediates the relationship between religious hypocrisy and religious compensatory consumption.

First, religious compensatory consumption in this research is limited to Muslim consumers. Future research may investigate compensatory consumption in different contexts, such as Judaism and Christianity, which have some common religious tenets. Second, compensatory consumption is a complex concept. The authors’ religious compensatory consumption scale only incorporated a few aspects of compensatory consumption. Future studies may retest the authors’ measurement scale for reliability. Lastly, the samples were dominated by the younger generation of Muslims (e.g. generation Z). Future studies may investigate older Muslim generations.

First, this research illustrates how religiosity, guilt and social control may contribute to Islamic compensatory consumption. Islamic business practitioners and retailers targeting Muslim consumers can benefit from this research by knowing that Islamic consumption may be driven by socio-psychological factors, such as religious hypocrisy and guilt. As a result, businesses targeting Muslim consumers can develop marketing strategies that incorporate these religious elements while also addressing their socio-psychological issues in order to promote Islamic products. Second, Islamic business practitioners and retailers may consider the social environments in which Muslims are raised. The authors’ findings show that religious social control has direct and indirect effects on Muslims' preferences for Islamic products as a form of compensatory strategy. Islamic business practitioners may design marketing programs that revolve around Muslim families and their Islamic values. It is in line with the previous studies that suggest the connections between religions, local cultures and buying behaviours (Ng et al., 2020; Batra et al., 2021). In some ways, Islamic products can be promoted to improve the well-being and cohesion of family members and Muslim society in general. In this research, the authors argue that businesses' failures to understand the socio-psychological motives of Islamic consumption may lead to marketing myopia.

As previously stated, religion (i.e. Islam) may be a source of well-being and a stable relationship among Muslims. Nevertheless, it may also become a source of negative emotions, such as guilt, because of one's inability to fulfil religious values, ideals or standards. According to the authors’ findings, Islamic products can be used to compensate for a perceived lack of religiosity. At the same time, these products may improve Muslims' well-being. The creations of products and services that revolve around Islamic values are expected to improve Muslims' economic conditions and strengthen their faith and love toward Islam in the globalized world. Moreover, Muslims, both as majority and minority groups, face increasing social pressures. On one hand there is the (in-group) pressure to uphold Islamic values and on the other hand there is the (out-group) pressure to preserve the local values and cultures. Indeed, living in the globalized world may require certain compromises. This research calls for various institutions and policymakers to work out solutions that enable all religious groups to work and live in harmony.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to study religious compensatory consumption quantitatively. This research operationalized variables previously discussed using a qualitative approach, namely religious hypocrisy, social control, guilt and compensatory consumption. The authors designed and adapted their measurement scales to fit this context, paving the way for future research in this field. Second, this research provides new empirical evidence by examining the relationships among less explored variables. For instance, this research has proven that several aspects of religiosity (e.g. hypocrisy, social control and guilt) may influence compensatory consumption in the Islamic context. This research also reveals the mediation roles of religious social control and religious guilt that were less explored in the previous studies. To the best of their knowledge, previous studies had not addressed social control as a predictor of compensatory consumption. Therefore, the theoretical model presented in this research and the empirical findings extend the theory of compensatory consumption. Third, Muslims are underrepresented in the compensatory consumption research; therefore, this research fills the population gap. Finally, this research focuses on Islamic compensatory behaviour as the future direction of Islamic marketing. Previous Islamic marketing research had not addressed the sensitive motives of Islamic consumption, which have now been highlighted in this research.

This paper aims to propose a model for democratization of Islamic home financing to tackle the issue of sustainability of homeownership affordability.

A conceptual framework and fractional equity model (FEM) are developed to incorporate big data analytics, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology in an ecosystem for affordability and sustainability of homeownership via the proposed financing model. In addition, the FEM adopts the simulation approach to show its validity in terms of liquidity when compared with traditional home financing. In this regard, this paper is focused on developing and demonstrating the feasibility of a new financing model, rather than testing specific hypotheses or relationships. This is to propose the democratization model for Islamic Home Financing that will not benefit the prospective home buyers without compromising the profitability of the financial institutions.

The findings indicate that the proposed end-to-end solution within the financing ecosystem can lead to more efficient matching market between the buyers and sellers of houses, reduced transaction costs, greater transparency and enhanced efficiency which in the end could lead to lower costs of owning homes and sustained financial resilience among house owners. The findings indicate that the FEM model is able to increase homeownership with more elements of liquidity, marketability and sustainability for homebuyers.

This research highlights the potential of big data and blockchain technology in democratizing Islamic home financing and evidence that the transfer of ownership is possible through tokenization. However, this will require a mature financing environment to adapt the technology for practical application.

The model proposes a solution to propagate shared prosperity among stakeholders such as the house buyers/owners, sellers, investors as well the government agencies. The proposed FEM model provides alternative home financing that is more marketable, flexible and sustainable for households/buyers and financiers.

It is hoped that with the proposed financing ecosystem to promote affordability and sustainability of homeownership via big data analytics, artificial intelligence and blockchain technology can lead to greater financial resilience for homeowners which can then be translated to enhanced well-being, increased productivity and can further promote economic growth.

This research is a concept paper based on academic research and industry collaboration with a technology provider.

The purpose of this study is two-fold: classifying non-Muslim halal fashion buyers by applying quantitative techniques and identifying the persuading determinants of the non-Muslim women’ halal fashion buying behaviour (HFBB).

By adapting items from prior studies, a structured questionnaire was developed and distributed face-to-face to various Muslim fashion stores in Malaysia. After a one-month effort, 221 responses were obtained from non-Muslim consumers by using convenience sampling. Next, a clustering analysis was used to classify them from a contrasting perspective. Finally, regression and Andrew F. Hayes’s process procedures were applied to examine the three independent variables’ effect and the moderating variables.

The results revealed the characteristic behaviour of the non-Muslim women explicitly, which is related to their halal fashion purchasing decision. Based on the ANOVA results, there were different motives for buying halal fashion by non-Muslim women. Additionally, it was found that the most crucial determinants for non-Muslim’s HFBB are “cultural adaptation”, albeit, there is no substantial proof of a significant moderating effect of age and income on the consumers.

These discoveries are advantageous for halal fashion retailers and provide an appealing domain for further investigations in the context of the global halal study.

This study provided an idea for an untapped segment on the halal fashion sellers’ segmentation and positioning strategy. The study’s results suggested specific managerial and practical recommendation that the sellers can use to attract non-Muslim consumers.

This study was amongst the uncommon investigations within the halal fashion context that will enlighten the managers’ selling strategy on the most neglected market segment. The results of this study provided an empirical understanding of how to sell halal fashion to non-Muslim consumers.