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By reviewing Iranian cultural values, this paper aims to identify Iranian cultural values that underlie consumers’ buying behaviours.

The study is an exploratory research; data are analysed through both exploratory and confirmatory factors analyses.

Based on research findings, 20 values can be subsumed under seven meaningful dimensions: cosmopolitanism, innovation, convenience, youthfulness, partiality, other-directedness and faithfulness. Cosmopolitanism was found to be the most influential value affecting consumer buying behaviour; faithfulness was the least important dimension.

This research is based on quantitative data; using qualitative research or mixed method will enrich the findings. In addition, study findings are not generalisable to different aspects of cultural values and consumption in Iran. Therefore, future work should explore how cultural values influence their buying behaviour in Iran as one of major Islamic countries.

From a practical marketing perspective, firms interested in pursuing Iranian markets should consider modern cultural values in their product decisions and marketing communications to foster Iranian consumers’ attention and ultimately their purchase decisions.

The authors believe that this research can arouse sales and marketing managers to be alert for considering Iranian cultural values in their marketing mix decisions. This research also has managerial and research implications for designing and formulating promotion strategy in managing firms’ marketing communication.

Values are both an effective variable and a powerful stimulus for consumer behavior. Values are different concepts and classifications influenced by factors such as culture and religion in different societies. This paper aims to identify the classification of values in an Islamic country’s context, Iran.

Iranian dominant values were identified through qualitative analysis and in-depth interviews with 77 interviewees. Grounded theory was used to identify theoretical categories that are derived from the interview data through the use of the constant comparative method.

The findings revealed three categories of hedonic, utilitarian and Islamic spiritual values, which include 10 types of values. The third value (Islamic spiritual) was identified and defined according to the Iranian Islamic religion and ideology. Interviewees expressed their values, attitudes and behaviors within the framework of their unique value system.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first articles that pay special attention to Islamic spiritual values as an influential value category in the buying behaviors and intentions of Iranian consumers. Undoubtedly, identifying these values can be an introduction to studying behaviors influenced by values and a powerful tool for managers to predict and evaluate Islamic consumers’ behavior and lifestyles.

The purpose of the study is to explore the impact of cultural values on perceptions of service encounter quality by examining the potentially mediating role of service encounter expectations.

A questionnaire was designed to collect data from 30 cosmetic clinic patients in Tehran, Iran. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the convergent and discriminant validity of the scales. Moreover, path modeling and bootstrapping were implemented using Smartpls 2.0 (M3) software to analyze the collected data and to assess the research model (Figure 1).

Cultural values have a significant impact on both expectations and perceptions of service encounter quality. Moreover, findings show that expectations of service encounter quality have an impact on perceptions of service encounter quality. The mediating role of service encounter expectations was confirmed.

There are additional issues that should be addressed about different aspects of service encounters in developing countries. Moreover, subcultures provide attractive context for service quality perception research; subcultures comprise a large consumer market having its own cultural values that future research could examine.

Healthcare service providers should understand the cultural values of patients that may differ by social demographic characteristics. Providing a service that enhances patient cultural values might enhance success in the plastic surgery market, because such surgery may assist one in gaining recognition and improving their relationships with others. Clinic managers should consider Iran as a developing country, with its considerable young population having modern self-oriented demands, should be a desirable market for cosmetics and beauty care products.

Using the concept of Schwartz’s basic human values model to assess consumers’ cultural values and its impact on service encounter quality was the study’s main contribution. Moreover, it is among few studies conducted in the cosmetic surgery industry in a developing country’s context.

The purpose of this paper is to study and specify to what extent Iran will succeed in being a regional hegemon. The paper is devoted to clarification of the constitutive elements for regional hegemony. These elements will be related to an actor’s perception of its role and regional perception, and how these hegemons exert power, do these work for the public good in the region (provision) and how this regional power projects power and exerts power to influence others’ preferences and values without reference to violence (projection). For the Middle East, Iran emerged as a key player in most regional conflicts and it tried to increase its sphere of influence as a regional hegemon. Therefore the question here would be: To what extend could Iran succeed in being a regional hegemon and what are the circumstances that could enhance or constrain this Iranian ambition? So the aim of the paper is to look at three dimensions in general and see whether Iran makes a plausible candidate for regional hegemony. The paper outlines the essential traits of a regional hegemon, and the main elements that constitute a regional hegemony such as perception, provision and projection, and then analyze how Iran follows those elements by analyzing internal perceptions of the Iranian elite about Iranian regional role, regional acceptance, provision of public good, projection and finally impact of the relation with external great powers. Through analyzing its regional strategy in Syria and Iraq since 2003, the year of invasion of Iraq, since ever a political vacuum was created, that enabled Iran to extend its regional influence, after the fall of its historical regional rival, Saddam Hussein baathi regime.

The study adopts an analytical framework of analyzing a regional hegemony strategy which is approached by Miriam Prys in her study “Hegemony, domination, detachment: differences in regional powerhood” to study and analyze Iran’s regional behavior as one of regional power that is seeking regional hegemony. This analytical framework is one of the most significant analytical tools that interests in the study of the behavior of regional power and identify the constitutive dimensions for regional hegemony such as self-perception, regional perception, provision and power projection.

The study concludes that there are obstacles completely in front of achieving the Iranian quest to regional hegemony over the Middle East. These are the continuing US involvement in the Middle East and the consequent tense relationship between Iran and the USA. It is most unlikely that Iran will be hegemonic state over the Middle East as long as there are refusal and resistance from other regional states for Iranian regional role; as each of regional powers has tools to contain the influence of the other. The Iranian regional behavior that is sectarianism-based, whether to protect Shiite shrines and holy places or to protect Shiites in the region, such policies deepen the ideological and sectarian conflicts. It also has not provided an attractive cultural model for the peoples of the region.

This paper enhances the deep analysis of the Middle East dynamics through the prospective of regional power. Also, the paper focuses on the analysis of the relation between great power and aspiring regional power and the impact on its strategies.

This study enhances the understanding of how Iranian decision-makers perceive their regional Iranian and the threats. Moreover, the tools that Iran uses its hard power and ideational one to create regional followers and change its allies’ normative and value systems to come in line with its national interests. Moreover, the study tries to measure the actual Iranian influence, its weakness and strength so that the Arab states and the West could behave in a fruitful way.

In the final analysis, the paper offers an insight into the regional behavior and the importance of external power in regional dynamics and to what extent the regional hegemon is applicable to Iran.

Offers a rare insight into the dynamics, realities and potential of the Iranian business community. Uses a sample of 40 Iranian executives to empirically study the impact of the economic constraints and the values of executives on the performance of Iranian business organisations. Emphasizes the implications of this study to Iranian business organisations and their current and potential trading partners during this period of proposed economic change in Iran.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of market structure and market share on the performance of the Islamic banks operating in the Iranian banking system based on the structure-conduct-performance (SCP) paradigm.

The Iranian Islamic banking system’s market structure is evaluated by using the econometrics method to test the validity of the traditional SCP paradigm. For this purpose, the authors estimate a simple regression model that is consisted of several independent variables, such as the market share, bank size, real gross domestic product, liquidity and Herfindahl-Hirschman index as a proxy variable for concentration and one dependent variable, namely, the profit as a proxy for performance. The panel data includes a data sample of 22 Islamic banks operating from 2006 to 2019. Data are extracted from the balance sheet of Islamic banks and the time-series database of the Central Bank of Iran and World Bank.

The study’s findings indicate that both concentration and market share have a positive impact on the performance of banks in the Iranian Islamic banking system. This result is contradicted with both traditional SCP and efficient structure hypotheses; however, it confirms the existence of oligopoly or cartel in the Iranian Islamic banking system that few banks try to gain the highest share of profit and maintain their market share by colluding with each other. This result is in contradiction with other research studies about the market structure in the Iranian banking system that claimed that banks in Iran operate under monopolistic competition. In addition, it shows that the privatization of some banks in Iran does not improve and help competition in the Iranian banking system.

This paper is a pioneer empirical study analyzing the market structure, concentration and collusion based on the SCP paradigm in Iranian Islamic banking. The results of the study support the existence of collusive behavior among the Islamic bank in Iran that is not aligned with Sharia. This study clearly shows the difference between ideal Islamic banking and Islamic banking in practice in Islamic countries. This clearly indicates that only prohibiting some operations like receiving interest, gambling and bearing excessive risk is not enough. In fact, the Islamic banking system should be based on the Sharia rule in all aspects and much more modification and study have to be done to achieve an appropriate Islamic banking system. These possible modifications to overcome the issues of cartel-like market structure and collusive behavior in the Iranian Islamic banking system include making the Iranian banking system more transparent, letting foreign banks enter the Iranian banking system and minimizing the government intervention in the Iranian banking system.

The purpose of this study is to examine how formal and informal institutions play a role in the Iranian context in shaping corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and practices.

Using a multiple case-study approach combining comparative and cross-sectional methods with semi-structured interviews, primary data was collected from eight corporations that actively participated in CSR activities in Iran. A microanalysis approach was used to examine the meanings and dynamics in the data. Through thematic analysis and pattern-matching techniques, the authors separately examined the roles of formal and informal institutions. Cross-case analysis was used to highlight the cases’ similarities and differences.

This study demonstrates that both formal and informal institutional structures exist in Iran and that both types influence CSR. This study also shows that informal institutions (such as personal values, culture, religion, traditions, charity and philanthropy) play a more explicit role than formal institutions (such as legal regulations and laws) in shaping CSR adoption policies and practices. The results indicate that, among institutions linked to CSR, formal and informal institutions are complementary and potentiate each other in Iran. Nevertheless, compared to formal ones, informal institutions play a more prominent role in shaping CSR policies and practices.

The authors recognize that, although the eight corporations are large, and although they interviewed their key personnel, they do not claim that these findings are generalizable, owing to the qualitative nature of the study and the small number of selected corporations.

This study makes relevant theoretical and empirical contributions. First, it contributes to the growing body of CSR literature that highlights the necessity of linking informal and formal institutions. Although the CSR literature lacks research on informal institutions in developing economies, researchers have yet to push forward and explore how the CSR adoption process works in developing economies that have influential informal institutions.

This chapter studies how in Iranian schools the power of resistance is evident in female students’ moral dilemmas. The Islamic Revolution of Iran was a turning point in Iranian educational system in which the role of religion and the desire for Islamization of all aspects of the society was emphasized. The data was gathered from one girl and one boy school in Tehran in 2016, and it includes lower secondary school students’ essays (Female n=175, Male n=165) about moral dilemmas. The study reveals the impact of Islamic values in school life and that the power of resistance is weak since students cannot criticize Islamic values. However, female students’ moral dilemmas indicate aspects of resistance in terms of questioning the schools rules that are based on these religious values and principles. This chapter examines female cases in detail to discuss how issues related to gender and religion are interconnected in Iranian schools.

The aim of this paper is to prepare and propose a job description for and identify the organizational position of systems librarians in university libraries in Iran.

The required data were collected in two ways: literature review and survey of opinions. The respondents completed a questionnaire designed by the researchers in order to specify the skills, duties, characteristics and other qualifications of the librarians in Iranian university libraries. The material covered by the questionnaire was extracted from the existing cultural and organizational structure systems librarianship texts and their recruitment advertisements. Differences between Iranian university libraries and those of developed nations are noted. The research population included all administrators and supervisors of information sections in university libraries of Iran.

It was found that in Iran information sciences librarians require assistance from computer experts, since the IT training programme on offer does not meet the required standard. This has resulted in a reduced ability to perform their duties adequately, prompting the proposed survey for the purpose of producing a revised job description.

Based on the findings of this research, a job description is formulated for systems librarians in Iranian university libraries. The job description thus presented includes: responsibilities, skills, job features, factors, tools of work, condition of work environment, intellectual capabilities required, body posture, and required technologies.

The survey is unique in that the focus is on an Iranian systems librarian's job description based on requirements resulting from the opinions expressed by the managers and the librarians of the Iranian university libraries. Its structure therefore corresponds to the occupations widespread in Iran.

Building on key ideas about the value of savoring in understanding the importance of vacation memories, a sample of Iranians were asked to write a long paragraph (one page) which described a particularly important, happy, and enjoyable vacation occasion. The answers were coded using five categories developed from savoring studies. By benchmarking the scores with data from well-matched samples from other countries (specifically a European sample from Austria, and Chinese and Japanese respondents), the Iranian tourists were shown to be especially appreciative of vacations being grateful, marveling, luxuriating, and having a strong sense of the status value of their time. For Iranians, vacations provide powerful, evocative highlights for their lives.