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This study aims to identify the factors that influence customer satisfaction in the banking sector from the perspective of employee characteristics. More specifically, this study identifies the impact of employee etiquettes, employee performance, technical selling skills and customer-oriented behavior on customer satisfaction in the banking industry. The study also seeks to investigate the mediating effect of employee etiquettes, employee performance and technical selling skills on the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer-oriented behavior.

The data were collected with the help of a Likert scale questionnaire from the active banking customers in Karachi, Pakistan, who visit bank branches once a month minimum. For 268 responses, partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was employed for hypothesis testing.

The results showed a positive and significant relationship between customer-oriented behavior and employee etiquettes, technical selling skills and performance. The employee’s customer-oriented behavior, etiquettes, technical selling skills and performance were also found to be significantly related with customer satisfaction. Finally, the results revealed that technical selling skills, employee performance and employee etiquettes partially mediate the relationship between customer-oriented behavior and customer satisfaction.

It is recommended that banking employees should adopt customer-oriented behavior in order to achieve and maintain customer satisfaction. The bank managers should also work on improving the etiquettes and performance of the employees and provide them detailed technical knowledge of the services and products offered by the bank.

Arguably, it is one of the first studies to examine the mediating effects of employees' technical selling skills and employees' performance on the relationship between customer orientation and customer satisfaction, specifically in the banking industry.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that influence the intention to choose family takaful in Pakistan through using theory of reasoned action (TRA) model. While family takaful is not a new financial solution in the market, the main factors that motivate customers to purchase family takaful remain unexplored. To fill this gap, this paper investigated the impact of attitude (ATT), subjective norm (SBN) with the addition of Halal certification (HCT) to predict the behavioral intention of customers in Pakistan.

The sample data of 250 respondents was drawn for this paper. The respondents were the regular visitors to the Islamic banks in Pakistan and were selected through judgmental sampling. Of 250, total 237 responses were included in the final study, after excluding the inappropriate and missing responses. For the final data, EFA, CFA and SEM were used to test the significance of relationships between the IVs (ATT, SBN and HCT) and DV (BI).

Findings from the SEM analysis suggest that ATT, SBN and HCT have positive significant relationships with BI. SBN appeared to be the most influencing factor that influences the behavioral intention to purchase family takaful.

The paper has practical implications for takaful managers and academics. Bank managers can draw marketing communication policy based on the findings of this paper. While for academics, this paper laid a foundation for future studies by integrating Halal certification in TRA as a predictor to the behavioral intention towards selecting family takaful. The empirical nature of this paper will enhance understanding of the Islamic financial market and its customers specifically.

The findings of the paper also hold significance for managers and policy-makers of Islamic financial institutes. It guides to design the marketing strategies to develop the right attitude of customers, emphasize subjective norms and Halal certification when communicating the family takaful products to customers. As such, brand managers of family takaful may leverage the role of belief in developing the right attitude and then linking it to the family takaful brand. The attitude is rooted in the belief, and for family takaful brands, it potentially be useful to allow it a broader space in the brand strategies. Likewise, subjective norms in terms of choosing family takaful comprises the perceived social pressure of customers feel towards purchasing takaful for families. It highlights the role of social contacts and effect of their behavior and choices over customers. The recommendations and positive feedback customers receive from their social contacts can be instrumental in instilling the sale of family takaful. In the context of Halal certification, the findings of this paper call takaful brand managers’ attention to the significant role Shariah compliance plays for potential customers of family takaful.

The findings of the paper also have significance for managers and policy-makers of Islamic financial institutes. The findings of this paper guide them to develop marketing strategies, develop the right attitude of customers, emphasize subjective norms and Halal certification when communicating the family Takaful products to customers.

Family takaful is relatively a new phenomenon that demands empirical evidence for academics and managers. This is one of the early studies that investigates the determinants of purchase of family takaful through extended TRA model. Therefore, this investigation will serve as a cornerstone to the scant knowledge of family takaful in Pakistan and around the globe.

By extending the service robot acceptance model (sRAM), this study aims to explore and enhance the acceptance of chatbots. The study considered functional, relational, social, user and gratification elements in determining the acceptance of chatbots.

By using the purposive sampling technique, data of 321 service customers, gathered from millennials through a questionnaire and subsequent PLS-SEM modeling, was applied for hypotheses testing.

Findings revealed that the functional elements, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use affect acceptance of chatbots. However, in social elements, only perceived social interactivity affects the acceptance of chatbots. Moreover, both user and gratification elements (hedonic motivation and symbolic motivation) significantly influence the acceptance of chatbots. Lastly, trust is the only contributing factor for the acceptance of chatbots in the relational elements.

The study extends the literature related to chatbots and offers several guidelines to the service industry to effectively employ chatbots.

This is one of the first studies that used newly developed sRAM in determining chatbot acceptance. Moreover, the study extended the sRAM by adding user and gratification elements and privacy concerns as originally sRAM model was limited to functional, relational and social elements.

A conceptual confusion has evolved in brand hate (BH) research mainly due to multiple conceptualizations, models and constructs in the field. As such, there is an urgent need to bring these insights together for a holistic understanding of research in BH, fostering its growth. This paper aims to fill this theoretical gap by bringing together the field of BH and delineating opportunities for further research.

A systematic literature review was conducted for a period of about two decades, from 1998 to August 2021. The authors included the English articles published in peer-reviewed academic journals with full texts relevant to this study, leading to a usable sample of 55 articles.

The authors’ findings reveal that the literature has inadequately distinguished BH as emotion and relationship, while the theoretical domain used to explore BH remains largely dominated by the psychology literature. Furthermore, BH research has primarily focused on services, with little distinction made between hatred across product and service context, with most studies set in developed countries. The authors further identify the need to investigate boundary conditions influencing BH and develop a more robust measure of BH to capture its dynamic facet.

By presenting a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the research in BH and highlighting the future research avenues, this study is believed to spur scholarly research and serve as a valuable tool for the researchers in advancing the research in BH.

Analysis of determinants and antecedents of BH provide managers an opportunity to nip the evil in the bud by preventing such situations that may lead to BH. Furthermore, insights into different BH consequences and boundary conditions allow brand managers to devise appropriate strategies to mitigate adverse reactions and foster positive consumer–brand relationships.

This study provides a thorough analysis of the current state of BH research in one place and draws a road map for scholars to further the research in this area.

The purpose of this study is to predict family takāful purchase intentions (FTPIs) using an extended theory of planned behavior (TPB) with relevant mediating and moderating factors.

This study is based on a survey of 384 Muslim employees who work in both government and private organizations. This study used partial least square structural equation model (PLS-SEM) for hypothesis testing, predictive relevance and measuring the effect size of the model.

The study found that attitude (ATT), subjective norms (SN), perceived behavioral control (PBC), saving motives (SM), promotional campaign (PC) and religiosity (RG) directly contribute to the prediction of FTPIs. Furthermore, ATT and SM partially mediate between PC and FTPI. Moreover, RG significantly moderates the association between ATT, SN, SM and FTPI, while RG insignificantly moderates the link between PBC and FTPI.

This study provides insight into understanding the factors leading to an enhanced understanding of FTPI in a country where the industry is growing very fast. Further, the study suggests informative and persuasive promotions to encourage FTPI in Bangladesh and similar countries.

This study provides insights into previously unaddressed FTPI among Muslim employees in Bangladesh and similar countries. Prior work on determining FTPI has not focused on promotional campaigns and saving motives, and thus, this study has extended TPB to understand the phenomenon.

This study aims to examine a proposed model based on a combination of relationship marketing and service quality dimensions as a significant predictor of corporate image. More importantly, it attempts to identify whether corporate reputation mediates the relationship between and customer loyalty and corporate image in the takāful (Islamic insurance) context, from the viewpoint of Saudi Arabian customers.

An online survey was conducted through an adopted questionnaire from 362 family takāful policyholders from Saudi Arabia. Also, structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed model on the direct relationships of the related constructs, as well as the establishment of corporate reputation as a mediator concerning its relationship between corporate image and customer loyalty.

This study discovered that only two dimensions of service quality (i.e. reliability and assurance) and three aspects of relationship marketing (i.e. Islamic ethical behaviour, financial and structural bonds) have a significant impact on the corporate image of the takāful providers. This study further concluded that corporate reputation mediates the relationship between corporate image and customer loyalty.

This study has presented and tested the perceived service quality using the PAKSERV model in the takāful (Islamic insurance) industry, particularly in the Saudi Arabian context. This research identified the dimensions of PAKSERV (i.e. reliability and assurance) that influence the corporate image and simultaneously, the aspects of relationship marketing (i.e. Islamic ethical behaviour, financial and structural bonds) are also connected to the corporate image. Corporate reputation acts as a mediator between the relationship of corporate image and customer loyalty. This study, nevertheless, only focused in the takāful industry alone, and these findings could also be tested for its validity to different services in other potential studies because of the diversity of the service industry.

The findings of this study highlight the specific components of PAKSERV measures in influencing the corporate image. Furthermore, relationship marketing addressing Islamic ethical behaviour, as well as the three facets of bonding – structural, financial and social bonds are also incorporated and connected to corporate image. Hence, this study will increase the understanding of the impact of service quality concerning the PAKSERV model and relationship marketing on corporate image, reputation and customer loyalty of the takāful operators in Saudi Arabia.

End-of-life electronic products exchange (EEPE) program could be an effective approach to e-waste recycling that requires consumers' participation. Thus, it is highly recommended to study factors stirring consumer behavior with regard to EEPE programs, which is largely under-explored in the existing literature. Hence, grounding on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Attitude-Behavior-Context (A-B-C) model, this study attempts to understand the determinants of consumers' EEPE intention by adding contextual and non-cognitive factors to the proposed research model.

Employing a purposive sampling technique, respondents were drawn from university students and general consumers of electronic products in a developing country. Factor analysis, structural equation modeling (SEM) and SPSS PROCESS were used to analyze the collected data.

Empirical results confirm that subjective norm has the strongest positive impact on EEPE intention. Following this, attitude toward EEPE and perceived behavioral control play positive mediating roles in determining EEPE intention. Moreover, government initiatives moderate the unsolicited “attitude–intention gap”.

Drawing on this study's outcomes, the study urges to form comprehensive awareness-building campaigns, rules and regulations regarding proper e-waste management, promote “exchange offer” programs and educational programs to encourage EEPE.

This study makes two fresh contributions to the extant literature. First, by coupling the TPB and A-B-C theory, this study showed that both attitude (i.e. attitude toward EEPE) and context (i.e. government initiatives) are essential in eliciting individual-level post-consumption pro-environmental behavior (PEB) (i.e. EEPE). Second, government initiatives elucidate the attitude–intention gap in the reverse logistics context, especially in developing countries.

The rapid adoption of social media has resulted in a fundamental shift in the way communication and collaboration take place. While social media is recognized as an important marketing communication tool, it has become overlooked how social media marketing activities (user-generated and firm-generated content) influence brand equity creation in the higher education sector. Drawing from social identity theory, this study identifies how higher education institutions develop customer-based brand equity using social media marketing and social brand engagement, taking cross-comparison between high and low subjective norms.

A survey was used to collect data from a sample of 936 undergraduates of private higher education institutions in Sri Lanka and Vietnam. These data were gathered using purposive sampling, and in testing the hypothesis and structure among the variables, structural equation modeling was used to determine the relationship between the study variables.

For the conceptual framework, the authors found that the structural equation model complies with the empirical data. The structural equation model shows that social brand engagement mediates the relationship between user-generated content, firm-generated content and brand equity. Further, the subjective norms were found to moderate the relationship between user-generated content, firm-generated content and social brand engagement, highlighting that the lower the subjective norms the higher the influence on social brand engagement as students receive low pressure and influence from external parties.

The study was conducted at private higher education institutes in Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Future research could benefit from the perceptions of undergraduates in public higher education institutes. Future researchers could widen the diversity of service settings in the sample and replicate this investigation to discover if the results are consistent across the whole services sector.

The current research contributes to the services marketing and branding literature in the higher education context. The paper presents the crucial elements in building brand equity for higher education institutes to fill the existing gaps in higher education branding literature. The findings of the current study provide strategies to improve the higher education sector.

This study aims to test a proposed model based on a combination of the relationship marketing and service quality dimensions as predictors of corporate image and customer loyalty via corporate reputation in the Takaful context. More importantly, this study compares the Takaful operators’ services with the perceived service quality and the relationship marketing from the Malaysian and Saudi Arabian customers’ viewpoint.

A survey-based study was conducted through a questionnaire, and the data was collected from Takaful customers (362 Saudi Arabian and 350 Malaysian customers) through an online survey. Structural equation modelling is used to test the proposed model. Besides, the perception of Takaful customers between Saudi Arabia and Malaysia is compared through a multi-group analysis.

The results from the Malaysian context reveal that positive perceptions of service quality PAKSERV dimensions (personalization, reliability and tangibility) and positive perceptions of relationship marketing dimensions (Islamic ethical behaviour and structural bonds) have a significant influence on the corporate image. Alternatively, in the Saudi Arabian context, results have shown that the positive perceptions of service quality PAKSERV dimensions (assurance and reliability) of service quality and the positive perceptions of the relationship marketing dimensions (Islamic ethical behaviour, structural bonds and financial bonds) have a significant influence on the corporate image. The differences in both countries’ results can also enhance the corporate image on corporate reputation, merely in Malaysia. By contrast, corporate reputation is deemed a significant predictor of customer loyalty, represented as valid for both contexts.

The proposed research model tested in Takaful Malaysian and Saudi Arabian can be replicated in other contexts – in terms of country and industry. Moreover, the current study reveals the crucial role of corporate image in forming corporate reputation. Future research could be focussed on the importance of other emotional or affective variables that may be involved in determining corporate reputation. Finally, future studies can be carried with another cultural perspective to have more diversified socio-economic implications.

It is suggested that Takaful operators from both Malaysia and Saudi Arabia need to put maximum effort towards customer loyalty by bringing both the dimensions of service quality and the relationship marketing in compliance with the principles of Islamic business transaction. The findings of the specific dimensions of service quality and relationship marketing will contribute to customers’ perceptions of corporate image and reputation in the Takaful industry.

The present study tested a blended facet of customer’s overall experience through service quality (PAKSERV) and customer service provider connectivity (relationship marketing) to predict the corporate image of the highly growing financial marketplace (Takaful). Contextually, this study contributes to delineating the factors (corporate reputation) affecting customer loyalty rather than a customer satisfaction tradition. Significantly, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia were chosen for this study, as they are currently the two fast-growing markets for Islamic financial services, especially with regards to the Takaful products and offerings.