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E-learning has become a predominant platform for education as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, privacy issues have emerged from online learning that posed challenges on the users of e-learning systems. Privacy preservation in Muslim-majority countries with conservative cultures was a concern based on socio-cultural norms. This paper aims to analyze this situation through the lens of social identity theory.

This practice paper represents a conceptual viewpoint.

In this paper, the authors offer recommended solutions as best practices for Muslim-majority countries and similar contexts. Such proposed solutions consider social and cultural influences in e-learning systems to have an effective education process.

This practice paper is unique in its approach, as it documents the privacy concerns in Muslim-majority countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This research aims to provide an empirical assessment of consumer sentiment towards corporate sustainability practices in the context of developing countries, specifically Egypt.

A survey was deployed to measure the importance of corporate sustainability activities to consumers.

The results demonstrate that consumers are concerned with all the measured dimensions of corporate sustainability practices, yet some of the dimensions are more critical to them than others.

By providing an overview of how consumers' purchase behavior is affected by corporate sustainability practices, this research contributes to knowledge on understanding more about sustainable consumer behavior in developing countries, which is scarce. Moreover, this research goes further by segmenting sustainable consumers into groups based on their sustainability concerns.

The purpose of this paper is to present a new conceptualization of sustainability. The authors adopt a macromarketing perspective based on Islamic traditions while delving into divine attributes (Asmaa’ Allah-ul-Husna) as an extension to the foundational principle of God-consciousness that lies at the heart of Islamic theology and jurisprudence.

This approach relies on identifying and extending the conceptual overlaps between the literature domains of sustainability, Islamic macromarketing and Islamic theology.

Through adopting an Islamic lens, the authors identify that relating to divinity empowers the Muslim faithful to mediate between the transient and transcendent, and to make judgments according to the attributes of their creator Allah (the Abrahamic monotheistic God).

The paper adopts a conceptual approach that expands the concept of sustainability from an Islamic perspective to take on a holistic systems approach.

By making these links, the implications are fivefold: the imperative to strive for sustainable activities has greater resonance; the remit of sustainability is wider; the time horizon for accountability is extended; greater risk-tasking is encouraged; and, finally, sustainability is embedded and diffused throughout business activities – as opposed to being an upstream strategic objective.

The merge in conceptualization between sustainability and Islamic macromarketing can prove relevant to scholars delving into the new realm of Islamic macromarketing, as well as to both Muslim and non-Muslim communities in their quest for sustainable development.

The paper is original in identifying an unprecedented perspective on sustainability, namely, “Islamic-macromarketing sustainability”, which warrants further future research related to the different stakeholders involved in the Islamic macromarketing system.

In this paper, the philosophy of John Rawls, known as “Justice as Fairness,” is discussed. This philosophy examines the responsibilities social actors hold toward their societal organizations. From an Islamic perspective, justice is pivotal in safeguarding collective interests, aligning with Rawls' conviction that just societies nurture happiness and foster well-being across various life aspects. To achieve customer welfare, our viewpoint underscores the importance of justice in reflecting on consumer well-being from both Rawls’ theory and Islamic perspectives.

We adopt a conceptual approach where secular views of Rawls’ “Theory of Justice” are merged with the Islamic view, resulting in novel insights regarding the hermeneutics involved in the notion of justice and the preservation of consumer well-being.

Our analysis reveals that John Rawls' “A Theory of Justice” aligns with the Islamic perspective in several respects yet diverges in others, notably in the concepts of pre-creation consciousness and divine guidance. These distinctions are emphasized in our paper.

Our paper presents a perspective on justice founded on the concepts of the “Original Position” and the “Veil of Ignorance.” The commentary explores consumer well-being by integrating Rawls' principles with an analysis that elucidates the role justice plays in enhancing societal welfare.

The purpose of this study is to combine the two fields of transformative service research (TSR) and evidence-based design (EBD) to improve the healthcare service provided in hospitals. TSR and EBD are two separate research fields that aim to improve the well-being of consumers within the service sector. Research propositions for making changes in the hospital physical environment to improve the patient well-being are developed to link the two fields.

This work takes a theoretical approach to develop research propositions based on the literature. The research propositions guide the development of the framework developed for future studies under TSR and EBD.

The research propositions should be tested empirically in future studies to develop a methodology for transforming a hospital physical environment. The implementation of these propositions would allow hospitals to reach a new and more sustainable competitive advantage.

The relationship between the domains of TSR and EBD has not been explored before in the literature. This study presents an unprecedented work that is needed to improve patient well-being. It contributes to TSR and EBD by providing a research agenda for healthcare practitioners and researchers to pave the way for achieving improved healthcare services focusing on patient well-being and sustainability.

This paper aims to examine practical wisdom from the Islamic religion elaborating on how it pertains to the sustainability mind-set. The purpose is to assess whether the Islamic and sustainability mind-sets coincide and if so, how they do.

The first two chapters of the Holy Qur’an were divided into parts based on the divisions in the exegesis by Abu Bakr Al-Jaza’eri. Next, a qualitative content analysis of the main sustainability themes in these chapters was conducted. The first stage of the content analysis involved the collection of Qur’anic verses related to the sustainability concepts. Following that, inductive interpretive analysis was conducted in the second stage of the content analysis, where key sustainability lessons within the agreed upon Qur’anic verses were extracted.

The empirical study reported in this paper reveals 10 lessons from the examined Qur’anic text that pertain to the sustainability mind-set. Each of these lessons appears to foretell the wisdom behind the sustainability mind-set.

This study contributes to the literature on sustainability and Islam in two ways. First, the analysis results in key lessons relating to sustainability, the majority of which were not covered in existing literature. Second, the research takes a holistic approach to finding commonalities between the sustainability mind-set and the Islamic mind-set, instead of focusing on a specific aspect of sustainability such as the environment.

The purpose of this paper is to take the case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a starting point for the analysis of the blend between the notions of halal and luxury in the Arab region because the UAE presents an interesting multicultural yet Islamic blend, which has yet not been investigated. Scholarly calls for the assessment of the relationship between consumption and wellbeing have raised interest in conspicuous consumption research. The global phenomenon of luxury consumption has drawn researcher interest at recent times. Despite consumer affluence in the oil-rich Arabian Gulf, research into this phenomenon at this emerging region to-date is still lacking. As the Arabian Gulf is also particularly Islamic, a significant body of literature has addressed halal purchasing yet had failed to examine the intersections between luxury and halal consumption.

The research takes a qualitative methodological approach utilizing unstructured observation and content analysis of 138 visuals collected from prominent shopping malls in Dubai and Abu-Dhabi during the occasion of the minor Islamic Eid following Ramadan.

The results show that the UAE consumer culture combines authenticity with modernity portraying highly savvy cosmopolitan consumers sharing the global values of urbanization within the halal parameters.

The limitations relate to the utilization of the qualitative methodological approach; hence, the research findings need to be generalized with caution to relevant contexts. This research should be regarded as a critical starting point in analyzing the syllogisms between the notions of halal and affluence.

The findings are relevant to consumer culture research which looks at the implications of modern consumption within the boundaries of halal. The research presents a critical approach and questioning of the overlaps between halal consumption, responsible consumption and luxury consumption in a unique multicultural and affluent setting which is the UAE.

The present paper invites academics and practitioners to introspect into the dimensions of responsible consumption, luxury consumption and halal consumption. It asks the critical metaphorical question of whether halal and luxury consumption are two faces of the same coin.

The research concludes with raising critical questions around the boundaries of luxury consumption from an Islamic perspective, thereby combining elements of religion and cultural approaches to Islamic marketing.

Understand the implementation phase of sustainable start-ups. Identifying the 4 Ps of sustainable start-ups. Understand the different types of challenges faced by Up-Fuse regarding their target customers and their value proposition. Highlighting the important strategic decisions that sustainable start-ups have to consider in their business cycle. Analyzing the differences between the market conditions globally and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Sustainable entrepreneurship is the type of entrepreneurship that is market-oriented and creative while at the same time putting the environment, society and economy into consideration. Sustainable entrepreneurs offer value through their goods and services that are beneficial or at least do not harm the environment or the society. The case provides background information and facts about doing business in the MENA region and Egypt specifically. Afterward, the case study emphasizes the challenges that are faced by sustainable entrepreneurs in Egypt through analyzing the case of a sustainable Egyptian start-up. The case study is on Up-Fuse, one of the sustainable start-ups in Egypt that produce backpacks, shoulder and waist bags, laptop sleeves, cases and pouches. This case study aims at describing the different challenges and strategic decisions that sustainable start-ups go through in Egypt.

This case targets undergraduate management students, marketing students, master of business administration students, entrepreneurship students and entrepreneurs. This case can be taught in courses with marketing, entrepreneurship and sustainability focus.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Conspicuous consumption and sustainable consumption are commonly understood as being in contradiction with each other. Yet, scholars have recently become increasingly interested in examining positive relationships between these forms of consumption. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize the synergies and contradictions between sustainable and luxury consumption and proposing whether and how conspicuous motives can foster a shift towards sustainable consumption in newly industrialized countries in general and Egypt in particular.

This paper is a conceptual note, intended as a starting point and acting as an eye-opener regarding the values inherent in both conspicuous and sustainable consumption and the potential influence that conspicuous motivations could have on the latter.

The paper discusses the possibilities for and limitations of conspicuous motives to foster sustainable consumption in newly industrialized countries in the Middle East. The adoption of westernized lifestyles, spreading in Middle Eastern countries, can represent a venue for motivating sustainable consumption behaviours as a means of status distinction. On the other hand, the trickle-down effect and the preconditions of visibility and exclusiveness pose risks on promoting sustainable consumption by addressing conspicuous motives.

The paper suggests that the synergistic interplay between conspicuous and sustainable consumption, as well as barriers and motivations underpinning both constructs, needs to be empirically researched, while factoring in the cultural specifics of the countries under study, as cultural nuances can influence the dynamics of interaction between conspicuous and sustainable behaviours.

Given the salience of the relationship between luxury and sustainable consumption and the focus of most studies on early-industrialized countries, insights regarding the possible influences of conspicuous motives on sustainable consumption in newly industrialized countries are warranted. With the scarcity of research examining the ambiguous relationship between conspicuous and sustainable consumption in newly industrialized countries, this paper contributes by providing insights about the conditions that can help conspicuous motives promote sustainable consumption in newly industrialized countries.

The paper examines three main stakeholders in the market and their roles toward achieving sustainability marketing. Those stakeholders are consumers, companies and policymakers. The current study is examining consumers’ attitudes toward sustainability marketing and their purchase intentions of sustainable products through the use of theory of planned behavior. The paper is also examining the role of companies and policymakers in encouraging consumers to consider sustainability in their purchasing decisions.

Concurrent research study is applied, where qualitative and quantitative research methods are conducted at the same time for different purposes with equal weights. Qualitative interviews were applied with fast-moving consumer goods companies and policymakers, while quantitative surveys were applied with Egyptian consumers.

The results showed that companies are taking serious and effective steps in transforming their marketing strategies into sustainable marketing ones. The government role is still limited as there are no strict laws and regulations that force companies and factories in Egypt to develop sustainability marketing strategies. Consumers’ attitudes were highly affected by firms' sustainable practices as well as subjective norms that led to influencing their intentions toward purchasing sustainable products.

Although the topic of sustainability marketing is considered by a plenty of researchers in the academic discipline, there are no studies that have combined the main three stakeholders' roles in achieving sustainability marketing in one study. The study highlights the impact of government role and firms' role on consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions toward sustainable products, especially convenient products. This was done through the adoption of the theory of planned behavior.