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The purpose of this paper is to examine customer attitudes toward purchasing counterfeit luxury products (ATPCLP) in two cities in two different countries (Saudi Arabia and Malaysia) by testing the relationships between the various reasons for purchasing those products: social status insecurity, status consumption and value consciousness.

Questionnaires were distributed conveniently to urban customers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Altogether 658 useable questionnaires were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics, general linear model of univariate analysis of variance and structural equation modeling.

Quality, price, popularity and status signaling represent the main motivating factors for their brand choices of counterfeit luxury products among the two country groups of customers. As expected, customers' social status insecurity influences their ATPCLP, but not their status consumption. However, status consumption does positively moderates the relationship of their social status insecurity and their ATPCLP. Furthermore, customers' value consciousness influences their ATPCLP and moderates the relationship between status consumption and ATPCLP. The impact of status consumption on ATPCLP depends on the importance one places on the value of the products. However, the authors found no differences in social status insecurity, status consumption and value consciousness, on their ATPCLP among the customers. Some implications and limitations of the results are discussed.

The use of convenience sampling and mainly college students (in Saudi Arabia) as respondents represent the main limitations of this study.

The practical implication of this study is to discourage the purchasing of counterfeit luxury products in their respective country Malaysian marketers need to stress that their genuine products are of top quality while Saudi marketers need to stress that their genuine products are of well-known brands that are sourced from well-known countries of origin. Besides, Malaysian marketers need to offer genuine products that are not overly priced or ones that indicate value-for-money while Saudi marketers need to convey the message that their genuine products could help enhance or uplift their customers' social status. In this study, the authors did not find any support for differences in ATPCLP between the two rather different Muslim-majority countries. This could be due to the fact that the majority of the respondents were females in their mid-20s and that both countries have a growing number of young customer base, which makes them particularly attractive target customers for branded/luxury products and, at the same time, easy preys to luxury products counterfeiters. This implies that there are still more opportunities for academics to study the topic or related topics in the future.

As far as the authors know, no one has undertaken a comparative study involving two very different Islamic majority countries (more conservative mono-cultural and mono-ethnicity Saudi Arabia versus less conservative multicultural and multi-ethnicity Malaysia) before.

The paper aims to investigate both Western and Eastern corporate branding thoughts and examine the interrelation among four corporate branding dimensions (i.e. corporate name, image, reputation and loyalty) and their joint impact on consumers' product evaluation.

Building on extensive literature, a model of consumers' product evaluation that includes the major determinants of corporate branding is proposed. Based on a sample of 218 Japanese and American consumers, structural equation modeling and general linear model analyses are used to test hypotheses.

The research reveals that Japanese and American consumers have different perceptions with respect to the effect of corporate image and corporate loyalty. The corporate name was found to have a significant impact on corporate image and corporate reputation was found to have a significant affect on corporate loyalty. The corporate reputation is also found to be a mediator of the corporate image's effect on consumers' product evaluation.

The paper suggests that marketers should carefully consider the corporate name when designing their branding strategies. Marketers are also called on to adapt their corporate branding approaches to fit each marketing environment and enhance corporate loyalty to reduce the switching behavior of consumers.

The paper clarifies the interrelation among the four corporate branding dimensions and shows that consumers of different cultures do not perceive in the same way the impact of corporate branding determinants.

The purpose of this study is to examine the opportunities and threats faced by family businesses (FBs) from globalization in a developing country environment and how those businesses responded strategically to these factors.

The research employs a questionnaire survey involving 108 firms listed in a database comprising 235 family businesses (FBs) obtained from the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Doha, Qatar. The principal analytical technique employed is structural equation modeling.

The results indicate that the availability of opportunities arising from globalization seems to be more important to FBs than the threats that they may face as a result of globalization. Also, the availability of collaborative networks represents an opportunity for the FBs to expand their business overseas that in turn influence them to look for sources of funds to expand their business. Finally, the availability of the sources of funds not only influences the firms’ readiness to face the forces of globalization but it also influences them to formulate new strategies to face such forces.

The main limitation of this research is the rather small number of respondents. Nevertheless, the eventual sample of 108 FBs while small can still be regarded as representative. This limits the ability to make broad generalizations from the finding. However, since this is the first time the research on this subject is conducted based on the given framework, the authors believe the findings from this study are still interesting and useful.

The findings suggest that Qatari FBs need to work on establishing networking with foreign partners in order for them to be ready to face globalization. Also, Qatari government needs to find ways to ensure that funding is available for FBs to expand their business either through direct loans or grants or by making sure that financial institutions set aside a portion of their funds for family business lending.

The results indicate that Qatari FBs were responding well to the changes resulting from globalization. Thus, this implies that FBs in Qatar are here to stay and will continue to contribute positively to the Qatari economy and society.

Since this is the first time the research on this subject was conducted in Qatar, the authors believe the findings are interesting and useful particularly for family businesses as well as the Qatari government in their efforts to further develop FBs.

This study aims to investigate the influence of quality of lifestyle (QoL) on affluent Muslim consumers that in turn influences their interests or inclinations, either towards “relationship” or “materialistic” QoL, when purchasing luxury products or services.

This research uses a questionnaire-based survey involving 233 Muslim customers. Data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling.

The results show that relationship QoL of the consumers insignificantly affects their materialistic QoL. Thus, one way of achieving their quality lifestyle is through sharing and generosity and not through materialistic QoL. Also, their relationship QoL affects their basic necessity QoL through physical and community relationships but not through their social relationship. Furthermore, basic necessity QoL negatively affects both materialistic QoL and luxury purchase inclinations, indicating that they generally tend to go for material goods once their basic needs are fulfilled. Finally, there is a significant positive effect of materialistic QoL on their interest in purchasing luxury products or services.

The small sample size used in this research represents the main limitation of this research. This study provides further evidence that the preferences for luxury products/services are not the same across cultures. In the affluent country of Qatar, consumers initially prefer relationship QoL over materialistic QoL. After they have surpassed the basic necessity QoL, only then they would go for materialistic QoL and be inclined to go for luxury products/services.

This study has found that there are great opportunities for international luxury product marketers to market their products and services to Muslim customers in the lucrative market of Qatar or in other affluent Muslim markets similar to that of Qatar.

The findings imply that the lifestyles of affluent Muslim consumers are slightly different from consumers in other societies/cultures in terms of their preference for luxury goods and services. Their interests in buying luxury products and services are somewhat guided by their religious convictions, which caused them to give preference to basic necessity QoL over materialistic QoL, at least at the initial stage of their lifestyle.

The novelty of this study is its focus on understanding whether luxury consumption in a “new rich” Muslim developing country (Qatar) nourishes “materialistic” or “relationship” values of QoL. Also, although researches on materialistic QoL are in abundance, research on relationship QoL is somewhat limited. Thus, the major contribution to this study is the adoption of a more comprehensive approach to investigating QoL of consumers in an affluent Muslim country.

Academic integrity is of great importance to insure a consistent determination of what constitutes plagiarism across regions of the world. Academic integrity research spans a global scale and regardless of where the researcher is from, they are building on a pool of research findings that have no physical boundaries. Basic agreed upon research standards and fundamentals must be established to ensure the validity and reliability of the body of academic research. Problematic to the situation are differences in cultural definitions of what constitutes plagiarism. Therefore, this study aimed to build the body of knowledge on the current condition of plagiarism levels as well as perform a sample comparison of some patterns in Eastern and Western culture. A document analysis was conducted for two universities, one in the USA and one in Saudi Arabia. In addition, a survey was conducted in an academic context in Saudi Arabia to investigate students’ and faculty’s understanding of what constitutes plagiarism. It was predicted that Saudi Arabia is shifting towards a Westernized definition of plagiarism; results partially supported this hypothesis.

ﺗﻌ ﺗﺑ ر اﻟﻧز ا ھﺔ ا ﻷﻛﺎ دﯾ ﻣﯾﺔ ذا ت أ ھﻣﯾ ﺔ ﻛﺑﯾ رة ﻟ ﺿ ﻣﺎ ن ﺗ ﺣدﯾد ﺛﺎﺑ ت ﻟ ﻣﺎ ﯾ ﺷﻛ ل ا ﻻﻧﺗ ﺣﺎ ل ﻋﺑ ر ﻣﻧﺎ طق اﻟ ﻌﺎﻟ م. ﺗ ﻣﺗد أﺑ ﺣﺎ ث اﻟﻧ زا ھﺔ ا ﻷﻛﺎ دﯾ ﻣﯾ ﺔ ﻋﻠ ﻰ ﻧ طﺎ ق ﻋﺎﻟ ﻣ ﻲ وﺑ ﻐ ض اﻟﻧ ظر ﻋن اﻟ ﻣﻛﺎ ن اﻟذ ي ﯾﻧﺗ ﻣ ﻲ إﻟﯾﮫ اﻟﺑﺎ ﺣ ث، ﻓﮭ ﻲ ﺗ ﻌﺗ ﻣد ﻋﻠ ﻰ ﻣ ﺟﻣوﻋﺔ ﻣ ن ﻧﺗﺎﺋ ﺞ ا ﻷﺑ ﺣﺎ ث اﻟﺗ ﻲ ﻻ ﺗ وﺟد ﻟ ﮭﺎ ﺣد ود ﻣﺎدﯾﺔ. ﯾ ﺟ ب و ﺿﻊ اﻟﻣﻌﺎﯾﯾر ا ﻷﺳﺎ ﺳﯾﺔ اﻟﻣﺗﻔ ق ﻋﻠﯾﮭﺎ وا ﻷﺳﺎ ﺳﯾﺎ ت ﻟ ﺿﻣﺎ ن ﺻﺣﺔ وﻣوﺛوﻗﯾﺔ ھﯾﺋﺔ اﻟﺑ ﺣث ا ﻷﻛﺎدﯾﻣﻲ. ا ﻹﺷﻛﺎﻟﯾﺔ ﻓ ﻲ اﻟﻣو ﻗ ف ھ ﻲ ا ﺧ ﺗ ﻼ ﻓﺎ ت ﻓ ﻲ اﻟ ﺗ ﻌر ﯾﻔﺎ ت اﻟ ﺛﻘ ﺎﻓﯾ ﺔ ﻟ ﻣﺎ ﯾ ﺷ ﻛ ل ا ﻻ ﻧﺗ ﺣ ﺎ ل . وﻟ ذﻟ ك ، ھدﻓ ت ھذه اﻟ د را ﺳﺔ إﻟ ﻰ ﺑﻧﺎ ء ﺟﺳد اﻟ ﻣﻌرﻓﺔ ﺣول اﻟ ﺣﺎﻟ ﺔ اﻟ را ھﻧ ﺔ ﻟﻣﺳﺗ وﯾﺎ ت ا ﻻﻧﺗ ﺣﺎ ل وﻛذﻟ ك إ ﺟرا ء ﻣﻘﺎ رﻧ ﺔ ﻧ ﻣوذ ﺟﯾ ﺔ ﻟﺑﻌ ض ا ﻷﻧﻣﺎ ط ﻓ ﻲ اﻟﺛﻘﺎﻓﺔ اﻟ ﺷرﻗﯾ ﺔ واﻟ ﻐرﺑ ﯾ ﺔ. ﺗم إ ﺟرا ء ﺗ ﺣﻠﯾ ل ﻟﻠ وﺛﺎﺋ ق ﻟ ﺟﺎ ﻣﻌﺗﯾ ن، وا ﺣدة ﻓ ﻲ اﻟ وﻻﯾﺎ ت اﻟ ﻣﺗ ﺣدة ا ﻷﻣرﯾ ﻛﯾ ﺔ ووا ﺣدة ﻓ ﻲ اﻟ ﻣﻣﻠ ﻛﺔ اﻟ ﻌرﺑ ﯾ ﺔ اﻟ ﺳﻌودﯾ ﺔ. ﺑﺎ ﻹ ﺿ ﺎﻓﺔ إﻟ ﻰ ذﻟ ك، أ ﺟرﯾ ت د را ﺳﺔ ا ﺳﺗﻘ ﺻ ﺎﺋﯾ ﺔ ﻓ ﻲ ﺳﯾﺎ ق أﻛ ﺎ دﯾﻣﻲ ﻓ ﻲ اﻟ ﻣﻣﻠﻛﺔ اﻟ ﻌرﺑﯾ ﺔ اﻟ ﺳﻌودﯾ ﺔ ﻟﻠﺗ ﺣﻘﯾ ق ﻓ ﻲ ﻓﮭم اﻟ طﻼب وھﯾﺋ ﺔ اﻟﺗد رﯾ س ﻟ ﻣﺎ ﯾ ﺷﻛ ل ا ﻻﻧﺗ ﺣﺎ ل. ﻛﺎ ن ﻣ ن اﻟ ﻣﺗ وﻗ ﻊ أ ن ﺗﺗﺟ ﮫ اﻟﻣﻣﻠ ﻛﺔ اﻟﻌر ﺑﯾ ﺔ اﻟﺳ ﻌو دﯾ ﺔ ﻧﺣو ﺗﻌرﯾ ف اﻟ ﻐرﺑﯾﯾ ن ﻟ ﻼﻧﺗﺣ ﺎ ل وﻗ د د ﻋﻣ ت اﻟ ﻧﺗ ﺎﺋﺞ ھذه اﻟﻔ ر ﺿ ﯾﺔ ﺟز ﺋﯾﺎ.

Promoting and supporting entrepreneurship is a critical pillar of Oman’s vision 2040. The need to understand to what extent the effectiveness of public funds given to micro and small enterprises in Oman as well as to understand the characteristics of the funds that can drive the impact of such government financial support programs on those enterprises motivated us to conduct this study. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the government loan support programs on job creation in micro and small enterprises in Oman.

Hypotheses were tested using data collected from 1,127 micro and small enterprises that received loan supports from the Government of Oman. The authors explored the impact of a set of predictors on a dependent variable (job creation) to understand to what extent do the supported micro and small enterprise characteristics significantly influence job creations in the enterprises. Multiple regression and General Linear Model Multivariate Analysis statistical techniques were used to test the hypotheses.

There is a positive relationship between government supported firms’ characteristics and job creation for both nationals and expatriates’ employment. The empirical results suggest that, when compared with the micro enterprises, the small enterprises were able to create more jobs for nationals than for expatriates, although the effect of the support program on job creation was significant for both groups.

This paper contributes to the literature debate on the effectiveness of Oman’s entrepreneurship policy. Using multivariate analysis, the study analyzes the public support program for enterprises in Oman and how it can be improved to support the Oman 2040 Vision.

Prior research has found that consumers’ purchasing behavior varies amongst consumers of different cultures. The purpose of this paper is to examine the behavior of consumers of luxury products by investigating the relationships between their collective-oriented values (pertaining to religion, family, and community), and their materialism or materialistic orientation, resulting in them using such products to signal their social status to others, and whether they are getting satisfaction from using such products, in an effort to understand how the behaviors vary between Malaysian and Saudi Arabian consumers.

Data were collected by a questionnaire survey where 1,388 self-administered questionnaires were collected from Baby boomers, Generations X and Y respondents in two major cities: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The authors also assessed the structure and reliability of the constructs developed for this research as well as tested some hypotheses regarding their interrelationships, across the two different cities/cultures.

Findings demonstrate the complexity of cultures and lifestyles of consumers and societies. For Saudi consumers, their materialistic tendency is significantly influenced by their religious, family values (inverse relationship), and community values, whereas for the Malaysian consumers, this tendency was only significantly influenced by their family values. For the Saudis, there were strong positive relationships between materialistic values and product status signaling and between product status signaling and product satisfaction, whereas for the Malaysians, both relationships were also positive but only moderate in strength. Overall, the results show that the Malaysians were more materialistic than the Saudis. But, since the Saudis have higher income, they are in a better position to fulfill their materialistic desire than their Malaysian counterparts.

The convenience sampling used for the study is the main limitation. Another limitation of this study is that it was done in only one major city in each of the two countries.

Consumers from the two cultures/cities do use luxury products to signal their status in the society, despite their different cultures and country income levels and that the consumption of those products gave both of them satisfaction. Hence, as a practical implication, international marketers of luxury products and services could and should continue to market their products and services in these two countries. However, they need to understand that the factors that influence the consumers’ materialism are different between the two cultures/cities and hence their marketing strategies need to take this into consideration.

All the issues discussed in this study have not been previously empirically investigated and compared in two different developing countries – Saudi Arabia, a mono-cultural and high-income country) and Malaysia (a multi-cultural and upper middle income country) despite their rapid growth rates and economic importance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of key demographics (i.e. gender, age, education and income) on the rich Muslim consumers’ Domains of Living (DoL). DoL were broken down into being, belonging and becoming domains. Relationship between the DoL and luxury consumption behavior (LCB) was analyzed as well. Being domain included elements that indicated who one is and how one defines the self; belonging domain linked an individual to his/her environment; and becoming domain referred to the set of social activities that an individual performed.

A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to get insights into the LCB of affluent Muslim consumers and how these insights related to key demographics and DoL. The researched population was Qatari consumers who were buying luxury products and belonged to a high-income bracket. Stratified sampling method was considered appropriate because the key objective of the study was to generalize the results across the affluent Qatari population. Stratification of the population was primarily done through the selected demographic variables. This research survey, conducted in Qatar, resulted in the collection of 213 usable questionnaires. General Linear Model Multivariate Analysis and Multiple Regression Analysis were used to establish the goodness of fit and to test the proposed hypotheses.

Results indicated that there were significant LCB differences between the genders, age groups, income levels and educational background. Furthermore, there was a significant association between the three DOLs and LCB. There were indications that for affluent Qatari Muslims, consumption of luxury products had become a socially accepted norm. Fulfillment of luxury needs did not isolate rich Muslims from their family and friends or made them unhappy about luxury consumption. This behavior could be related to high levels of affluence among Qataris that makes acquisition of luxury products easy and not effort or time intensive.

Islamic luxury markets need to adopt an appropriate balance of global (considering global luxury trends) and local (based on cultural, social and religious forces) marketing strategies to engage rich Muslim consumers.

This paper presents LCB from the perspective of affluent Muslim consumers within the context of DoL and through the lens of key demographic variables.

The purpose of this paper is to address the gap in the literature by extending the service profit chain (SPC) model and testing the validity of the proposed model in high-contact service contexts rather than by testing the key elements of the SPC in regard to a single business.

The study uses the exploratory factor analysis to identify a set of observables to use in representing the relationships included in the proposed extended model and employs the structural equation modeling to test the eight proposed hypothesis.

The study shows that the best-fit structural model supports the notion that employee internal service quality drives employee satisfaction that drives employee loyalty and employee productivity. In addition, employee productivity is shown as partially mediating the relationship between employee satisfaction and employee loyalty.

The results presented in this study have managerial implications and shed light on the importance of operational factors in the service industry, in particular high-contact services.

The integration of operations management and SPC still remain limited in the literature. Therefore, the study extends the SPC by integrating other operational factors, namely, employee productivity and internal service quality, and tests its validity in high contact services where the prolonged contact between the customer and the service system creates more opportunities to influence a customer’s perception of service quality.

This study aims to focus on how informal value transfer networks, Hawala business in particular, used social exchanges in their business dealings. More specifically, the conducted research looked into how social exchange theory was used in Hawala business relationship initiation and management.

Twenty-one depth interviews were conducted with Hawala Network members, and Hawala customers, in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The collected qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis and NVivo 11 software.

The study outcome indicated that Social Exchange Theory was a principal relationship driver in Hawala Networks. Especially, trust had a pivotal role in evolvement and nurturing of Hawala Network business and social exchanges. Other relationship variables, namely, reciprocity, religious affiliation, reputation and information sharing had a significant part in relationship building as well. Results supported a prominent influence of time in carefully controlled and rigorously assessed transformation of Hawala relationships. This metamorphosis converted an exchange from short-term into a long-term orientation where limited amount transactions changed into large sum transactions and restricted information exchange moved to elaborate information sharing. In addition, findings revealed that monetary and non-monetary interactions between Hawala Network members took the form of a homogeneous club, with shared social, cultural, religious and ethnic values. In particular, financially constrained and illiterate social groups preferred Hawala services due to ease of servicing in the form of minimal bureaucracy, fast transfers and low service charges. These marginalized fractions of society had limited access to formal banking which made Hawala business their main (and in most cases only) source for sending and receiving financial remittances. Hawala Networks provided an effective alternative to formal banking for disadvantaged communities.

This study provided unique and useful insights into the nature of social exchanges within Hawala Networks. Especially, it provided clarification on how informal networked businesses used Social Exchange Theory to by-pass the need for legal protection and formal contracts. Furthermore, the study highlighted the role Hawala business played in providing essential banking services (e.g. transfer of money and micro-lending) to educationally and economically deprived individuals.