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Article
Publication date: 14 December 2022

Zulfiqar Ali Jumani and Nazlida Muhamad

The religious-based brands are increasing daily, and different organizations target religious consumers. However, a scarcity of research in developing nations makes it difficult…

Abstract

Purpose

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.

Design/methodology/approach

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.

Findings

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.

Research limitations/implications

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.

Practical implications

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

Originality/value

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.

Details

Journal of Islamic Marketing, vol. 14 no. 11
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-0833

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 May 2019

Seyedeh Maryam Mirkhah and Nasser Karami

Brand and religion, although seemingly irrelevant, are sometimes considered as competitors in satisfying certain consumer needs. The purpose of this paper is to explore the link…

Abstract

Purpose

Brand and religion, although seemingly irrelevant, are sometimes considered as competitors in satisfying certain consumer needs. The purpose of this paper is to explore the link between religious commitment and purchase of self-expressive (SE) brand products in the context of the Iranian consumer market. Furthermore, this paper investigates the effect of religious commitment on consumers’ brand recall for Western versus local brand products.

Design/methodology/approach

Distributing questionnaires was used to collect primary data. Use of statistical techniques, specifically inferential and descriptive statistics were used through SPSS software.

Findings

Study 1 findings support that there is a strong link between religious commitment and purchase of SE brand products; the more the consumers’ religiosity, the less their preference for SE brand products. The results of Study 2 illustrate that there is no meaningful link between the religious commitment of individuals and their brand recall for Western products. Furthermore, there are key correlations between religious commitment and gender and also between brand purchase and age and brand purchase and income.

Research limitations/implications

The results help domestic and international marketers form a better understanding of consumers’ behavior regarding SE brand products and brand recall depending on consumers’ religious commitment. The findings also assist marketers and brand managers in designing more effective advertisements and branding strategies based on their chosen target consumer market.

Originality/value

Little research has examined the relationship between religiosity and its effect on the purchase of brand products; this is the first academic study analyzing the effect of commitment to Islam on purchase behavior of SE brand products in the context of the Islamic consumer market.

Details

Journal of Islamic Marketing, vol. 11 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-0833

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 May 2022

Rafi M.M.I. Chowdhury, Denni Arli and Felix Septianto

This study aims to examine how religiosity influences brand loyalty toward religiously positioned brands (Chick-fil-A, Forever 21, etc.) when these brands engage in morally…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine how religiosity influences brand loyalty toward religiously positioned brands (Chick-fil-A, Forever 21, etc.) when these brands engage in morally controversial actions.

Design/methodology/approach

Study 1 investigates how religiosity affects brand loyalty when religiously positioned brands engage in religiousness-related vs nonreligiousness-related morally controversial actions. Study 2 examines several psychological processes (reactance, forgiveness and moral decoupling) as mediators of the effects of intrinsic religiosity and extrinsic religiosity on brand loyalty for controversial religious brands.

Findings

Study 1 demonstrates that religiosity leads to positive brand loyalty for religiously positioned brands in the case of both religiousness-related and nonreligiousness-related controversies. Study 2 reveals that intrinsic religiosity (extrinsic religiosity) leads to brand loyalty through moral decoupling and forgiveness, but not through reactance, when religious brands engage in religiousness-related (nonreligiousness-related) controversies.

Research limitations/implications

This research focuses on the effects of religiosity on brand loyalty for morally controversial religious brands but does not examine the effects of religious affiliation (Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc.). The samples include only US residents.

Practical implications

Religious positioning of brands can engender brand loyalty for consumers with high levels of intrinsic religiosity and/or extrinsic religiosity, even when these brands engage in morally controversial actions.

Originality/value

This research shows that religiosity affects brand loyalty for morally controversial religious brands and demonstrates that psychological processes used by consumers to justify support for morally controversial religious brands depend on type of religiosity (intrinsic vs extrinsic) and type of controversy (religiousness-related and nonreligiousness-related).

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 56 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 22 April 2022

Denni Arli, Narain Gupta, Deepak Sardana and Piyush Sharma

This paper uses social identity theory to investigate the sequential mediating effects of extrinsic religiosity and perceived role of religious leaders in the impact of consumers'…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper uses social identity theory to investigate the sequential mediating effects of extrinsic religiosity and perceived role of religious leaders in the impact of consumers' intrinsic religiosity on perceived value of brands endorsed by religious leaders.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper comprises two survey-based studies with urban consumers in two emerging markets, India (N = 303) and Indonesia (N = 150).

Findings

Intrinsic religiosity has a direct positive effect on extrinsic religiosity, which in turn mediates the effect of intrinsic religiosity on the perceived value of the brands endorsed by religious leaders in both India and Indonesia. However, extrinsic religiosity has a significant positive effect on the perceived value of these brands through the perceived role of religious leaders in India but not in Indonesia.

Research limitations/implications

Samples for both the studies are drawn from urban consumers in India and Indonesia, which also have large rural populations. Hence, future research may use both urban and rural samples from other countries to replicate our results.

Practical implications

The study findings may help both local and global brand managers in the emerging markets with religious societies, such as India and Indonesia, to understand how they may use endorsements by religious leaders to manage the differences in the impact of consumers' intrinsic versus extrinsic religiosity on their brand perceptions and evaluations.

Originality/value

This paper extends social identity theory to the international marketing context by showing that religious consumers in the emerging markets are likely to support the brands endorsed by religious leaders vis-à-vis other national or multinational brands. Thus, religious identification offers a unique sacred worldview and unlimited group membership, unlike other social groups, especially in the highly religious emerging markets.

Details

International Marketing Review, vol. 40 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-1335

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 May 2020

Seng Kiong Kok

We are beginning to observe the growth of Islamic finance beyond the borders of traditionally Islamic markets such as the Middle East and the Far East. The proliferation of such…

Abstract

Purpose

We are beginning to observe the growth of Islamic finance beyond the borders of traditionally Islamic markets such as the Middle East and the Far East. The proliferation of such religious financial institutions in non-Islamic and more secular markets has raised some pertinent questions about how these quasi-religious institutions brand themselves in light of the need to balance the conflation of Islamic theology with that of financial economic principles.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopts a process-based qualitative methodology proceeded with an initial data reduction-theoretical conceptualization of the extant literature. This is followed by data display via quote research of participants’ precepts and concludes with a synthesis the extant academic conceptualizations with empirical perspectives.

Findings

The findings highlight a framework explaining the interface between Islamic and non-Islamic participation on the branding of Islamic financial institutions in the UK. The findings also set forth a need for consideration of non-religious and purely economic participation in the Islamic financial system in light of branding.

Originality/value

This study derives its incremental contribution by extending the extant academic literature on the branding and consumption of Islamic financial products and services within non-Islamic and secular markets. Furthermore, by adopting a multi-disciplinary, qualitative lens and engaging pertinent individuals within the field, the study provides a rich framework from which to explore the branding of these quasi-religious institutions and the interface between religious and non-religious consumption. This framework puts forth to the leaders of Islamic financial institutions of the between- and within-group interactions in terms of religio-financial consumption and branding.

Details

Journal of Islamic Marketing, vol. 12 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-0833

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 July 2019

Thuy D. Nguyen, Shih Yung Chou, Charles Blankson and Phillip Wilson

This paper aims to offer a systematic view of religious consumption and its iterative influences on consumers, as well as their differences in attitudes, values and behaviors.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to offer a systematic view of religious consumption and its iterative influences on consumers, as well as their differences in attitudes, values and behaviors.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a mixed-method approach – both qualitative and quantitative – the study develops religious self-transformation and self-categorization scales to empirically evaluate the hypotheses.

Findings

The convergence of consumption, self-identification and religious attitudes and behaviors proffer an essentially subjective concept useful in understanding the existential reflection and supernatural orientation that individuals may seek through consumption. Cluster analysis (based on product, services, media and practices) reveals four quadrants. The non-religious (religious) group has low (high) consumption in all four consumption categories Self-categorization (self-transformation) group has high (low) level of product consumption, but low (high) in all three other categories. This research presented four invisible identities that are visibly different in terms of life satisfaction, religious brand preference, dollars spending on religious products and monetary donation.

Research limitations/implications

This research only considers one medium-size city as opposed to all types of cities. All religious affiliated and nonaffiliated respondents are included in the total sample.

Practical implications

The study offers new insights into the triadic relationship between religious self-identification, religious consumption, and the marketplace that can be used in branding, segmentation, targeting, positioning, and persuasive advertising, public relation and social media, and services marketing.

Social implications

Religion addresses the nature of existence. In this religion–consumer–brand nexus, consumption is a way for consumers to experience and immense themselves in the sacred to solidify, communicate, transform, improve and transport who they are capitalizing on religious self-identification can affectively promote positive social change.

Originality/value

This work proposes four invisible identities that are different in consumption of religious products and services in terms of patterns and purposes. These groups of consumers shape the marketplace through the derived utility of their religious consumption based on their self-identification, which in turn influences their religious brand preference.

Details

Journal of Product & Brand Management, vol. 29 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1061-0421

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 17 February 2023

Jasmina Ilicic and Stacey M. Brennan

Consumers often use various cues such as health stars and nutrition claims on product packaging to draw inferences regarding healthfulness. However, much less is known regarding…

Abstract

Purpose

Consumers often use various cues such as health stars and nutrition claims on product packaging to draw inferences regarding healthfulness. However, much less is known regarding the role of brand names in consumer decisions around healthfulness. The purpose of this study is to introduce angelic branding as a brand naming strategy that may act as a supernatural agent benevolence (i.e. loving, kind and merciful) prime that leads consumers to perceive that the brand’s products are healthful.

Design/methodology/approach

Study 1 examines the effect of angelic brand names on brand healthfulness perceptions. Study 2 investigates the mediating role of brand virtuousness perceptions on the relationship between angelic branding and brand healthfulness perceptions and the downstream consequences on purchase intention. Study 3 explores the moderating role of authoritarian supernatural agent belief (i.e. angry, vindictive and punishing) on the relationship between angelic branding and brand virtuousness perceptions, and subsequent brand healthfulness perceptions and purchase intention.

Findings

The results of this study demonstrate that angelic branding results in healthfulness perceptions for a healthy product (i.e. vitamins; Study 1a), an unhealthy product (i.e. cookies; Study 1b; eliminating perceptual fluency as a potential alternative explanation for the phenomenon) and across different product categories (i.e. surface spray; Study 1c). The results from Study 2 find that angelic brand names prime brand healthfulness perceptions because of the activation of brand virtuousness perceptions (not brand quality perceptions; eliminating a general halo effect as a potential alternative explanation for the phenomenon). The results of Study 3 show that strong belief in authoritarian supernatural agents attenuates the angelic brand name–brand healthfulness priming effect.

Research limitations/implications

This research is limited, as it only considers angelic brand naming and not any other benevolence cues in brand logos, such as halos and angel wings. This research is also limited in that it only considers healthfulness perceptions drawn from English angelic brand name cues and from participants within the USA and the UK.

Practical implications

This study has important implications for brand managers in the development of new brand names. Angelic brand naming is suggested as a strategy for brand managers to prime perceptions of brand virtuousness and brand healthfulness and to influence consumer behavior. However, brand managers are cautioned against the use of this brand naming strategy if it is intended to mislead or deceive consumers, resulting in detrimental effects on their health.

Originality/value

This research makes a unique and novel contribution to the literature in brand names on consumer decision-making. Angelic branding is introduced as a brand naming strategy that can act as a supernatural agent religious prime to influence perceptions of brand virtuousness, brand healthfulness and consumer behavioral intentions (i.e. purchase intention).

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 57 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 August 2012

Abdullah Alam, M. Usman Arshad and Sayyed Adnan Shabbir

The purpose of this paper is to study brand credibility, customer loyalty and the impact of religious orientation in the Pakistani setting.

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study brand credibility, customer loyalty and the impact of religious orientation in the Pakistani setting.

Design/methodology/approach

In a study of 263 respondents, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted in order to check the fit of the data and the presence of common method variance. Correlation and hierarchical regression analysis was performed to evaluate the hypothesized relationships between the variables.

Findings

Significant and positive relationships were observed between trustworthiness and brand credibility, perceived quality and brand credibility, brand credibility and customer loyalty, religious orientation and customer loyalty. Brand credibility was also found to mediate the relationship between trustworthiness, perceived quality and customer loyalty. Religious orientation was observed to moderate the relationship between trustworthiness and brand credibility.

Originality/value

The paper evaluates brand credibility and customer loyalty in relation to trustworthiness and perceived value in a Pakistani setting. Religious orientation is a term coined up for this research and its impact as a moderator is also evaluated.

Details

Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 24 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-5855

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 February 2017

Juhi Gahlot Sarkar and Abhigyan Sarkar

The purpose of this paper is to define the brand religiosity phenomenon and develop a theoretical process model showing the interrelationships between brand religiosity and other…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to define the brand religiosity phenomenon and develop a theoretical process model showing the interrelationships between brand religiosity and other related concepts leading to the formation of a distinct brand sub-culture or community.

Design/methodology/approach

A large volume of prior literature on consumer–brand relationships has been reviewed to develop the conceptual framework.

Findings

The framework developed shows several actionable antecedents and desirable marketing outcomes of brand religiosity. The framework also depicts that brand religiosity leads to the creation of social anti-structure by forming a distinct brand community that frees individuals from the regular social structure and motivates them to adopt a distinct brand sub-culture formed. Theoretical contributions and business policy-related implications of brand religiosity are discussed.

Originality/value

Value of the study lies in conceptualizing brand religiosity and developing an integrative process model centering the concept.

Details

Society and Business Review, vol. 12 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1746-5680

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 July 2020

Mahmoud Yasin, Lucia Porcu and Francisco Liébana-Cabanillas

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how religious values of Islamic banking users influence their active social media engagement behavior (SMEB), when exposed to online…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how religious values of Islamic banking users influence their active social media engagement behavior (SMEB), when exposed to online brand related-content.

Design/methodology/approach

The method used for data collection was an online self-administered questionnaire. A total of 448 valid responses were obtained from Islamic banks customers, who are members of at least one online brand community (OBC) on Facebook. Responses were analyzed and processed by means of structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results of the online survey reveal that religious values have a positive influence on the active SMEB in terms of contributing (like and/or share) and creating (posting positive comments) of brand related-contents via Facebook OBC. Religious values play a key role in encouraging Islamic banks’ customers to share and forward posts, advertisements and/or contents. Furthermore, religious values encourage customers to forward contents that comply with their religious values and beliefs and are also compatible with the Islamic rules of Shari’ah.

Originality/value

The findings of this study suggest that religious values are likely to impact customer behavior when consuming, liking, sharing and commenting on the online contents generated by Islamic banks. Given the fact that Islamic religious values are universal and persistent, there is a potential for long-term benefits for those Islamic banks that identify profitable religious consumer segments within the domestic and global markets as well as to promote and enhance active SMEB in terms of number of positive comments, likes and shares of brand-related contents.

Details

Journal of Islamic Marketing, vol. 12 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1759-0833

Keywords

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