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Few studies exist which delve into the possible factors that prevent ethically minded consumers from translating their ethical perceptions into ethical purchase intention (EPI). Thus, this study aims to explore how consumers assess corporate social responsibility (CSR) based on several influencing factors toward EPI, with CSR skepticism (SKP) as a moderator.

This cross-sectional study is conducted through a self-administered questionnaire and uses a positive research approach with a quantitative basis of enquiry. The partial least squares–structural equation modeling- model is used to examine the causal relationship between seven independent variables of CSR assessment (i.e. CSR awareness, knowledge of CSR position of company, cause importance, price consciousness, CSR image of company, credibility of CSR efforts and peer influence) with EPI. In addition, this study also examines the moderating effect of SKP in the relationship.

The findings show that CSR assessment factors are important to convert mere purchase criteria into EPI and SKP does play a significant role in weakening the relationship.

This study examines the moderating effect of CSR skepticism, the exploration of which still remains very limited in current literature.

This study developed an extended model of self-congruity by integrating destination image, destination personality, self-congruity, revisit intention and gender.

Surveys were conducted with 645 Chinese tourists visiting New Zealand. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was performed to estimate linkages between destination image, destination personality, self-congruity and revisit intention. To compare effects on revisit intention across male and female Chinese tourists, PLS-Henseler's multigroup analysis and PLS-permutation test were conducted to analyse gender as a moderator in the proposed framework.

Our results revealed positive direct effects among destination image, destination personality, self-congruity and revisit intention. Our findings indicated a highly significant difference in the effects of destination personality on ideal self-congruity across male and female Chinese tourists. The association between destination image and self-congruity identified through this model represents a crucial contribution to the tourism literature. This study also enriches tourism research by comparing male and female Chinese tourists' intentions to revisit New Zealand, having identified crucial heterogeneity within female tourists.

The practical implications from our research can improve destination marketing organization (DMO) officials' awareness of one-time and repeat Chinese tourists' experiences, which strongly trigger subsequent visits.

This paper is the first to examine the direct correlations among destination image, destination personality, self-congruity and revisit intention by considering whether gender might moderate these factors. Our study innovatively adopted PLS-SEM along with several advanced analytical approaches, such as multigroup analysis (MGA) of women and men, to examine our research model.

This study aims to align the theoretical foundations of Halal tourism to conventional tourism paradigms. It investigates Muslim tourists’ perception of value in the context of tourist destinations in Malaysia.

The partial least square structural equation modelling uses SMART–PLS for 170 Muslim tourists and uses a positive research approach with a quantitative basis of enquiry. Six variables of Muslim tourist perceived value, such as price, social, emotion and quality, and Halal physical and nonphysical attributes are examined. In addition, this study also examines the mediating effect of destination experience in Malaysia’s environment (i.e. infrastructure, atmosphere and culture) and the relationship between Muslim tourist perceived value and tourist satisfaction.

Overall, the results indicate that price and social variables had no impact on tourist satisfaction, whereas other variables such as quality, emotion and Halal physical and nonphysical attributes had a direct impact on tourist satisfaction especially with the mediating effect of destination experience.

The effects of cognitive, affective and Islamic (i.e. Halal) values on tourist satisfaction were examined as also the importance of destination experience on tourist satisfaction.

This study also found that destination experience influenced tourist satisfaction significantly.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the implementation of microfinance programs in three Malaysian development finance institutions (DFIs). Its main concerns revolve around how these DFIs measure and manage their social performance and how they reconcile their competing social and commercial objectives which are driven by particular logics.

This paper analyzes the ways in which the DFIs selected for this study measure and manage their social performance. The data were acquired from two sessions of focus group interviews, a series of semi-structured interviews, and extensive reviews of documentaries. The institutional logics perspective is used to explore the interplay between social and commercial logics in shaping the view and use of social performance measures in the three studied DFIs.

Although these DFIs have consistently offered formal microfinance programs to designated target groups, their ultimate focus has been on measuring financial as opposed to social performance. Hence, performance appraisal is mainly aligned with the breadth of outreach, rather than its depth. Nevertheless, there appear to be conflicts between the need to accommodate both breadth and depth, due to the competing demands of the two objectives. The rivalry between these two competing demands, which represents the interplay between social and commercial logics, is resolved through reconciliation, that is, by making one objective compatible with the other.

This paper examines the ways in which the DFIs in the study measure and manage their social performance, a topic that is, currently, not widely explored. This study contributes to advancing the knowledge on the link between institutional logics and organizational practices, particularly in understanding the extent to which the Malaysian DFIs assign importance to social performance when designing and offering microfinance programs.

The purpose of this study is to propose a conceptual model of Islamic branding. Based on the theory of self-congruity and existing literature, the conceptual model proposes three antecedents that can form the building blocks of Islamic branding.

The authors have developed a conceptual model to propose the antecedents of the Islamic branding construct based on the theory of self-congruity. The antecedents are adapted from existing literature and customized according to the Muslim consumer market. Three hypotheses are formulated on the basis of the proposed model and justified from existing literature.

The proposed Islamic branding model can be applied to both local and multinational brands in both Muslim majority and minority markets. Religiosity, Islamic brand knowledge and Islamic corporate social responsibility are proposed as the antecedents of Islamic branding. Muslim consumers are attracted to brands that portray congruity with their religious values. The proposed antecedents of Islamic branding can result in the subsequent formation of an emotional attachment between the Muslim consumer and the respective Islamic brand, and thereby a stronger Islamic brand.

The proposed Islamic branding model has not been empirically tested in this study.

Islamic branding is in the infancy stage of conceptual development. Currently, limited research exists on the operationalization of this construct. A gap exists in the literature regarding models and instruments for the operationalization and development of Islamic branding. The proposed model attempts to fill the conceptual gaps while taking into account the heterogeneity of the Muslim consumer market. Up until now, religiosity, Islamic brand knowledge and corporate social responsibility have not been studied as antecedents of Islamic branding. This study offers new insights by proposing customized brand-building blocks for an organization’s Islamic branding strategy based on theoretical grounds.

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the determinants of purchase intention of Halal vaccination and compare the results between Muslim consumers in Malaysia and Pakistan. It focuses on analyzing the influence of various factors on the purchase intention of Halal vaccination and determining whether the relationships are significantly different in the two Muslim-majority countries.

The study is based on the extended theory of planned behavior and self-congruity theory. The variable of religiosity was added with the three variables of the theory of planned behavior, i.e. attitude toward Halal vaccinations, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. It shows the congruity between Muslim consumer and Islamic brands and proposes a wider range of determinants in the framework. The study’s sample size was 378, and the respondents were Muslim consumers in Malaysia and Pakistan. Purposive sampling technique was used to extract the sample from three cities in each country. Partial least square (PLS) was used to statistically analyze the data using PLS–structural equation modeling approach. The measurement model was analyzed, and invariance of the measurement model was established. Afterward, the hypotheses were tested, and multi-group analysis was performed through Henseler’s multi-group analysis (MGA) and Permutation test.

The results indicate a lack of significant relationships between the independent variables and the purchase intention of Halal vaccination except in the case of subjective norms. This construct has a significant but inverse relationship in the case of Pakistan’s Muslim consumers, which can be attributed to the presence of consumer skepticism regarding the issue of Halal vaccination. The MGA results reveal a statistically significant difference in the influence of religiosity on purchase intention between the two countries, depicting differences in the brand–self congruity perceptions of consumers in the two countries.

The sample size was relatively small due to the limited time duration.

The area of Halal vaccination has been given limited attention in academic literature. This study addresses this area that has limited research and is greatly attractive to a large number of brands targeting the Muslim consumer market. The results of the study can form a foundation for creating the branding strategy of this product category and assessing its demand in various Muslim markets.

The purpose of this study is to examine the contribution of environmental knowledge and environmental sensitivity on the green purchasing intention of Bangladeshi consumers by using an extended theory of planned behavior.

Quantitative research method was used to collect 369 data by using a convenient sampling method. Data was analyzed using partial least square while a structural equation model was applied to measure causal relations among the variables.

The findings of this study demonstrate that subjective norms, attitude toward green products and perceived behavioral control have a positive and significant relationship with green purchasing intention. Moreover, environmental knowledge has also a positive and significant relationship with environmental sensitivity. There is a positive and significant association between environmental sensitivity and attitude toward green products, while the relationship between environmental knowledge and attitude toward green products was found insignificant. Quality of green products does not moderate the relationship between attitude toward green products and green purchasing intention. The results further indicate that environmental sensitivity mediates the relationship between environmental knowledge and attitude toward green products. Attitude toward green products also mediates the relationship between environmental sensitivity and green purchasing intention. At the same time, environmental sensitivity and attitude toward green products jointly mediate the relationship between environmental knowledge and green purchasing intention. However, attitude toward green products does not mediate the relationship between environmental knowledge and green purchasing intention.

This study may be used to guide managers who are planning to launch green products in the Bangladeshi market for choosing their target markets and a great insight for the government to produce environmentally friendly consumption policy for citizens and environmental conservation.

This study aims to examine hospital image, perceived medical quality, relationship marketing and word-of-mouth as the determinants of patients’ intent to revisit private hospitals in Penang, based on the theory of planned behaviour.

A quantitative study comprising a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to domestic and international patients at the airport, private hospitals and hotels located in Penang. The partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach was used to analyse and test the research hypotheses.

The results show that cognitive components (i.e. hospital image and perceived medical quality) do not have any significant influence on patients’ intent to revisit, while affective components (i.e. relationship marketing) and behavioural components (i.e. word-of-mouth) are important in increasing patients’ intent to revisit private hospitals in Penang, Malaysia. Trust has no significant mediating effect between predictor variables and patients’ intent to revisit, but it has significant association with affective and behavioural components.

The findings provide insights to medical marketing teams in promoting and increasing patients’ intent to revisit their respective hospitals and for the governments to sustain and enhance medical tourism in their countries.

This study is one of the few studies that looks at the relationship between hospital image, perceived medical quality, relationship marketing, word-of-mouth and patients’ intent to revisit private hospitals in Penang, Malaysia. This study also explored the direct and indirect effects of trust on patients’ intent to revisit that was still limited.

To establish tourist visitation to new tourism areas is in most cases dependent on tourists' behavior. Indeed, tourist visitation is considered among the primary components of the marine tourism operation. Such behavior is usually enacted in the form of destination awareness, destination image and motivation. Word of mouth is likely to influence tourist to visit. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that may influence tourists to visit marine tourist destinations.

The study has utilized self-administered questionnaire survey and the target population are the visitors that came to FRI Aquarium. The survey period was from August 2012 to September 2012. Total of 179 responses were collected during this period.

This study demonstrates that destination awareness, motivation and WOM are factors that influence the tourist to visit the FRI Aquarium. Interestingly, destination image however, has shown insignificant relationship with tourist visitation. WOM also found to be has a full mediating effect for awareness towards tourist visitation. For example, before visit, visitor may require some information beforehand and word of mouth is a direct medium to transfer the information. A key implication for FRI Aquarium is that it might be wise to assess such variables for their marketing strategies.

First, the sample was obtained from one marine aquarium in Malaysia. The comparative studies between aquariums are important to understand if there are any similarities and differences. It would be better to conduct the survey in other local aquariums such as the Underwater World, Langkawi and the KL Aquaria, Kuala Lumpur. Second, a longitudinal study is relevant to further investigate the factors that will influence the visitor visitation. Thus, future study should gather data from those who had visited the aquarium several times. This approach might improve the destination image results, which in this study shows insignificant relationship. That said, acknowledgements of these limitations also suggest a new direction of future research.

FRI Aquarium is suggested to create more awareness to the public by placing an advertisement via mainstream and social media. Hence, FRI Aquarium is suggested to design environmentally marine life oriented educational programs in order to motivate and encourage more visitors to visit the place.

In sum, this paper conjectures that an understanding of factors that influence the tourist to visit the marine tourism destination are worthy of additional research. Consequently, the findings help to understand how these factors can provide alternative sources of marketing to attract the long-term economic sustainability of the FRI Aquarium in marine tourism.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between audit service quality, client satisfaction and loyalty to the audit firms. SERVQUAL model was used to measure the perceptions and expectations of public listed companies on the services received from audit firms.

The five dimensions of SERVQUAL, i.e. reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy and responsiveness was used to measure the service quality of audit firms. The research was conducted using primary data. Questionnaires were sent to 500 public listed companies listed in Bursa Saham Malaysia for year 2005.

The public listed companies were satisfied with the tangible dimension but were dissatisfied with the other four dimensions. The most dissatisfied dimension was empathy. Customer satisfaction was found to partially mediate the relationship of reliability and customer loyalty.

The small sample size is a limitation of the study. Also, the study examined all services offered by audit firms. A larger sample size and focusing on a particular service would be better as the respondents would then be able to give a more focused answer. Also, the public listed companies were not analysed further into various industry types, size of firm and other corporate attributes to understand their different needs.

The study defines the attributes of quality services from the clients' perspective. Once the needs are more clearly known and understood, the audit firms will be in a better position to anticipate clients' requirement rather than to react to clients' dissatisfactions.

The paper uses a marketing model, SERVQUAL, to measure the service quality of audit firms.