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Examines consumer attitudes towards foreign products and the associated marketing practices in Saudi Arabia, one of the biggest consumers of foreign goods with a per capita gross national product surpassing every African and Latin American country and which was exceeded in Asia only by Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. Assesses the attitudes of Saudi consumers towards the products and marketing practices of the top six exporters to Saudi Arabia, namely, the USA, Japan, Germany, Italy, UK and France. Utilizes a number of general product attributes, marketing activities and buying and using preference indicators to explain the general attitudes of Saudi consumers towards products and marketing practices of these countries. Findings indicate that Saudi consumers have the most positive attitudinal response to the products and marketing practices of the US and Japan. Among the four Western European competitors, German products and marketing practices were pereived more favourably by Saudi consumers. The relative position of these countries varies depending on the specific product or marketing attribute in question. Saudi consumers did not make any substantial distinctions among the products and marketing practices of Italy, UK and France.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of consumer protection agencies. In the light of growing importance of consumerism in developing countries, the paper measures the level of satisfaction with the performance provided by five different consumer protection agencies, in a chosen country, Saudi Arabia.

This study is based on a questionnaire survey conducted in Saudi Arabia. Based on a model developed for this study, the paper uses empirical research to determine customers' satisfaction with consumer protection agencies.

Results based on testing of hypotheses indicate that overall satisfaction is primarily derived from the objectives and roles played by consumer protection agencies. Results reveal that consumers assign different levels of importance to various dimensions when evaluating satisfaction with consumer protection agencies in Saudi Arabia.

Limited sample size and the generalization of results for the entire Kingdom although the sample has been confined to the eastern province region are the limitations of this study.

The findings of this study have implications on the manner in which consumer protection agencies in Saudi Arabia must operate. Besides, findings of this study have also implications for business operating in Saudi Arabia.

This study makes a valuable contribution given the fact that there is a dearth of empirical studies covering the measurement of consumer satisfaction role played by consumer protection agencies in Saudi Arabia.

The emergence of consumer‐oriented societies has become the central trait of our era. Saudi Arabia gained entrée to consumerism via its oil wealth. Numerous studies demonstrate that consumer lifestyle and consumerist attitudes are spreading in the country. The purpose of this study is to explain how Saudi Arabia came to be a consumer society, to present evidence of rampant consumption, and to describe how global and local economic, social, and governmental factors colluded to reinforce this cultural trend.

This study is based on the survey and analysis of secondary data gathered from published studies and reports available in English and in Arabic.

The study shows that the spread of consumerism in Saudi Arabia is a consequence of a complex of global and local factors. Commercial television and the internet, marketing strategies, relentless and manipulative advertising, urbanization, and proliferating shopping centers, are all components of globalization promoting emulation of the Western consumerism lifestyle. The national government subsidies and give‐aways during the oil boom years due to increased national income, absence of taxes, public job availability, emerging middle class, liberal import policies, increased female participation in family purchase decisions, a burgeoning youth market, and increased per capita income have also enabled Saudi Arabia's transformation into a consumer society. In addition, statistics presented for a variety of durable and nondurable goods and services amply testify to rampant Saudi consumerism.

Excessive consumption in Saudi Arabia is a threat to the social order. It is exacerbating economic, environmental, social, psychological, and health problems. As Saudi Arabia seeks sustainable development, more research is needed to identify and address problematic aspects of consumption. As part of this process, policy makers should distinguish what constitutes consumerism from healthy consumption patterns. Excessive consumption should be minimized as a way to avoid economic minefields and sustain economic growth.

This study aims to explain the impact of donations to a charity, company-cause fitting, corporate reputation, corporate philanthropic involvement and message content on Saudi consumers who purchase products that are promoted using cause-related marketing (CrM) campaigns.

Structural equation modelling partial least square is used to analyse the responses of 293 Saudi respondents.

Using Smart-PLS, the results show that donation size is positively related to the Saudi consumer’s purchase intention. However, differences in the donation amount did not affect the purchase intention. Regardless of the cause that motivates firms to donate money to philanthropic organisations, Saudi customers do not generally pay attention to the company-cause fit association. Retail corporate reputation, corporate philanthropic involvement and message content positively influence the purchase of products sold using CrM campaigns. This study explores the psychological and social attitudes Saudi customers demonstrate towards CrM campaigns. Regardless of corporation motives, Saudi customers care about charitable deeds. Moreover, positive message framing is effective when the content is emotive, comprehensive and persuasive.

This study explores the psychological and social attitudes Saudi customers pay towards CrM campaigns. The message content relied significantly upon the cause fit and the magnitude of the donated money. Marketing research would benefit from investigating the role of applying efficient persuasive tactics to convey and frame public messages.

This study aims to explore the relationship between consumers’ religiosity, their perceived functional, individual and social value of luxury and their luxury purchase intention.

The proposed relationships were explored in an intercultural setting by using samples from two considerably different cultures, Saudi Arabia and India. The identified constructs were measured by adapting the established scales. Statistical tests including exploratory factor analysis, multi-group confirmatory factor analysis and covariance-based structural equation modeling were applied to test the conceptual model and research hypotheses.

The results show that religiosity is not found to be negatively related to luxury purchase intention in both samples. Moreover, it was found that the functional and social values produce positive mediating effects, whereas the individual values (materialism, hedonism) of luxury products negatively mediate the relationship between religiosity and consumer purchase intention.

This research suggests that a non-traditional strategy may be effective to market luxury goods to religious consumers such as suppressing the materialistic aspect to focus on the quality and functionality aspects of the products.

The role of luxury value perception as a mediator between religiosity and luxury purchase intentions has not been studied in the previous researches to the best of authors’ knowledge, and is therefore, the unique contribution of this study. This research addresses the gap in the existing body of knowledge by probing how religiosity effects perceptions of luxury value and resultant luxury purchase intention.

This study aims to explore the factors that could affect consumers’ adoption of augmented reality (AR) and investigate the interaction between gender and educational level on intention to adopt AR in developing countries as demonstrated here by Saudi Arabia.

The examined constructs were developed by integrating factors from the unified theory of acceptance and the use of technology (UTAUT2), including performance expectancy, expectancy effort, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation and habit. Price value was eliminated and innovativeness was added to the examined constructs. Data were collected from 673 Saudi consumers through an online survey by implementing a convenience sampling. Furthermore, the effect of gender and education level on behavioral intention to adopt AR by consumers was examined.

The results of the regression analysis showed that the independent variables statistically significantly predict the consumers’ behavioral intention toward AR adoption with all the examined constructs. The proposed model was able to explain 84% of the variance of behavioral intention. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant interaction between the effects of gender and educational level on intention to adopt AR.

This study will clarify the relatively low diffusion rate of AR adoption in Saudi Arabia, which will help business owners and marketers to develop the right strategies, especially strategies that are associated to marketing and developing mobile applications by incorporating AR technologies, which will attract the attention of many users.

This is one of the few studies that has explored the intention to adopt AR by consumers by examining the UTAUT2 constructs in the Middle Eastern cultural contexts, in contrast to previous studies, specifically Saudi Arabia. This study further investigated the interaction between the effects of gender and educational level on intention to adopt AR.

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.

With US$ 320 bn spent on luxury fashion in the Middle East and a growing digital consumer presence, local start-ups must form an integrated online relationship with millennials in order to recruit and retain a viable customer base. Nonetheless, these elements are yet to be extensively and properly researched as the literature is still scarce vis-à-vis this area.

A mixed qualitative approach was adopted using both in-depth interviews and focus groups. Two qualitative studies were conducted, with a total of 13 elite respondents and 28 consumer respondents from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) using semi-structured interviews. Four focus groups were also conducted in both countries with six participants each group for triangulation of the findings.

The findings enhance current understanding pertaining to Gen Ys' motivations when selecting and engaging online with a luxury fashion start-up brand. The study suggests a detailed strategic framework that can be used in an integrated omni-channel approach. It also discusses the different touchpoints that play a role in influencing luxury consumption across different motivation stages.

The literature relating to digital strategies for luxury fashion start-up brands in the Middle East is still nascent. This study fills a considerable gap in the literature related to such brands that are aiming to stay relevant amidst the growing impact of the digital landscape on luxury fashion brand shoppers in the Middle East.

The purpose of this paper was to examine the influence of religiously motivated boycotts, such as the one conducted in Saudi Arabia against Danish companies, on corporate brand image, customer loyalty and product judgment. Despite a growing research interest in understanding the effects of different types of consumer animosities on companies’ performance, there appears to be a scarcity of studies addressing the specific effects of religious animosity. Religious animosity is considered as an additional type which may have more stable and longer-term impacts than other animosities on behaviour.

The study was based on a two-stage design: an exploratory qualitative stage involving 11 in-depth interviews, followed by a more comprehensive quantitative stage designed to test a proposed theoretical model. Data was collected from Saudi customers of the Danish company Arla Foods in Saudi Arabia. Data was analysed using structural equation model (LISREL 8).

The model confirms that boycotting have strong negative impact on brand image and consumer loyalty but does not influence consumers’ product judgment.

Religious boycotts have significant consequences on both corporate profits and brand image. The study provides clear steps for companies to combat the influence of religious boycotts especially in relation to brand image and customer loyalty.

The study tested the influence of consumer religious boycotts on brand image and customer loyalty. Religious animosity was found to cause a more persistent boycott that negatively impacts brand image and weakens customer loyalty. However, by and large, boycotting was found not to have any significant impact on product judgment.

The purpose of this study is to propose a model of e‐shopping continuance intentions that incorporates the revised technology acceptance model and expectation confirmation theory and evaluates the expanded model in a new context: Saudi Arabia.

The 465‐respondent sample consists of internet users in Saudi Arabia. A structural equation model confirms model fit.

Perceived usefulness, enjoyment, and social pressure are determinants of online shopping continuance in Saudi Arabia. Both male and female groups are equivalent. The structural weights are also largely equivalent, but the regression paths from perceived usefulness to continuous intention are not invariant between men and women. Notwithstanding that the study finds few differences between men's and women's e‐shopping behaviour, the findings for women are important because of the special role that e‐shopping can play in Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia where there are cultural and legal restrictions on women's activities such as driving.

This research suggests that online strategies cannot ignore either the direct or indirect behaviour differences of continuance intentions.

This research moves beyond online shopping intentions and includes factors affecting online shopping continuance. The research model explains 65 per cent of the intention to continue shopping online. It is of value to the literature, managers and policy maker on internet shopping and continuance intentions to e‐shop.