Rana Sobh

Crescent marketing, Muslim geographies and brand Islam: Reflections from the JIMA Senior Advisory Board

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to bring together the thoughts and opinions of key members of the Journal of Islamic Marketings (JIMA) Editorial Team, regarding the recently branded phenomenon of Islamic marketing – in the interests of stimulating further erudition.Design/methodology/approach – The authors adopted an “eagle eye” method to investigate this phenomenon: Where attempts were made to frame general principles and observations; alongside a swooping view of key anecdotal observations – in order to ground and enrich the study. The authors participated in an iterative process when analysing longitudinal and contemporary phenomenological data, in order to arrive at a consensus. This was grounded in: triangulating individual and collective researcher findings; critiquing relevant published material; and reflecting upon known reviewed manuscripts submitted to marketing publications – both successful and unsuccessful.Findings – The authors assert that a key milestone in the study and practice of...

Privacy and Gendered Spaces in Arab Gulf Homes

ABSTRACT We report the findings of a qualitative study of Qatari homes in the Arab Gulf. We identify the significance of privacy and gender segregation as anchors for identity, both national and religious. Maintaining these anchors seems to help Qataris resolve cultural tensions and conflicts to which they feel subjected. We show that the emphasis on these identity projects counters pressures toward a reverse acculturation in which hosts are numerically overwhelmed by guests.

Islamic Arab hospitality and multiculturalism

This ethnographic study in Qatar and United Arab Emirates addresses a particular Islamic consumptionscape as well as a related commodified practice: that of Arab hospitality. This much vaunted Arab virtue is examined in three contexts: home hospitality, commercial hospitality, and hospitality toward foreign guest workers and visitors. We find that home hospitality is largely extended inward and involves sharing in with close same-sex friends and family in a tournament of status, while hospitality toward foreigners is largely either nonexistent or outsourced to other foreigners. These patterns are explained in terms of hyper-ritualization of that which is most in doubt, namely, multiculturalism and patriarchal authority. We argue that this same pattern of hyper-ritualization may apply in other ritual contexts like American Thanksgiving celebrations.

Mimicry and modernity in the Middle East: fashion invisibility and young women of the Arab Gulf

Prior consumer research has addressed the encounter between global brands and styles versus local cultures through the concepts of glocal hybridity, post-assimilationist resistance, and the de-stigmatization of local practices in the face of competition from global consumer culture. Based on fieldwork with college women in the Arab Gulf states we detect two other practices involving highly conspicuous consumption that act to create a space for identity that lies between Western modernity and Islamic conservatism. The first is layering in which outer garments act as a “cloak of invisibility” for luxurious Western wear beneath. The second is “mimetic excess” that responds to envy of Western consumption, provokes local envy, and participates in “modern” consumption at the same time that it encompasses these practices within a covering of religious and national virtue. The key contribution of this study consists of identifying these new strategies of reconciling two opposing hegemonic fashion discourses to which privileged Muslim minorities in their own wealthy countries are subjected.

Feedback information and consumer motivation

Marketers spend considerable resources to motivate people to consume their products and services as a means of goal attainment (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 1999). Why people increase, decrease, or stop consuming some products is based largely on how well they perceive they are doing in pursuit of their goals (Carver and Scheier, 1992). Yet despite the importance for marketers in understanding how current performance influences a consumer’s future efforts, this topic has received little attention in marketing research. Goal researchers generally agree that feedback about how well or how poorly people are doing in achieving their goals affects their motivation (Bandura and Cervone, 1986; Locke and Latham, 1990). Yet there is less agreement about whether positive and negative performance feedback increases or decreases future effort (Locke and Latham, 1990). For instance, while a customer of a gym might cancel his membership after receiving negative feedback about his fitness, the same negative feedback might cause another customer to visit the gym more often to achieve better results. A similar logic can apply to many products and services from the use of cosmetics to investing in mutual funds. The present research offers managers key insights into how to engage customers and keep them motivated. Given that connecting customers with the company is a top research priority for managers (Marketing Science Institute, 2006), this article provides suggestions for performance metrics including four questions that managers can use to apply the findings.

A Comparative Analysis of Arab and U.S. Cultural Values on the Web

ABSTRACT This study aims to explore the depiction of cultural values on global websites. There exists a research gap in terms of better understanding cross-cultural differences in web communications between the Arab and Western worlds. Thus, we conducted content analysis to examine the cultural values on websites from Arab countries and the U.S. The results suggest that local websites of Arab countries and the United States tend to differ significantly from each other on cultural contents. The proposed cultural findings can serve as a guide for creating culturally congruent international websites.

The role of collective angst during and after a service failure

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the role of collective angst, the concern about the future viability of one’s group, during service failure and recovery. Design/methodology/approach – To test this objective the authors utilize an experiment to examine how Kuwaitis react to service failures when the front-line employee is a foreigner. Findings – The results indicate that collective angst is associated with greater anger following a service failure. The authors also find that collective angst moderates the impact of cultural distance on anger and recommendation intentions following a service-failure recovery attempt. More specifically, cultural distance leads to greater anger and lower intentions to recommend a service establishment for consumers that experience greater collective angst. Originality/value – The research provides the first attempt at examining how local consumers react to foreigner service providers, by examining how concern about the future vitality of one’s national group...

Localizing to Arabic consumers: Insights from print advertising

This study argues that understanding the nature and influence of cultural differences in print advertising is important for an effective international marketing strategy. Previous studies have investigated cross-cultural differences in advertising, but have not focused on advertising from the Arab world. There is also a shortage of studies providing specific recommendations about localizing advertising for Arab consumers. This study therefore conducts a comparative analysis of Arab and US print advertisements in magazines, to identify cross-cultural differences in advertising and make recommendations on localizing advertising to Arab consumers, and in particular, those in the Persian Gulf states.

Endorser ethnicity impact on advertising effectiveness: effects of the majority vs. minority status of the target audience

ABSTRACT Previous research has studied several factors influencing advertising responses. However, this body of work has been mainly conducted in contexts where the target audience is a minority with a perceived lower status in the host country. This current study examines the effect of endorser ethnicity on advertising in the specific context of Qatar. This is a unique context where the target audience is the local empowered numerical minority. We propose to study the moderator effects of product type (utilitarian versus hedonic product) and product ethnic orientation (ethnic oriented versus global product) for both, the minority and mainstream groups to explain some of the previously contradicting findings. Data is collected using a three factor between-subject experimental design. Findings reveal the moderating effects of the audience minority vs. majority status. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.