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Religious influences on consumers' high-involvement purchasing decisions

Haytham Siala (Business Management, Roehampton University, London, UK)

Journal of Services Marketing

ISSN: 0887-6045

Article publication date: 7 October 2013

4771

Abstract

Purpose

This aim of this paper is to investigate the impact that religious factors have on a consumer's perception of brand loyalty in the context of the services industry. Specifically, the study focuses on the attitudinal/affective form of brand loyalty. An empirical investigation was conducted to test whether the religiosity and religious centrism of Muslim consumers can instill attitudinal brand loyalty towards an insurer selling a religiously-conforming high-involvement indemnity service.

Design/methodology/approach

An online survey was conducted with 208 Muslim consumers, and structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was used to test the relationships between the exogenous and endogenous variables.

Findings

The results shows that there is a positive relationship between the exogenous religiosity and religious centrism constructs, and the endogenous attitudinal brand loyalty, price tolerance and word-of-mouth constructs.

Practical implications

The findings of this research study suggest that religion can have a significant impact on consumers' choice when purchasing an indemnity service such as a car insurance service. Given the fact that religious values are persistent over time, there are some potential long-term benefits for companies that can identify the lucrative religious consumer segments that are present in the local and global markets.

Originality/value

This study provides valuable insight into the UK Muslim consumer behavior by exploring the religious factors that can influence consumers' brand loyalty toward buying high-involvement religiously-compliant products and services. The findings of this study also indicate that the existing TRA and TRB models in the social sciences literature may need to incorporate a new ritualistic/religious dimension to the existing attitude-intention relationship saga.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Received 22 February 2012 Revised 1 June 2012 Accepted 20 August 2012

Citation

Siala, H. (2013), "Religious influences on consumers' high-involvement purchasing decisions", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 27 No. 7, pp. 579-589. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-02-2012-0046

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2013, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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