This paper addresses the issue of mass‐customisation from the point of view of consumer demand. It aims to develop a framework to examine the demand side of the mass‐customisation equation which will allow researchers to identify whether a market of customers who are ready for mass‐customised products exists. In doing so it considers in particular three “inconveniences” of mass‐customisation: the increased price of customised products; the delay in receipt of custom‐made products; and the need for customers to invest time in specifying their preferences before the product can be produced.

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Purpose Highlighting the need for a profound move towards desecularisation of Islamic scholarship, this conceptual paper aims to clarify the concept of causality from the Islamic marketing research perspective and extends a number of suggestions for improving theory building and hypothesis development in the field. Design/methodology/approach The approach taken is largely conceptual. In addition, this study collates the stated hypotheses in the articles published in this journal in the past five years and analyses the structure of causal statements to uncover key tendencies. Findings The review of historical and current views on causality indicates that most commentators agree that assuming the existence of the necessary connection between cause and effect is misleading. The Islamic traditions based on occasionalism and modern science agree that causal statements reflect, at best, probabilistic assumptions. Research limitations/implications This paper offers a number of insights and recommendations for theory building and hypothesis development in Islamic marketing. By following the occasionalism perspective and the notion of Sunnah of Allah, researchers will be able to build methodologically coherent and genuine Islamic marketing knowledge. Practical implications Correctly stated and tested hypotheses can be used by public policymakers to enforce effective consumer and market policies. Originality/value This paper tackles a complex issue of causality in Islamic marketing research which has not hitherto been discussed well in the literature. This research is also a unique step towards developing pioneering avenues within the domain of Islamic marketing research methodology.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the perceptions of food anti-consumption in fast growing markets within an emerging economy context of Turkey. Design/methodology/approach Recently posted customer comments, complaints and suggestions related to the selected fast-food chains were examined from the following domains: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Sikayetvar.com. These comments were reviewed, assessed and classified by four trained independent raters. After examining the comments one-by-one the raters arrived at the final (triangulated) decision regarding the comment’s category after an iterative process including cross-examination. Findings Reasons for fast-food avoidance were primarily linked to customers’ negative past experiences (experiential avoidance). Identity avoidance, moral avoidance and interactivity avoidance. Originality/value The paper adds to the anti-consumption literature by examining the food avoidance framework of Lee et al. (2009) in an emerging market context. New categories were identified for reasons of food avoidance which have not been identified before in the anti-consumption literature such as interactivity avoidance.

This research explores the extent business ethics and etiquette influence relationship performance across the business relationship lifecycle. Based on a survey from 583 business people from several major Chinese business hubs, this research finds that business ethics and etiquette significantly influence relationship performance success. Dimensions of business ethics such as relationship fairness and relationship stability are found to be significantly associated with relationship performance at the growth and maintenance stages, respectively. Commitment/loyalty business etiquette protocols are found to be important at all stages of the business relationship lifecycle. Additionally, the study found that goal-oriented males and females are more likely to use business ethics and etiquette in comparison to apathy-driven males and females to build successful relationship performance.

Purpose Marketers of beauty products capitalize on consumers’ perception of beauty to enact a price placebo effect through setting high prices to insinuate a superior performing product. Yet, in the context of growing alternative beauty movements emphasizing inner beauty and self-acceptance, little is known on how the effect of price on a product’s perceived effectiveness and satisfaction is bounded by different modes of beauty conceptualization (BC). Hence, this study aims to investigate how distinct perceptions of beauty impact the effectiveness-based and satisfaction-based price placebo effects in Muslim-majority markets such as Turkey compared to markets largely driven by Western values such as New Zealand. Design/methodology/approach This research is based on a quasi-experimental factorial design based on the manipulation of the level of price for a beauty product and the observation of the extent of BC. The sample included 144 participants from Turkey and 147 participants from New Zealand. Findings This research finds that the manipulation of the price (low vs high) equally activates the effectiveness-centered price placebo effect in both countries. When expectations are taken into account, the (satisfaction-based) price placebo effect is non-existent in New Zealand, while in Turkey the higher price leads to an opposite effect: a significant decrease in satisfaction. It is also found that the effect of price on effectiveness is moderated by BC. In both countries, the price placebo effect is activated only when consumers narrowly conceptualize beauty, while this effect does not hold for broad conceptualizers. The effect of BC on the price placebo appears to be stronger in New Zealand in comparison to Turkey. Practical implications Marketing managers’ awareness of different perceptions of beauty and how these may influence the price placebo effect in different cultures would allow them to decide what strategies are most appropriate for different groups of customers. For example, by pursuing the movement toward inner beauty and its broad conceptualization, high-end brands are likely to compromise opportunities to capitalize on the price placebo effect. On the other hand, this alternative perspective may cultivate profound satisfaction in the long-term. Social implications The price placebo effect disappears when people conceptualize beauty from a broad (inner) perspective. This suggests that public policymakers, to counteract the negative effects of misleading marketing and to create fair exchanges, must promote broad BC in society. Originality/value This study contributes to the body of the existing research on price placebo by offering unique insights into the boundary conditions of the price placebo effect underscored by BC in two distinct cultural-religious settings. Also, it proposes two different variations of price placebo, namely, effectiveness-centered vs satisfaction-centered. From a methodological point of view, it is the first project in the Islamic marketing discipline that applies the Islamic perspective on causality.

The impact of linguistic proximity and diglossia on multinational corporations' visual identity extension strategies in multiple sociolinguistically different markets is investigated. Specifically, this study focuses on a sample of Fortune Global 500 corporations and explores their brand name/slogan extension practices in three distinct linguistic contexts: Turkish, Russian and Arabic. The study reveals that the different levels of linguistic proximity systematically influence brand name adaptation including brand name transliteration, as well as slogan translation and new slogan creation in English. The study also finds that these tendencies non-systematically but significantly vary across the levels of diglossia. Conversely, diglossia systematically influences slogan standardization and new slogan creation in a local language, while the effect of linguistic proximity on these practices is non-systematic.

Purpose -To examine customers' readiness for mass-customised products in two European countries, Turkey and the UK. Design/methodology/approach -Examines the demand side of the market and begins to explore whether mass-customisation can be implemented as an international product strategy. A questionnaire was developed, pre-tested and administered in the UK and (after translation) in Turkey to potential new car buyers. Findings -A large proportion of customers from both countries would be willing to pay extra to own a product which exactly meets their needs and preferences. However, more respondents in the Turkish sample were willing to do so than in the UK sample. Additionally, Turkish respondents were keen to update the features of their car over time, which favours mass-customisation. Research limitations/implications -This study is exploratory and limited in terms of research sample. Consequently further research is needed to verify the findings. Second, how far the organisation is ready to adopt a mass-customised approach is a further question to be answered requiring further research. Future research in contexts other than new cars should also be undertaken. Finally, we have focused on "readiness" for mass-customisation and do not attempt to provide any link between this "readiness" and behavioural intentions. Practical implications -There may be a viable market of customers for mass-customised cars, in both the UK and Turkey. Producers now need to examine the price that would be acceptable to both customers and themselves. Originality/value -This is the first systematic research study to address the demand side of mass-customisation in two European countries.