Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the determinants of consumer loyalty in Islamic and conventional banks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study has relevance and importance in a country with a dual banking system. Since the products and services offered by the banks are largely homogenous, customer loyalty is mostly associated with the quality of certain tangible and intangible dimensions of service. It is important for the banks to understand the factors that lead to higher satisfaction and subsequent loyalty among consumers in the context of the UAE. Design/methodology/approach – More than 300 respondents were surveyed to understand the factors that lead to continuing a relationship with Islamic and conventional banks. The data were analyzed using ANOVA and stepwise regression. Findings – The findings of the study indicate that Islamic banks’ customers are satisfied with the Shariah Advisory Board, convenience-related factors such as number of branches, and efficiency-related factors like handling issues on the phone. However, an inverse relationship is found between advice by the personnel and length of association with the bank. On the other hand, the importance of reputation and efficient handling of issues on the phone is highlighted with respect to conventional banks. Research limitations/implications – The study focusses only on consumers that bank either with Islamic or conventional banks and excludes those who deal with both Islamic and conventional banks simultaneously. Practical implications – The research has several managerial implications, as the findings of the study not only highlight the factors that banking consumers value the most in the UAE banking sector, but also provide insight into the factors which need immediate attention. These decisions have strategic and resource-related implications for banks. This knowledge will allow banks to align services with their long-term objectives and invest into resources and capabilities that will provide them competitive advantage. Originality/value – The study allows identification of factors that are valued the most by banking consumers in a culturally and religiously diverse country with a dual banking system.

Background: The United Arab Emirates is aiming to provide 'world-class healthcare' to its citizens. This study aims to study the association between overall satisfaction and various aspects of health care services in the United Arab Emirates on a country level. Methods: The data was collected from 5,855 respondents on affordability, quality, accessibility, and responsiveness dimensions of health care. Besides frequency tables and descriptive statistics, statistical methods, such as Principal Component Analysis and Multiple Regression were used for dimension reduction and model the association between dependent (overall satisfaction) and independent (affordability, quality, accessibility, and responsiveness) variables. Results: The findings indicated higher levels of satisfaction with quality and accessibility and lower levels of satisfaction with affordability and responsiveness. Recommendations are provided to address the latter two factors. Conclusions: The study identifies issues in health care service provision in the United Arab Emirates and offers recommendations about enhancing affordability and responsiveness.

We study performance of Islamic and conventional indices of the Gulf Cooperation

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the soundness of Islamic banks in the GCC for the period 2008 to 2014. Methodology-The study involves 11 listed Islamic banks based in the GCC countries of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait. The study applied the CAMEL parameters, which include capital adequacy, asset quality, management capability, earning ability, and liquidity ratio. Multivariate Z-score model is also used to ensure robustness of the results. Findings-The findings suggest that although the Islamic banks in the GCC have adequate capital, their asset quality and earning ability have deteriorated over the period of study. However, the impact was not so significant that these banks will be pushed to the brink of bankruptcy. Practical implications-The information is of interest to stakeholders, who is concerned about the soundness of the banking sector in general, as any negative impact on the financial sector may have enormous implications for the country, which was indeed evident in the recent financial crisis. Insight into these elements provides a focus for management of the bank, by identifying areas that need attention.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand if there is a customer perceived value for shareholders in investing in Islamic stocks, by using KMI30 index of Karachi Stock Exchange as a case study. The findings are then used to devise a conceptual model, highlighting the value of an Islamic branded index and for companies included on the index for market participants, Shari'ah‐compliant firms, and governments.Design/methodology/approachThis is an exploratory research paper. A detailed literature review is followed by a quantitative analysis of the return series of 18 constituents of the KMI30 index. The analysis looks at performance before and after the launch of the index, to identify if inclusion on the Islamic index has impacted the average returns and volatility of the constituents and if it is considered as value added by the investors.FindingsAnalysis reveals that the KMI30 index is marginally less volatile than the KSE100 index and has relatively better returns, even in the most volatile times at the Karachi Stock Exchange. Most of the constituents under analysis have posted better returns after inclusion on the index, with 40 per cent of them showing less volatility. Though the trends are not clearly visible, there is an indication of increased returns and reduced volatility, both in the Islamic index and its constituents.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is the first step in analyzing if shareholders perceive inclusion of a company on the Islamic index as value added, resulting in increased share prices, better returns, and decreased volatility. Due to the lack of literature on the subject, the nature of the study is exploratory. Further analysis is required to understand if the changes in returns and volatility are due to investor perceptions. This study has implications for the organizations to understand the perception of investors about including companies on the Islamic index. If investors attach value to this proposition then it will be worthwhile for companies to invest resources in making their organization Shari'ah compliant and marketing it from that perspective. Additionally, this study will add to the knowledge of the regulators regarding whether the Islamic index is achieving its objectives of providing investment opportunities to investors offering better returns with less risk, besides being “Halal”.Originality/valueThere is a lack of studies that look at Islamic investments from the marketing perspective. Also, to the best of the authors' knowledge, no studies have analyzed the KMI30 index, either from a finance or marketing perspective. This study is the authors' contribution to the interdisciplinary body of knowledge and ever‐increasing literature on emerging markets in the context of Islamic investments.

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This exploratory article aims to evaluate the effectiveness of case study competitions in promoting the brand equity of sponsors and organizers. The article compares the managerial objectives with the responses of participating students who are the targeted audience of the marketing communications of the sponsors and examines the alignment between managerial objectives and the perceptions of participants. The quantitative data using surveys is collected from sponsors and organizers, and participants in the competition. The data is analysed using frequency tables, descriptive statistics, F-tests for equality of variances and T-tests for equality of means. The findings suggest that managers attach high importance to brand awareness (cognitive aspect), brand images and attitude (affective aspect) and less importance to brand loyalty (behavioural aspect) to enhance brand equity through sponsoring academic competitions. However, participants' responses indicate that the brand awareness aspect is not effectively realized as compared to other brand equity dimensions.