In this paper, we examine the notion of material consumption culture in Islamic societies. We differentiate between institutionalized religion and religion as culture. We contest the orientalist portrayal of Islam as a fanatic ideology opposed to western modernity’s features of secularism, individualism and pluralism. With reference to the Qur’anic text, we discuss that such qualities are embedded with Islam. We do not interpret the Qur’an from a theological perspective; rather, we seek to demonstrate the possibilities of its multiple interpretations. We argue that, in their everyday life consumption practices, Muslims (re)interpret religious guidelines in different ways, and refer to Islam as a transcendental set of guidelines to make better sense of their cultural practices in different ways. We summarize our discussion by highlighting the importance of analysing the culture of consumption from the lens of insiders and offer directions for future research.

Within marketing and consumer behaviour research, museums have been generally conceptualised as public consumption spaces where visitors benefit from a variety of affective, recreational, and cognitive experiences. As such, the social context has been largely subordinated to enhancing visitors’ cultural consumption experience in the physical environment of the museum. Our study takes a reverse path by highlighting how the cultural consumption experience in the museum nourishes ‘interactive sociality’ both inside and outside the museum. The analysis of our qualitative data (interpretive individual and group interviews and non-participatory observations) on Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow, UK, imply that by leveraging interactive sociality, managers can enhance the museum’s value proposition and societal worth in contemporary society. The paper critiques museum studies’ over-reliance on (social) psychology theories and demonstrates the value of adopting alternative (sociocultural) approaches to the advancement of theory in the field. It provides evidence for the fact that cultural consumers’ interaction with(in) the organisation is not confined to the physical boundaries of a given context. People extend their varying experiences and sensibilities to other domains beyond the museum walls.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to encourage a critical dialogue within the realm of Journal of Islamic Marketing. It invites marketing scholars and practitioners working on various topics related to Islam and Muslim societies to adopt fresh theoretical and methodological positions that would enhance the understanding of multiple marketing and market dynamics in Muslim societies.Design/methodology/approach: The author uses a critical approach.Findings: The author suggests that the advancement of knowledge in the area of Islamic marketing requires reflexivity and self‐critique.Research limitations/implications: The paper highlights the constructive value of critical approach to the development of marketing theory and practice.Originality/value: This paper reflects the author's personal viewpoint on the production of knowledge and improving practice in the realm of Islamic marketing.

This paper presents an exploratory study of the consumption practices of UK‐based young Iranians. Based on a series of in‐depth interviews and participatory observation we provide an insight into the identity‐constituting meanings associated with consumption practices. We illustrate how individuals use consumption discourses to tackle a series of ideological tensions in their sociocultural settings, both in Iran and in the UK. We describe how in a theocratic state individuals use commodified cultural symbolic mediators to construct and reaffirm a sense of self and identity and also to covertly resist the dominant order. We discuss consumer's paradoxes and dilemmas when confronted with a complex set of clashes between restricting political/institutional dynamics and the emancipatory forces of Western consumption. We conclude by discussing how these contradictions and strategies lead to a form of “torn” self.

This paper systematically examines the academic literature on international market entry mode (hereafter MEM). Ever since the first issue of the first volume of the Journal of Strategic Marketing this has been a topic of much discussion and research from scholars interested in strategic marketing issues here and elsewhere (Gannon, M, 1993; Crick and Crick, 2013)