Purpose: Instagram health and wellbeing influencers (HWIs) have been increasingly considered as important sources of information and advice for their followers. This study aims to investigate the key antecedents of followers' attitude towards HWIs as well as their influence on their followers' intent to purchase organic products. The moderating effect of gender is also taken into account.Design/methodology/approach: Based on data collected from 251 Instagram HWIs followers, the authors empirically tested the conceptual model using structural equation modeling.Findings: First, the authors demonstrate that attitude towards HWIs positively impacts followers' attitude towards the promoted brands as well as their intention to purchase organic food brands. Second, followers' attitude towards HWIs is mainly influenced by perceived congruence, influencer credibility, and physical attractiveness. Finally, gender acts as a moderator, e.g. attitude towards HWIs is more likely to be influenced by perceived congruence and physical attractiveness among female followers.Practical implications: The findings allow organic brands' managers to understand the key antecedents of followers' attitudes toward HWIs, and therefore, better select talented influencers who are able to create purchase intentions among both existing and potential customers.Originality/value: This original research bridges a gap pertaining to the potential use of HWIs to shape consumer intention to purchase organic products. To the authors' knowledge, this study is the first of its kind to investigate the impact of attitudes toward influencers on both brand attitude and purchase intention in the organic food industry.

Purpose: This paper aims to examine a model that uses customer service quality as an intervening mechanism in the relationship between customer relationship management (CRM) practices and organizational performance in two different banking structures: conventional and Islamic. The study focuses on organizational and technological practices of CRM, as both have been demonstrated to be critical to CRM success. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis is based on responses from 247 managers from conventional banks and 141 managers from Islamic banks operating in Morocco using a self-administered questionnaire. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique is employed for data analysis. Findings: Findings demonstrate that customer service quality plays a mediating role between CRM practices (organizational and technological) and organizational performance in both conventional and Islamic banks. Our results confirm the positive impact of CRM practices on organizational performance in the two banking structures. Practical implications: This study enhances our understanding of how CRM practices contribute to improving customer service quality and organizational performance in both conventional and Islamic banks. Bank managers, who aim to deliver superior service quality and achieve customer satisfaction and retention, should capitalize on the benefits of implementing CRM organizational and technological practices. Originality/value: The present paper bridges a gap pertaining to key practices and factors that impact CRM success in the banking industry. It is the first of its kind to investigate the effect of CRM practices on organizational performance with customer service quality as a mediating variable. The study also contributes to the field of CRM literature, as CRM has rarely been addressed in an Islamic banking context.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to empirically assess the relationship between Islamic banking presence in Southeast Asian countries and the economic growth. Design/methodology/approach: The presence of Islamic banks is measured by the ratio of Islamic to conventional banking assets as well as the ratio of deposits of Islamic to conventional banking. This study starts by checking the presence of cointegration using Pedroni’s and Westerlund’s specifications; short- and long-run dynamics are further analyzed with the panel autoregressive distributed lag model (ARDL)-based estimators: pooled mean group (PMG), mean group (MG) and dynamic fixed effect (DFE). Furthermore, a two-stage regression [two-stage least squares (2SLS)] was constructed to measure the sensitivity of economic growth to the Islamic banking presence. Quarterly data from Southeast Asian countries cover the period between 2000Q1 and 2012Q4. Findings: A long-run relationship is evident between economic growth and the Islamic banking presence in the selected region, but not in the short run. Furthermore, the Muslim population share in a given country plays a positive and statistically significant role in fueling the contribution of Islamic banking share in the financial sector on the economic growth. Social implications: The results of this study show that Sharia-compliant banks succeeded in mobilizing additional resources for the financial sector, which may increase the stability of the banking system and the efficiency of the whole banking sector. The authors believe that the inclusion of Islamic banking products in the financial systems will, along with the diversification effect, stimulate financial deepening and, therefore, improve the financial stability in the countries under investigation in particular, and all countries with significant Muslim population in general. Originality/value: This study empirically assesses the contribution of Islamic banking presence on the economic growth with a focus on Southeast Asia, as this region encompasses the most developed and experienced institutions in the field of Islamic finance. Error correction-based models such as PMG, MG and DFE lend itself to the analysis of the panel data. This study also uses the instrument-based 2SLS to cope with the endogeneity problem between the real and financial sectors.

Purpose: Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the upward trend of organic food (OF) consumption is no longer restrained to western markets but has also extended to emerging markets in different parts of the world. Still, extent post-pandemic literature has devoted little attention to the factors shaping consumers' intent to purchase organic food in developing markets. The current research empirically investigates the antecedents of consumers' attitude and intent to purchase organic food in an emerging market context (i.e. Morocco). This research also explores the differences between OF consumers' manifest attitudes prior to and following the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the study's objectives, data were collected from 1,060 Moroccan respondents using online self-administered questionnaires in two different eras: prior to the COVID-19 pandemic with a total of 441 valid responses and following the pandemic with 619 valid responses. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to validate the data, and a partial least squares (PLS) estimation was used to test the hypotheses.Findings: First, attitude towards OF has a significant impact on consumers' purchase intention; at the same time, it is influenced by subjective norms, organic labeling, perceived behavioral control, health consciousness, and environmental concern. This study's findings also suggest subjective norms, organic labeling, perceived behavioral control, health consciousness, environmental concern, age, and income as the key determinants of consumers' intention to purchase OF. Second, the IPMA analysis suggests that while health consciousness, organic labeling and perceived behavioral control are the most important constructs influencing attitude towards OF, consumers' purchase intention is mostly influenced by health consciousness, attitude towards OF and age. Finally, the PLS-Multigroup Analysis conveyed few discrepancies in the results when comparing the two eras (i.e. subjective norms and age had more significant impacts on consumers' purchase intent following the COVID-19 pandemic).Practical implications: This study provides organic food retailers and practitioners with a deeper understanding of the key aspects shaping consumers' intent to purchase organic products in emerging markets. The comparative analysis will also provide important insights on how to shape consumers' attitudes and purchase intentions in a new-normal marked by the COVID-19 pandemic.Originality/value: This study's findings contribute to the growing literature on consumers' behavior in the organic food industry, particularly in developing countries where research is still narrow. This study's study is the first of its kind to compare consumers' intention to purchase organic food before and following the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the growing number of Islamic banks worldwide, much ink has been spilled on heated debate about its merits and ability to improve the financial sector. In order to buttress the subject matter of this debate, this paper investigate the link between Islamic banking assets share and the financial development. Using five different proxies of financial development from 22 countries for the period between 2000 and 2013, this research employs the generalized method of moments to cope with the endogeneity problem, and concludes that the share of Islamic banking is positively associated with the banking sector activity as measured by private credit. The competition of banking sector intensifies in countries with higher Islamic bank shares resulting in smaller net interest margin, whereas the structure of the financial sector does not change. A financial sector index composite regression showed that in general, financial development is positively linked to the Islamic banking presence. These findings provide empirical evidence that Islamic banking presence benefits financial development in Muslim countries.

Purpose: Despite the digitalization reforms attempting to enhance public service quality, paper-based tendering is still widely used in a number of developing countries (i.e. Morocco). This has led to many issues including waste of time, higher costs as well as labor-intensive issues. E-tendering has been widely recommended as a key resolution. Still, both scholars and practitioners raised concerns related the readiness of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to this digitalization process. The current research aims to investigate the key drivers of SMEs intention to adopt electronic tendering in the context of an emerging African market (i.e. Morocco). Specifically, the authors focus on SMEs contributing to the public procurement process and registered in the online portal recently created by the Moroccan government. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve this goal, the authors proposed a conceptual model combining the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and technology acceptance model (TAM). Based on data collected from suppliers participating in Moroccan public tenders, the authors empirically tested the conceptual model using a partial least squares (PLS) estimation. Findings: Facilitating conditions and social influence had a positive impact on SMEs intention to adopt electronic tendering. The study’s findings also convey a negative impact of effort expectancy on SMEs intent to adopt e-tendering. Unexpectedly, perceived performance had no significant impact on the intention to adopt electronic bidding among Moroccan SMEs. Originality/value: This research filled the gap in the literature with regards to SMEs e-Tendering readiness in emerging markets. With the recent digitalization reforms of public tendering in many developing economies (i.e. Morocco), the study findings can be used to improve not only government implementation of electronic bidding but also SMEs' user experience.