Marketing Practices Research Articles

A bibliometric analysis of halal tourism research: Indonesia and Malaysia

Purpose – Halal tourism has grown significantly, driven by the increasing global Muslim population and disposable income. However, comprehensive analysis of the research landscape is lacking. This study bridges this gap by conducting a bibliometric analysis of halal tourism research from 2014 to 2024 and examining growth trends, key contributors, and collaborative networks.Methodology – Using Scopus data, 244 documents from 132 sources were analyzed.Findings – Research on halal tourism has grown at an annual rate of 34.24%. Contributions from 645 authors, averaging 3.25 co-authors per document, indicate robust collaboration. Key journals include the Journal of Islamic Marketing, Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism, and Tourism Management Perspectives. Thematic clusters include economic impact, marketing strategies, sustainability, and religious aspects. Indonesia and Malaysia, led by Universitas Airlangga and the University of Malaya, dominate the research output and citation impact. The findings suggest that enhancing visibility and impact requires focusing on high-quality projects, strategic collaboration, and active dissemination.Implications – This study identifies key trends and research gaps, guiding future studies, and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. For industry stakeholders, it underscores the importance of targeted marketing and sustainable practices in catering to Muslim travelers. Policymakers should be encouraged to develop standardized halal tourism frameworks, enhance international collaboration, and support research initiatives for sustainable sector growth.Originality – This study offers a unique perspective through a comparative bibliometric analysis of halal tourism research in Indonesia and Malaysia, identifying emerging trends and collaboration networks, while providing new directions for future studies and partnerships.

Assessing Green Marketing Practices and their Impact on the Satisfaction of Egypt Air Customers

Assessing Green Marketing Practices and their Impact on the Satisfaction of Egypt Air Customers

Effects of competition law on consumer welfare-evidence from Zambia

This study examined the effects of competition (antitrust) law on consumer welfare in Zambia, with a focus on market practices, pricing, and consumer protection. Aimed at promoting fair competition, competition law seeks to benefit consumers through lower prices, improved quality, innovation, and diverse choices. The research, organized around four key objectives, revealed mixed outcomes in Zambia. High market concentration often led to elevated prices and limited choices, reducing consumer welfare. While Zambia's regulatory framework aims to curb anti-competitive practices, resource constraints hinder enforcement, allowing such practices to persist. Merger controls generally preserved market competition, yet inconsistent application weakened these gains. Consumer awareness emerged as a significant factor, with informed consumers enhancing regulatory effectiveness. The findings emphasized the need for robust enforcement, an improved legal framework, and increased consumer education to maximize the benefits of competition law, better protect consumer interests, and foster competitive markets in Zambia.

Artificial intelligence in digital marketing automation: Enhancing personalization, predictive analytics, and ethical integration

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing digital marketing automation by enhancing efficiency, personalization, and predictive capabilities. This study examines the role of AI in transforming marketing practices, focusing on its applications, benefits, ethical considerations, and future directions. By leveraging AI tools such as predictive analytics, NLP, and chatbots, businesses can achieve improved customer segmentation, content personalization, and campaign optimization in marketing strategies. Secondary data from journals, articles, and conference papers were synthesized to provide insights into AI's impact on digital marketing automation. A systematic literature review utilizing the PRISMA methodology initially identified 2,850 records from database searches. Following the removal of duplicates and non-relevant studies, 1,035 records were screened for eligibility based on defined criteria, resulting in the inclusion of 150 relevant studies and 25 high-quality reports for detailed analysis. This robust approach ensured the inclusion of high-quality research, minimizing biases. The findings reveal that AI enhances digital marketing by streamlining processes, automating repetitive tasks, and delivering hyper-personalized customer experiences. Predictive analytics helps anticipate consumer behavior, while chatbots improve real-time customer engagement. However, challenges such as data privacy, algorithmic bias, and the high costs of AI adoption persist. AI adoption allows businesses to make data-driven decisions, improve customer retention, and maximize return on investment. Ethical AI practices, such as transparency and algorithm fairness, are essential for maintaining consumer trust. The study primarily focuses on existing literature, with limited empirical validation. Future research should explore long-term effects of AI-driven marketing on consumer behavior and investigate its integration with emerging technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain. Additionally, tailored AI solutions for SMEs and under-researched areas, such as B2B marketing, are critical for inclusive growth.

Artificial Intelligence in Digital Marketing Within the Framework of Sustainable Management

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is not only revolutionizing digital marketing through personalized customer experiences and optimized advertising strategies, but it is also contributing to sustainability initiatives. As AI reshapes digital marketing, its impact on sustainability is becoming increasingly significant. This dynamic highlights the necessity of exploring how AI can be utilized to foster more sustainable marketing practices. This study seeks to answer the pivotal question: “How does AI impact the sustainability of digital marketing?” A systematic literature review was conducted in this study, following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) framework to identify various relevant articles in the areas of sustainability and marketing. Furthermore, this study examines the crucial role of AI in enhancing sustainable business practices, highlighting a significant increase in adoption among enterprises. The findings demonstrate that the effective integration of AI into digital marketing enhances environmental sustainability, supports the attainment of economic sustainability objectives, and contributes positively to social sustainability outcomes. This study contributes to the field by providing a comprehensive analysis of the intersection between AI and sustainable marketing practices and offers valuable insights for marketers, businesses, and policymakers.

Green Management and Marketing – Part of Socially Responsible Organizations

Sustainable development is defined as balanced social, cultural and economic advancement without putting the environment in jeopardy. Various green waves, or green tendencies, that are prevalent in practically every aspect of human life, have emerged globally to maintain the health of the planet. Green marketing, also known as ecological marketing, and environmental management are two ways that green activities are demonstrated. It might be argued that the term "green" is truly associated with sustainable development, because both sciences are critical to the operations of businesses and the effective management of those businesses toward their objectives. A contemporary approach to environmental management is ecological management. Eliminating detrimental influences and behaviors connected to people's health is the primary objective of such a system. Promoting products considered safe for the environment is known as environmental marketing. Green marketing, as a distinct scientific field, encompasses a range of initiatives that address products and increase public understanding of the value of a healthy environment and its preservation. Businesses that use green marketing and management practices are very socially conscious; in other words, they operate under the tenet of socially responsible business. To accomplish the established organizational goals, the article will discuss green management and green marketing with an emphasis on socially conscious companies.

“Quo Vadis” The Regulation of Personal Vaporizer Policy in Indonesia

Indonesia is one of the global users of vape products, with a growing number of users driving the need for regulatory clarity regarding product legality. Previous studies have highlighted the negative health impacts of vape use; however, the vape industry has emerged as a potential driver of Indonesia's economic growth. Therefore, a multidimensional review of vape regulation in Indonesia is essential to shape policies based on various perspectives, such as the penta-helix model. This study aimed to analyze vape policies in Indonesia through a penta-helix approach. The findings indicated that vape product policies and standardization required integration among multiple stakeholders, including the Indonesian government, business actors, media, communities, and researchers. Before implementing vape-related regulations, the Indonesian government should engage stakeholders to align policies with the evolving vape industry landscape in Indonesia. Furthermore, regulatory implementation requires the support of other stakeholders to raise public awareness, ensuring compliance with the established regulations. Key areas needing public outreach include the minimum age for vape use, vape as a cessation tool for conventional cigarette users, legal marketing practices both offline and online, and penalties for non-compliance by sellers or buyers. Keywords: Penta-helix, policy, regulation, stakeholder, vape

The Role of Green Marketing Mix Strategies in Influencing Consumer Purchase Decisions: A Study of Kenyan Consumers of Eco-Friendly Personal Care Products

This study examined the role of green marketing mix strategies in influencing consumer decisions among Kenyan consumers of eco-friendly personal care products. Utilizing a descriptive research design, the study aimed to determine the influence of green price, green place, green promotion, and green product on consumer purchase decisions. Data was collected through a Google questionnaire distributed to a target audience of environmentally conscious consumers, and the responses were analyzed using SPSS, employing both inferential and descriptive statistics to assess the individual impact of each variable. The findings revealed that all four variables significantly influenced consumer purchase decisions, underscoring the pivotal role of green marketing in shaping consumer behavior. This research was crucial for several stakeholders. Businesses gained insights to design effective green marketing strategies that aligned with consumer preferences, enhanced brand value, and drove sustainable growth. Policymakers leveraged the findings to promote eco-friendly consumption through supportive policies and public awareness campaigns. Academics and researchers will benefit from the study by gaining a deeper understanding of the factors driving sustainable consumer behavior in emerging markets. The study highlighted the importance of integrating sustainability into marketing practices, offering a roadmap for stakeholders to address environmental challenges while meeting the growing demand for eco-friendly products. By focusing on the Kenyan market, the research contributed valuable insights into the intersection of sustainability and marketing within developing economies.

Application and Development of Behavioural Economics in Consumer Decision Making

Behavioural economics, as an interdisciplinary field integrating psychology and economics, offers new perspectives for understanding consumer decision-making. This paper provides an overview of the core theories of behavioural economics, its applications in consumer decision making, and its developments and challenges in market practice and policy making. First, behavioural economics challenges traditional economic assumptions about rational decision-making by revealing core concepts such as limited rationality, prospect theory and behavioural biases, providing a deeper understanding of consumer behaviour. Second, the paper explores the effectiveness of behavioural economics in practical applications, such as improving firms' market performance and policy implementation by optimising marketing strategies, utilising personalised recommendations and developing behavioural intervention policies. However, behavioural economics still faces challenges in terms of theoretical universality, cross-cultural applicability and dynamic adaptation. Future research directions include theoretical integration, cross-cultural validation, adaptation to technological developments, optimisation of policy practices and intersection studies with psychology. The review in this paper aims to provide reference for academic research and practical application, to promote the further development of behavioural economics, and to provide theoretical support for policy making and market strategies.

Unveiling the potential of digital human avatars in modern marketing strategies

PurposeThis study aims to develop a theoretical framework that marketing practitioners and scholars can adopt to enhance their understanding of how firms can effectively deploy and use digital human avatars as part of their global digital marketing strategy. By doing so, we inform investors of ongoing digital transformations of marketing practices that will equip marketeers to provide scalable, tailored, reliable and relevant digital self-service interactions to users, consequently improving the user/customer experience.Design/methodology/approachThematic analysis was used to discover factors to enable the successful implementation of digital human avatars, drawing on in-depth interviews with fourteen executives of digital human avatars developer companies worldwide and analysis of ten podcasts and webinars with artificial intelligence (AI) experts.FindingsDigital human avatars revitalise the international dynamic marketing capabilities (IDMCs) of firms by integrating advanced technologies that transform user interactions, improve engagement and facilitate knowledge acquisition, dissemination and usage across various sectors and business units globally. This integration promotes a dynamic approach to international brands, customer relationships and marketing knowledge management capabilities, offering profound value to users and firms.Research limitations/implicationsOur first limitation is a lack of diversity in data sources. As digital human avatars are an emerging field, we had to limit our study to 14 experts in AI and 10 podcasts. While this method provides deep insights into the perspectives of those directly involved in the development and implementation of digital human avatars, it may not capture the views of end-users or consumers who interact with these avatars, which can be an avenue for further research. Our second limitation is the potential bias in the interpretation of our interview data and podcasts. This study’s approach to data analysis, where themes are derived from the data itself, carries a risk of subjective interpretation by the researchers. Future studies are encouraged to investigate the impact of digital human avatars across different organisational contexts and ecosystems, especially focusing on how these technologies are integrated and perceived in various international markets.Practical implicationsThe novel framework has direct implications for innovators and marketing practitioners who aim to adopt digital human avatars in their marketing practices to enhance the effectiveness of international marketing strategies.Social implicationsThe adoption of digital human avatars can alleviate loneliest elderly and vulnerable people by being a companion. The human-like characteristics can impact sense of presence and attachment.Originality/valueThe novelty of our study lies in exploring the characteristics of technologies and practical factors that maximise the successful adoption of digital human avatars. We advance and contribute to the emerging theory of avatar marketing, IDMCs and absorptive capacity by demonstrating how digital human avatars could be adopted as part of a firm’s global digital marketing strategy. We focus specifically on six dimensions: outcomes and benefits, enhancements and capabilities, applications and domains, future implications, foundational elements and challenges and considerations. This framework has direct implications for innovators and marketing practitioners who aim to adopt digital human avatars in their marketing practices to enhance the effectiveness of international marketing strategies.

Repo haircuts: Market practices and the impact of minimum requirements on leverage

We use transaction-level data on the euro area repo market to assess the calibration of the Financial Stability Board's (FSB) recommended minimum haircut framework and its impact on leverage in non-bank financial institutions. We find that market haircuts are currently not in line with the framework. Therefore, a market failure exists that needs to be addressed by regulation, such as the minimum haircut framework. In assessing its potential impact, we find that it would affect larger and more leveraged entities the most, indicating its capability to make a meaningful contribution to addressing risks from leverage in non-bank financial institutions.

An Empirical Study on Advanced Marketing Practices, Sustainability, and EVM Strategies for Business Growth

In the modern business landscape, sustainable marketing strategies have become crucial for success. Companies are increasingly allocating substantial resources to these initiatives. While consumers expect businesses to adopt sustainable practices, their primary motivation remains fulfilling personal needs. This creates a gap between corporate sustainability efforts and consumer expectations. This study proposes a viable framework for sustainability strategies that businesses can implement to bridge this disconnect. Key findings include: First, sustainable marketing significantly enhances brand image development. Second, brand awareness plays a vital role in customer loyalty within the modern marketplace. Third, a strong brand image amplifies the appeal of sustainable purchasing intentions. Fourth, customer retention serves as a critical tool for boosting long-term purchase expectations. Fifth, elevating consumer expectations is essential for driving sustainable buying behaviors. Notably, sustainable marketing acts as an effective mediator between customer engagement and brand perception. Additionally, corporate social responsibility (CSR) strengthens the link between a company's reputation and sustainable purchase intentions. This research provides both a theoretical framework and practical recommendations for the modern business environment, emphasizing the importance of sustainable marketing campaigns as a precursor to organizational success

Optimalisasi Pengambilan Keputusan Pemasaran melalui Analisis Data Analytics di Patra Cirebon Hotel & Convention

This article aims to analyze the role of data analytics in optimizing marketing strategies at Patra Cirebon Hotel & Convention, particularly in enhancing service personalization and the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Using the theoretical approach of digital marketing management and customer-based data analysis, this study collected data through interviews with the marketing manager and secondary data analysis of the hotel’s performance reports, which were then qualitatively analyzed. The study results indicate that data analytics contributes significantly to increasing sales conversion and customer loyalty through more targeted personalization strategies. However, this research also reveals several challenges, such as limited human resources and the complexity of integrating data from various sources. Nevertheless, these findings are relevant for marketing practices in the hospitality sector, offering hotel managers guidance on leveraging data analytics to drive business growth. This research is expected to serve as a reference for marketing practitioners in the hospitality industry, particularly in designing data-driven strategies that are more efficient and customer-focused, as well as adding value to the development of customer-oriented marketing practices.

“Travel Inter-City like the men do”: Marketing British Rail’s Inter-City in Britain 1964–1979

The change in brand from British Railways to British Rail (BR) marked an important moment in the history of Britain’s railway. Running alongside BR’s modernization was a wider process of “professionalization” within the field of marketing. This paper explores how the wider professionalization of marketing impacted BR’s own marketing practices, showing that after 1965 BR opened its doors to new methods, means, and perhaps most importantly, specialists from outside the railway industry. Such marketing efforts helped to frame the railway in terms of individual travelers’ specific economic needs: by 1968 it had effectively segmented its passengers into demographic audiences, and by 1975, BR had a much better understanding of its markets. These individual economies were often highly gendered and saw only mixed success, but ultimately demonstrated an application of research, advertising, and promotion.

Smart Readiness Indicator: Ready for Business? Evidence from a Northern EU Country

This paper aims to evaluate how well the increasingly popular, market-based real estate energy efficiency improvement projects support the EU’s high-level smart energy transition targets. The implications of these EU-level targets for buildings are described in the smart readiness indicator (SRI) framework. As the SRI becomes mandatory, it is important for the industry to understand whether current market practices align with the SRI framework. This study is based on a qualitative analysis of 49 energy efficiency improvement project proposal reports for properties located in Finland. We use the SRI framework to evaluate the potential impact of the various energy efficiency improvements proposed in the reports on the smart energy transition targets. Three expert interviews were also conducted to gain the interviewees’ interpretations of the industry. While energy efficiency improvement projects are obviously aimed at improving energy efficiency, the results indicate that they are beneficial for some parts of the SRI, mainly within the SRI’s main categories of heating, controlled ventilation, and monitoring and control. Some proposed actions also contribute to increased smart readiness in the categories of cooling and lighting, but the remaining four main categories are generally not being taken into consideration.

Digital Social Media Influencers’ Impact on Beauty and Personal Care Purchases in South Africa

The South African beauty and personal care industry has been significantly impacted by digital technologies, with social media influencers (SMIs) playing a pivotal role in shaping consumer behaviour. Despite the significant role of SMIs, there is a notable research gap in optimising their influence to boost customer engagement and drive sales. This study addresses this gap by introducing a comprehensive digital framework integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and digitalisation to enhance influencer marketing (IM) strategies in South Africa’s beauty and personal care industry. The primary objective is to present a novel approach that digitally overlays traditional SMI marketing processes, enhancing engagement and effectiveness. A mixed-method approach was employed, integrating quantitative data from web scraping and sentiment analysis (SA) of Instagram posts with qualitative insights from the existing literature. This approach facilitated data-driven decision-making and optimised IM efficacy through technology-driven feedback analysis. The empirical findings confirmed that incorporating AI into influencer marketing (IM) campaigns significantly improves data collection and sentiment analysis, enhancing consumer engagement and purchase intent. This study underscores the transformative impact of digitalisation on marketing practices and the potential of digital tools to optimise SMI strategies in the beauty and personal care sector. This research also provides a valuable framework for marketers aiming to enhance IM campaigns, emphasising the strategic advantage of an automated response workflow based on feedback analysis. This study contributes to developing more impactful digital marketing strategies, maximising the effect of SMIs, and ensuring market competitiveness.

Optimization of PT Zhisheng Pacific Trading’s Digital Marketing Communication Strategy through Instagram Platform

This research aims to explore the optimization of digital marketing communication strategies at PT Zhisheng Pacific Trading (MIXUE INDONESIA) through the Instagram platform in facing the era of the 4.0 and 5.0 industrial revolutions. The background of this study is based on the need for SMEs to adapt to changing consumer behaviors that increasingly rely on social media as a means of information and transactions. The research method employed is a descriptive qualitative approach, involving interviews with managers and employees of Mixue to gain an in-depth understanding of their digital marketing practices. The results indicate that effective use of Instagram significantly enhances brand visibility, consumer engagement, and product sales. Creative and interactive content, along with features such as Instagram Stories and paid advertisements, have proven capable of attracting the target audience's attention. The conclusion emphasizes that an integrated marketing communication strategy focused on sustained interaction with consumers through social media is crucial for business success in the digital era. This research provides guidance for SMEs to leverage social media's potential to enhance their competitiveness.

A Call for Afrocentric Decolonial Endogenous Marketing and Public Policy Research and Practice: Toward Sustainable Peace and Well-Being in African Societies

Africa experiences one-third of all conflicts globally, resulting in the diminishment of human, social, and economic well-being; high levels of insecurity; poverty; and disrupted marketing systems. Drawing on the experiences of African countries, the article illuminates the ways in which the slave trade and, later, the colonization of the African continent fomented the social and economic convulsions that continue to erupt into continuing cycles of social conflict. Today these are manifested in the neocolonial influence of public policy on the continent by international organizations, funding bodies, and local and international institutions that control the public policy discourse and resources. The authors argue that if marketing systems are to enhance well-being and reduce social conflict, marketing policy makers need to contest failed “external to Africa” policy frameworks and look to endogenous policies better suited to contemporary African challenges. A case study of Rwanda illuminates how endogenous, “home-grown” decolonial and Afrocentric policy can create enduring peace and improve marketing systems and well-being. The authors call for research at the nexus of public policy and African marketing systems that adopts decolonized, endogenous, and Afrocentric perspectives to address this lacuna in marketing and public policy research and practice.

The role of emotional marketing in enhancing strategic customer behavior through financial knowledge: An analytical study of a sample of shopping malls in Iraq

The research aims to diagnose the logical relationships between emotional marketing and its role in enhancing strategic customer behavior through financial knowledge to reach results in the dynamic environment of shopping malls. The paper was designed in light of adopting the descriptive analytical approach to variables and collecting data and information through the questionnaire tool distributed to the shopping malls of the research sample. Using statistical analysis programs to reach the results, the study sample reached (25) shopping malls in the local environment of the country. The results showed that there is a threat in the local environment in which these malls operate through the entry of foreign investment projects in this field, which led to an increase in supply and competition in terms of quality, prices and delivery services to gain customers. The studied malls had to develop a strategy on how to attract and retain customers by using emotional marketing practices and relying on financial knowledge to influence strategic customer behavior, as the current and future customer has become rapidly changing in tastes, needs, desires and transformation through technological development and the world has become a small village that can be viewed at any time and in short periods of time. The research also concluded that the threat of new investment through the establishment of new malls as new investment projects affects supply and demand in the environment in which these studied malls operate. The research also concluded that there is a correlation and influence relationship between the research variables of the studied malls, which includes a package of results that benefit the research community. The paper aims to bridge the knowledge gap between the variables of the paper in the dynamic environment by using emotional marketing as a competitive tool in influencing strategic customer behavior through financial knowledge to gain and maintain the current customer and gain the potential customer.

The Effectiveness of Green Marketing in Starbucks: An Assessment

Green marketing practices have become increasingly significant as businesses aim to reduce their environmental impact and cater to the growing number of environmentally conscious consumers. The primary goal of green marketing extends beyond appealing to eco-conscious buyers; it also aims to generate positive environmental and societal effects. Green marketing integrates sustainability principles across various aspects of marketing, including product design, packaging, messaging, production processes, and promotion. Its importance lies in enhancing profitability, fostering brand loyalty, and attracting a new market segment that prioritizes sustainability. For instance, businesses may promote reduced emissions in manufacturing or use post-consumer recycled materials in packaging. Some also demonstrate environmental responsibility by donating a portion of sales proceeds to eco-friendly initiatives, such as tree-planting campaigns. This study examines how Starbucks' green marketing practices have contributed to its overall success, profitability, brand reputation, customer loyalty, and employee engagement. Additionally, it investigates challenges and limitations Starbucks may have faced in implementing these practices and explores potential areas for improvement. The study’s findings will provide valuable insights for other businesses aiming to adopt green marketing strategies and contribute to the broader discourse on sustainability's role in business.