Integrating Muslim Customer Perceived Value, Satisfaction, Loyalty and Retention in the Tourism Industry

Integrating Muslim Customer Perceived Value, Satisfaction, Loyalty and
Retention in the Tourism Industry: An empirical study
RIYAD EID*
Faculty of Commerce, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt and College of Business & Economics, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, UAE
ABSTRACT
In recent years, customer value has been the favorable theme for numerous tourism studies and reports. However, although Muslims make
up one of the largest tourist markets in the world, perceived value of tourism offering oriented toward this market has not been clearly
defined. Furthermore, there is a lack of systematic empirical evidence regarding the effects of Muslim Customer Perceived Value (MCPV)
on consumer satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer retention. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify the MCPV dimensions,
to examine the interrelationships between MCPV, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and Muslim customer retention, and to develop
and test a conceptual model of the consequences of MCPV in the tourism industry. Moreover, 13 hypotheses were developed and tested
using a sample of 221 Muslim tourists. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used to test the validity of the measures, while
the structural equation modeling has been used in hypotheses testing. The strength of the relationship between the constructs indicates that
features of the suggested MCPV model are crucial to achieving Muslim customer retention in the tourism industry. Findings also suggest
that the availability of the suggested Islamic attributes value, along with conventional value dimensions, could satisfy Muslim tourists when
they buy a tourism package. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Received 18 February 2013; Revised 28 October 2013; Accepted 5 November 2013
key words customer value; Muslim; tourism and hospitality; customer loyalty; customer retention; customer satisfaction
INTRODUCTION
Despite a long-term interest in the understanding of consumer
value, its relationship with customer satisfaction, customer
loyalty and eventually customer retention to a service firm is
still unclear. Customer value is central to management think-
ing, especially for high-performing organizations, which strive
to satisfy customers at all times. According to Eid (2007), cus-
tomer value is becoming a priority because of very powerful
economic, technological and social forces that have effectively
made the traditional business models irrelevant in the contem-
porary business and technological environment. According to
Choi and Chu (2001), to be successful in the hospitality and
tourism industry, companies must provide superior customer
value, and this must be carried out in a continuous and efficient
way. Furthermore, tourism companies should improve the
quality of their services offerings and ensure that the needs
and expectations of their customers are being met.
Meanwhile, there are new trends and developments such
as the investment and adoption of business practices based
on the Islamic principles of Shari’ah ‘Islamic law’ (Essoo
& Dibb, 2004; Meng, Tepanon, & Uysal, 2008; Weidenfeld
& Ron, 2008; Stephenson, Russell, & Edgar, 2010; Zamani-
Farahani & Henderson, 2010; Fakharyan, Jalilvand, Elyasi,
& Mohammadi, 2012; Zamani-Farahani & Musa, 2012).
For example, Essoo and Dibb (2004) found that religion
influences tourism behavior among Hindus, Muslims and
Catholics. Weidenfeld and Ron (2008) also found that religion
influences the destination choice, tourist product favorites and
selection of religious opportunities and facilities offered. Meng
et al. (2008) found that tourists select destinations that are
supposed to best fulfill their internal desires or preferred
destination attributes. Finally, Zamani-Farahani and Musa
(2012) explored the influence of Islamic religiosity (measured
on dimensions of ‘Islamic Belief’, ‘Islamic Practice’ and ‘Islamic
Piety’) on the perceived socio-cultural impacts of tourism
among residents in two tourist areas in Iran.
However, although Muslims make up one of the largest
tourist markets in the world as Muslim population constitutes
an international market of 2.1 billion possible customers
(Muslim population worldwide, 2013) and marketing
scholars have long studied ‘perceived value’ and proposed
various conceptualizations of the term (Holbrook, 1994;
Petrick, 2002; Benkenstein, Yavas, & Forberger, 2003; Oh,
2003; Kwun, 2004; Gallarza & Saura, 2006; Sanchez,
Callarisa, Rodriguez, & Moliner, 2006; Nasution &
Mavondo, 2008; Roig et al., 2009), perceived value of
tourism offering oriented toward this market and the conse-
quences of creating Muslim Customer Perceived Value
(MCPV) have not been clearly defined (Stephenson et al.,
2010; Zamani-Farahani & Henderson, 2010; Laderlah,
Ab Rahman, Awang, & Man, 2011; Zamani-Farahani &
Musa, 2012; Fakharyan et al., 2012). Hence, full-scale
research conducted in a more robust manner must be
undertaken.
Undoubtedly, although previous studies provide empirical
evidence of the existence of the cognitive and affective dimen-
sions of perceived value (see, for example, Petrick, 2002; Oh,
2003; Kwun, 2004; Gallarza & Saura, 2006; Nasution &
Mavondo, 2008; Sanchez, Roig et al., 2009), none of them
studies the overall perceived value of a purchase from an
*Correspondence to: Dr. Riyad Eid, Associate Professor of Marketing,
Faculty of Commerce, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt and College of
Business & Economics, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, UAE.
E-mail: [e-mail]
Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
International Journal of Tourism Research, Int. J. Tourism Res., 17: 249–260 (2015)
Published online 10 December 2013 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/jtr.1982

Islamic perspective. Evaluation of the value of tourism products
in the case of Islamic tourism participation entails a completely
different process because of the requirements of the Islamic
Shari’ah. Participation of Muslims in tourism activities requires
acceptable goods, services and environments. Therefore, any
attempt to design a scale of measurement of the overall MCPV
of a purchase, or to identify its dimensions, must not only reflect
a structure that identifies functional and affective dimensions
but also the Shari’ah-Compliant attributes.
Therefore, the purposes of this research are to identify
MCPV dimensions and develop items of measuring these
dimensions, to develop and clarify a conceptual model
integrating MCPV, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty
and their consequences on customer retention and to specify
and test hypothesized relationships derived from the concep-
tual framework. In the following sections, first, the develop-
ment of the conceptual model and the hypotheses of the
study are presented. Next, the methodology of the study is
discussed followed by the analysis and results. More specif-
ically, the conceptual model is tested using path analysis,
with the AMOS 19 structural equation modeling package,
and data collected by mail survey of 221 Muslim tourists.
Finally, the conclusions and their implications are discussed.
LITERATURE REVIEW, CONCEPTUAL MODEL AND
HYPOTHESIZED RELATIONSHIPS
The conceptual model of this study is drawn from two
streams of research: tourism and hospitality literature, and
current marketing theory. Figure 1 shows the conceptual
model with the hypothesized linkages between the constructs.
These linkages deal with two sets of hypotheses:
(1) The effect of the MCPV on customer satisfaction and
customer loyalty.
(2) The effect of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty
on customer retention.
Islamic tourism
Islamic tourism is deeply rooted with the Islamic Shari’ah
where every Muslim is demanded to visit the holy city of
Makah (in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) to conduct Hajj
(the fifth pillar of Islam) if he/she can afford to do that finan-
cially and physically. Accordingly, any Muslim that does not
actually live in that holy city needs to conduct tourism
activities to fulfill his/her Shari’ah requirements. Further-
more, millions of Muslims travel to the holy city of Makah
every year to perform Umrah. As a result, according to the
latest information provided by the National Statistical Office
of Saudi Arabia, during 2010, 14.757 million tourists visited
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (National Statistical Office of
Saudi Arabia, 2011). Almost all these millions visited the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for conducting Islamic tourism.
However, Islamic Shari’ah has a great impact on traveling
and encouraging tourism. When looking at Shari’ah and
Islamic religious principles generated from the Qur’an
(Islam’s holy book) and Sunnah (teachings, guidance and
practices of Prophet Mohammad), it is found that travelers
are considered to be closer to God and their Doaa (asking
God for something) and prayers are more responded to while
traveling. Furthermore, the religious responsibilities and
duties for travelers are less as a traveler can pray shorter
prayers, can postpone prayers and can postpone his/her
fasting during the holy month of Ramadan.
However, Muslims practice two different types of tourism
activities. First, pilgrimage-tourism activities or what is
called Hajj. Hajj in Islam is performed in the Kingdome of
Saudi Arabia within a specific geographical territory
(Almasha’er Almoukadasa) include the holy mosque in
Makkah, Arafat, Muzdalifah and Mina. It is performed in
specific period, from the 8th to the 13th of the 12th month
(Dhul-Hijja) according to the Hegira calendar. Allah (SWT)
Says in the holy Quran, (Surat Albakara), verse number
197: ‘Al-Hajj Ashoron Maalomat’ which means that Hajj is
performed only at a particular time of the year (Eid, 2102).
Muslims who are taking place in this great event should act
Figure 1. Proposed generic model for Muslim Customer Perceived Value.
250 R. Eid
Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Tourism Res., 17: 249–260 (2015)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr

in a good manner. Allah says in the holy Quran, chapter 2
(Surat Albakara), verse number 197: ‘If any one undertakes
that duty therein, Let there be no obscenity, nor wickedness,
nor wrangling in the Hajj’. It means that whoever decides to
go for Hajj should have good manners, so, there shouldn’t be
any immortality, sensuality or arguments in Hajj.
The second type of tourism activities that could be prac-
ticed by Muslims is called Islamic tourism, and this is the
core theme of this article. According to Jafari and Scott
(2013), Islamic tourism is essentially a new ‘touristic’ inter-
pretation of pilgrimage that merges religious and leisure
tourism. Thus, it is ‘unlike mass tourism which for Muslims
is “characterized by hedonism, permissiveness, lavishness”’
(Sonmez, 2001, p. 127). Islamic travel instead is proposed
as an alternative to this hedonic conceptualization of tourism.
Muslims are encouraged to practice such type of tourism
activities for historical, social and cultural encounters, to gain
knowledge, to associate with others, to spread God’s word
and to enjoy and appreciate God’s creations (Timothy &
Olsen, 2006). Undoubtedly, religious beliefs influence and
direct Muslim adherents to travel to particular sites and
influence their attitudes and behavior, perceptions and
perhaps emotions at those sites (Jafari & Scott, 2013). There-
fore, trends in forms of religious tourism may vary between
adherents of different faiths.
Customer perceived value
In recent years, customer perceived value has been the object
of interest by many researchers in hospitality and tourism
industry. Some studies treated perceived value as two crucial
dimensions of consumer behavior: the functional (value is for
instance linked to perceived prices through what is known as
transaction value) (see, for example, Grewal, Monroe, &
Krishnan, 1998; Cronin, Brady, & Hult, 2000; Oh, 2003).
Undoubtedly, hospitality and tourism activities need to
resort to fantasies, feelings and emotions to explain the
tourist purchasing decision. Many products have symbolic
meanings, beyond tangible attributes, perceived quality or
price (Havlena & Holbrook, 1986). Furthermore, as perceived
value is a subjective and dynamic construct that varies among
different customers and cultures at different times, it is neces-
sary to include subjective or emotional reactions that are
generated in the consumer mind (Havlena & Holbrook, 1986;
Bolton & Drew, 1991; Sweeney & Soutar, 2001). Havlena
and Holbrook have demonstrated the importance of the
affective component in the experiences of buying and con-
suming in leisure, esthetic, creative and religious activities
(Havlena & Holbrook, 1986).
Therefore, many studies adopt a wider view that treats the
concept of customer perceived value as a multidimensional
construct (See, for example, De Ruyter, Wetzels, Lemmink,
& Mattson, 1997; De Ruyter, Wetzels, & Bloemer, 1998;
Sweeney, Soutar, & Johnson, 1999; Rust, Zeithaml, &
Lemmon, 2000; Sweeney & Soutar, 2001). For example,
Sweeney et al. (1999) identifies five dimensions: social value
(acceptability), emotional value, functional value (price/value
for money), functional value(performance/quality) and func-
tional value (versatility); Kwun (2004) considers brand, price
and risk as the precursors of the formation of value in the
restaurant industry; Benkenstein et al. (2003) conclude that
satisfaction with leisure services is a function of cognitive
and emotional (psychological) factors; and Petrick (2002) scale
consists of five components: behavioral price, monetary price,
emotional response, quality and reputation.
However, although these studies provide empirical evi-
dence of the existence of the cognitive and affective dimen-
sions of perceived value, none of them studies the overall
perceived value of a purchase from an Islamic perspective.
Evaluation of the value of tourism products in the case of
Islamic tourism participation entails a completely different
process because of the requirements of the Islamic Shari’ah.
Participation of Muslims in tourism activities requires accept-
able goods, services and environments. Therefore, any attempt
to design a scale of measurement of the overall MCPV of a
purchase, or to identify its dimensions, must not only reflect
a structure that identifies functional and affective dimensions
but also the Shari’ah-Compliant attributes.
Islamic attributes value
Undoubtedly, religious identity appears to play an important
role in shaping consumption experiences including hospi-
tality and tourism choices among Muslim customers. It is a
religious compulsion for all Muslims to consume products
that are permitted by Allah (God) and falls under the jurisdic-
tion of Shari’ah. In Islam, Shari’ah-Compliant tourism
products generally refer to all such products that are in accor-
dance with the instructions of Almighty Allah (God) and
Prophet Mohammad (may peace be upon him). Shari’ah
designates the term ‘Halal’ specifically to the products that
are permissible, lawful and are unobjectionable to consume.
Shari’ah-Compliant tourism products may therefore add
value to Muslim consumers’ shopping experiences through
Islamic benefits that contribute to the value of the shopping
experience.
Shari’ah principles are requirements for every Muslim,
and sensitivity toward application of these principles is
important because religious deeds are not acceptable if they
are not conducted appropriately. A typical Muslim is
expected to do regular prayers in clean environments and fast
in Ramadan. In Islamic teachings, Muslims are also expected
to abstain from profligate consumption and indulgence
(Hashim, Murphy, & Hashim, 2007). In addition, Shari’ah
principles prohibit adultery, gambling, consumption of pork
and other haram (forbidden) foods, selling or drinking liquor
and dressing inappropriately (Zamani-Farahani & Henderson,
2010). Therefore, Shari’ah compliance should be a prerequisite
for high value tourism experiences for Muslims.
Based on the aforementioned discussions, two conclu-
sions can be introduced to help in building an effective scale
to measure MCPV. Firstly, the view of perceived value as a
cognitive variable is not enough, because it is necessary to
incorporate the affective component. Secondly, Muslim
tourist evaluates not only the traditional aspects of value
(cognitive and affective components) but also the religious
identity related aspects that contribute to the value creation.
This overall vision underlies the multidimensional approach
to MCPV.
Muslim Customer Perceived Value 251
Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Tourism Res., 17: 249–260 (2015)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr

Customer satisfaction
According to Rodriguez del Bosque and San Martin (2008),
consumer satisfaction is not only cognitive but also emo-
tional. Although the literature contains significant differences
in the definition of satisfaction, there are at least two
common formulations of satisfaction (Ekinci, Dawes, &
Massey, 2008; Nam, Ekinci, & Whyatt, 2011): one is
transient (transaction-specific), whereas the other is overall
(or cumulative) satisfaction. Transient satisfaction results
from the evaluation of activities and behaviors that take place
during a single, discrete interaction at a service encounter
(Oliver, 1997). A key implication of this definition suggests
that transient satisfaction should be captured immediately
after each service interaction with the service provider (e.g.
satisfaction with a specific employee) (Nam et al., 2011).
On the other hand, overall satisfaction is viewed as an
evaluative judgment of the last purchase occasion and based
on all encounters with service provider (Ekinci et al., 2008;
Nam et al., 2011). Transaction-specific satisfaction is likely
to vary from experience to experience, whereas overall
satisfaction is a moving average that is relatively stable and
most similar to an overall attitude towards purchasing a
brand. Therefore, this study follow Oliver (1997) and view
consumer satisfaction as a consumer’s overall emotional
response to the entire service experience for a single transac-
tion at the post purchasing point.
Customer loyalty
Loyalty is the most powerful outcome of consumer satisfac-
tion. It is a multidimensional construct that has been concep-
tualized and operationalized in many different ways in the
marketing literature (Oliver, 1999). For example, Oliver
(1997) proposes three components of satisfaction: cognitive,
affective and conative. The latter includes the use of repeat
usage. Also, intention to return is highly correlated with
other outcomes of satisfaction. However, despite the large
number of studies on customer loyalty, it has been seen from
two perspectives: behavioral loyalty and attitudinal loyalty
(e.g. Dick & Basu, 1994; Nam et al., 2011). Behavioral
loyalty refers to the frequency of repeat purchase. Attitudinal
loyalty refers to the psychological commitment that a con-
sumer makes in the purchase act, such as intentions to pur-
chase and intentions to recommend without necessarily
taking the actual repeat purchase behavior into account
(Jacoby, 1971; Jarvis & Wilcox, 1976).
Customer retention
There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to
create and retain a customer. It is the customer who deter-
mines what the business is (Drucker, 1954). Generally speaking,
there is no clear definition of a successful tourism organization.
A successful tourism organization is one that succeeds in
meeting the business objectives. These objectives can be
customer acquisition, customer retention, customer satisfaction,
customer loyalty, better customer service or any other objectives
that are set by the organization. MCPV includes the delivery of
sustained or increasing levels of satisfaction, and the retention of
customers by the maintenance and promotion of the relationship
(Palmer, Lindgreen, & Vanhamme, 2005).
Hypotheses
Homburg and Bruhn distinguish between the constructs of
customer retention, customer loyalty and customer satis-
faction, which they see as linked by a two-stage causal
chain (Homburg & Bruhn, 1998). Therefore, they suggest
distinguishing between the constructs of customer retention,
customer loyalty and customer satisfaction, which they see as
linked by a two-stage causal chain. Accordingly, customer
satisfaction is a direct determining of customer loyalty, which,
in turn, is a central determinant of customer retention.
Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty constructs are
affected by the different elements of MCPV.
However, the different constructs of MCPV, the theo-
retical differentiation of customer retention, customer loyalty
and customer satisfaction that can be derived from the litera-
ture, and the two-staged causal links between these con-
structs will next be considered with regard to their specific
relevance for the tourism industry.
Effects of Muslim Customer Perceived Value on customer
satisfaction
Previous work shows that various measures of customer
value are positively correlated with satisfaction (Lam,
Shankar, Erramilli, & Murthy, 2004; Spiteri & Dion, 2004).
Yet none of these measures includes items similar to the
notion of Muslim attributes value. For example, studies
conducted by Battour, Ismail, and Battor (2011) identified
Islamic attributes of destinations that may attract Muslim
tourists such as the inclusion of prayer facilities, Halal food,
Islamic entertainment, Islamic dress codes, general Islamic
morality and the Islamic call to prayer. This study recom-
mended that Islamic attributes of destination should be
developed for the purpose of empirical research. Ozdemir
and Met (2012) also argued that as Muslims typically
observe a dress code and avoid free mixing, some hotels in
Turkey offer separate swimming pool and recreational
facilities. Thus, a key question here is whether Muslim
customers’ perception of such Islamic attributes leads to
satisfaction outright.
Derived from previous works on the multidimensional na-
ture of consumption value, we can assume that positive and
negative value dimensions could have positive and negative
effects on the Muslim customer perceived value construct.
Thus, the six dimensions of Sanchez et al. (2006) study
could be considered: among them, we choose functional
value (quality and price), emotional value and social value.
But, considering the special nature of Muslim tourists, we
shall add another positive input of perceived value (Islamic
attributes value). The research hypotheses supporting this
proposal are then as follows:
H1: The perceptions of benefits referred to quality will
have a positive impact on Muslim customer satisfaction
H2: The perceptions of price will have a positive impact
on Muslim customer satisfaction
H3: The perceptions of benefits referred to emotional
value will have a positive impact on Muslim customer
satisfaction
252 R. Eid
Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Int. J. Tourism Res., 17: 249–260 (2015)
DOI: 10.1002/jtr