An empirical assessment of consumption practices in a revolutionary epoch : the case of Egypt and Libya

The aim of this thesis was to determine the impact of the recent and ongoing Arab Spring phenomenon on consumption practices in Egypt (Cairo) and Libya (Tripoli). The purpose behind the research was to empirically analyse how the Arab Spring has been driven by consumption and the extent to which consumption has been affected by the Arab Spring. A study was conducted between March-April 2013 in two of the main cities associated with the Arab Spring; Cairo (Egypt) and Tripoli (Libya). Retrospective accounts were obtained to capture citizens past experiences, present experiences and future expectations in order to develop a greater understanding of changing consumption practices. This thesis is grounded firmly in the marketing discipline as much as it is in the social sciences, particularly since the consulted literature is of an interdisciplinary nature and the Arab Spring phenomenon is not only of interest to marketing academics and practitioners but also policy makers and sociologists alike.Change is central to this thesis and citizens are considered the anchor of change. The main findings to emerge from this research are that consumption was a call for the revolution but also a cause of it. Two streams of consumption have been identified. These are conservative and conspicuous consumption. While citizens in Cairo have become more conservative in the present epoch (time of data collection March-April 2013), Libyans have become more conspicuous and are excited to try new modes of consumption. Furthermore, a contention raised in this thesis is that marketing operations in times of flux are often neglected. However, the findings demonstrate that there is a greater opportunity to capitalise on new clientele in a state of flux and amidst the instability and insecurity. As a result of the data collected in flux, this study would seem to have particular value and interestingess in the marketing discipline and beyond.Contributions made in this thesis are of a revelatory nature due to the combination of multiple theoretical lenses and the findings marking a very early empirical contribution across the social science disciplines in understanding the impact of the Arab Spring on consumption practices as well as the development and ongoing epiphenomenal state of flux in the Middle East. To the author’s best knowledge, this study is the first to conceptualise the revolutions within the marketing discipline. The findings may be transferred to other contexts and settings to examine other societies in a state of flux such as Ukraine, Syria and Iraq. A conceptual framework is used to illustrate practices in flux. Emergent themes are proposed via a conceptual model to demonstrate how flux influences consumption practices. Moreover, a novel and unusual methodological approach is used by combining a systematic literature review (SLR) as an entry point into the literature alongside grounded theory methods to study matters of consumption practices

Arab consumer attitutes towards international marketing as a result of the ongoing Arab Spring : a systematic literature review

Paper from the International Conference on Contemporary Marketing Issues (ICCI), Thessaloniki, 13-15 June 2012 The Middle East has been recently and continues to be affected by a phenomenon referred to popularly as the ‘Arab Spring’. The phenomenon appears to have sparked a wave of candidness amongst Arab consumers in a way that hitherto was not apparent. A question as to whether the uprisings are about the pursuit of democracy, political reform or freedom of speech remains to be settled. The purpose of this discussion paper is to ask what effects the Arab Spring may have on marketing theory and practice. To that end, the paper presents the results of a systematic literature review pertaining to marketing in the Middle East. A quantitative bibliometric method of citation analysis is deployed to identify the range of themes that have been previously researched. From this review, the paper identifies the particular relevance of the Arab Spring phenomenon to international marketing theory and practice. Thus, this study makes the first attempt to conceptualize what the Arab Spring means for future international marketing theory and practice and marks the start of a first investigation, and potential beginning of a longitudinal study into the phenomenon as it continues to unfold, grounded firmly in the marketing discipline

The evolution and structure of internet-based consumer research : a citation analysis

The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic literature review into the evolution and structure of internet-based ethnographic consumer research during the twenty-year period between 1996 and 2015. The results of a quantitative citation analysis and a qualitative synthesis are presented which demonstrate the limited engagement that marketing researchers have had with the discipline and the limited degree to which the discipline has influenced that literature. This hitherto lack of research presents a significant lacuna and a significant opportunity for marketing scholarship to engage further with that literature. Similarly, there are particular thematic areas where knowledge is currently lacking. Taken together, the quantitative citation analysis and qualitative synthesis demonstrate that netnography is very much an emerging trend in the consumer research literature and there are many theoretical, empirical and practical bases upon which it may be applied, especially in the context of future studies. Keywords: citation analysis, consumer research, netnography, systematic literature revie

The transition of the self through the Arab Spring in Egypt and Libya

This paper builds on Belk's notions of the extended, social, family and dialogic selves in an attempt to explore the transformation of the self during the Arab Spring phenomena. From the perspective of the respondents in Egypt and Libya, this paper provides a reading of how images of self are related to artifacts of consumption, rituals, and symbols and how consumer values are navigated through this difficult landscape. The paper uses a three phase history, happening, and hopes narratives to show that the self in a liminal period of flux is referent to history and hopes and proposes a notion of a transitional self that incorporates this observation of reference to past and future. In particular, the findings suggest that consumption, especially Western consumption can be transcendental during a liminal period of flux and that such revelatory incidents offer an opportunity to access the candid thoughts of consumers

Theorems on Certain Fractional Function and Derivative

The aim of this paper is to prove the correctness of the relation I - I h (x) = h (x) for all xÎ(a, b], x a x a a a a a 00)

Arab Consumer Attitudes towards International Marketing as a Result of the Ongoing Arab Spring: A Systematic Literature Review

The Middle East has been recently and continues to be affected by a phenomenon referred to popularly as the ‘Arab Spring’. The phenomenon appears to have sparked a wave of candidness amongst Arab consumers in a way that hitherto was not apparent. A question as to whether the uprisings are about the pursuit of democracy, political reform or freedom of speech remains to be settled. The purpose of this discussion paper is to ask what effects the Arab Spring may have on marketing theory and practice. To that end, the paper presents the results of a systematic literature review pertaining to marketing in the Middle East. A quantitative bibliometric method of citation analysis is deployed to identify the range of themes that have been previously researched. From this review, the paper identifies the particular relevance of the Arab Spring phenomenon to international marketing theory and practice. Thus, this study makes the first attempt to conceptualize what the Arab Spring means for future international marketing theory and practice and marks the start of a first investigation, and potential beginning of a longitudinal study into the phenomenon as it continues to unfold, grounded firmly in the marketing discipline

When the road is rocky: Investigating the role of vulnerability in consumer journeys

AbstractJourney research has primarily analyzed agentic, solo travelers making rational single-purchase decisions. In contrast, we examine a journey where consumers and their traveling companions are vulnerable and must navigate an unfamiliar service system. We explore how vulnerability shapes consumer journeys, how service and system factors impact vulnerability, and how traveling companions influence agency and vulnerability. Using data from an extensive study into end-of-life care, our results reveal novel insights into the role of consumer vulnerability throughout a journey. We show how the ebb and flow of consumer vulnerability shapes the journey, and how the journey shapes vulnerability. Traveling companions, themselves vulnerable, play a major role in influencing vulnerability and the journey itself. We offer managerial implications for organizations whose consumers are in vulnerable situations.</jats:p