The impact of religiously motivated boycotts on brand loyalty among transnational consumers

 Boycotting  has  been  empirically  proven  to  be  damaging  to  business  organisations,  and there is compelling evidence to suggest that it is not only here to stay, but it is also on the increase.  Brand  loyalty  is  declining  for  many  reasons  including  the  effects  of  market competitiveness,  the  fading  of  brand  differentiation  andthe  ever-changing  marketplace landscape. Transnationality  and  its  impact  on  consumer  behaviour—despite  the  increase  in  the international  human  movements  and  border  crossing—is  still  an  understudied  field.The conducted  literature  review  suggests  that  little  attention  has  been paid  to  explore  the  link between boycotting and brand loyalty from the transnational consumers perspective. To  achieve  the  research  objective,  which  is  to  develop  an  understanding  of  the  impact  of boycotting  on  brand  loyalty  and  the  influence  of  transnationality  on  this  relationship,  a mixed  methods  approach  was  adopted.  Thirty-five  qualitative  interviews  were  conducted with London-based Muslim Arabs and sequentially an online questionnaire that generated 537 responses. This research has empirically revealed the negative impact of consumer boycotts on brand loyalty   and   highlighted   the   influential   role   that   transnationality,   social   capital   and demographics play in shaping the consumer boycotting and brand loyalty decision-making process. This  study  also  explored  the  role  of  religion  on  boycotting  and  the  subsequent  brand loyalty   behaviour   and   empirically   confirmed   that   religiously   motivated   boycotts   are damaging  for  business  firms  as  they  have  a  sudden  and  long-term  negative  effect  on loyalty.  The  study  shows  that  religious  denominations  have  a  significant  impact  on  both boycotting and loyalty behaviour. Based   on   the   study   findings,   implications,   recommendations   for   management   and consumers alike and suggestions for future research are presented.