The role of self-congruity in the retail store patronage model: the case of islamic retail stores in Indonesia and Malaysia

Abstract

Retail industry contributes significantly to national economies. Currently, Islamic retail stores become another phenomenon in Indonesia and Malaysia. Previous studies investigated Muslim customers' preferences to patronage Islamic retail stores rather than conventional ones. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is twofold: to test and validate Islamic retail patronage behavior framework and to compare Islamic retail patronage among the customers between Indonesia and Malaysia. 302 retail customers in Indonesia and 308 retail customers in Malaysia were selected, the purposive sampling method was used. The hypotheses were tested by applying structural equation modeling. Out of ten hypotheses, eight were supported. A multi-group analysis of invariance was also performed on these two samples. The results reveal that there is no significant difference in Islamic retail patronage behavior among Indonesia and Malaysia consumers, thus suggesting that the measurement model may be robust across cultures and that the factor loading pattern and factor loadings appeared to be equivalent across the cultures examined. The results were further discussed and recommendations for future research have been provided.