Clustering Kuwaiti consumer attitudes towards Sharia-compliant financial products: A self-organizing maps analysis. Issue 1 (13th September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Al-Salem, Fouad; Mostafa, Mohamed M.
• Is Part Of: International journal of bank marketing. Volume 37:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 142
• Page End: 155
• Publication Date: 2018-09-13
• Subjects: Kuwait -- Market segmentation -- Self-organizing maps -- Consumer choice -- Consumer clustering -- Sharia-compliant financial products; Bank marketing -- Periodicals; Financial services industry -- Marketing -- Periodicals; 332.106888
• DOI: 10.1108/IJBM-09-2017-0198
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0265-2323

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: This purpose of this paper is to clustering Kuwaiti consumers choice of Sharia-complaint financial products and services based on several factors such as religiosity, financial knowledge, customer value, satisfaction, trust, service quality, relationship with service providers and innovation. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses self-organizing maps, a neural network technique, in order to cluster and segment consumers of Sharia-compliant financial products and services in Kuwait. From a marketing perspective, SOM can be viewed as a flexible clustering technique in which different clusters are identified without the rigid traditional statistical assumptions of linearity or normality. Findings: This paper shows that consumers of Sharia-compliant financial products in Kuwait can be clustered into three distinct segments: enthusiasts, laggards and rejectors. The enthusiasts represent the largest cluster with a frequency of around 66 percent, while the Rejectors represent the smallest segment with a frequency of 10 percent. Originality/value: This paper advances our knowledge about the behavioral aspects of financial consumer choice within a non-traditional Sharia-compliant financial products context.