Maya Fouad Farah

• PhD
• Chair at Lebanese American University

The fashion industry has experienced a digital transition while embracing innovative technologies, such as virtual reality and augmented reality, in order to improve the customer experience. Virtual fashion shows have been gaining importance due to their innovative approach in displaying and promoting new collections. This study aims to examine the...

Many industries today acknowledge the unique needs of consumers with physical disabilities. The beauty industry, in particular, has been developing new offerings to cater to this specific market. This study aims to examine the effects of using inclusive beauty products on the psychological wellbeing of people with physical disabilities as well as o...

Generative artificial intelligence technologies are transforming brand‐customer interactions by offering highly personalized and dynamic virtual experiences. This underscores the importance of studying their significant impact on customer experiences in the Metaverse. Accordingly, the study aims to explore how users' attachment to the Metaverse rel...

Purpose While there has been a growing interest in the field of Metaverse-related research, its impact on vulnerable segments of the population, particularly those with special needs, is yet to be fully examined. This research develops the underlying scant theoretical knowledge related to the attachment of people with disabilities to the Metaverse...

Purpose Following the changes in consumer behavior in the hospitality industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Amazon launched “Explore”, an interactive livestreaming customized service that connects users with hosts worldwide, allowing them to discover a vast array of experiences from the comfort of their homes. This study aims to assess the effects...

Grounded in Transformative Service Research (TSR), this study aims to examine the mechanism by which blockchain-enabled banking determines customers perceived financial well-being (FW). We conclude that blockchain features augment information transparency, which in turn determines customers perceived financial well-being. Data was collected through...

Consumers are increasingly joining social networking sites (SNS) where they build online relationships with friends and brands they engage with. While SNS related studies are growing, the Middle East region still lacks a proper understanding relating to SNS effects on customer retention within a service environment. This study aims to develop the u...

Purpose The spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has drastically changed the entire market structure and shopping behaviors across the world. While shoppers rushed toward e-commerce platforms during the pandemic, the key debate that rose was on how this behavior will evolve post COVID-19. The purpose of this study was to explore the different c...

The integration of new technologies into the lives of consumers has caused significant changes in their journey, while directly altering consumers’ moment of truth. This study proposes a theoretical framework depicting recent innovations, the ongoing integration of digital touch-points within the consumer journey, and their overall impact on the fi...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explore the pros and cons of WhatsApp communication service and its likely effects on consumer behavior and one’s perception of luxury brands. Design/methodology/approach This study conducted 27 in-depth interviews with UK-based participants. This study used NVivo12 to thematically analyze the collected data...

Purpose The spread of fake news on social networking sites (SNS) poses a threat to the marketing landscape, yet little is known about how fake news affect consumers’ perceptions, attitudes and behaviors. This study aims to explore when consumers believe fake news, whom they blame for it (e.g. negative attitudes toward brands or SNS) and when they c...

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the adoption of social media platforms by tourists in Pakistan. Based on an adaptation of the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study assesses the factors that lead users to adopt these platforms. Design/methodology/approach A survey was administered to a convenience sample of 399 travelers who use social m...

The food and beverage (F&B) sector has witnessed a significant rise in online food ordering and delivery companies. Through the consumer journey framework, this study aims to uncover the triggers pertaining to each stage in this journey. An exploratory qualitative research approach was adopted: semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 33 cust...

Amazon, the leader in the e-retailing sector, has revolutionized online shopping through its vast areas of customer solutions, particularly with its Amazon Prime membership. Nonetheless, shoppers' behavior and attitudes in similar programs are yet to be researched. Accordingly, this study aims to examine the effect of self-control on trust, affecti...

Purpose Based on transformative service research (TSR), the study explores the mechanisms by which a firm's information transparency influences a retail investor's perceived financial well-being (PFW). It proposes a model exploring the mediating roles of the investor's financial risk tolerance (RT) and financial self-efficacy (FSE) in the relations...

The trend of incorporating assistive conversational agents into people's lives has followed the unprecedented expansion in the usage of artificial intelligence (AI). Amazon, in particular, has been a key trendsetter in this area through its Alexa‐powered devices. Alexa is an intelligent personal assistant (IPA) that performs tasks, such as playing...

The study explores the historical evolution of consumer ethnocentrism and consumer animosity to build an ampler understanding of the deliberated topics and identify probable future research inquiries. Four research gaps in the extant literature are identified, namely: (a) a lack of systematic assessments and comprehensive summaries in the field, (b...

The purpose of this study is to evaluate consumers’ reactions toward drone delivery service. Qualitative data was collected based on comments posted following a YouTube video. A thematic inductive analysis was used in order to analyze the data based on YouTube participants’ comments. The results of this study revealed that similarly to any other fo...

The growth of new technological innovations has given rise to a highly digitized retailing world that is re-defining the consumer purchase journey. Innovations, such as Amazon's Alexa, Dash-buttons (physical and virtual), and Spark, have indeed led to the creation of an Omni-channel journey that reshaped the shopping experience. Such tech-disruptio...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the effects of religiosity level, ethnocentrism, subjective norms, product judgment and trust in Halal food products on the consumer intention to purchase a Muslim (manufactured in a majority Muslim country) versus a foreign (manufactured in a majority non-Muslim country) product avail...

This study aims to understand the drivers of fast‐food addiction and the role of consumer social responsibility (CSR) on the relationship between fast‐food addiction and anti‐consumption. Due to growing health concerns, an increasing number of consumers have been avoiding the consumption of fast‐food. Based on a sample of 539 respondents, all perta...

Numerous designer luxury brands have been interested in creating co-branding partnerships with the fast-fashion retailer H&M. Despite the recognition by some researchers of the value of examining whether consumer reactions to the co-partnering luxury brands will be affected by the collaboration, to the best of our knowledge, no research to date has...

Interactive Voice Assistants (IVAs), such as Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant, are increasingly being integrated into consumers’ daily lives. Indeed, IVAs are unfolding new opportunities for retailers to capitalize on Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and generate incremental value. This is affecting the...

The Amazon Dash button is a technological innovation that allows consumers to re-order products at the press of a button. This study aims to test (a) the effects of the relational attributes of retailer's trust and love on the continued interaction with the Dash button, and (b) the effects of continued interaction on shoppers’ purchase decision inv...

Virtual reality (VR), as a multi-sensory experience, plays a prominent role in the contemporary business landscape. This paper investigates the effects of the accelerating adoption of head-mounted devices by brands and consumers on retailers’ in-store traffic and discusses how VR could complement the consumer experience across the shopping journey....

Despite the fact that mainstream media is facing an existential crisis due to the migration of its audience towards digital platforms, this model can still strive in the actual Lebanese society through a hybrid mode. This article has been published in the ArabAd magazine.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the important factors which help explain consumer intention and use behavior in mobile banking (m-banking) adoption. All constructs of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 are studied. Non-monetary value is studied through perceived value. Trust and perceived risk are also included t...

Technology, particularly Self-Service Technology (SST), has reshaped the way an individual interacts with a certain brand or retailer. In 2015, Amazon, known for its progressive usage of technology, launched the Dash Button, allowing customers to remotely reorder products by the mere press of a button. This study aims at understanding the implicati...

The growth of social media platforms has played a great part in empowering retailers. Today the latter are driving new unconventional strategies in order to stand apart from competition and drive consumer traffic. Nevertheless, minimal research has been conducted on retailers’ utilization of guerrilla-like marketing tactics, which encompass a propo...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze consumer switching behavior, which in the retail banking sector is of outmost importance, particularly during financial crises and in their ensuing consolidation pressures. Moreover, research indicates that cultural values play a critical role in determining a customer’s likelihood to switch the servi...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that affect customers’ switching intentions among banks in the context of mergers and acquisitions, using particularly the case of the merger between Lloyds TSB and Halifax Bank of Scotland, which took place in 2009. Design/methodology/approach On the basis of the theory of planned beha...

Social networking sites’ current domination as a relationship-building platform with consumers is causing brand owners to lose power. Concurrently, retailers have significantly increased their social presence to influence shoppers’ buying decisions. Surprisingly, this area is still largely under-examined in the literature despite its growing releva...

The gamification of retail, helped essentially by the development of augmented reality, is hailed today as being the reverser of declining retail sales trends. With the rapid expansion and adoption of the Pokémon Go augmented reality game, there is a dire need to understand the true implications of this game app on brands and retailers alike. Given...

The gamification of retail, helped essentially by the development of augmented reality, is hailed today as being the reverser of declining retail sales trends. With the rapid expansion and adoption of the Pokémon Go augmented reality game, there is a dire need to understand the true implications of this game app on brands and retailers alike. Given...

Social networking sites' current domination as a relationship-building platform with consumers is causing brand owners to lose power. Concurrently, retailers have significantly increased their social presence to influence shoppers' buying decisions. Surprisingly, this area is still largely under-examined in the literature despite its growing releva...

Organisations and marketers have long debated the consumer–brand relationship. Theorising related to this debate led to self-service technologies, which were implemented to both reduce costs and increase productivity by turning customers into co-producers of services or merely to keep up with technological developments. With the emergence of disrup...

Consumption patterns across different cultures are influenced by several factors, including personal and cultural ones. Collectivist cultures play a major role in the consumption decision-making process that an individual goes through, as culture typically affects consumers’ taste orientation, specifically toward luxury goods. The main motivation b...

The purpose of this paper is to improve theoretical and empirical knowledge first of all, about the effect of consumer ethnocentrism and religious animosity towards a country on consumers’ boycott propensity; and second about the effect of boycotting on customer product judgment, brand image and loyalty.

Gender plays a significant role in the way consumers behave; it also considerably affects the way they perceive and evaluate advertisements for controversial products. This paper examines the way that male and female Lebanese consumers perceive the advertisements for each of the following controversial product groups: (a) sex and gender products, (...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to examine the influence of religiously motivated boycotts, such as the one conducted in Saudi Arabia against Danish companies, on corporate brand image, customer loyalty and product judgment. Despite a growing research interest in understanding the effects of different types of consumer animosities on compan...

Religion plays a significant role in the way consumers perceive the advertising of controversial products. Religiosity, which describes an individual's commitment and adherence to religious values and beliefs, is also of a noteworthy relevance in how consumers appraise product advertisements. Conducted in Lebanon, the study employed a survey design...

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of religious sect on the Lebanese consumer’s perception of controversial product advertisements Design/methodology/approach: The study employed a quantitative survey that was administered to a purposive representative sample of respondents from the two main Muslim sects in the country, nam...

Despite a worldwide growth in the number of boycott campaigns, the results of studies are inconclusive as the motives behind individual participation are still largely ignored. Drawing on a socio-cognitive theory, the theory of planned behavior, this research investigates whether the direct variables of attitude, subjective norm and perceived behav...