Enhancing shopping mall relevance with Islamic principles: shoppers’ satisfaction and revisit intentions via social media celebrities

Purpose This paper aims to consider the dimensions of shopping mall relevance, including “functional, symbolic, social and environmental relevance”, and expands the framework by introducing a new dimension of Islamic relevance which is particularly important in the malls within Islamic countries. This study examines their influence on shoppers’ satisfaction, which subsequently influences revisit intentions. Furthermore, this study tests the moderation influence of social media celebrities (SMCs) in the link between shoppers’ satisfaction and revisit intentions and contributes to the literature on consumer behaviour in the Islamic retail sector. Design/methodology/approach This study employed a mall intercept survey methodology to collect data from shoppers who were shopping within the mall premises. It obtained 426 acceptable questionnaires from mall patrons across three cities in Pakistan: Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi. In addition, hypotheses were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings Findings show that functional, symbolic, social, environmental and Islamic relevance significantly enhance shoppers’ satisfaction. This satisfaction, in turn, positively affects their intention to revisit. Furthermore, the presence of SMCs moderates the relationship between shoppers’ satisfaction and their intention to revisit. Originality/value The study pioneers in broadening the mall relevance model by incorporating an Islamic perspective and applying Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) theory to explain shoppers’ behaviour. It shows that mall relevance (stimulus) affects the shoppers’ satisfaction (organism), which in turn influences the revisit intentions (response), with the moderating influence of SMCs as an external stimulus on this link. The findings offer valuable insights for mall administrators, highlighting the importance of functional, symbolic, social, environmental, and Islamic dimensions to enhance shoppers’ satisfaction. Moreover, the study underscores the significant role of SMCs in elevating both shoppers’ satisfaction and revisit intentions based on S-O-R theory.