Faith on the Vegas strip: Measuring Islamic religiosity via ARC

Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop and validate Actions, Restrictions and Core Beliefs (ARC), a multidimensional Islamic religiosity scale, establish validity and demonstrate its efficacy in destination–hospitality choice models in gaming destinations. Design/methodology/approach The ARC scale was developed through item generation, pretesting, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. A Web-based survey collected data from 678 Muslim subjects in the USA. Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), structural equation modeling was used to test the relationships between religiosity, attitudes, subjective norms and travel intentions. Findings The Islamic religiosity scale consists of three domains: Aamal (actions), Haram (restrictions) and Iman (core beliefs). When tested in a regression model, higher religiosity was associated with more negative attitudes toward gambling-related travel and hospitality services and stronger perceptions of social disapproval, which in turn influenced behavioral intentions. Although religiosity did not directly affect travel intentions, it showed significant indirect effects via attitudes and norms. Originality/value ARC provides a validated measure of Islamic religiosity tailored to hospitality and destination contexts, incorporating faith-based obligations and prohibitions directly relevant to service environments. The results of this study clarify how religiosity shapes attitudes and social norms in morally contested service environments and provide implications for hospitality managers seeking to accommodate Muslim guests.