Life events and coping strategies among Muslim consumers: a comparative study of Malaysia and

Abstract

This research is a comparative study of life events and coping strategies of Muslim consumers in Malaysia and Bangladesh. A lot of research has already been conducted on the relationship between life events and stress (Mathur et al., 2001); this paper will attempt at understanding the relationship between life events and changes in the consumption behavior of Muslim consumers. The study will span across two countries: Malaysia and Bangladesh. Although culturally the countries are quite different, the dominant religion in both countries is Islam. Theory reflects that life events cause people to seek changes in their consumption patterns and behavior. “The positive relationship posits that the larger the number of life events experienced, the greater the level of stress experienced and hence the more the changes in consumer behavior” (Ong & Othman, 2007). Past studies have concentrated their efforts on younger and older segments of the population. This study will concentrate on studying the Muslim consumers across two countries, in order to test the similarities and/or the differences. Although research has been conducted on life events and consumer behavior of Malaysians (Ong, 2007), there has been no such study conducted in Bangladesh. This researcher will try to see if Muslim consumers in Malaysia act in the same way as their counterparts in Bangladesh. The study will try to understand whether religion has an influence in the coping mechanisms consumers use in dealing with major life events and the stress that is created by major life transitions.