BRAND EQUITY, CUSTOMER PERCEPTIONS AND MODERATING EFFECT OF DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS ON PURCHASE INTENTIONS: AN EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE OF UAE HEALTH TAKAFUL INDUSTRY

Abstract

Despite the fact that the UAE is among the pioneers of the Takaful industry and 76% of the population is Muslim, its share of the Takaful business is far less than that of conventional insurance. The main objective of this study is to examine the factors which contribute to sustainable growth and development of the Takaful business in the UAE. This study utilizes the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to examine the impact of brand equity and customer perception of utility on the purchase intentions of Health Takaful customers through the moderating role of age, income, education and religion. This is a quantitative study and stratified sampling technique is adopted to collect data from 400 respondents through self-administered questionnaire. The major findings of this study confirmed that brand equity and customer perception of utility have a significant positive influence on the purchase intentions of Health Takaful customers in the UAE. Analyses of the moderating variables show that while age, income and education are significant moderators, religion is a non-significant moderator for the above relationships. A new finding of this study is the non-significant moderating role of religion, indicating that the scope of Takaful is not limited to Muslim customers only but can include potential customers whom are followers of different religions in the UAE. This study contributes its share by providing Health Takaful Model which can be used by Takaful industry, academia and government bodies to understand the purchase intentions of Takaful customers in the UAE.