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This study aims to examine the relationship between the personality dimensions of consumers and celebrities; the effect of celebrity personality on attitude towards the celebrity; and the effect of attitude towards the celebrity on purchase intention.

Data were gathered from 400 respondents in the North of England to explore the connections between five consumer personality dimensions (agreeableness, extroversion, openness, conscientiousness and neuroticism) and nine celebrity personality dimensions (neuroticism, extroversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness, sincerity, excitement, stylishness and positivity) and were analysed using structural equation modelling.

The findings suggested that some dimensions of consumer personality, i.e. conscientiousness, extroversion and openness, were significantly related to all the celebrity personality dimensions. Moreover, all the celebrity personality dimensions had a significant effect on consumers’ attitude towards the celebrity; however, only neuroticism, extroversion, openness, sincerity and positivity significantly affected purchase intention. Finally, attitude towards the celebrity had a significant effect on purchase intention.

The study introduces a celebrity personality scale and explores a topic that has not previously been researched.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the direct effect of classical predictors of an individual’s behaviour, namely, attitude, subjective norms (SN) and perceived behavioural control (PBC) on the intention to deal with Islamic banks. The study extended the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) by introducing the customers’ religiosity paradigm as a moderator between the classical predictors of the theory and the intention to deal with Islamic banks.

By applying the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) framework, data were collected from conventional banks to investigate the potential Islamic bank customers’ intention. Using self-administered questionnaires, the data were collected from conventional banks in Muscat. A total of 1,000 questionnaires were distributed; however, only 638 were found usable. The structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypothesis and analyse the prediction values of the model in the TPB framework. It is also used to analyse the moderation effect of religiosity on the relation between the predictors and intention.

The results of the SEM analysis indicated that attitude, SN and PBC significantly predicted the potential customers’ intention to deal with Islamic banks in Oman. The results of the moderation effect shown that religiosity was a poor moderator of the relation between the attitude and intention as well as the PBC and intention, though, the result shown that religiosity is a partial moderator of the relation between the SN and intention.

Due to the current study method, the result findings should be generalised with caution. Future studies may introduce other variables to examine the moderation effect between the relation of the predictor and intention of the TPB framework. It also signifies the moderation effect of religiosity on the relationship between the attitude, SN and PBC and intention of the potential customs in the TPB framework. This is considered a theoretical enrichment to the behaviour studies and TPB literature.

The current study assists the Islamic bank practitioners and regulators to broaden the horizon in considering the practical outcomes from the academic research. The result from this study does not only prove that the TPB seems to be acceptable in explaining the intention and behaviour in the field of Islamic banking but also support the robustness of the ability of TPB in predicting the behaviour and intention in a different research context (Islamic banking and finance).

This study is an attempt to introduce religiosity as a moderator in the TPB framework with SEM analysis and to explore the moderation effect between the predictors and intention to deal with Islamic banks among Omani’s Islamic Bank Customers. This study endeavours to fill a gap of these moderation effects and how the customers’ religiosity influence customer’s preferences towards Islamic Bank.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the various consequences of climate change on the biodiversity of Kuwait. Many world organizations have established strategic plans for climate change, such as The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, which is adopted in 2002 by the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The paper utlizes a wide range of research projects completed at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), which provide information leading to the degradding effects and risks of climate change on the biodiversity and ecosystem services of Kuwait.

The biodiversity of Kuwait is under severe stress due to natural and anthropogenic factors. The region is also threatened physically and biologically by the global warming phenomena. More severe and harsh climatic conditions will cause increase in formation of sand dunes, sand encroachment, and extreme dust storms. In 2008, Kuwait has the worst ever reported summer since 1991 with increase in intensity and frequency of dust storms. Drought will cause more water demand for local consumption and irrigation. The seawater temperature increase would affect the spawning period of fish and shrimp and would cause migration of fish to other more suitable areas. This would cause severe impact on the fish industry in Kuwait and the region. Losses in plant cover will be due to sand encroachment or erratic rainfall periods causing runoff and flooding.

The work is based on various projects at the KISR and by some journal publications that relate to climate change impact on biodivesity. More research work is needed to test the long‐term impact of climate change on bidivesity of Kuwait.

There is a need to develop a strategic plan for climate change mitigation and adaptation in Kuwait. Specific elements of the plan would include: research for identification of vulnerable species, collecting field population data, conducting modeling research to inform conservation programs; monitoring key species; ex situ conservation using living collection and ensuring representation in conservation collection; in situ conservation and increase in protected areas; education and public awareness programs; networking; and sharing knowledge.