Thematic Analysis of Marketing Studies in The Islamic Context with a Meta-Synthesis Approach

Introduction: The halal food market is considered the largest and most diverse sector of the global Islamic economy, which is expected to reach more than 1.9 trillion dollars by 2023, so it is important and necessary to pay attention to Islamic markets and the issue of marketing in the Islamic context; therefore these markets become attractive for domestic and foreign commercial companies. Large multinational companies have already realized the importance of their presence in these markets and have been trying to get a good share in these markets for a long time. Despite these developments and efforts, the concept of marketing and its strategies are not clear, especially for Muslim consumers. Considering the wide and numerous dimensions of marketing in the Islamic context in domestic and foreign research, reaching a precise synthesis about this concept is one of the main goals, the present research aims to investigate the marketing research in the Islamic context conducted in the Iran country. Therefore, the current research seeks to identify some issues by collecting and analyzing research related to marketing in the Islamic context.
Methodology: The statistical population of the present study was based on all the articles accepted in Normex, Mogiran, SID, Civilica, and the comprehensive portal of humanities. The approach of the present research is a meta-synthesis. In a situation where there are barriers to progress in the scientific field, met synthesis will be very important. This situation shows itself when it seems that science does not make much progress in a particular subject; Therefore, met synthesis is the product of the crises of scientific disciplines. A meta-study begins with an examination of possible problems in the original study and ends with a prescription for solving these problems. The tools for collecting information are library study and document review. Because the unit under review is the existing articles in the field of marketing and Islam. The current research seeks to investigate and analyze the topics raised in previous research in the field of marketing in the Islamic context so that through them it can identify new topics and areas.
Findings: Based on the review of the time trend of the published articles, there was a relatively upward trend until 1995 and a downward trend from 1995 to 1400. Based on the extracted themes, 25 indicators were extracted in two main topics and 6 sub-topics. , which were named under the basic headings of marketing (need and demand) and marketing management (marketing mix, microenvironment, types of marketing, and other topics). Based on the obtained results, the marketing mix in the Islamic context with 31.89%, and the concept of ethics and marketing in the Islamic context with 30.16% received the most attention from the authors of the articles. Based on the research conducted in the field of marketing in the Islamic context, finally, all these researches can be divided into 5 areas: false need, marketing mix, types of marketing, need, desire and demand, micro environment, and other issues such as Islamic business, Islamic market, marketing in Islamic context, market control, sustenance tradition, Islamic ethics. Based on the obtained results, most of the articles deal with issues related to ethics, and the authors have defined various ethical issues, including ethical business, ethical work, ethical marketing, and other issues in the field of ethics and marketing. Based on the collection of articles, the most complete and common definition of marketing in the Islamic context is the process and strategy of meeting needs with halal products and services with the consent of the parties, the seller and the buyer, to achieve material and spiritual well-being.
Conclusion: According to the concept of marketing in the Islamic context and based on the collection of selected articles, most of the references have focused on these three issues: the need for halal products and services - the mutual satisfaction of the parties, i.e. the seller and the buyer - achieving material and spiritual well-being. Another point that can be seen in the research is the comparison of the values and principles of marketing from the perspective of Islam and capitalism, which generally defines the task of marketing in the Islamic context and separates it from marketing in the context of capitalism. While the goal in the capitalist market is to gain profit and material pleasure, the goal in the Islamic market is to satisfy needs in the way of human perfection. In the capitalist market, the purpose of advertising is to attract more attention for more purchases, which leads to profit, but in the Islamic market, the purpose of advertising is to inform to obtain halal profit. Finally, Islam is considered the main reason for paying attention to ethics. Finally, the main gap of the surrounding research is the lack of attention to topics related to segmentation, targeting, and positioning, which can be a new platform for future research.