The effect of halal brand awareness on purchase intention in indonesia: the mediating role of attitude

Abstract This research investigated the relationships between the awareness of halal-based products and services and people’s intention to purchase. Also, it explored behavioral attitude as a mediating variable in influencing purchase intention. Data was collected through an online survey with 162 validated respondents. The PLS-SEM method was applied to test four hypotheses connecting the relationship between brand, attitude, and intention variables. The research findings showed that all hypotheses were confirmed, including the mediating role of attitude. This means that halal industry players should respond to consumers shifting from conventional to halal lifestyle orientation, while the regulator requires to provide incentives for promoting a greater halal ecosystem. The originality of this research is that this study strengthened previous research on the role of consumers’ attitudes that positively affect the intention to purchase halal products and services. This study revealed that consumers expand their consumption of traditional halal products and services (food, Islamic banking, fashion) to lifestyle (shopping) and well-being (fitness and swimming pool).


Introduction
The world's Muslim population is estimated to reach 3 billion by 2060, with Indonesia having many potential Muslim consumers (Lashari et al., 2021). The government has recognized the importance of Abdul Aziz Nugraha Pratama ABOUT THE AUTHORS Abdul Aziz Nugraha Pratama Currently serves as an associate professor of Islamic economics academically and also serves as the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Islamic Business at the State Islamic University (UIN) Salatiga, Indonesia. His research focuses on Islamic economics, Islamic human resource management perspective. Currently, he is also trusted as a research reviewer at the Ministry of Religion and several scientific journals in the field of Islamic economics. M. Luthfi Hamidi currently works as the Head of MA in Economics Program, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII). His research interests focus on Islamic social banking, Islamic business management and sustainability. Edi Cahyono is a Lecturer at the Postgraduate Program of State Islamic University (UIN) Salatiga, Indonesia. He graduated with a Doctoral degree at Universitas Sebelas Maret, Indonesia. His research interests focus on human resources management, organizational behaviour, and leadership.
the halal brand industry, as reflected in the Global Islamic Economy Report. There is a lot of potential for growth in the Muslim fashion and halal food industries, which if tapped will significantly contribute to the country's economic growth. Currently, Islamic financial institutions offer various products and services, resulting in a scramble for consumers between Islamic and conventional banks. Institutions that meet consumers' needs are most likely to emerge as winners (Rahim, 2017).
Some people consume certain goods and services to satisfy emotional and rational considerations. Iannaccone and Couper (1992) argued that in as much as people shop for their needs, religious consumers tend to align with their belief system while purchasing goods and services. They buy goods and services not only for the sake of satisfying their needs but also for creating meaning for their afterlife (Rini & Absah, 2017). Although religiosity could guide consumers as a compass for decisionmaking, every religious person does not embrace this assertion (Tan & Vogel, 2008). Highly religious people with poor education and low income behave irrationally (Senarathne, 2020).
From an Islamic perspective, demand for unique products and services is not the only consideration. The products and services should meet "halal" requirements (holding holy characteristics) such as cleanliness, purity, ingredients, intention, impact, and kindness (Alserhan, 2010). This has created awareness of halal brands, which have been responded to by different industries, including non-Muslim countries. In Japan, the development of halal food is getting more attention, and its tourist industry has recognized the Muslim culture to attract more tourists (Yasuda, 2017;Yusof & Shutto, 2014). Also, Thailand, where only 4.3% of its 69 million population is Muslim, has transformed to become one of the largest exporters of halal-certified food (Nawawi et al., 2019).
Halal brands are soon expanding to fashions, tourism, and financial products (Islamic bank, insurance, pawnshop, leasing, Sukuk). Some questions about whether the Muslim community is aware of these developments are bound to arise. Further, there are questions about whether their level of awareness has led to attitude change and subsequent desire to consume the halal-based product and services. Although the literature development in this discipline is rapid growing, references are still limited. Garg and Joshi (2018) investigated the relation of three variables, including subjective norm, religiosity, and attitude to purchase intention. The outcome suggested that except attitude, subjective norms, and religiosity have no significant impact on purchase intention. Ustaahmetoğlu (2020) found that religious messages in advertisements lead to more outstanding attitudes and purchase intentions. Widyanto and Sitohang (2021) also found that subjective norms and religiosity have no significant impact on purchase intention, but attitude indirectly affects the two variables.
The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationships between the awareness of halalbased products and services and people's purchase intention. Also, it explored behavioral attitude as a mediating variable in influencing purchase intention. The model adopted by this research integrated brand awareness along with the attitude variable. Additionally, it examined the likely areas consumers would purchase halal brands. The important questions investigated include awareness of halal-based brands' direct impact on the attitude; impact on intention to purchase; exploring the relationship between Muslims' religiosity and intention to purchase halal-based products and services; and mediating effects of attitude on this relationship. The rest structures include as follows. The second section presented a literature review and hypothesis development, while the third discussed the methodology employed. The fourth section has findings and discussion, and the last is the conclusion.

Purchase intention
Purchase intention is associated with consumers' behavior toward the will to purchase and use a particular brand (H. H. Chang & Liu, 2009;Haryanto et al., 2019;Jaara et al., 2021). The intention to buy increases with adequate knowledge that the benefits derived outweigh the cost paid (Dickson & Sawyer, 1990;Nguyen et al., 2022). According to Khan and Watson (2003), consumers with the intention to buy show a larger actual purchasing rate. In contrast, Niessen and Hamm (2008) asserted that buyers sometimes exaggerate their buying intention. For instance, those who desire to buy organic food are in excess of 50%, but only 15% purchase the products in the actual sense (Niessen & Hamm, 2008).
Consumers are likely to purchase a product when they know its existence and importance (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988;Haenlein & Kaplan, 2004). Fiore (2008) argued that although product packaging may seem simple, it influences purchase intention. In addition, the perceived value influences the intention to purchase since buyers tend to compare the product's characteristics to its substitutes. This implies the higher the perceived value, the higher the intention to purchase (Bagozzi & Baumgartner, 1994). Another important factor regarding the intention to purchase is celebrity endorsement. Products attached to celebrities are highly regarded and tend to sit in the mind of consumers for a long time (Younus et al., 2015).
Halal products' high quality and functionality influence consumers' purchase intention positively (Ali et al., 2018). Khan and Watson (2003) defined halal as follow: There is a wide range of things or activities that are permissible according to Islamic shar'ah. The concept of al-halal has spiritual overtones. All other activities, professions, transactions, etc., are considered lawful (al-halal) unless they are specifically prohibited by the Qur'an or Sunnah (al-haram).
Pakistan nationals spend a considerable amount of money to purchase halal food (Awan et al., 2015). In financial services, both Muslim and non-Muslim consumers buy or use halal financial services as long as the government supports them (Amin et al., 2011;Haron, 2005), which have a significant social impact (Lada et al., 2009;Md-Taib et al., 2008), and are offered at a competitive price (Abdullah & Dusuki, 2006;Ramayah et al., 2006).

Halal brand awareness
Brand awareness indicates the extent consumers recognize a product by its name. Khan and Watson (2003) described consumer awareness as a term used to describe knowledge they possessed on a particular product. Therefore, consumers may exercise their decision to buy based on brand awareness (Hien et al., 2022;MacDonald & Sharp, 2000). Huang and Sarigöllü (2012) stated that brand awareness is positively associated with desirable market results (sales and market share).
Muslims believe that a brand should represent their values and beliefs (Alserhan, 2010). As a result, a pious Muslim is likely to be loyal to halal brands. Using the PLS-SEM approach, Maulan (2016) argued that awareness of halal brands displays a greater influence on consumer loyalty toward Islamic banking product services. Mulan concluded that managers of Islamic banks should design effective marketing tools with an emphasis on Islamic banking terms. This finding correlates with an investigation on Australian Muslims in using financial services. In this research, 300 participants were questioned about using Islamic banking products. From the results, some people are interested in using such services but lucking greater information regarding the way Islamic banks work (Rammal & Zurbruegg, 2016).
Besides the interesting findings in the context of Islamic banks, Ali et al. (2018) in their study found a positive relationship between brand awareness and the intention to buy halal food. The research findings stated that the more individuals have high halal brand awareness, the more likely they are to have the intention to buy halal food. This is in line with research by Purwanto and Sudargini (2021) which stated that there was a positive influence between consumer awareness of the halal brand and the intention to buy halal food.

Attitude toward halal products and services
Human behavior can be challenging to understand. In the early days, people tried to address attitudes and explain why people behaved in specific ways (Watson, 1925). Trafimow and Finlay: (1996) found that 30 researchers had concluded that attitude was the best estimator. Gefen and Straub (2005) divided attitude into two, including a general attitude toward physical objects and an attitude toward performing specific behaviors. Based on these issues, they write: Individuals who hold favorable attitudes are likely to focus on the object's positive attributes, where those with unfavorable are likely to focus on the object's negative qualities. Object perceptions and relevant contextual elements, such as social norms influence the person's definition of the event, possibly directing attention to positive or negative consequences of practicing the behavior in line with the positive or negative evaluation of the object (Haron, 2005, pp. 34-35).
Many factors influence consumers' attitudes toward Islamic banks. These include religious types, such as principles, abolition of interest and profit-sharing, and non-religious related factors, including adequate branches, convenience and quick services, sufficient staff, prioritizing consumers' needs, and competitive prices (Jaara et al., 2021).
Apart from the context of Islamic banks, there are several important factors that influence positive attitudes toward halal food. In implementing marketing strategies to foster a positive attitude towards the products or services offered, marketers must pay attention to the factors that are taken into consideration by consumers. Some of these important factors include marketing and product branding (Awan et al., 2015); consumer knowledge and religiosity (Ahmad et al., 2015); product awareness Rahman et al., 2019).

Conceptual framework
A simple conceptual network ( Figure 1) was formulated based on the literature discussed above. The model in Figure 1 explains how branding can influence people's intention to purchase halal products and services. It also creates a positive attitude toward the intention to use halal products and services. This implies that the attitude variable is a mediator between the independent and dependent variables (Nitzl et al., 2017).
To analyze the role of the mediator for the PLS-SEM approach, Zhao et al. (2010) developed a model shown in Figure 2. Using this model, it is easy to determine whether the mediation has a complementary, competitive, indirect-only, direct-only, or no effect on the endogenous construct.

Halal-based brand awareness and attitudes towards halal services or products
The awareness of halal products or services is a person's ability to understand the existence and follow the process of halal products or services (Aziz & Chok, 2013). Sharia-based brand awareness is one of the important considerations for someone to determine attitudes towards sharia services or products. The one who has a high level of sharia-based brand awareness tends to have a positive attitude toward sharia services or products.

Halal Brand Awareness
Purchase Intention This is supported by several studies that examine the factors that influence a person's attitude toward halal services or products (Bashir, 2019). (Rahman et al., 2019) stated that sharia-based brand awareness is an important variable in determining attitudes toward products or services. Individuals with a high level of sharia-based brand awareness produce a positive attitude towards goods or services, which in turn can influence a person's decision to make a purchase.
Based on the description explained above, then hypothesis in this study is: H1: Halal-based brand awareness has a significant effect on attitudes toward halal services or products

Halal-based brand awareness on intention to purchase
The intention to make a purchase is a plan for someone to make a purchase of the product or service offered. Intention to buy in this study is conceptualized as a variable that is influenced by shariabased brand awareness. Several previous studies have found results regarding a significant effect between sharia-based brand awareness and intention to buy (Ali et al., 2018;Vizano et al., 2021). Individuals with a high level of Islamic brand awareness tend to display higher purchase intentions. Rachmawati and Suroso (2022) found research results in the context of sharia-based brand awareness, in their research it was explained that halal brand awareness is a moderating variable in the relationship between product knowledge and product involvement with purchase decisionmaking. This indicates that halal brand awareness is a variable that can influence a person's intention to buy a product.
Based on the description that has been explained, then hypothesis in this study is: H2: Halal-based brand awareness has a significant effect on the intention to purchase

Attitudes towards halal services or products on intention to purchase
In the Theory of Planned Behavior, it has been conceptualized that the intention to make a purchase is influenced by three main factors, namely: attitudes toward behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control (Afendi et al., 2014). Individuals with the intention to buy a product or service are likely to display actual buying behavior. Therefore, a person's purchase intention can be influenced by attitudes toward halal services or products.
Regarding the relationship between attitudes toward halal services or products and consumer purchase intentions, the results of previous studies show a positive relationship (Garg & Joshi, 2018;Rahman et al., 2019). If consumers have a positive attitude towards sharia products or services, then the individual will have a high intention to buy. This is because consumers have compatibility with the goods or services they want because they have already evaluated the products or services to be purchased (Akin & Okumuş, 2020).
Based on the description that has been explained, then hypothesis in this study is: H3: Attitudes towards halal services or products have a significant effect on the intention to purchase

The role of attitudes towards halal services or products as mediating variable
There have been previous studies that examined the relationship between the variable of attitudes toward halal services or products and their intention to purchase (Akin & Okumuş, 2020;Maichum et al., 2017). Although the attitude towards halal services or products variable has been studied in previous studies, those who conceptualize the attitude towards halal services or products variable as a mediating variable in the context of Halal-based brand awareness and intention to purchase are still relatively rare (Garg & Joshi, 2018;Rahman et al., 2019). Attitudes towards halal services or products in this study are conceptualized as mediating variables that are expected to provide a detailed explanation of the relationship between Halal-based brand awareness and intention to purchase. Individuals who have a level of Halal-based brand awareness do not necessarily have a high intention to purchase, but if these individuals have attitudes towards halal services or products, then they will display an intention to purchase.
Based on the theoretical explanation and the regularity of the influence between the variables formed, the hypothesis proposed in this study is as follows: H4: Attitudes towards halal services or products mediate the influence of halal-based brand awareness and have a significant effect on purchase intentions

Data
Instead of conducting a drop-off survey, an online survey was preferred. Online surveys have the potential to reach more people as they can connect with people in different geographical areas. Additionally, they are less expensive and faster to administer (Hair et al., 2006;Jones, 1998), have the ability to save time and effort (Hair et al., 2006;Taylor, 2000), and are financially efficient (Couper, 2000;Hair et al., 2006).
The questionnaire was adopted from previous research (Afendi et al., 2014;Amin et al., 2011;Jalilvand & Samiei, 2012), and covered the various dimensions, including brand awareness, attitude, intention to purchase, and demographics. It was measured based on 10 points Likert scale, from 1 strongly disagree to 10 strongly agree. The 10-point scale was selected because of its efficiency (Awang et al., 2016). In addition, many Indonesians are familiar with assessments using numbers from 1 to 10 (Ferdinand, 2014). The items for each dimension are presented in Table 1. A nonprobability convenience sampling widely used in financial marketing research was conducted (Kumar et al., 2009;Poon, 2007). This study used a convenience sampling technique because the number of population is not known, which in this case are consumers of halal products. The questionnaire was delivered to potential respondents through WhatsApp instant messaging groups. WhatsApp has become a common media tool widely used to reach many participants (Fei et al., 2020;Kumar & Sharma, 2017). However, this approach faces various challenges, such as a lack of a properly defined population and blocking message links from reaching certain unknown groups (Ameen & Praharaj, 2020). To tackle these weaknesses, the questionnaire link was sent to only targeted WhatsApp groups: State Islamic Religious Institute (IAIN Salatiga) and Sebelas Maret University (UNS Surakarta), located in Central Java, Indonesia. With one click, respondents were guided to the questionnaire using Google form. A total of 163 responses were collected by only 162 were used for analysis. According to Hair et al. (2006), determining the minimum number of samples for SEM is dependent on the number of indicators or items multiplied by five to ten. In this research, 10 indicators were used, implying that the minimum samples were 100 (10 indicators multiplied by 10), hence, the collected data (162) was sufficient. The number of samples is determined by assuming the adequacy of the sample in the analysis of research data. Table 2 summarizes the demographic profile of respondents. It shows that the males and females are almost the same. All of the respondents are Muslim (100%), with the following age distribution. The largest proportion consisted of 45-54 years (31%), followed by 35-44 years (25%) and 15-24 years (23%). All participants held an excellent educational background: bachelor (27%), master (45%), and doctoral (7%). It can be stated that the majority of respondents (79%) had sufficient analytical skills.

Data analysis method
For analysis purposes, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used. This is a helpful method, specifically while using quantitative (correlational) data to disentangle the various (causal)

IPI1
I will buy halal products/brands rather than non-halal brands.

IPI2
I am willing to recommend others to buy halal products/brands.

IPI3
I intend to repeat the purchase of halal products/brands in the future.
Attitude toward Halal products/ brands (Adopted from Amin et al., 2011) AIP1 I am well aware of halal products and services.

AIP2
I believe that using halal products and services is an Islamic religious obligation.

AIP3
In my opinion, costs still determine the attitude towards halal products and services.
AIP4 Support for Islamic business is very much needed.

AIP5
Attitudes towards halal products and services are largely determined by their reputation.
processes underlying a particular outcome (Lleras, 2005, p. 25;Pratama & Cahyono, 2021). It allows the development of different constructs or factors affecting the outcome into direct effects and indirect elements. Furthermore, it aimed at providing estimates of the magnitude and significance of hypothesized causal connections among sets of variables displayed through path diagrams (So & Bolloju, 2005, p. 26).
There are various approaches to SEM, including Covariance-based SEM (CB-SEM), partial least squares (PLS), and generalized structured Component Analysis (GSCA; Wong, 2013). This research adopted PLS-SEM since does not require the assumption of data distribution (Vinzi et al., 2010). In addition, it matches the research with a small sample size (Wong, 2013). To conduct the calculation, SmartPLS software was employed.
Two types of measurement scales exist in SEM: formative and reflective. The formative scale is when the indicators influence the latent variable. Although this design is preferable, it is not always possible to have a direct relationship between the two. The second design occurs when the indicators are highly correlated and interchangeable. In this case, it is important to examine reliability and validity carefully (Haenlein & Kaplan, 2004).

Reliability, validity, and collinearity issues
The structural model can be accepted if the model establishes the reliability and validity of the latent variables. For these purposes, various checks are inevitable. First, there was a need to check the reliability indicator. Garton et al. (1999) postulated that loading 0.4 is acceptable in exploratory research while 0.7 or above is preferred. Table 3 shows all indicators for outer loadings, except AIP3 and AIP5, that are above 0.7, thereby meeting the requirements. The second was about checking the internal consistency reliability. Bagozzi and Yi (1988) suggested that it should be 0.6 or higher in the exploratory research. Table 3 shows the composite reliability of brand (0.904), attitude (0.791), and intention (0.935), hence, all variables are above 0.6 and highly acceptable.
The third step involved checking convergent validity to assess each latent variable's Average Variance Extracted (AVE). According to Bagozzi and Yi (1988), AVE should at least be 0.5. However, Table 3 shows AVE for attitude is less than 0.5, implying convergent validity could not be established. The indicators for AIP3 and AIP5 were removed since they all had weak loading factors. After deletion, the results were as shown in Table 4, where the AVE for attitude increased to 0.635, confirming the convergent validity.
The last one involved checking discriminant validity, which is met when a square root of the AVE of each latent variable is greater than the correlation among the latent variables (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Table 5 shows Fornell-Larcker outcomes for checking discriminant validity. The results for attitude = 0.797, brand = 0.98, and intention = 0.909 are statistically significant and greater than the correlation values of 0.489, 0.715, and 0.469. Therefore, discriminant validity was established. Besides the Fornell-Larcker criterion, in assessing discriminant validity, Henseler et al. (2015) propose the value of the heterotrait-monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT) should be under 0.90. As can be seen from Table 6, the value HTMT for all variables is under 0.9 indicating discriminant validity has been established. Further assessment of discriminant validity is to check cross-loadings among the constructs. Gefen and Straub (2005) argue if the correlation with other constructs is weak but for the ones to which it is theoretically connected, thus discriminant validity is confirmed. As can be seen from Table 7, the items of the same constructs indicate a high correlation (in bold), while a very weak correlation between items of the different constructs (Henseler et al., 2015).
Another vital checking involved checking collinearity issues. To avoid collinearity problems, Hair et al. (2006) suggested a model with a Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) 0 f 5 or lower and tolerance values higher than 0.2.

PLS-SEM results
According to the diagram (Figure 3), the coefficient of determination (R2) for the intention endogenous latent variable is 0.53. This indicates that two exogenous variables (brand and attitude) moderately explain 53% of the variance in intention. The inner model suggests that attitude has the most potent effect on intention (0.638), followed by BRAND (0.157).
The developed model has a Standard Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) of 0.082. Cangur and Ercan (2015) found that a model with an SRMR value smaller than 0.1 is fit and acceptable. Using bootstrapping procedures, the Smart PLS tool generates T-statistics for significance testing of the structural path. The path coefficient will be statistically significant with a two-tailed t-test and a significance level of 5% if the t-statistic is larger than 1.96. All variables were statistically significant, confirming all hypotheses. Another major finding is that mediation had a complementary (partial mediation) relationship, as seen in Table 9 and based on Zhao et al. (2010) criterion.    Table 9 shows that all hypotheses were confirmed, including the mediating role of attitude, which was statistically significant at 1%. There is a positive relationship between brand awareness and attitudes toward halal products and services. Brand awareness was found to have a positive relationship with a beta value (0.489) to create a positive attitude. Based on the results of this study, hypothesis 1 in this study is supported. This is in line with previous research (Aziz & Chok, 2013;Bashir, 2019;Rahman et al., 2019) which states that sharia-based brand awareness is one of the important considerations for someone to determine attitudes towards sharia services or products. In addition, the brand has a direct positive and significant relationship with the intention to purchase or use products or services with a beta value (0.157). The results of this study indicate that hypothesis 2 in this study is supported. This finding confirms the previous results by (MacDonald & Sharp, 2000); (Huang & Sarigöllü, 2012); (Maulan, 2016).
It is important to note that people have been consuming various halal products and services. Besides using Islamic finance products such as banks, insurance, and cooperation, there are prospects for exploring other sectors, including fashion, hotels, traveling, and shopping. Therefore, players should consider the current trends in demand, particularly in relation to people's lifestyles, such as shopping, traveling, and fitness.
Consumers' attitudes significantly influence their intentions to use halal products or services. This is shown by the positive and significant relationship between attitude and intention, as measured by the beta value (0.638). Based on the result of the analysis, hypothesis 3 in this research is supported. This is similar to the findings of Lashari et al. (2021), which found that the attitude of consumers toward electric vehicles (EVs) significantly affects their intention to purchase EVs.
The mediating effect of attitude toward halal products and services between halal brand awareness and intention to purchase is significant, with a p-value of less than 0.001, supporting Hypothesis 4. While consuming halal products or services, it is essential to consider the attitude towards halal products and services. This is because supporting Islamic businesses is a religious obligation, and the belief that supporting Islamic firms is vital for the establishment entire Islamic business ecosystem. The reasons for this growth can be seen in the experiences of respondents who have shifted from halal finance to other halal-related products and services, as shown in Figure 4.

Conclusion
This research looked at the relationship between awareness of halal-based products and services and intention to purchase. It also looked at the behavioral attitudes of Muslim consumers as a mediating variable in influencing purchase intentions. The results showed an effect of awareness of halal-based products and services on the intention to buy. Behavioral attitudes played a mediating role in the relationship between awareness of halal-based products and services and purchasing intention. The halal industry players should consider new lifestyles adopted by consumers. Nowadays, consumers tend to have awareness of halal goods or services in considering and evaluating a particular item before making a purchase. The positive attitude of consumers will later have a major influence in determining purchasing decisions for certain products or services. Regulators must respond to this switching by providing incentives to promote a larger halal ecosystem. However, these results are difficult to generalize due to the limited sample used. Future research should provide an adequate sample as well as incorporate and examine halal lifestyle orientation.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.