Abstract:

Indonesia has a potential market for the halal industry since Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world. To attract Muslim consumer, some cosmetic companies apply halal branding as one of their marketing strategies because it could help them to gain Indonesian cosmetics industry market share. However, from the consumers’ point of view, halal is not their primary consideration when they buy a cosmetic product. It is contrary to the fact that religion has been considered as an important aspect for Indonesian that also influences consumer behavior. This research is trying to study the role of religious orientation in strengthening the effect of brand credibility on customer loyalty to cosmetics with halal branding. Questionnaires were distributed online to regions in Indonesia, and 515 respondents were collected. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was applied to evaluate the hypothesized relationships between variables. The study found that there is a significant and positive effect of trustworthiness and perceived quality on brand credibility, as well as brand credibility on customer loyalty. Additionally, there is a mediating effect of brand credibility in the relationships between trustworthiness and perceived quality with customer loyalty. This research also found a moderating effect of religious orientation on the relationships between trustworthiness and perceived quality with brand credibility.