Do religiosity and knowledge affect the attitude and intention to use halal cosmetic products? evidence from Indonesia

Purpose: This study aims to examine the roles of religiosity and knowledge on attitude formation towards Halal cosmetic products. The attitude toward Halal cosmetic products will then be further investigated to determine whether it affects the intention to purchase Halal cosmetics in the domestic cosmetic industry in Indonesia. Methodology: This study utilized the purposive sampling method to collect the data. A total of 150 Indonesian Muslim consumers who have previously used Halal cosmetic products participated in this survey. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses in this study. Findings: The results showed that both religiosity and product knowledge significantly impact attitude towards using Halal cosmetics products. Interestingly, the findings revealed that product knowledge has a higher impact on attitude compared to religiosity. More importantly, attitude towards Halal cosmetics also showed a positive effect on the intention to use Halal cosmetics products. Originality: Previous research in the Malaysian context conducted by Abd Rahman et al. (2015) and Suki and Suki (2018) formed as the basis of this study. Although the same theme and hypotheses were incorporated, however, the current study was examined in a different market setting and on a different set of respondents (i.e., Indonesian Halal market).


Introduction
The Halal industry has undergone an evolution and has expanded well beyond the food sector to include lifestyle in recent years. This way of life has not only altered the way consumers purchase many products but also the way some businesses operate today. The change is evident in that; Halal lifestyle has spread throughout the world (Wilson, 2014) to include countries such as America, Australia, Japan, China, India, and Latin America (Hidayat & Siradj, 2015). The emerging of the Halal lifestyle has provided evidence that the number of the Muslim population worldwide has increased. According to Ireland and Rajabzadeh (2011), the global Muslim population accounts for 1.6 billion or 23 percent of the world's population. As for the global industry for Halal food and Halal lifestyle, the market is estimated at $ 2.47 trillion in 2018 (Abd . According to data from the State of The Global Islamic Economy 2014-2015, the five industrial fields that continue to show progress in the Halal business context include Islamic financial services, Halal food, Muslim clothing, Halal tourism as well as Halal pharmaceuticals and cosmetics (Hidayat & Siradj, 2015). Of the five fields, the cosmetics and personal care sectors have emerged as one of the most prominent and fastest-growing markets. For example, it was reported that in 2017, Muslim consumers spent US$61billion on the consumption of Halal cosmetics, and this expenditure is expected to grow to US$ 90billion in 2023 (State of the Global Islamic Economy, 2018 Report).
The research in the area of Halal cosmetics is still sparse and fragmented. For example, Ahmad et al. (2015) investigated the knowledge and religiosity towards Halal cosmetics among Malaysian Muslim consumers found that religiosity fared better than knowledge on attitude towards Halal cosmetics products. Other research in the Malaysian consumers' context, which form the basis of this study, was conducted by Abd , and Suki and Suki (2018). Their research on the relationship between religiosity and knowledge towards the formation of attitude on Halal cosmetic products found that only religiosity influenced attitude. Additionally, their research also revealed that there is a positive influence between attitude and intention to purchase Halal cosmetic products. Aoun and Tournois (2015), on the other hand, discussed about Halal cosmetics and toiletries issue with regards to building brands for faith-based products. In addition, Shahid et al. (2018) investigated a qualitative study on Muslim consumers in India and found that factors such as religiosity, awareness of Halal products as well as Halal certification, and growing education levels influence Halal products consumption. More recently, Suparno (2020) conducted a study in an online context found that individual religiosity and hedonic shopping value exert a positive influence on all attitude types, and these attitudes were found to influence online purchase intention of Halal cosmetic products among Indonesian Muslims. Apart from these prior studies, relatively less is known about the Indonesian market regarding Halal cosmetic products.
A country with the largest Muslim population in the world, Indonesia accounts for 12.6% of the world's Muslim population (Diamant 2019). However, even with the world's largest Muslim population, public awareness in choosing, purchasing, and consuming Halal products is still low among Indonesian Muslims. The low level of awareness is due to several factors. First, the amount of cosmetic products that have received the Halal certification from the Institute for the Study of Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics of the Indonesian Ulema Council (LPPOM MUI) is minimal. It happened because most foreign cosmetic brands have yet to receive the Halal certification from LPPOM MUI (Endah, 2014). With limited foreign cosmetic brands being granted the Halal certification, Indonesian consumers' purchase intention has so far been unfavorable. This poses a problem as Listyoningrum and Albari(2012) have stated that products that are considered to provide Halal product guarantee can lead to consumer intention to purchase.
Further, a survey conducted by the Sigma Indonesia Research Institute on 1200 Indonesian women between the ages of 15-55 revealed that respondents include Halal certification in the top tier (i.e., top five) of their consideration sets when purchasing cosmetics products (Sigma Research Indonesia, 2018) (Refer Table 1). Second, the low level of consumer awareness in purchasing and using Halal cosmetics is due to consumer skepticism regarding the ingredients used in the product itself (Sadzalia 2015). This is because an increased number of cases can be observed of late regarding the non-halal ingredients being used in the cosmetic products available in the marketplace. For example, one of the world's cosmetic giant, L'Oreal, has been faced with an accusation that some of its products contain questionable ingredients derived from pork fats (Kamaruzaman, 2008). Cases such as these are serious matters, especially among Muslims, as they "want to be certain that the cosmetic and personal care products they use are Halal compliant" (Hashim & Mat Hashim, 2013). Halal is an Arabic word, quoted explicitly in the Qur'an, which means "permitted" and "lawful" (Wilson & Liu, 2010;Aji, 2019). The term halal has a broader meaning and refers strictly to Islamic Shariah. Jaelani (2017) stated that in Islam, the halal concept "has a particular motive as to preserve the purity of religion, to maintain the mentality of Islam, to preserve life, to protect property, to protect future generations, to support dignity and integrity" (p. 5). This is in line with Wilson & Liu (2010) that halal is an important part of the Muslim belief system, a moral code of ethics with a strong ethical attitude that is integral in a Muslim's daily lives. On the contrary, haram refers to what is forbidden and is considered contrary to the will of God and Prophet Muhammad (Ambali & Bakar, 2014). For instance, gambling and adultery are things that are haram, while acts of kindness, charity, and cleanliness are halal (Alserhan, 2011). The concept of halal and haram "is part of the entire legal system of Islam" (Sugibayashi et al., 2019, p.1).
In the Islamic context, to be a good Muslim, a person's daily activities of eating, drinking, socializing, purchasing, education, promoting, and so on must be in accordance with God's rules. (Alserhan, 2011). In short, Muslims must adhere to the Islamic rules and the concept of Halal must be implemented in every aspect of their lives. For example, every Muslim is obliged to consume Halal food. This has been made clear in the Al Qur'an in Surah Al Maidah verse 88, which states: "And eat food that is clean and good from what Allah has provided for you, and fear Allah, whom you believe in Him." However, the Halal concept is not only limited to food but may extend to "all consumables such as toiletries, pharmaceutical, cosmetics and services including finance" (Lada et al. 2009, p.36). According to Hashim and Mat Hashim (2011), the aspects of Halal for cosmetics and personal care products include "ingredients, all the processes involved in production right up to delivery to consumers, safety and product efficacy evaluations" (p. 281). However, Halal branding, specifically in cosmetics and personal care products, is a less discussed topic (Joshi and Garg 2020). In their study, Hashim and Mat Hashim (2011) stated that cosmetic products are used daily and are considered a necessity by many people for varying reasons such as personal hygiene, improving one's attractiveness, and protecting pollutants to slow down the aging process. Therefore, it is vital for marketers and practitioners to conduct further research in order to grasp an in-depth insight into the Halal cosmetics market segment, especially in a country with the largest Muslim population in the world.
In addressing the current limitation in the literature, this study examines Indonesian consumers' perceptions towards purchasing Halal cosmetic products and seeks to understand the relationship between religiosity, knowledge, attitude, and purchase intentions. Focusing on these issues relating to Halal cosmetics decision-making processes ensures a better understanding of the faith-based consumers with theoretical and practical contributions. This study also extends on Ajzen and Fishbein (1975Fishbein ( , 1980 Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and develops a conceptual model that links knowledge and religiosity to attitude, which influences consumers' purchase intention. In particular, the investigation of the effects of knowledge and religiosity on attitude and purchase intention will allow for the testing and validating of the 'attitude-intention' in the context of Halal cosmetic products.

Religiosity and Attitude toward Halal Cosmetics
Religiosity refers to the degree of an individual's belief in God (McDaniel & Burnett, 1990). Since the degree of being religious can vary from one person to the other, the intensity of religious influence will vary between persons for Muslim consumers (Mukhtar and Butt 2012). According to Johnson (2001), an individual's religiosity is reflected in his/her attitude as well as behavior. Previous studies have shown a significant relationship between religiosity and the attitude of consumers in their consumption of Halal products such as Halal food (Ahmad et al., 2013;Aji, 2017), Halal beef (Khibran, 2019), Halal cosmetics (Abd Rahman et al., 2015, Suki andSuki 2018) as well as Islamic financial products (Souiden & Rani, 2015;Muslichah & Sanusi, 2019). Given that previous studies have confirmed the significant relationship between religiosity and attitude towards Halal cosmetics in different country settings, this study intends to test the relationship in the Indonesian market and hypothesizes the following: H1: Religiosity positively affects attitude towards Halal cosmetics.

Knowledge and Attitude toward Halal Cosmetics
Knowledge can be defined as the facts, feelings, experiences (Abd , or expertise and skills (Radzi et al., 2011) that stick to an individual through theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. By acquiring knowledge, people have the ability to decide on their subsequent behaviors. Knowledge in this study context refers to Halal knowledge of the cosmetic products that are available in the marketplace. This knowledge is vital because it influences consumers' decision making on whether to accept or reject a particular product (Ireland & Rajabzadeh 2011).
Previous studies have provided evidence that knowledge positively influences attitude towards Halal products. For example, knowledge has shown a significant impact on Halal foods (Maichum et al., 2017), Islamic financial services (Antara et al., 2016;Muslichah & Sanusi, 2019) as well as Halal cosmetics (Abd Suki & Suki 2018). Given that knowledge and towards Halal cosmetics have been confirmed in different country settings, this study intends to test the relationship in the Indonesian market and hypothesizes the following: H2: Knowledge positively affects attitude towards Halal cosmetics.

Attitude and Intention Toward Halal Cosmetics
In their Theory of Reasoned Action, Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) explained that the antecedent of behavior is the intention. Fishbein et al. (1980) then defined attitude as "a person's general feeling of favourableness or unfavourableness for that behavior." This definition is in line with Peter & Olson (1999), which define attitude as a comprehensive evaluation of the concept carried out by a person. The affective and cognitive systems can create an evaluation. In general, attitude is defined as an evaluation of a person, suggesting that attitudes show what consumers like and dislike (Rochmanto & Widiyanto, 2015), indicating that when an individual has a positive feeling towards specific behavior, it can predict his or her actual behavior.
Previous studies agree that attitude has a positive impact on intention towards Halal products (Mukhtar & Butt, 2012). For instance, this relationship has been found in attitude and intention towards Halal food (Azam, 2016), Halal meat (Alam & Sayuti, 2011), Halal cosmetics (Abd Suki & Suki 2018), and Islamic financial products (Muslichah & Sanusi, 2019). Therefore, the study proposes the following: H3: Attitude towards Halal cosmetic products positively affect purchase intention of Halal cosmetics products.

Methods
The data were collected using a structured self-administered online questionnaire in Java and Sumatra, Indonesia. The questionnaires were distributed using several social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Line, Instagram, and Facebook. A non-probability convenience sampling was adopted in this study. All questions were assessed using a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 = "strongly disagree," 2 = "disagree," 3 = "neutral," 4 = "agree" and 5 = "strongly agree." A pilot run with 40 respondents excluded from the main study was conducted to test the questionnaire. From the test, two indicators were excluded from the questionnaire for the final survey. The final measurements consist of 24 indicators (see Table 2). In total, 150 respondents participated in the online survey.  As shown in Table 3, most of the respondents are female (75.3%) and are dominated by those aged between 18-23 years old (90.0%). In terms of educational background, most respondents were senior high school graduates (67.3%). It aligned with the fact that this survey was distributed to college students. The respondents' spending allowance falls between the range of 1-2 million rupiah a month (46.7%).

Measurement Model Test
A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) has been executed by AMOS software. In summary, the research model has followed the criteria of goodness-of-fit (Table 4). Therefore, the model can be classified as satisfactory.

Structural Model Test
The results in Figure 2 and Table 5 show that there is a positive influence between religiosity and the attitude of using Halal cosmetic products (p-value < 0.00). This result shows that the higher the respondents' degree of religiosity, the higher the influence on attitude in using Halal cosmetic products. It means that the first hypothesis is supported. Results also indicated that knowledge positively influences the attitude of using Halal cosmetic products (p-value < 0.00). Consumers who have more information about halal cosmetics will have a higher positive attitude towards these products. This result means that the second hypothesis is supported. Lastly, results revealed that there is a positive influence between attitude and intention to use Halal cosmetics (p-value < 0.00). It means that the consumers' positive attitude will influence their intention to use Halal cosmetic products. Therefore, the third hypothesis is also supported.

Discussion
The present study has enriched the existing literature by examining the conceptual framework among Indonesian Muslim consumers. The findings of the current study confirm that religiosity and knowledge positively affect attitude towards Halal cosmetics. Further, the attitude toward Halal cosmetics was found to influence Indonesian consumers' intention to purchase these products. These findings are in line with previous research conducted by Abd Rahman et al. (2015) and Suki and Suki (2018), who found that religiosity and knowledge positively affect the attitude toward Halal cosmetic products. It also provides support for other studies by Ahmad et al. (2013) and Aji (2017) on Halal food; Souiden and Rani (2015) and Muslichah and Sanusi (2019) on Islamic financial products; and Khibran (2019) on Halal beef. Therefore, it gives insights that consumers who have high religiosity levels will evaluate the products they use, whether the product is Halal or otherwise, before purchasing any Halal cosmetic products (Rochmanto & Widiyanto, 2015). As for knowledge, the result of this study supports previous studies on Halal products such as cosmetics (Abd , food (Maichum et al., 2017), and Islamic financial services (Antara et al., 2016;Muslichah & Sanusi, 2019). Also, this study's findings provided evidence that knowledge is one of the main factors that will be included in consumers' consideration set in purchasing Halal products, as mentioned by Baharuddin et al. (2015). The application of the TRA model provides further evidence that attitude has a significant impact on the intention to use Halal cosmetic products.

Conclusion and Recommendations
This study delivers both theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, it advances the TRA model in assessing the impact of religiosity and knowledge on Indonesian consumers' attitudes towards Halal cosmetic products. Given the nature of cosmetic products that have unique characteristics compared to other products, future studies are suggested to incorporate more antecedents such as skepticism to widen the understanding of consumers' intention towards Halal cosmetic products. Regarding the practical implications, this study offers guidance to cosmetic companies to take into account factors such as consumers knowledge and degree of religiosity to generate better Halal cosmetic demands from Muslim consumers.