You are what you wear: examining the multidimensionality of religiosity and its influence on attitudes and intention to buy Muslim fashion clothing

Abstract

PurposeMuslim fashion clothing has become an attractive market both for marketers and fashion designers. When it comes to faith, religiosity factor becomes important; thus, it should be incorporated as a predictor for consumers' attitude and purchase intention. The purpose of this research is to examine the extent to which religiosity influences consumers' decision making when buying Muslim clothes. This research also examines whether religiosity could be observed from the type of clothes consumers wear.Design/methodology/approachThe research was conducted in Indonesia as it was the most populous Muslim country in the world. Research subjects were Muslim women who wear Muslim clothes, both sharia and non-sharia.FindingsA total of 379 Muslim women respondents participated in the survey. Using the structural equation model, the analysis finds that religiosity has a significant effect on consumers' buying decision, but the mediating influence of affective attitude and self-presentation is only found partially for specific types of clothes. The managerial implications of these findings are discussed in this paper.Practical implicationsFindings of this research would benefit Muslim clothes marketers and designers to correctly approach their target markets. Marketers can infer the religiosity level of consumers from the clothes they wear so that marketers need to provide communication programs with religious messages that could arouse consumers' affective attitudes that ultimately lead to buying decision. Marketers can focus more on handling their target customers based on the type of clothing segment: sharia and non-sharia.Originality/valueThis study discovered that, with respect to Muslim clothes, the five dimensions of religiosity promoted by Faulkner and De Jong (1966) can be reduced to two factors, namely faith and deeds. In addition, this study revealed that religiosity is strongly correlated with the type of clothing consumers wear so that marketers can implement strategies that are suitable for their target market.