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Determinants
Determinants of purchase of purchase
intention of halal cosmetic intention

products among Generation

Y consumers
Nasreen Khan, Abdullah Sarwar and Booi Chen Tan Received 29 November 2019
Revised 5 April 2020
Department of Marketing, Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Malaysia 3 May 2020
Accepted 4 May 2020

Abstract
Purpose – Halal cosmetic products are considered as innovation and revolution in the cosmetic industry as
they offer high-quality products that follow the halal compliance and meet the strict scientific guidelines.
However, halal cosmetic brands are still facing challenges in their positioning and are unable to identify how
to encourage customers to buy. Although there is an increasing awareness towards the use of halal cosmetics
among the Generation Y consumers, the factors that might stimulus their purchase intention of halal
cosmetics is still ambiguous. Besides, there is a lack of well-established study on the role of religious belief as
a predictor to Generation Y consumers’ purchase intention. To address the gap, this study aims to propose a
model to reveal the distinctive factors that influence the purchase intention of halal cosmetics among
Generation Y in Malaysia.
Design/methodology/approach – The population for this study consisted of Generation Y consumers.
A closed-ended questionnaire was used for data collection from a sample of 262 respondents. The proposed
model was tested using partial least squares structural equation modelling.
Findings – This study discovered that ingredient safety followed by the halal logo is very important
predictor for the purchase intention of halal cosmetic products among Generation Y consumers. Unexpectedly,
this study finds that religious belief plays the least important role in purchase intention.
Research limitations/implications – This study fills the gap in the theory of planned behaviour (TPB)
by improving its limitation through considering the unbiased determinant of behaviour i.e. religious belief.
Practical implications – This study recommends cosmetics companies to position their products based
on the importance of safety ingredient with halal logo as unique attributes of the product. It also suggests
marketers to understand the right promotion strategy to be used in targeting the right market segment.
Originality/value – TPB is only based on cognitive processing and it ignores one’s needs/motivations
prior to engaging in certain behaviour. Hence, this study looks into religious belief as a means of motivation
and one of the important determinants of TPB.
Keywords Ingredient, Logo, Promotion, Religious belief, Purchase intention, Halal,
Cosmetic products
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
The demand for cosmetic products is dramatically increasing and revenue in the segment
amount to $402m in 2020 (Statista.com, 2019). A research company reported that 95% of
millennials like to use cosmetics and usage of cosmetics is no longer limited to women only.
In fact, a study found that millennial men are almost as likely as women interested in
cosmetic products (Marketing Charts, 2017). Young generation nowadays is more prone to Journal of Islamic Marketing
purchasing high-quality cosmetic products that assure safety (Swidi et al., 2010). This is © Emerald Publishing Limited
1759-0833
because of the concern that many cosmetic products nowadays are containing ingredients DOI 10.1108/JIMA-11-2019-0248
JIMA that are made of alcohol, collagen gelatine and lactic acid that can build up in blood stream
and eventually harm the body (Mukhtar and Butt, 2012). There are a number of
international brands that are suspicious of using those harmful ingredients and selling to
consumers.
Halal cosmetic products are considered as an innovation and revolution in the cosmetic
industry as they offer high quality of products that follow halal compliance. Cosmetics are
considered halal only when the ingredients fulfil requirements according to Sharia and
ingredients such as alcohol and substantial derived from animals are free and have no
chance to be used in the preparation of the cosmetic. Halal cosmetics meet beyond religious
requirements because they have to follow strict scientific investigation to come up with a
product that is pure, safe and use the best natural ingredients. Hence, halal is not always just
an assure product that is approved for Muslims; it turns into a global image for first-rate
guarantee and life-style choice (Lada et al., 2009; Wilson and Liu, 2010, 2011). As such even
non-Muslims can be attracted to consume the halal cosmetics products.
The worldwide Muslim populace of more than 1.8 billion, tons of hobbies in growing
halal merchandise and industry appears to come from non-Muslim international locations.
According to a Global Islamic Economy report, halal cosmetics industry continues to
expand as long as products produced are halal certified. Statistics showed that Muslims’
spending on cosmetics is estimated to increase from $61bn in 2017 to $90bn by 2023.
Malaysian beauty and personal care industry is still conquered by worldwide beauty giants
with a market share of 60% and Malaysia’s export value for halal cosmetics and private care
is RM 1.7bn, which is 5% of global halal market (Ministry of International Trade and
Industry [MITI], 2017). Despite the fact that a significant portion of the Malaysian total
consumers are Muslims, halal beauty products are yet to generate a widespread impact
within the beauty industry because of the number of motives.
Studies on halal branding have been growing fast but attention on young Muslim
consumer perspective on halal branding is limited. Wilson (2019) highlighted that halal
branding is not just sticking a halal logo on the packet but it is also ingredient branding that
gives full trust to the buyers. Malaysia has emphasised the halal branding through certified
halal logo and approved ingredients. While past studies have been done to explore the
ingredients and logo as an important factor for purchase intention of Muslim consumers in
general, the impact of promotion factors towards halal cosmetics is still in argumentative
stage (Benyahia, 2018). Besides, there is a lack of well-established study on the role of
religious belief as a factor to influence young Muslim consumers nowadays. Hence, there is
an urgent call to study the impact of religious belief on young consumers’ behaviour (Abu-
Alhaija et al., 2018). To address the gap, this study proposes a model to reveal the significant
predictors of purchase intention of halal cosmetics products among the Generation Y in
Malaysia.

Literature review
Malaysian cosmetic industry has contributed billions of Malaysian ringgit in annual sales
and is growing rapidly at 15% annually because of prodigious demand for premium
products (Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation [MATRADE], 2012). Young
generation nowadays is educated and independent and is capable enough to purchase
cosmetic products by using their own money. Most importantly, cosmetic products provide
plenty of benefits to the consumers by giving them a sense of confidence, a whole new look
and much more aspects (Khraim, 2011). Because of this, an increase in beauty products can
be observed in Malaysia. Nevertheless, the vast majority is stressed over different issues
concerning cosmetics and thus consumers tend to be extra careful when making their
choices. This has happened when many new manufacturers of cosmetics in the marketplace Determinants
are competing for demand and popularity. of purchase
intention
Theoretical foundation
The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) assumes that the best prediction of one’s conduct is
inquiring as to whether he/she is aiming to carry on with a particular goal in mind. There
are three determinants that predict behavioural intention which are attitude, subjective
norm and perceived behavioural control (Ajzen, 1991). This theory explains a character’s
performance of sure behaviour is resolute via his or her purpose to carry out that behaviour
or action. Although, this theory is being used to examine the behaviours of consumers,
generalisation of the theory in relations to halal cosmetics product specifically among
millennials could not be assumed. Researchers such as Ali et al. (2018) critiqued that
purchase behaviour changes depending on target market group and the situation. He
suggested that further empirical justification and extensions are crucial for generalisability
of applying TPB model. For instance, a study done by Pratiwi (2018) revealed that customer
attitude and perceived behaviour control significantly influence purchase intention of young
Muslim consumers in Papua; however, subjective norms do not have any impact.
Referring to the past studies, researchers advised that interpretation on the factors of
TPB model should be cautious. Besides, these findings were based on the biased
determinants of behaviour intention of TPB model and ambiguous to conclude general
behaviour process of customers. Furthermore, determinants of TPB are broad factors and
unable to interpret in meaningful way. The objective of the study is to revise the
determinants of TPB model and extend the findings by looking at alternative factors that
reflect to halal context of the study.
Limitation of TPB is only based on cognitive processing and ignored one’s needs/
motivation prior to engaging in certain behaviour. Hence, this research looks into religious
belief as a means of motivation and one of the important determinants of TPB.

Factors of purchase intention

Purchase intention refers to desire of one’s willingness to purchase something that adds
value to them (Monroe, 2003). Population of Muslims is expected to reach 1.6 billion in
coming years and that triggers the demand of halal products. Hence, there is a new global
market that is expected to meet the increasing demand of the halal products (Swidi et al.,
2010). According to Hussain et al. (2016), consumers have intention to purchase halal
products because of many reasons.
Religious belief: Religion could be characterised as a lot of convictions that are conferred
since youth and affected an individual’s life whether it is Islam, Christianity, Judaism,
Buddhism or Hinduism. In many societies, religious beliefs are very important to people’s
life that forms the beliefs, knowledge and attitude (Moira et al., 2017; Wilson, 2014a, 2014b).
Religious belief is the most influential factor on human behaviour and the adoption of halal
cosmetic product may vary depending on the level and degree of religiosity (Alam et al.,
2011). Studies such as Mohezar et al. (2016) and Bonne and Verbeke (2006) argued that
religion is one of the utmost important motivating factors to influence the purchase intention
of halal products. However, Hayat et al. (2015) did not agree and concluded that religious
belief ought to be less significant in making purchase decision of halal products.
Nevertheless, Abu-Alhaija et al. (2018) advised that future researchers should integrate
religious belief into customers’ attitude and behaviour.
Halal logo: Muslim consumers are anxious about halal status of the products and they
emphasise a lot on halal certification. Rahman et al. (2015) suggested that interest for halal
JIMA items was basically bigoted by the halal logo. Nevertheless, Othman et al. (2016) argue that
halal logo can be easily duplicated without any inspection from authority and thus can
actually create confusion among consumers. As such, Muslim consumers still need to have
some degree of knowledge to recognise the halal certification as it gives extra information
that the product is safe and permission to consume (Golnaz et al., 2010; Wilson and Grant,
2013). A recent study has found that halal logo influences purchase intention of halal food
products in South Africa (Bashir, 2019); however, it was one of the first research to
determine halal logo as one of the determinants that influence purchase intention.
Ingredients safety: The concerns over the health and environmental dangers posed by the
cosmetics industries are on the rise. Consumers are specifically reaching out for
environment friendly and organic lifestyle products whereby the safety of the ingredients
reflects the halal cosmetic (Noreen and Eta, 2013). Although demand for cosmetics products
are driven by increased number of consumer knowledge on type of ingredients used in
cosmetics (Aziz and Chok, 2013), few studies clarified that ingredients safety positively
influences purchase intention (Chen, 2007; Flamboyant et al., 2017). Moreover, some
consumers still may not have any idea on considering ecological and environmental issues
in making purchase decision regarding cosmetics products (Muttaqin, 2014). Surprisingly, a
recent study done by Berliana et al. (2019) revealed that product ingredients are not a
significant predictor of purchase intentions of halal packaged foods. Hence, the importance
of ingredient safety on purchase intention varies depending on the situation.
Promotional influence: In business element, promotions play fundamental role in creating
awareness of products. Chok (2013) earlier proposed that promotion significantly influences
purchase intention. In the same way, Yuhanis and Nyen (2013) confirmed the impact of
promotion on purchase intention among consumers. Although some previous researchers
have clarified that promotion plays a major role in purchase intention, there is still very
limited research that has confirmed the relationship between these two variables in the
context of halal cosmetics. A recent study done by Syukur and Nimsai (2018) revealed that
promotion does not influence purchase intention of halal food products particularly among
the Muslim consumers in Thailand.

Proposed model
The study uses the TPB to develop the framework. According to the theory, consumer
behaviour intention is impacted by attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioural
control. The attitude means evaluation towards an object and attitude for this study refers to
customer attitude towards ingredient safety and halal logo (Khalek, 2014). Subjective norms
mean the extent to which other people’s opinion is approved and subjective norms for this
study refer to promotional influence (Ho et al., 2015). Perceived behaviour control means
difficulty or ease in performing the behaviour and perceived behaviour control for this study
refers to religious belief (Mutmainah, 2018). Research framework proposes that ingredient
safety, halal logo, promotional influence and religious safety are the determinants of
purchase intention of Generation Y consumers. The relevance of TPB in halal context helps
to explain the purchase intention in a more meaningful way. As such, this study tends to
discover the most significant factors that influence purchase intention of halal cosmetics by
testing the following hypotheses. Figure 1 shows the proposed framework of purchase
intention of halal cosmetics.

H1. Religious belief significantly impacts Generation Y consumers’ purchase intention.

 H2. Halal logo significantly impacts Generation Y consumers’ purchase intention. Determinants
H3. Ingredient safety significantly impacts Generation Y consumers’ purchase of purchase
intention. intention
H4. Promotional influence significantly impacts Generation Y consumers’ purchase
intention.

Methodology
According to the Halal Directory by Halal Industry Development Corporation Malaysia,
there are 26 companies registered under the cosmetics business category. Among which, 3
are under the skincare category and 124 are under the beauty category (Badarudin, 2019).
Among the top home-grown brands in halal cosmetics and skincare are dUCk Cosmetics,
SimplySiti, So.Lek, Nurraysa, Pretty Suci and ElhajjHalal Skincare (Badarudin, 2019). This
study investigates the perspectives of young consumers’ purchase intention on both
skincare and beauty care products of local and foreign brands. The population of the study
are young Muslim consumers in Malaysia as the estimated young population is 14 million
out of 32.4 million who are aged between 15 and 40 years (Department of Statistics
Malaysia, 2018).
The targeted population of the study belongs to Generation Y group, who are sceptical
and concerned about their look and appearance. They are the selfie generation and they put
an effort to present an ideal self (Ma et al., 2017). According to the study done by Ma et al.
(2017), the finding reveals that high percentage of selfie takers wear makeup and hence their
behaviour links to grooming rituals and both men and women see personal grooming as a
necessity.
The study was conducted using survey method among 300 undergraduate students from
various programs at private universities in Malaysia. Data were collected over an eight-
week period, using a close-ended questionnaire. Convenience sampling method was used
and a total of 262 usable questionnaires were analysed. There are a total of 21 items to
measure the 5 variables and the required sample size is 5 multiply by 21, i.e. 105. Hence the
sample size for this study meets the requirement (Ferdinand, 2005). The instruments used to
measure each of the constructs in the questionnaires were multi-item scales which have been
adopted from the past studies and improved to fit in the context of the study. The items for
religious beliefs were adapted from Salman and Siddiqui (2011); the items for ingredients

Religious belief

Ingredient safety
Purchase intention of
Generation Y

Figure 1.
Halal Logo Proposed research
framework on
purchase intention of
Promotion halal cosmetics
among Generation Y
JIMA safety are taken from Lada et al. (2009); the items for halal logo and purchase intention are
adapted from Aziz and Chok (2013); and finally, the promotional influence items are adapted
from Shaari and Arifin (2010). Prior to the survey, a pilot study was conducted to check the
reliability and validity of the instrument. Finally, as the nature of this examination was
confirmative, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used for
information investigation and hypotheses testing proposed by different researchers (Hair
et al., 2017; Rönkkö and Evermann, 2013).

Results and discussion

Demographics profile is based on the sample of 262 respondents, among them 61.5% are
male and 38.5% are female. The reason researchers focus more on male than female
population is although the cosmetics market for women has been existed for many decades,
the market for men has just started booming a couple of years back. Hence, it is crucial to
understand what the halal cosmetics mean for them. Majority of the respondents mostly
hold undergraduate degree (48.1%) or postgraduate degree (49.6%). Majority of the
respondents belong to the age between 20 and 25 years old (56.5%) while 35.9% of them
belong to the age between 26 and 30 years old.

Measurement modelling
The purpose of assessment of the measurement model was to evaluate the relationship
between each indicator and its related construct, as well as to ensure that each construct is
distinct from the others. As all constructs in this study were operationalised in reflective
mode, thus, several tests were used to examine these concerns, and acceptable results were
obtained. The “Rule of Thumb” for assessing the reliability and validity in PLS-SEM is
presented in Table 1. These criteria were followed throughout the analysis.
The result for the measurement model is presented in Table 2. It shows that the
measurement model has achieved all the required value to proceed with further analysis.

Structural modelling
In this study, PLS-SEM was used to recognise the structural relationships between different
variables and their effects and to test hypotheses for this study. A five-step procedure is
used to assess the structural model which includes assess for collinearity, path coefficient
( b ), R-square (R2), effect size (f2) and the predictive relevance (Q2) as suggested by Hair et al.
(2017).
The first step is to test the collinearity statistics among the constructs in the structural
model. According to Hair et al. (2017), the variance inflation factor (VIF) values should
be # 5. In this study, the VIF values range from 1.246 to 4.588, which suggest that there
were no collinearity issues in the model.
The second step is to assess the path coefficient to evaluate the significance of the
hypothesised relationship among the constructs. The results indicate the path coefficient
between religious belief and purchase intention is 0.223. The path coefficient between
promotions and purchase intention is 0.242. Moreover, the path coefficient between halal
logo and purchase intention is 0.251. Finally, the path coefficient between ingredients safety
and purchase intention is 0.263.
The third step is to assess the coefficient of determination (R2). The most used method for
evaluating the coefficient of determination in PLS-SEM is R2 value (Hair et al., 2017). The
authors further noted that R2 values of 0.75, 0.50 or 0.25 for dependent variable in the
structural model could be described as substantial, moderate and weak, respectively. The R2
What to check? What to look for in SmartPLS? Where is it in the report? Is it OK?

Reliability
Indicator reliability “Outer loadings” numbers PLS – Calculation Results – Outer Square each of the outer loadings to find the
Loadings indicator reliability value
Value of 0.70 or higher is preferred. If it is an
exploratory research, 0.4 or higher is acceptable
(Hair et al., 2011)
Internal consistency reliability “Reliability” numbers PLS – Quality Criteria – Overview Composite reliability should be 0.7 or higher. If
it is an exploratory research, 0.6 or higher is
acceptable (Hair et al., 2012a, 2012b)
Validity
Convergent validity “AVE” numbers PLS – Quality Criteria – Overview It should be 0.5 or higher (Henseler et al., 2015)
PLS – Quality Criteria – Overview (for
the AVE number as shown above)
Discriminant validity “AVE” numbers and latent PLS – Quality Criteria – Latent Fornell and Larcker (1981) suggest that the
variable correlations Variable Correlations “square root” of AVE of each latent variable
should be greater than the correlations among
the latent variables

Note: AVE = average variance extracted

Source: Wong (2013, p. 21)
of purchase
Determinants

Table 1.

validity
reliability and
Rule of thumb for
intention
JIMA Factor Cronbach’s Discriminant
Constructs Items loadings alpha CR AVE validity

Religious belief RB1 0.787 0.765 0.849 0.585 Yes

RB2 0.740
RB3 0.765
RB4 0.768
Halal logo HL1 0.795 0.730 0.829 0.549 Yes
HL2 0.743
HL3 0.700
HL4 0.722
Ingredients safety IS1 0.836 0.845 0.895 0.680 Yes
IS2 0.810
IS3 0.834
IS4 0.819
Promotional PN1 0.824 0.909 0.929 0.686 Yes
influence PN2 0.824
PN3 0.798
PN4 0.888
PN5 0.876
PN6 0.752
Purchase intention PI1 0.809 0.798 0.866 0.618 Yes
PI2 0.824
PI3 0.762
Table 2. PI4 0.747
Measurement model
output Note: CR = composite reliability

value for purchase intention is 0.308 that fall within the moderate level (refer to Table 3
below).
Step four includes a further investigation of the prediction size between the predictor
variables and the dependent variable (Hair et al., 2017). f2 is used to measure the effect size of
the endogenous constructs for the model. According to Cohen (1988), the minimum effect
size to be considered is
0.02. This means that anything less than this has no effect on the
endogenous constructs for the model. The f2 value for the study model is presented in
Table 3. For this study, all the values fall within the acceptable range.
The fifth step concerns the assessment of the predictive relevance (Q2). Hair et al. (2019)
further suggested using predictive relevance Q2 value to evaluate the predictive accuracy of
the model. According to the authors, Q2 values larger than zero indicate predictive relevance
to the model. In this study, the Q2 value for purchase intention is 0.165 which is greater than
zero (Figure 2).

R2 f2 Q2

Purchase intention 0.308

Halal logo 0.083
Ingredients safety 0.095
Promotions 0.086
Table 3. Religious belief 0.068
Quality criteria Purchase intention 0.165
 Determinants
of purchase
intention

Figure 2.
Structural model of
the study

The bootstrapping option was used to examine the structural path significance. This
option in PLS-SEM helps the researcher to conduct the analysis from a nonparametric
view point rather than relying on the parametric significance (Hair et al., 2017). This
procedure helps to generate a large number of subsamples as a replacement of the
original samples to test coefficients for their significance. Figure 1 shows the structural
model after bootstrapping. In this study, for best result, the sample was increased to
5,000 as suggested in past literatures (Barclay et al., 2015; Benitez et al., 2019; Chin,
2010; Hair et al., 2017; Wong, 2013).
According to Hair et al. (2017), the t-values should be
1.96 to be statistically
significant. The findings in Table 4 shows that the all the t-values are statistically
significant as these are well above the required value of 1.96. It can be seen that
ingredient safety (p < 0.000 and t = 5.165), halal logo (p < 0.000 and t = 4.573),
promotion (p < 0.000 and t = 4.308) and religious belief (P < 0.000 and t = 4.272) have
positive impact on purchase intention. Among all the variables, ingredients safety has
the most impact on purchase intention, followed by halal logo, promotion and religious
belief. Therefore, all the hypotheses have been accepted in this study. The summary of
the hypotheses is presented in Table 5.
JIMA Discussion
This study provides sensible contributions by evaluating the factors affecting purchase
intention of halal cosmetic among Generation Y Muslim consumers in Malaysia. The
findings of the research unveiled that ingredient safety followed by halal logo has the
significant impact on purchase intention of halal cosmetics among young consumers in
the context of Malaysia. The finding adds the contribution to existing studies by confirming
that ingredient safety and halal logo are the two most important factors in purchase
intention (Shaari et al., 2019). Surprisingly to the fact that even non-Muslims consumers
nowadays are looking at ingredient safety of cosmetic products that are environment
friendly (Noreen and Eta, 2013). This is because consumers would purchase a product that is
good for their health, where in this context of study, a product that is pure and safe for their
skin. Initially, consumers will refer to the packaging of the beauty product to search the
information on the label before figuring out to purchase and use (Hashim and Rosidah,
2014). However, it would be insufficient justification if the product is a form of natural
resources with no halal logo in the content.
In addition, finding somehow reveals that promotion plays third-important role in
purchase intention among young Muslim consumers. Although, previous findings from
purchase intention of halal products in Pakistan (Hayat et al., 2015) and Turkey (Varinli
et al., 2016) stated that promotion is one of the most important factors; findings from
Thailand (Syukur and Nimsai, 2018) revealed that promotion does not influence the
purchase intention. Findings from this study contribute to the existing literature by stating
the importance of promotion on purchase intention depending on the context of the study
(Abu-Alhaija et al.,2018).
Unexpectedly, the study finds that religious belief plays a least important role in
purchase intention of halal cosmetics among young consumers and somehow current
finding aligns with past study (Hayat et al., 2015) in which religious belief ought to be less

Original sample SD t-statistics p-values

Religious belief ! Purchase intention 0.223 0.052 4.272 0.000

Halal logo ! Purchase intention 0.242 0.053 4.573 0.000
Ingredients safety ! Purchase intention 0.263 0.051 5.165 0.000
Promotions ! Purchase intention 0.251 0.058 4.308 0.000
Table 4. Notes: The above t-statistics do not reflect to path analysis from the text. Path analysis shows promotion
Hypothesis testing as second influence. Here above safety is second influence

No. Hypothesis Results

H1 Religious belief significantly impacts on purchase intention among Generation Y Supported

consumers
H2 Halal logo significantly impacts on purchase intention among Generation Y Supported
consumers
H3 Ingredient safety significantly impacts on purchase intention among Generation Y Supported
Table 5. consumers
Summary of the H4 Promotion significantly impacts on purchase intention among Generation Y Supported
hypotheses consumers
significant in making purchase decision of halal products. Similarly, Wilson and Grant Determinants
(2013) also stated that Muslim youth nowadays do not really think Islamic reference is of purchase
necessary when they want to purchase the commodities. Hence, this study generally
recommends that degree of religious belief does not enforce consumers to make purchase
intention
decisions rather it is an individual’s choice to purchase the halal products as it gives
confidence in safety of products. This study answers the call from previous researchers in
integrating the religious belief into customer attitude behaviour.

Contributions and implications

This research fills the gap in TPB by improving its limitation through considering the
unbiased determinant of behaviour i.e. religious belief. Hence, this is one of the unique
contributions of this study as TPB originally was based on cognitive processing and
ignored one’s needs/motivations prior to engaging in certain behaviour. In addition, the
study also revised the determinants of TPB model and recommend that safety
ingredients, halal logo, promotion and religious belief are the distinct factors of
purchase intention of halal cosmetics products among Generation Y consumers in
Malaysia.
This study recommends cosmetics companies to position their products based on
the importance of safety ingredient with halal logo as unique attributes of the product.
So, the company will be able to influence Muslim as well as non-Muslim customers in
their purchase decisions for halal cosmetics products that are pure, safe and free from
harmful ingredients. This study suggests marketers to understand the right
promotion strategy to be used in targeting the right market segment. With the
successful promotional effort, customer will engage in more active information about
halal cosmetics and consequently leads to purchase intention. Findings from this
research recommend the government by contributing in policy framework for halal
cosmetic companies to follow strict guidelines to control the ingredients and
prohibition of dangerous substances, cosmetics labelling and promotional activities.
The study adds value to previous research suggestions (Giana et al., 2014) by
conducting an empirical research and recommends the halal logo with natural
ingredients as conspicuous way of branding in promoting the products.
Overall, the study recommends all the cosmetic companies to design the packaging with
detail information on ingredients safety. Besides, it would be a competitive advantage if
cosmetic companies would be able to obtain halal logo and guarantee full disclosure of
ingredients to attract Muslim consumers. Although the department of Islamic Development
Malaysia has endorsed the assurance of halal cosmetics, companies still need to invest in
promotional activities to create awareness among Generation Y customers.

Conclusion
The research has concluded that findings from this study provide a different approach for
understanding the triggers of the purchase intention on halal cosmetics products among the
Generation Y consumers in Malaysia. The most important conclusion that may be drawn
from this study was that the ingredients and halal logo have a significant impact on
purchase intention. Unexpectedly, religious belief has least impact on purchase intention of
Generation Y consumers. Regardless of degree of religious belief, young consumers are still
looking for cosmetics that provide greater protection of consumer health and safety.
Therefore, future study is needed to scrutinise non-Muslim consumer’s awareness in depth
towards halal cosmetics products. Finally, the relevancy of halal subject needs to have a
continuous research to promote and introduce halal in a bigger variety and for the
JIMA consumers around the world to acknowledge the importance of halal especially, halal
cosmetic products.

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About the authors

Dr Nasreen Khan is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Management, Multimedia University,
Malaysia. She received her PhD from University Malaya in 2012. She has been an academician for
over 10 years and was involved actively in teaching, research and supervision. Her publications have
appeared in various international refereed journals and conference proceedings. Her research
interests include service marketing, technology marketing, marketing communication, consumer
behaviour and human resource management.
Dr Abdullah Sarwar is currently a Lecturer of Marketing at Multimedia University, Cyberjaya,
Malaysia. He has published more than 40 academic journal articles in various international journals
JIMA in the field of marketing and management. In 2016, he has been awarded with the prestigious
“Emerald Literati Awards for Excellence” in the highly commended paper category. His research
interest covers international marketing, consumer behaviour, digital marketing, human resource
management, Islamic marketing and tourism. Abdullah Sarwar is the corresponding author and can
be contacted at: [email protected]
Dr Tan Booi Chen is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Management, Multimedia University,
Malaysia. She received her PhD from Multimedia University in 2014. She has been an academician
for over 15 years and was involved actively in teaching and supervision. Her publications have
appeared in various international refereed journals and conference proceedings. Her research
interests include consumer behaviour, green marketing, sustainable consumption behaviour and
corporate social responsibility.

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