ABSTRACT
In the effort of creating differentiation, businesses try to develop unique branding strategies by instilling religious values in the products and services they offer. This study aims to understand the attributes that shape the Islamic brand image of online matrimonial services targeting Muslims in Malaysia. Using a snowball sampling method, a semi-structured interview was conducted. To support the findings, documents related to online matrimonial services, including websites, online newspapers, and social media pages, were reviewed. In general, it was found that Islamic brand image is shaped by two important attitude components, namely cognitive associations and affective associations. Cognitive associations consist of Shari’a compliance, security, members’ characteristics, brand name, and web appearance, while affective associations comprise sincerity, friendliness, and trustworthiness. The findings show that, compared to the brand image of conventional services, the brand image of Islamic matrimonial services consists of several different attributes.
