How Gen Z's Interest in Hijab Fashion, Shaped Through Brand Engagement and Content Marketing

Abstract

The rapid advancement of digital technology has transformed consumer behaviour in seeking information and making purchasing decisions, particularly among Generation Z, who are highly adaptive to digital media. In the omnichannel business environment, content marketing has become an important strategy for establishing relationships with consumers by delivering valuable, relevant, and consistent content across multiple platforms. This study aims to examine the effect of content marketing on purchase intention through brand engagement among Generation Z consumers of Molina Hijab products. A quantitative research approach was employed using a survey method involving 160 Generation Z respondents who were familiar with or had interacted with Molina Hijab products. Respondents were selected using purposive sampling. Data were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with AMOS 22. The results indicate that the proposed model achieved an acceptable level of goodness-of-fit, with RMSEA of 0.072, TLI of 0.909, and CFI of 0.924. Hypothesis testing revealed that content marketing has a positive and significant effect on brand engagement (coefficient = 0.995; CR = 7.328; p < 0.001), while brand engagement positively and significantly influences purchase intention (coefficient = 1.058; CR = 7.443; p < 0.001). Furthermore, brand engagement was found to mediate the relationship between content marketing and purchase intention. The coefficient of determination indicates that content marketing explains 95.8% of the variance in brand engagement, while content marketing and brand engagement jointly explain 92.1% of the variance in purchase intention. These findings suggest that an integrated content marketing strategy within an omnichannel marketing system effectively strengthens consumers' emotional engagement with the brand, thereby increasing purchase intention among Generation Z consumers. The study contributes to the growing literature on digital marketing by highlighting the mediating role of brand engagement in the relationship between content marketing and purchase intention within the context of the Muslim fashion industry.