BRAND AWARENESS AND CONSUMER DECISION-MAKING: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF BRAND TRUST IN THE IRAQI MARKET

Abstract

In particular, we look at the effect of brand awareness on consumers' decision-making process among VIP and premium banking clients, with a focus on the mediating effect of brand trust. The design used in this study was a quantitative type (cross-sectional) and the respondents were the clients of the high net worth class in the leading financial institutions in Baghdad. The proposed theoretical framework was tested in an empirical way by using the technique of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results indicate that brand awareness significantly and directly affects consumer purchase decisions and is also a good predictor of brand trust, which has a significant effect on the ultimate financial decisions. Importantly, the mediation analysis shows that brand trust is a partial mediating variable in the relationship between awareness and decision-making, which is complementary. As a result of the high perceived risk and volatility of markets in an emerging rentier economy, we suggest that for brand visibility to be effective, it must be accompanied by a deeper presence in the market.However, in an emerging rentier economy with high perceived risk and market volatility, we propose that brand visibility is not enough; there must be greater presence in the market. In conclusion, it delivers empirical evidence that trust is the necessary psychological connection between first brand exposure and high-involvement financial commitments to the bank, and practical insights for bank executives to build the psychological pathway from awareness to trust.