Examining factors influencing enrolment intention in Islamic higher education in Indonesia, does Islamic senior high school matter?

In order to attract potential students, both mainstream non-religious/general higher education (GHE) and Islamic higher education (IHE) institutions have employed efficient promotional techniques due to their competitive nature. This study examines the effects of gender, family socioeconomic background, type of school, university promotion, brand awareness (BA), and brand trust (BT) on enrolment intention (EI). This study is a quantitative survey design to examine correlational causality between variables. We employed Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) for data analysis. We selected 502 students for this study using convenience techniques and snowball sampling. This study finds that while promotional efforts have a limited impact on enrolment intention, brand awareness significantly influences both brand trust and enrolment intention. Furthermore, BA significantly influences EI, both directly and indirectly, through BT as a mediator. Additionally, the influence of promotions, type of schools, and other exogenous variables is negligible. The study recommends that IHE administrators and marketing managers enhance the quality and implement long-term, comprehensive, and sustainable promotional mix strategies and other marketing mix components.