Brand Awareness, Purchase Intention, and Branded Beef Purchasing Behavior: An Empirical Study Based on Jilin Province, China

Against the backdrop of steadily growing beef consumption and accelerating competition toward brand differentiation, this study investigates how consumer brand awareness influences branded beef purchasing behavior. Drawing on survey data from 273 branded beef consumers in Jilin Province, China, we construct a theoretical framework linking brand awareness, purchase intention, and purchasing behavior, and empirically test it using binary logistic regression and probability-scale bootstrap mediation analysis, supplemented by KHB and LPM decompositions. Robustness checks include winsorized, Probit, and demographic-augmented specifications, and subgroup analyses use Firth’s penalized logistic regression where appropriate. The findings reveal that brand awareness is moderate with significant demographic heterogeneity; urban, married, household-shopper consumers exhibit higher awareness. Brand awareness exerts significantly positive effects on both purchase intention and purchasing behavior. Purchase intention partially mediates this relationship; based on the KHB decomposition and the linear probability model, the mediated share is approximately 11%, indicating that brand awareness primarily drives purchasing behavior directly. The positive effect is more pronounced among rural residents, females, middle-aged people, and middle-income groups. We recommend strengthening brand storytelling for the “Jilin Beef” regional brand, implementing precision marketing to enhance core channel penetration, and fostering government–enterprise collaboration to establish digital quality traceability, thereby supporting beef brand building and sustainable industry development.