<![CDATA[This study examines the impact of religious signaling on Sharia retail through the identity-service paradox. Adopting a quantitative explanatory design and PLS-SEM analysis of 251 Muslim consumers in Indonesia, the study investigates the mediation-moderation model that connects Sharia-branded identity, consumer apriorism, perceived Itqan, and retail sustainability. The findings reveal that Sharia-branded identity considerably enhances consumer apriorism, a pre-evaluative cognitive bias that significantly undermines retail sustainability. A religious signal does not necessarily boost trust pervasively, but can bolster suspicion when considered at odds with certain expectations around performance. This finding further demonstrates that perceived Itqan represents operational excellence, and thus mitigates apriorism by restoring the credibility of religious signals. Mediation analysis confirms that the relationship between Sharia-branded identity and retail sustainability partly operates through consumer apriorism, whereas moderation analysis underscores the contingent role of perceived Itqan as perceived operational excellence. This study extends signaling theory by proposing a nonlinear, performance-contingent process in which the credibility of religious identity depends on cognitive assessment and observable operational capability. The results hold implications for the implementation of competence-driven religious branding in competitive retail settings.]]>
