Factors Influencing Intention to Purchase Halal Food Products Among Iranian Muslim Consumers

Abstract

The growing global demand for halal food has led more countries, including non-Muslim countries to emerge and serve this potential market. Malaysia, as a Muslim country, intends to become a significant exporter of halal food and aspires to become a hub for halal food production. Demand for halal food has also continued to have an upward trend in the Malaysian market itself. Thus, the consumption behavior of Muslim consumers needs to be studied and the influencing factors on Muslim consumers’ purchase intentions should be investigated. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to conceptually discuss potential factors (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, knowledge, acculturation, religiosity, and trust) that influence the intention to purchase halal food among Iranian consumers in Malaysia. The data will be collected through the combination of convenience and snowball sampling by distributing self-administered questionnaires and web-based surveys to 380 Iranian respondents in Peninsular Malaysia. The proposed research model is based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) study of the relationship between intention to purchase halal food factor analysis was conducted to test the validity of the research instrument. The descriptive analysis was carried out using SPSS. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) through AMOS 23 was used to test the hypotheses of the study as well as for assessing the fitness of the conceptual model. The results of this study have significant implications for marketing managers by being able to offer better products through a deeper understanding of consumer intent to purchase and add to the body of knowledge, which benefits academia. In addition, this study is useful for relevant policymakers to modify current strategies including developing future strategies and initiatives to increase halal purchase intention by better understanding Muslim consumers’ perception of halal food products.