Search results

This study aims to examine the effect of halal company identity includes halal identity similarity, halal identity distinctiveness and halal identity prestige on customer satisfaction and customer trust. Furthermore, it verifies the influence of customer satisfaction and customer trust on customer-company identification. Finally, it explores the effect of customer-company identification on halal restaurant loyalty.

This study selected a sample of halal restaurants in the area of Semarang City, Indonesia, using a purposive sampling method with a total of 520 respondents. The data analysis uses confirmatory factor analysis to identify discriminant and convergent validity and then structural equation modeling is used to validate the hypotheses.

The result showed that all aspects of halal company identity, namely, halal identity similarity, halal identity distinctiveness and halal identity prestige, significantly affect customer satisfaction. Halal identity similarity and halal identity distinctiveness insignificantly affect customer trust; however, halal identity prestige successfully affects customer trust. Both customer satisfaction and customer trust positively impact customer-company identification and, in turn, customer-company identification impacts halal restaurant loyalty.

This study contributes to the theory of halal tourism based on social identity theory and the theory of relationship quality in achieving customer loyalty of halal restaurants.

This study aims to examine customer preferences toward Sharia hospitals and to provide a new viewpoint by looking at consumers’ perspectives on choosing health-care services. Despite the growing demand for halal products, halal services, particularly hospital and Sharia-based health-care services, receive very little attention in the literature compared to other Sharia-type services such as Sharia banking, insurance or even hospitality. Previous research on health care discussed under the Sharia perspective mainly focused on service quality, directing discussions to the service providers’ perspectives.

This study uses choice-based conjoint analysis to examine customer preferences toward Sharia health-care service. There are five attributes with three levels each. To reduce respondent fatigue, the authors used SPSS Orthoplan to generate an orthogonal factorial design, which resulted in 21 choice cards. Cross-sectional data were collected from an online survey using a platform from Populix, an independent panel survey provider, to ensure no sample selection bias. A total of 270 responses were obtained to represent Muslim populations across Indonesia.

The results showed that the highest preference is highly rated to the familiarity and certification of the hospital brand that implies trust and guarantees to add value with the existence of halal certification for hospitals. In addition, this study revealed that Sharia services have higher positive signals over the physical infrastructure in determining preferences. On the other hand, add-on components that support the integration of other halal industries, such as halal culinary tourism, halal tourism and integration with transportation and halal accommodation, are still minor in the current preference.

Previous research on health care discussed under the Sharia perspective mainly focused on service quality, which directs the discussions to the service providers’ perspectives. This study provides a new point of view by looking at consumers’ perspectives about their preferences and decisions to choose a Sharia hospital.

This study aims to scrutinize the halal trust model by integrating the quality and valence theory in the mobile food purchasing service during the COVID-19 outbreak.

This research uses data from 368 Muslim customers collected via an online survey from Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. This study uses partial least square modelling to appraise the formation of halal trust, including halal food quality, mobile apps quality, perceived benefit and health risk as drivers and loyalty as the consequence.

The data analysis notes that the combination of perceived quality and valence theory provides a comprehensive understanding of halal trust in mobile halal food purchasing during COVID-19. This study also verifies the crucial role of halal food quality and mobile apps quality in gaining halal trust.

This study used data from Muslim customers of the greater Bandung, Indonesia. The data limited the generalization of this study's findings. Moreover, this study predicted halal trust by integrating perceived benefit, perceived trust and quality as the predictors, whereas other determinants such as commitment and reputation were not included. Therefore, future researchers can incorporate these issues in their future halal trust research.

To gain Muslim trust, this study recommends managers whose halal food is sold via mobile apps ensure that their halal food has a quality standard, made of, and processed according to Islamic values. Next, having a high-quality mobile app is also a must.

This study is early research that examines the integration of the quality and valence theory to evaluate halal trust in mobile halal food purchasing during COVID-19.

International restaurant and fast food chains such as KFC, McDonald’s and Subway currently serve halal food in some non-Muslim countries, with mixed results. The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that most influence the product judgements of halal food amongst non-Muslim consumers in non-Muslim countries and to assess the extent to which these judgements are related to willingness to consume halal food.

A quantitative survey method was adopted, using a total sample of 1,100 consumers in Canada, Spain and the UK. The proposed model was tested using structural equation modelling.

The results suggest that it may be possible for firms to satisfy specific niche market segments with standardised mass market products. Consumer cosmopolitanism and non-Muslim religious identity were found to be positively related to halal product judgement, and consumer ethnocentrism and national identification were negatively related to halal product judgement. There was a strong relationship between product judgement and willingness to consume halal food.

The findings indicate that halal marketing may provide promising business opportunities for international restaurant and fast food chains, as well as food manufacturers and retailers. However, in countries or regions where there are many consumers with high levels of national identification or consumer ethnocentrism, firms should not expect non-target consumers to accept halal products.

This is the first study to suggest that, in non-Muslim countries, food companies may switch entirely to halal produce for certain products as an effective market segmentation strategy targeting Muslim consumers.

The purpose of this paper is to extent the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), when extended by self-identity and religious commitment (RC), and is able to predict Muslim consumers’ willingness to pay (WP) for certified halal food.

A survey of 277 Muslim consumers in Malaysia was conducted and the cross-sectional data were analysed using the partial least squares technique.

Attitude (ATT) and religious self-identity (RSI) were found to have a positive impact on WP for certified halal food. Additionally, RC has a positive effect on ATT and RSI and has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between perceived behavioural control and WP.

The findings can benefit halal food companies by offering an insight into the willingness of Muslim consumers to pay for certified halal food.

The findings contribute to the research on halal foods by illustrating the factors that determine Muslim consumers’ WP for certified halal food. This study also extends the understanding of the TPB to the halal food context.

Within the religious context, purchase and consumption decisions of halal food is different significantly. The purpose of this study is to emphasize the investigation of causation of halal food consumption (HFC) within China. Being a Muslim, the importance of habit, religious self-identity, moral attitude and individualism to the consumption of halal food in the host-culture is examined.

A questionnaire survey was placed and cross-sectional data consisted of 199 Muslim participants were collected, primarily from Beijing current capital of China. Data were examined by SPSS and PLS-3 to assess the model and moderating effects of individualism on HFC.

The results of the research show that moral attitude, habit and religious self-identity in the presence of individualism as a moderator have a significant and positive attitude toward HFC.

The halal food industry can communicate the Muslim community through tag (Halal), which may help Muslims with different individualism and inspire them to make their choices.

The research can be valued by the strategy makers of the food company, as well as the food industry that might pursue individualism in the communication and supply process while targeting the halal food sector in China and worldwide.

This study uses second-order measurement invariance analysis to investigate the perspective of gender divide on whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) can serve as a promotional tool for halal certified companies in Malaysia. Perhaps researching into the perspective of gender on whether CSR can serve as a promotional tool has either been ignored or received limited attention among the researchers from this domain. Hence, this study aims to fill this gap.

In the quest to achieve the mentioned aim, quantitative research design was adopted for this study and the developed questionnaire was used to collect data from 295 respondents, consisting of 172 males and 123 females. In analysing the data, this study has mainly used second-order measurement invariance analysis to uncover the difference across gender divide on whether CSR can serve as a promotional tool for halal certified companies.

The findings of this study reveal two perspectives to the issue of interest in this study. The tests of measurement invariance at the model level suggest a significant difference between male and female to a certain extent. The post hoc test (at the path level) reveals that there are significant differences between gender divide with respect to responsible dealings with clients and legal responsibility only. However, there are insignificant differences between them in connection with commitment to halal best practices, zakat and charitable donations, environmental responsibility, halal economic responsibility and employee welfare. Nonetheless, both gender groups agree that CSR activities will promote halal certified companies if these activities are appropriately communicated to halal consumers.

The authors acknowledge that limitations cannot be avoided in any study, such as this study, where a nonprobability sampling technique is used. The respondents were largely drawn from Klang Valley in Malaysia; although Klang Valley’s population represents about a quarter of Malaysia’s total population, the authors admit that the opinions of the respondents may not represent the opinions of others in the country, and this may consequently limit the generalisability of the findings. Also, the authors acknowledge that self-report survey data is subject to response bias, which may reduce the accuracy of the data that were sourced from the respondents; though respondents were constantly reminded to respond honestly to all the questions in the questionnaire.

This study has uniquely employed second-order measurement invariance analysis to investigate the perspective of gender divide on whether CSR can serve as a promotional tool for halal certified companies in Malaysia. This study will enrich literature in this area of study.

Multinational corporations (MNCs) that want to compete in markets worldwide should not underestimate the influences of religion on consumer demand. Almost one quarter of the world’s population is Muslim so it is important for MNCs to get into the Muslim mind set when operating in countries where Islam has a large influence. The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which consumer-based brand equity in a religious market results from the psychological and behavioural characteristics of consumers rather than from product characteristics.

A quantitative survey method was adopted, using a total sample of 551 Muslim consumers in Malaysia and Pakistan. A holistic model conceptualising three potential psychological and behavioural predictors of consumer-based halal brand equity (CBHBE) was created and then tested using structural equation modelling.

The strength of an individual’s religious identity was found to be a strong predictor of consumer halal choice behaviour and perceived self-expressive religious benefits. Consumers’ halal choice behaviour and perceived self-expressive benefits directly predict CBHBE. Moreover, consumer halal choice behaviour partially mediates the relationship between self-expressive benefits and CBHBE.

The authors conclude that firms targeting Muslim consumers can maximise CBHBE by focussing their marketing strategies on the three psychological and behavioural constructs identified in the model. For example, by using halal certification logos and providing convincing information about the halalness of their brand, businesses can facilitate Muslim consumers’ search processes in relation to their choice behaviour.

The study contributes to the existing international branding literature in two main ways. First, it introduces and defines the concept of CBHBE. Second, it identifies and empirically validates the important psychological and behavioural predictors of CBHBE.

Religion plays an important role in promoting and inhibiting consumption of goods and services. Halal food, for instance, represents one such food permitted by Islam. Within a broader category of consumers for religiously sanctioned products such as halal food, young consumers represent an important segment, as they have a high lifetime value, thereby requiring special attention. This study aims to identify and examine individual and social factors that can foster young consumer’s engagement for halal products.

An inductive research approach using the Gioia method has been used to develop broader themes for discussion. The authors have also proposed a model for engaging young consumers for religiously sanctioned dietary products.

The paper provides empirical insights into the interplay of identities and value sources that encourages or forbids consumer engagement for halal products.

Globally, the halal food industry has been estimated to be worth $580bn, and it is growing at an average rate of 7 per cent annually. Marketers, thus, need to be aware of diverse consumers’ needs to provide a customized offering; they have to cater to adherent customers of these religiously sanctioned products by being sensitive to intricacies that make such food items consumable. The study will help marketers to better align their promotional strategies with the needs and requirement of young consumers.

In this paper, the authors have operationalized repeated interaction and associated consumption in the context of halal food to understand how religion and other factors play a role in strengthening or weakening consumer engagement. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has been done to understand young consumer’s engagement for halal food products in the Indian context. India being a land of multi-religion and multi-culture, such studies can provide rich insights.