Willingness to pay for halal transportation cost: The moderating effect of knowledge on the theory of planned behavior

Abstract

Halal transportation services is one of the crucial components of producing Halal products. Since Halal is unique and involves elaborate regulations and executions, therefore it requires huge investment. Like any other supply chain, the transportation cost will be transferred to the end users, normally the customers, thus increasing the price of final products. It is notably common to find studies done on Muslim customers and their preference on Halal products, however, studies on Muslims preferences towards Halal transportation could still be considered as novel. By adopting the Theory of Planned Behavior and religiosity; and by taking into account the moderating effect of knowledge, this study aims to identify the factors that lead to the customers’ willingness to pay for the Halal transportation cost. Using a purposive sampling method, the data was collected among Muslim consumers in a prominent shopping complex in Malaysia and was analyzed using Smart Partial Least Squares (PLS). Based on the finding, it is shown that the attitude and perceived behavioral control gave a positive relationship with the willingness to pay for Halal transportation. Meanwhile, subjective norm and religiosity were on the opposite as there were both hold an insignificant effect towards the willingness to pay for the Halal transportation. Knowledge has moderated the relationship between attitude and willingness to pay for Halal transportation, but not for the relationship between subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. It is expected that this study could provide a better understanding of Muslim consumers’ behavior on purchasing for Halal transportation, as well as other Halal supply chain activities.