The Relationship between Halal Factors and Purchase Intention of Food Products as Moderated by Word-Of-Mouth Communications

Abstract

Due to increasing awareness of Halal food products, customers are becoming more concerned about the food they purchase. Marketers often presume that they will purchase the food products if the Halal indicators are labeled. However, there is no clear standard on what determines the food to be Halal and will be chosen by the customers. Therefore, this study intends to identify the Halal-related factors that contribute to purchase intention. We conducted a survey that involves customers of a Malaysian large retail hypermarket brand. Based on the analysis of 368 usable responses, four factors were found to be essential in influencing customers’ purchase intention, namely: religious belief, Halal certificate, marketing concept, and Halal awareness. Contrary to our expectations, word-of-mouth fails to exert any contingent effect on purchase intention. The findings can be utilised by retailers in ensuring that their food products possess these elements in order to attract Muslim customers to purchase them.