Determinants of intention to purchase halal personal care products amongst public university students in Malaysia

Abstract

The Malaysian government had come up with various programmes and incentives to promote halal products to the public and to make Malaysia a leading Global Halal Hub. One of the halal products that is gaining its share in the Malaysia’s halal industry is halal personal care products. This study explores the determinants of consumer intention to purchase halal personal care products. The objective of this study is to determine the relationship between knowledge (product knowledge and religious knowledge) and attitude towards halal personal care products. This study also analyses the relationship between consumer attitude and intention to purchase halal personal care products and the relationship between subjective norm and consumer intention to purchase these products. Additionally, this study seeks to determine if halal certificate moderates the relationship between consumer attitude towards halal personal care products, their intention to purchase the products, and the relationship between subjective norm and intention to purchase halal personal care products. The sample size for this study was 280 public university students. Using PLS-SEM, the finding suggests that product knowledge and religious knowledge have positive relationship with consumer attitude towards halal personal care products. Moreover, the study shows that attitude and subjective norm have a positive relationship with consumer intention to purchase halal personal care products. However, this study reveals that halal certification has weak negative influence on relationship between subjective norm and consumer intention to purchase these products. This result will be beneficial to personal care product manufacturers to improve their marketing strategy and to halal certifying bodies to inform public on the importance of purchasing halal certified personal care products and to preserve the integrity of halal certification.