Do halal certification country of origin and brand name familiarity matter?

The purpose of this paper is to examine how consumers perceive the trustworthiness of halal certifications from various Muslim and non-Muslim countries, a topic highly disregarded despite the size of the market and the importance in penetrating the multibillion market.

A customized factorial design was employed to measure main effects of brand familiarity, country trustworthiness and country favourability and interaction effects.

Although Indonesia and Malaysia are Muslim countries, they are not perceived as trustworthy as others such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait for the consumer product under study. The perception of trustworthiness of halal certification of origin explains the highest proportion of the variance in the preference for a product, followed by the interaction of country favourability and brand name country of origin (COO).

Managers of international companies should be aware that not all halal country certifications are equally perceived as trustworthy therefore, they should seek alliances, with institutions in markets where they seek to penetrate.

The procedure for certification considers the whole value chain rather than just simple ritual of slaughtering. Managers have a big responsibility to produce their products according to the expected standards (and this goes beyond the simple slaughtering ritual) and make sure that all employees understands the importance of such adherence.

Muslim consumers’ preferences vary according to the COO of halal products, even within Muslim countries therefore, halal certification country-of-origin is a sensitive social concern.

This research is based on COO and brand familiarity frameworks, and it extends the knowledge in a context (halal products) not frequently explored.